Brow Lamination What is it, why are we doing it, and do you really need to learn

Brow Lamination: What is it, why are we doing it, and do you really need to learn it?

Unless you live under a rock, or somewhere with no internet access, you’ve probably heard of brow lamination at least once in the last twelve months, even if you don’t do brows at all.

The rise in popularity of the treatment has led to multiple brands releasing their own lamination products and upskill training, which you may have seen advertised in the catalogues and emails of your favourite beauty suppliers (favourite aside from us, of course!). So you’ve heard of it, you’ve seen some inspiring photo examples of it on Instagram, and you know it works kind of similarly to lash lifting but you’re not exactly 100% sure: what is it?

The What Brow lamination is an aesthetic treatment that, like a lash lift, breaks the bonds in the hairs to make them flexible and resets them into a more desirable position. It uses the same system as a lash lift, but with a shorter processing time for skin and hair safety.

When laminated, the eyebrow hairs move more freely, so can be styled into a more upright position, or brushed to cover gaps or create an arch, without that resistance that we would typically need gels, soaps or waxes to counter. Essentially, the idea is that a client can simply brush their laminated brows into position in the morning, and no further styling would be needed.

Brow hairs that have been laminated can often look ‘flat’; this happens because the hairs are brushed into a position which separates them, removing that density that occurs on some brows where the hair grows thickly. The hair directions are changed to make the brows look thicker in height rather than density: the hairs are essentially ‘flattened out’ into their new position. The hairs also get straightened out in the process, which causes them to lose their 3D look.

Part of a brow lamination treatment usually includes tint or dye (henna is not allowed), some shaping and a hydrating treatment to nourish the hair, as the process can be quite drying.

The Why It’s no secret that pretty much everyone wants their brows to look full and thick. The chase for the perfect, full brow has been a thing ever since Cara Delevingne first walked the runway and had us all drooling over her natural, tomboy brows. Suddenly, thick and dark eyebrows were very important.

The trend has been driven away from the perfected and sculpted look favoured by Youtube and Instagram makeup artists in recent years, and a more naturally full and textured brow has become the new ‘perfect’. Think about those beautiful bronzed makeup looks created by artists such as Emma Chen, Ania Milczarczyk and Nikki Wolff: those brows are what the trend-driven clients are wishing for.

While this look can be created temporarily, it does take practice, some time and a litany of makeup products. The beauty trends, though, currently are moving away from high-maintenance routines, and clients are preferring that ‘I woke up like this’ vibe. Last year’s beauty retail sales reports showed a massive shift away from makeup and towards skincare. Clients are spending more on treatments and skincare to look good all the time with less daily effort, and lashes and brows have become a part of that.

Laminated brows immediately look fuller, thicker and more textured, and can easily be brushed into that high, spiky position. Having laminated brows eliminates a lot of styling time, and works with that beautiful, minimalist look. The aftercare products feel indulgent and are easily slipped into an evening skincare routine.

Do I Need to Offer it? If you’re not a brow artist, my short answer is actually no. I think you should be fully trained in all elements of brow styling before offering the brow lamination service, even if you are trained in lash lifts. There are definitely some particular risks that come with this service.

If you do already offer some brow services then yes, I definitely recommend that you train in brow lamination! The trend isn’t going away any time soon, so you’re not too late to jump on and make the most of it.

Brow lamination is a relatively quick service, taking around 45 minutes to an hour at the most. It suits most clients (usual waxing and lash lifting contraindications apply), and the end result can be totally customised, so even if your clients aren’t into the super brushed up or bushy look, lamination can still work for them. It’s a great treatment to tame unruly brows, or to redirect hairs to cover gaps or lift an arch in a straight brow.

It’s very easy to slot into their normal treatment routine; if they have their brows done on a 4-weekly rotation, you could essentially alternate between their normal brow sculpt and the lamination treatment, as it can be re-done after 8-10 weeks.

