September is here!
September is here and I cannot believe it. We have been open 3 full months since the Covid shut downs. What a mess and a learning experience!
Through it all I really feel that our team has honed in on the importance of the relationships that we have built over the past 8 years. Oh yeah, RHP had it’s 8th anniversary last month! Here is some info on some of the changes happening around the salon!
Stronger than ever as individuals, as life partners, and as co-owners! Top photo from our grand opening party 8 years ago and bottom taken last month celebrating our anniversary week.
What’s goin on:
As I said, we are going into our 4th month since reopening and we (collectively) have learned a lot. Who ever thought that we would be going through this?!
Safety First, Covid Style.
Sanitation has stayed the same since day one of reopening and we are dedicated to this level of safety for months to come. We still ask that all clients and team members wear masks & we are also still taking temperatures upon entering. We ask that you contact us and cancel if you have had any symptoms or if you have been around anyone with symptoms. We have added time to every single appointment to ensure that added measures of sanitation are kept up. We are also still limiting blow drys to diffusers or with our smoothing treatments(these are done in an area that is at least 10 feet away from other guests and extensive cleaning is done after the service). We really miss our conventional blowouts, but I am so proud of our team and the beautiful work that continues to walk out the door even with these restrictions.
Our original space reimagined after the re-open. Only every other station is being used at a time to distance our guests even more and new artwork displaying the teams pictures from past soirees.
Prices
Our prices across the board went up a little bit. Why?! As with everything right now, we are doing our part to ensure higher safety measures. We are seeing (on average) about 8-10 less people per day. The added time across the board for additional cleaning and sanitation and turn around time adds up. We are a small business, with 10 employees. All 10 employees are full time & most take part in the salon’s health insurance, 401k, ongoing paid education, PTO and more. It is very important that we stay strong as a little company that takes care of our salon family members. One thing to know too is that with these changes in seeing less clients, our team members are a lot happier. There is more time to breathe a little(literally, we go outside) and to not feel so tight with our schedule. It is a time to really shift the way that we do things.
Clean-ups and Bang Trims
We have offered complimentary clean ups and bang trims (in between full price services) since day one and this is something that has needed a little shift. We are still offering them complimentary, but only with our New Talent stylists. With less time for our senior team members to offer guests for full services, this was a decision that had to be made. If you would like one of these services with a senior team member, they are $20. When you book your next one, just indicate that you would like a complimentary clean up and our guest services team will help you find a time with a New Talent! And don’t worry, your senior team member can give them some pointers on your hair as well!
Education
Wow, our training and education systems have shifted. One thing that has kept me out of total Covid darkness was the HUGE project of shifting our training from in-salon education to online courses. When a stylist starts their position at Royale they go through about 25 foundational classes in areas from styling, advanced color and cutting, to communication skills and team building courses. Every time that a new hire would come on board (pre-covid), it was such a big task to schedule senior team members to train them, plus planning the budget for paying all involved, not to mention time taken away from our guests on days that classes were scheduled. We are now are slowly creating each class in an online format through Teachable. They observe video content, take tests through the app, and submit videos of their work from home. In the videos they present what they learned and then the mentor that they are working with can assign additional practice in a certain area, depending on the outcome. So far we have released 5 online courses and have collected over 20 videos featuring team members including Brandon, Cory, Sydney, Jade, Steph, and myself sharing our knowledge in areas like balayage, communication, team systems, haircutting, and foil highlighting. These video shoots take a lot of time filming on our “off” days with editing and creating the course content/layout. I want to shout out a big thank you to our lead team members for stepping up and making this a reality!
Check out our beautiful new space! Now we have 2 spaces on the main floor of the Wicks Building. Schedule your next appointment and check it out!
My schedule!
I have had quite a few people in my chair that once were clients of mine and the salon’s and have come back. They have said to me, “I didn’t know that you were doing hair again.” I haven’t shared a lot online about my journey back behind the chair, but now seems like the right time! First off, I want to share that my time “away from seeing clients” was so valuable for me in many ways, but it has been nice to slowly get back into the game and slowly add hours. When we opened the salon I had big dreams of slaying behind the chair full time, educating and mentoring my team full time, being an entrepreneur/business owner, and doing business coaching on the side. Guess what? It was just too much. I was searching for a while to figure out what I truly wanted as I grew into my new role as a business owner.
Now I have been able to ease into this chapter where I have really realigned with my original vision of having an innovative salon space that offers opportunities in training and education, like what I had at my favorite salons in Chicago and Cinci. My hours now are down to about 15-20 hours a week seeing clients, 10-15 hours working with my lead team on education, and then decision making and operational strategy with Steph the rest of the time. Having Steph to oversee operations has provided me with a sense of calm and allowed me to feel like I can just be creative on my days behind the chair. It has also been great to see her develop skills as an owner. She is so skilled in areas that I am not like budgeting, inventory, and simplifying operations. These are skills that I am happy that I had the time to learn and understand, but they do not bring me the same joy that I feel when I am doing hair and teaching. I didn’t realize until she stepped into this position how much I needed someone at the top with me sharing that same vision and long term goals.
For anyone that wishes to see me as a stylist: space is limited, I only see guests at the start of the week and some Saturdays. I do not work on Thursdays and Fridays. My prices have shifted higher and range between $50-$80 for haircuts and $80-$200 for coloring services. It has been an amazing transition back now knowing my unique needs to maintain balance. This year also marks 24 years as a hairstylist!
Cha, Cha, Cha Changes
And last on our list of changes to go over is the introduction of our new space in the Wicks building. After multiple issues in the months of reopening, we had to make a decision to give up the space that was at one time the RHP Bridal Suite/Royale Collective. We put a lot of time and love into making that space great, but unfortunately we has ongoing issues with plumbing and air conditioning that were adding to the already stressful time. We needed to know that we could have a well functioning space that would not get in the way of us working as smoothly as possible. So, (to those of you that have not seen it) we are now in the suite directly to the right of the salon (behind VIP Nails) as well as our original space. This space is beautiful with a ton of natural light and you can just feel the creative vibes of this space. We can now all spread out and offer 4 services at a time in each suite! The natural light has made it an excellent location to film our new online classes, too!
Thank you to everyone that continues to support us! I am so grateful to be a part of this community, now more than ever!