You Do You! What salon owners took away from the Big Hair Do 2022

We’re riding high on the infectious energy of the Big Hair Do 2022 – how did salons do the Do?

On one fabulous evening, participating salons across the UK and Ireland host the annual live celebration that is the Big Hair Do. It provides salons with a unique opportunity to treat existing clients, win new ones, and make A LOT of retail sales. For 2022 we were thrilled to kick off the biggest hair party going once more, in exclusive partnership with Goldwell, KMS and Varis.

We reached out to some of the salon teams who took part to see what the night was like for them, and how a new ‘Do helped to supercharge their business while also enlivening their communities. Here’s a small taste of what salons got up to…

Sophie and Simon Webster, Simon Webster Hair, Brighton

This was our fifth or sixth Big Hair Do now and we love to take part! It’s a nice opportunity to celebrate clients, spend time with them and thank them for their loyalty and friendship. We also love that it happens at the same time as other salons around the country, building the sense of community within our industry – that feels especially important this year.

This year also marked Simon Webster Hair’s 10-year anniversary. We opened in a recession, and we thought that would be the worse we’d face… We wanted to take the opportunity with our neighbours, clients and friends to celebrate that we’re all still here together and do something fun, while showcasing all that we do in the salon.

All of the businesses in Brighton’s Gardner Street are independent so we invited our fellow business owners to get involved, to give them something to celebrate; we wanted to bring our community together. We offered fizz, mocktails and nibbles in conjunction with a local supplier, and so many also contributed to our Big Hair Do goody bag. It was packed with treats, from tickets to the Komedia comedy club opposite to samples of Bird & Blend tea. We also included a scratch card to win salon services, and of course some haircare from Goldwell!

We wanted our emphasis to be on work/life balance, so whether you had five minutes to spare or an hour, you could just pop in for a quick toast or stick around all evening. We wanted to offer an evening worth coming to – a chance to enjoy people’s company, socialise in an environment you feel safe and welcome, knowing there’s no expectation for anything more. We put on a visual showcase of our team’s specialisms, set-up across different areas of the salon floors, so that guests could explore at their leisure.

What we do as hairdressers is such a personal thing and there’s a lot of trust involved. We love the Big Hair Do because it gives people a chance to meet the team, and to get to know us before booking. It also gives people in our local catchment an excuse to pop in – perhaps they work in the area but usually head straight home, or walk by regularly. It’s all about that time to connect with new people always generates new clients! 

Lydia Wolfe & Jack Mead, Jack & The Wolfe, Lymington

The evening exceeded our expectations, there was a lovely buzz and vibe. This is the first event we’ve ever done – we had a first birthday party planned, but we went into the first lockdown seven days before. Two years later, it was so nice to finally do something to celebrate. 

We had such a great turnout! When we put a social media post out the night before saying that the guest list was closed, we had people asking how they could buy a ticket because they didn’t want to miss out – and it’s a free event!  We have such a variety of clients and it was so great to see them all represented on the night.  

We were super proud of our team – not just how they made the salon look but also with how hard everyone has worked.  We would one million per cent do it again! It’s made us realise there’s so much more we can do. Members of our team even came to us on the night with suggestions about what to do next time.

Mike and Nicky Riccio, Casa Luxe, Saffron Walden

This was our first Big Hair Do! We were so excited when we found out about it – we don’t do anything by halves, so we said if we’re going to do it, we’re going to go all in.

We saw the value in getting new clients into the salon but also for the team too, it was something for them to look forward to. We were also able to incorporate local businesses which was great. We even arranged people from the local school to help, and booked a local singer – it was a wonderful way to engage with our community.

You could tell from the vibe that everyone was really happy to be here. Especially for the staff, it really gave them that something different to look forward to and get stuck into. One staff member even asked me “can we just do this all the time?” because they loved it so much!

All of our clients were just so excited to join us for the Big Hair Do. Although clients may come in every week, they love learning tips and tricks that they can do at home. Whether it’s using a certain product or clipping their hair up in a certain way – they just loved learning from you. Let’s face it, when you’re normally with your clients in the salon for their appointment, it is a limited time and so something like this is SO important – just to give them that bit extra, they really do appreciate it.

Check out more pictures from the Big Hair Do up and down the country here >>

Wondering what else is going on? Find our event calendar here >>