It’s an easy add-on to a lash lift service, too, as many lash lift systems can also be used to perform brow lamination, such as the new Elleeplex Profusion, or the Yumi system. You can charge anywhere from $80 - $150 for a brow lamination, and perform it at the same time as you are doing a lash lift. If you’re interested in learning how to create a perfectly laminated brow, we have included a Brow Lamination Masterclass as part of our new LashJoy Academy Only Masterclass Collection. Tailored exclusively to existing brow stylists who want to upskill, the 4 hour course will cover all of my top tips for a safe and beautifully laminated brow, including a live demonstration.

If you’re a total newbie to brows, you will learn brow lamination when you attend my 4 Day Ultimate Brow Mastery Course, alongside brow henna, facial mapping and the other newbie on the scene: brow dye.

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BUSINESS

Get your brow business started

Brow enhancements have become more and more popular and nowadays there are hardly any therapists who don't offer one brow treatment or the other - either alone or as an add on.

If you want a treatment that compliments your lash or other beauty business then have a look at a brow treatment as more and more clients ask for this!

We have listed the most popular brow enhancements below to help you understand the difference between the treatments but please remember that you can also combine the treatments to create the ultimate brow!

Tinting Lash and brow tinting is such an easy treatment and is often seen as an add on BUT it is an essential part to any lash & brow business. Lash tinting can give fantastic results but as we are focusing on brows it is worth mentioning that the tint can make or break a good brow design.

Brow lifting/lamination Many of you are very aware of lash lifting and you might already be offering this in your salon or as part of your treatment portfolio but now you can also lift brows!

Yes, this treatment is fabulous for downward growing or unruly brows and just like the lash lift it can transform the eye area and create a lift and brighter and younger look.

Some products are just designed for lash lifting and others are specific for brow lifting/ lamination BUT there are also duo systems which allow you to use the same products for lash lifting AND brow lamination which offers you a huge advantage as you have less outlay and the risk of product waste is a lot lower.

Sculpting This treatment is hardly used now as others are more popular but sculped brows were created with ultra fine application tools and a mixture of a bonding agent and pigmented powders that were applied in hairstrokes to create the appearance of natural hairs. The longevity is relatively short and most clients (especially those with oily skin) found that the brow design only lasted a week to 2 weeks and especially with use of makeup, removers, exfoliants etc the time was shortened.

Brow extensions This treatment was very popular but has also faded now. The use of straight and short extensions (similar to lash extensions) was used to create a natural brow look and the extensions could be used to fill in existing brows or create bespoke brows for those clients with sparse or no natural brow hair.

Semi permanent make up has taken over from Sculpting and Brow extensions but these were the perfect solution to try a brow design before making it permanent.

Waxing A steady hand is key to the ultra precision brow line and you can create that very sharp look with just a few simple steps that will transform the brow design to "precision" which will create brows on fleek!

The honey like texture of the soft wax is ideal to create a precision brow line while the hard wax is used to wax sensitive and facial hairs.

Retail As with every treatment, retail items are a very important part. Not only do they help your clients to maintain the desired look at home and in between appointments but they also help you to boost your turnover and profit margin. Most suppliers and brands will have a range to compliment the treatment and it is well worth investing in this if you want to offer your clients the full package AND you want to maximise your income potential.

Flirties GLOBE flirties.co.uk

Give your academy a BOOST!

Running a training academy is a fantastic way to impart your knowledge and to introduce a new generation of therapists to an amazing career in beauty therapy. However, putting together courses, sourcing high quality products and starter kits, finding students and teaching the classes can be a lot of hard work, so partnering with Flirties is the perfect solution for you and your students.

Our incredible range of products have been designed to allow established and brand new beauty academies to offer professional, in-depth recognised courses from the day they open their doors. Working with a reputable and wellknown brand can help to increase your visibility and give you all the foundations that you need to offer a terrific education. So, what do you get out of working with Flirties?

New students One of the biggest challenges that any beauty academy can face is to get new students through the door. There is a lot of competition out there and it can be hard to make your school stand out from the rest. Flirties already have a massive presence in the industry and can help drive new learners in your direction.

When students come directly to us, we refer them on to our training schools depending on where they are in the UK, giving you a steady flow of new leads. We also actively help to promote you by featuring you on our social media platforms, which gives you exposure to thousands of followers.

