Providing SOLUTIONS

Professional Beauty London 2018

This year’s show hosted the first SOS: Support Our Salons, a seminar programme devised based on feedback from salon professionals. During our SOS competition, you shared your biggest challenges with us, and we responded with a programme that tackled them head on. For example, Stefania Rossi, director of Utopia Beauty and Hidden Talent, discussed the staff shortage and how to attract the right therapists, while Zen Lifestyle director Fiona Fowley explained how to prepare your business for maternity leave.

The Business Skills programme was as popular as ever, with sell-out sessions on key ways to fill your appointment book by consultant Susan Routledge, plus a panel on “Flexible working: which route is right for you?”, with expert business owners Marie-Louise Coster, Abbie McCann, Kerry Ridley and Kayleigh Smith.

The World Spa & Wellness Conventionbrought delegates from across the globe to London to hear keynotes Neil Jacobs, chief executive of Six Senses, and Andrew Gibson, vice president of wellbeing luxury brands at Accor, plus a diverse line-up of global names. Topics included the advent of technology in spas and making wellness key to repeat business.

The other big conferences were the Education Forum, which brought together lecturers and employers to discuss the changing needs of the industry and how to attract more students, and the International Manufacturers & Distributors Forum, the global gathering for manufacturers, brand owners and distributors to discuss the challenges facing their businesses.

The four Live Stages – Trends & Treatments, Nutrition & Wellness, Aesthetic Treatments and Warpaint – drew a crowd, with their demos of the latest treatments, such as plasma skin tightening and tri-colour microblading, plus Q&As on everything from the biggest skincare trends, to how MUAs can make the most of social media.

Other seminar programmes included How to…, packed with demos on brows, nails and waxing; Advanced Therapists, with tips on dermaplaning, skin needling and plasma; and the Aromatherapy Associates Wellness Programme, which covered sleep, mindfulness and powerful conversations. PB