Dopamine beauty and prioritised indulgence:

How to incorporate these trends into your salon.

By Fresha

The hair, beauty and wellness industry is always evolving, with cultural drivers and technological changes pushing the industry forward every single day. Fresha, the world’s biggest salon software, recently published their first trend report with WGSN.

Crafted from 1000+ consumer surveys over three continents, plus the data from 600 million bookings on their platform, Fresha has tapped into what’s trending and what the future holds for this industry.

One stand-out trend was dopamine beauty and prioritised indulgence

Consumers are placing higher value on expression and emotional well-being, which is triggering a rise in hair and beauty services that are both meaningful and playful. They’re prioritising their self-expression and focussing on finding services that are right for them.

Dopamine beauty is wellness that prioritises playfulness

It’s about exploring self-expression through colours, textures and scents to create a feel-good effect. The trend focuses on joy and mental well-being, rather than just physical health.

It comes as a response to trends like clean girl aesthetic or no-makeup makeup. Dopamine ditched the beige and decided to bring back youth-like wonder to improve mental health and see hair, beauty and wellness treatments as a chance to be playful.

While the dopamine beauty trend has emerged in many ways, like glitter make-up or intricate nail art - there will always be an opportunity to incorporate it into your salon services.

You can do this by offering services that are both trend-driven and dopamine-boosting.

Prioritised indulgence shows that clients are focusing on wellbeing more than ever

Fresha found that over half of Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X see hair and beauty services as essential, compared to 37% of Baby Boomers. Younger generations are also more comfortable spending more time and money on hair and beauty, reclassifying what was previously seen as indulgent into a necessity. And making sure that there’s a wellness element to their more necessary appointments, like a haircut.

So, prioritising an emotional approach to client care becomes more and more important. And remembering that clients that use their time at the salon as time to treat themselves: it’s rarely ever just a haircut.

AS featured in the last edition of HAIRBIZ, Fresha recently spoke to one of their partners, WILLOMINA, a hair salon in Woollahra Village, Sydney

Kassandra and Chris, the co-owners, spoke about their approach to client care. “It’s really important to our clients, that we remember that when they come to the salon it is an important part of their day. And so, it’s important to me that they have a really beautiful experience.

We have to remember that someone might have saved for two months to come and have their hair done, or maybe they’ve just had a baby and this is the first time they’re coming in to get their hair done after.”

So, tapping into wellness in your salon is a huge part of the client experience. Incorporating things like head massages and an array of drinks helps create a calming atmosphere that will turn your salon into a space where clients can take a deep breath and switch off from the world. Suddenly haircuts become more than just a functional service, but something that boosts their wellbeing and their dopamine levels.

Creating personalised and calming experiences will keep your clients coming back, because they’ll know that when they do, they’ll feel better about more than just their hair.

Fresha is the world’s #1 beauty and wellness marketplace powered by all-in-one free business software with integrated payments. With over 100,000 partner venues in more than 120 countries, Fresha simplifies business operations and enhances customer experiences.

To learn more, visit fresha.com, download Fresha on the App Store and Google Play, or follow Fresha on Instagram and Facebook. For more information please go to fresha. com/for-business