As lovers of the beauty world, we understand that there is a lot of knowledge out there, and lots of things to talk about, which is why we also give you the chance to contribute to some of our blogs, posts and newsletters.

These all give you great opportunities to get your business seen and enjoy a steady flow of new students who want to learn with you

Amazing products At Flirties, we have spent years working on developing industry leading products. We are incredibly proud of what we offer, and we know that students, schools and trained therapists all love using them. We want you to be able to include them in your training academy, which is why we offer discounts on our products, kits and our awesome Glamcor lights. These discounts can be used alongside our other volume discounts and special offers, meaning that you can benefit from some great savings. When offering courses, it is always useful to be able to provide starter kits for your students. The Flirties starter kits include everything that your students will need, which is why we offer reduced prices on these too. You can then be confident that your learners have all the products and tools that they will need on the day as well as for performing case studies and treatments independently. We know that your students will love the Flirties products that they use with you, and so we also provide an affiliate scheme to allow you to profit when they buy from us – after all, it’s you that introduced them to us! New products are always exciting, and we want to give you the opportunity to get to know them before your students get to try them. That is why our academies get to be the first to try our new releases and see for themselves how amazing they are. Working with Flirties is the perfect way to boost your training business. You will be fully supported and get the opportunity to fill your course dates and your bank account. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch today to find out more.

Flirties GLOBE flirties.co.uk

Are you offering a service or an experience?

Hey there fellow Brow Boss, I see you, working endlessly in this fast-paced ever-changing industry.

Every minute is a hot one over here. If it’s not changes to algorithms or trying to get 10 thousand followers from the first three seconds of your reel, it’s a new product alert from brands and a change of technique to create that perfect brow.

Now add all that to the long list of other tasks we have as the business owner, and not forgetting the most important thing of all – maintaining a lovely loyal client base and BAM here we are, nearly every Brow Stylist in the universe.

Love them or hate them, TikTok and reels are here to stay, and brands and techniques will forever be evolving – it is part of the package when you’re in this industry (and part of the buzz sometimes). But let’s put all that modern day biz to the side for just a second and take it right back to basics – what exactly are YOU offering?

Do you spend too much time comparing what other salons are sharing on their socials and wondering how they managed to get the clients and you never?

Are you even stopping for a second to consider the brand you’ve created and how to make that your very own success story?

After all, ‘comparison is the thief of joy’ and all that energy you are putting into what other salons are offering is taking you away from what makes your business the go-to place for all of your clients – you know, the ones that other business doesn’t have.

I am by no means a business guru but I have been successfully running my Sassy brand and salon(s) now for 20 years - so I know a thing or two. What I am writing about today is something that I believe has been absolutely key to that success.

You will be glad to know that what I’m sharing today will not require you to overhaul your entire business structure, nor will you need to allocate any kind of budget. It is more about putting on your Sassy pants and asking yourself some serious questions about you and your business kinda vibe. Ready to take action, then let’s go…

Let’s start with passion vs purpose. Most of us will say we have a passion for brows when asked about our work. I would have included myself in that statement, until recently, when I read the dictionary meaning of passion: ‘strong barely controllable emotion’. Now read that again. Yikes!

Purpose on the other hand is ‘the reason for which something is done or created’. If the experience you provide to your clients is done with purpose, then you are already on the way to success.

Next let’s think about the service you offer. Put yourself in your client’s shoes and really go through the motions with a fine-tooth comb. From initial client interaction with your business, to payment and re-booking - was their time well spent?

One thing I’ve stuck by in my many years of staff performance exercises, is this.

Assume that the cash each and every client is spending with you (whether that’s £10 or £100) is their last penny and they NEED this experience. They also need food for the table and have bills to pay but they have chosen you and your services. Is what you are offering worth it?

Ok, you understood the assignment and took a close look at your reasoning for being a Brow Boss and left no stone unturned when role playing your client, NOW ask yourself are you offering a service or experience?

Today’s client is 100% looking for an experience! Here’s some food for thought … The service (brows) you provide is the ticket to the party. Sure, it’s a really nice invite that you have created but what is going to make the client WANT to buy a ticket? Is it your salon and its vibe, cleanliness and safety?

