SACRED brow

Amanda Pauley

Brows have become the beauty obsession of the decade, and one of the brands that really helped cement the trend is HD Brows. The company gave new life to the market when it launched its seven-step treatment for shaping and grooming brows in 2008, including tinting, waxing and threading, using specialist products. Now, there are 11,500 stylists in the UK offering the service.

As HD Brows celebrates its 10th year in business, innovation is the focus once more, with the brand launching advanced treatments microblading and eyebrow extensions, as well as rebranding and devising a new campaign strategy to sustain its position as a go-to for all things brows.

Chief executive Karen Betts explains: “When we launched 10 years ago there were no other brow brands; now there are lots on the market and we want to maintain our number-one position. I’m moving the business in a different direction to give far more clarity on who we are and what we want to achieve – to be the authority on brows and number-one salon brand.”

Three years ago, former chief executive Nilam Holmes-Patel, with whom Betts co-founded the company, changed the brand name from HD Brows to High Definition Beauty in a bid to make people aware of its broader beauty offering, which encompassed not only brows and make-up but nails, skin therapy and a salon franchise scheme. However, when Betts took the helm of the company in January last year as Holmes-Patel left, she considered whether this was the right move.

“Back in 2015, it was thought that HD Brows as a name was really restrictive, so it was changed to High Definition Beauty,” says Betts. “However, the change led to a lot of confusion for customers, and as a result, we felt we lost our unique place within the brows market and the strength in our name. We spoke to our accounts and stylists and 90% of them said they preferred HD Brows and that their clients were still calling it that.”

Back to its roots

Betts decided to rebrand the company back to HD Brows, unveiling the move at Professional Beauty London on February 25 – which is the same day its web address and social handles changed and the new campaign imagery launched with a focus on gorgeous brows and dewy skin. “We needed to focus on our stylists and what they do, which is create amazing brows, so it was a no-brainer,” explains Betts. “We’re going back to who we are.”

The company will be discontinuing its nail and skin products and its franchise model, focusing on creating an advanced brow and make-up offering for stylists. “We’ve told our accounts that they will get all the promotional materials free and that we’re going to support them with their make-up and brows, especially in terms of marketing, so they can shout about what they do,” says Betts. “We still have a last few nail products in stock for accounts but we’re not concentrating on that anymoreZ.”

Another driver of this decision was Betts’s desire to improve the careers of HD Brows’ stylists, who want to upskill and become experts in all aspects of brows. “To be leaders, we must have the best of everything and that includes improving our masterclasses and bringing out the latest trends, one of which is microblading,” she says.

New direction

The two-day microblading training is powered by Betts’s other company KB Pro, which teaches permanent cosmetic courses. It will teach stylists how to create precision hair strokes with semi-permanent colour, using a specialist hand tool to achieve naturallooking brows.

Attendees will be taught how to infill, where fine strokes of pigment are added to areas that have little or no hair growth, and how to do the “full brow” treatment, where stronger coverage is given with shading and hair strokes.

“Lots of our HD students are interested and want to learn microblading, so it just made sense to do it. It’s about being able to help our stylists earn extra money and offer more advanced treatments to their clients who trust them. It’s a perfect partnership,” says Betts.

The company is also launching eyebrow extension courses, “so stylists can add definition to a few gaps in clients’ brows for special occasions”, and a series of trend workshops that’ll teach accounts the latest browfinishing techniques and looks.

“Now, we’re seeing more of a natural, fuller brow and clients are doing more eyebrow grooming using pencils. The dark power brows and strong Instagram brows are over – people are falling out of love with them,” says Betts. “We want to keep our stylists on top of the latest trends, and education is the way to do it.”

Future goals

Providing brand clarity and creating aspirational career paths for stylists was not the only challenge Betts faced when taking on the role of chief executive, there was also a challenge with stock. “In the past, access to stock had been an issue for some salons. I made the business decision to put the investment into the stock being run. It took about three months to get accounts back to full stock as it takes time for the products to come into the country, but then the issue was resolved,” explains Betts.

“Now, accounts have what they want when they need it. They’ve seen positive changes and our stock system is running to expectations. We want to help accounts achieve what they want to achieve.”

To celebrate this new era for HD Brows, the company will be running special birthday offers, launching an evolution of the company campaign (pictured below and hosting an anniversary party, most likely in Betts’s home county of Yorkshire. Her plans for the brand’s future? “To continually look for new innovations and for HD Brows to be the world authority on brows in the next three to five years.” PB