• The welcoming host that serves with purpose and communicates efficiently? • Your great chat and the feeling you give to your client when they are in the brow chair? • The atmosphere, which if done correctly can be felt through your social media? • The knowledge and assurance that you are confident in your field?

The most likely answer is that it’s a combination of all of these things – and more. The overall experience that you provide is your ticket sales.

Making the little things seem like the big things turns your service into an experience to get those regular ticket sales and clients who appreciate time well spent in your care.

Let’s start turning that passionate service into a purposeful experience.

Best of luck for 2022, I hope it’s your best year yet.

Sara Bingham | Owner - Sassy’s Irvine

Dealing with difficult customers and situations

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change (Charles Darwin). Whether you are a manager or an employee, it pays to stop and ask yourself: is this approach getting results? and is there a better approach? The fastest and easiest way of dealing with difficult situations is changing the attitude.

Your attitude is key to your success and to reducing personal stress levels at the same time. Even though most customers are calm and appreciative of efforts to serve them, there are instances when clients get upset and angry. When dealing with an angry customer, it is important to remember, that you cannot control your customer’s behaviour, but you can control your response to how they behave. Difficult customers can take one of the following forms: • A customer that argues with staff • A customer that confronts staff questioning their competency • A customer that is impatient demanding, unreasonable time frames; • A customer that do not want accept the procedures and limitations in place; • A customer that keeps making inappropriate remarks

Behaviour of clients is the main cause for workplace violence and it must be eliminated or minimised.

The first step in dealing with this problem is to understand the motivations behind the aggressive behaviour of customers. There are three main motivations for aggressive customer behaviours: • Expressive - most people that become abusive do this out of extreme irritation. This could be caused by dissatisfaction with the product or the service in general. • Learned - there is a part of the population, who take the experiences of aggressive behaviour and use it to serve a useful purpose, they learn that it does get them what they want. • Random - for some customers that demonstrate aggressive behaviour, aggression escalates quickly.

Understanding these motivations is important as it will help you decide how best to solve a problem you encounter with a difficult customer. There are few important skills that are a must-have for any employee that deals directly with customers. This has to do with the ability to realise that their emotional response is changing and realising that the situation might be escalating.

Look for voice and body language clues, like changes in breathing and skin colour, fast breaths, red skin, which indicate anger is approaching.

Clenched fists, tightened face, lowered eye brows and vocal signs, like sighing, tutting, indicate frustration which leads to anger.

A good staff should be in a position to monitor the emotional response of the client as well as their own mental process during a customer interaction.

Most of the problems encountered at work are as a result of poor communication.

Staff need to perfect their active listening, not only to fully understand what the client is communicating, but also to make it clear to the customer that their grievances have been heard.

Pay 100% attention to what is being said, this includes paying attention to the eyes, face, body, voice, emotions. Gently feedback and summarise what you hear to confirm you have understood. Specifically, feedback emotions. “Mrs Smith, I understand you are angry about the service and I sincerely apologise for the stress you have experienced”.

The ability to defuse a problem is a subset of many other underlying skills, including active listening, questioning techniques and using appropriate delay tactics, while buying time to adequately address the problem. Apologising is a very effective way to diffuse the situation, often people just want to hear that somebody cares enough to say sorry and will take responsibility for resolving problems.

You don’t need to accept blame to apologise, you can apologise for the situation and emotional stress, even if it is not your fault. “I am sorry you feel let down by our service”

In some cases, it may be feasible to negotiate for a solution that is agreeable to both parties.

Most businesses have flexible options, discounts, gifts and ways of expressing an apology which in the long run have the ability to enhance customer loyalty. Compensating for negative emotions with the positive ones associated with gifts and prestige can address an emotional imbalance.

Silva Petraite | Entrepreneur, Global Master Educator, Trainer, International Judge

How to set up lash extension prices

So you’ve done all your lash training, got your qualifications and built up your experience, and now you're ready to start your own lash extension business! The most important thing you need to know is how to set up the pricing for your lash extension services to ensure your fledgling business takes off.

It’s essential to get it right - too high and you’ll never get any customers, too low and you won't turn a profit. The last thing you want is to end up essentially working for free, or worse, make a loss. You won’t find any wishy-washy advice here! Our knowledgeable team take you through all the costs and considerations you have to factor in.

Maths not your strong point? Don’t worry - we are going to show you how to a) calculate all of your expenses accurately so you know what you need to make to break even b) decide how far above your break-even price to set your prices based on your experience and location.

Factors to consider when setting lash extension prices

Various elements come into play here: your expenses, initial outgoings, work location, local market and your level of expertise. To begin with we’re going to focus on your outgoings - both upfront expenses and ongoing costs, to calculate your ‘break even amount.’ Break-even is the point at which your income covers all of your expenses/outgoings but no more, i.e. you're not in loss but you have not yet made any profit either.

Don’t just guess - take the time to account for everything thoroughly at the beginning to give yourself a realistic picture. Initial outgoings These are one-off costs that you need to try and recoup: eyelash extension training courses, competition entry costs, tools, salon furniture, lights, salon decor etc. Every time you purchase a new course, add it on. Consider upfront marketing costs as well such as logo design, website design and build, uniform, car decals etc.

Add it all up and aim to have the costs paid back within a fixed time frame - say a year. Divide the total upfront costs by 12 months and add this amount into your monthly expenses. Then you will know that everything you purchased for your business will be paid off in a year and after that, your monthly expenses will drop, and you will be able to make bigger profits.

Everyday/ongoing expenses You need a number of things to keep your business going including products, utilities, business services and marketing. Let’s take a deeper look at what your ongoing expenses are. Because, even if you are working from your home-based studio, there are some costs to calculate.

All your everyday expenses can be divided into three main groups: 1General (water, gas, rent, insurance, internet, landline or mobile, transport, supplies). The biggest of these is likely to be the cost of your workspace. Are you working from home, salon based self-employed or own your own salon? Each of these comes with a very different level of overheads.

It makes sense to go for a workspace that’s as inexpensive as possible while you're a beginner and charging less. Then as your skills and customer base increase, you can look for somewhere better knowing your costs are more easily covered.

2Service fees (bank account expenses, electronic booking system charges, accountant, mentoring, cleaning). You won’t necessarily need all of these when you’re just starting out, but prepare for the fact that as you progress and become busier, you will likely need to invest some of your additional profits such as these.

3Marketing (web domain and hosting, advertising, business cards, leaflets, uniform, photo app subscriptions etc.) Don’t be tempted to think organic social media will be enough to get your name out there. If nobody knows about you, you aren’t going to get any clients.

A note on the cost of lash supplies We have calculated that on average, a lash set costs you about £7-£8, or £5-£6 with 15% student discount, using products from Flawless Lashes.

And a lash infill cost to the artist is £5-£6, or £3-£4.50 with the 15% student discount.

From this, it’s easy to see that lash supplies are not your biggest expense. That’s why it is essential to look into your other expenses when defining your prices.

Factoring in tax for lash technicians

As a self-employed lash artist, you will have to pay National Insurance and Income Tax. Do your research / get professional advice and work out what percentage of your income you will need to put aside each month in preparation for your year-end tax bill.

Add the advised amount onto your monthly outgoings as an expense. Bear in mind that a lot of your business outgoings will be taxdeductible, so ensure you get advice on how to make the most of this in order to keep your tax bill (and how much you need to save for it each month) down.

If lash extensions are to be your only income (i.e. it’s not a side job), you won’t have to pay income tax on the first £12,571 of income (NB we’re talking income not profit). This means you may not have to pay income tax in your first year - or even at all if you don’t intend on making much money from lashing each year (and it’s your only income).

Real-world expenses examples Let's say you hire a space in a hairdressing salon for £350 a month and all your bills are included. This is a nice, straightforward number for your calculations.

But say you work from your home-based studio. Is this a space that was previously unused and you were paying for anyway? If so, you do not need to add rent into your calculations, but you do need to factor in the additional heating and lighting bills that you will rack up on the number of days whilst you are working from home, as well as insurance for your beauty business.

If you have rented somewhere specifically to have a spare room to run your business from, it’s different. Let’s say you pay £1000 a monthly rent for a 3-bedroom house and you dedicate 1 room to your workplace. This means your treatment room costs you one third, so £333 a month. Do the same with all your other upfront and ongoing expenses as detailed in this article in order to arrive at the total monthly outgoings cost for your business. Calculating your 'break-even' cost per treatment

Now – how many days a month do you work from this room? Let’s say you work 15 days a month, 5 hours a day (fitting in 2 classic full sets – something reasonable for a starter). It calculates to 75 hours a month.

Imagine that, after adding up all your expenses as detailed in this article, it comes out at £500 per month. Divide £500 by 15 days, this number will show you your expenses per day. In this example, £33.30 a day is your ‘break-even cost’. If you can only fit in 2 clients a day – your expenses are about £16.70 per client visit. So everything you make above £16.70 per client visit is your profit.

Lash extension pricing for beginner lash artists

Most lash artists work for friends and family for free for a little while to build up their confidence, experience - and Instagram portfolio! But when you’re ready to start charging, how should you set your prices for lash extensions?

You need to know how much mark-up to add on top of your ‘break even’ cost in order to earn a decent wage whilst also making your lash business a success. We’ll take you through the pricing strategy for beginner lash technicians.

London

South of England

Midlands

Wales

North of England

Yorkshire

East of England Classic

£75 - £85

£60 - £70

£60 - £70

£35 - £60

£45 - £50

£45 - £60

£55 Volume

£120 - £300

£70 - £90/£150 (home)

£60 (home)

£50 - £70 (salon)

£50 - £65 - £95 (home)

£75+ (salon)

£70 - £85 (salon)

National Minimum Wage To begin with, take into account that you should not be working for less than the National Minimum Wage (£9.50 from April 2022). If it takes you 2h 30 min to do a classic set in (at the beginning), your wage for it must be at least £23.75.

To be in profit £23.40 you must first allow for your expenses (£16.70 per client in our dummy example above), which means you will need to charge at least £40.50 for your least expensive treatment, a classic full set. Anything you charge above this will increase your wage above the National Minimum Wage.

Prices in your area & your ability You want to aim to be priced roughly on a par with artists at a similar standard to you in the same area, if it costs in with your expenses calculations as detailed earlier. If your overheads are low you may be able to start at a competitively low price in order to grow your customer base at the beginning, then increase them over time once you have a loyal following.

It’s time to really do your competitor research. People aren't likely to travel that far to have their lashes done, so do a full audit of all salons and artists within a few miles of where your business will be based.

Don’t just go off the menu pricing - find out what the experience and quality that customers receive is like and weigh it up against the standard you are able to offer, and be realistic about your current level of expertise. Are there added extras that bump up their pricing - and can you offer the same?

NB If you find that setting your prices in line with or slightly above the local market does not leave you with enough to live on after deducting your expense calculations, your business model is simply not cost effective. Therefore you need to look at reducing your monthly expenses. Can you work from a cheaper location?

When to raise your prices

Your prices must increase at least once a year. We recommend reviewing your prices after every single achievement, such as a competition win or training course completion. Set targets for yourself in terms of your standard and speed of work. How soon can you reach the next level?

As you raise your prices, you’ll be able to earn more for the same work, or do less work for the same money, giving you time to grow your clientele and business. What is the average eyelash extension price?

Lash extension prices vary greatly throughout the UK, and it’s not simply a matter of the part of the world you live in. Prices in a large citycentre salon will be very different to at-home services in a less wealthy town, or a boutique beauty parlour in an affluent village.

However, we have done some research to provide you with a valuable starting point.

We hope you have found this information useful. Setting up your own lash extension business is hard work but extremely rewarding. And remember, the team at Flawless Lashes are here to help you in any way we can.

Article written with help of Julija B, Trainer in Reading, UK GLOBE lashesbyjuli.co.uk

You want to aim to be priced roughly on a par with artists at a similar standard to you in the same are