A good hair day in half an hour

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For many of London’s cash-rich, time-poor female professionals, December’s frantic festive fortnight of Christmas lun­ches, shopping trips and holiday soirées can prove a personal grooming minefield.

“The City has never offered the same wealth of efficient and afford­able salons as, say, New York – where im­maculate hair and nails are essential and integral parts of a woman’s working wardrobe,” laments one senior partner at a leading law firm. Her comments are echoed by a young banking analyst in the Square Mile: “Given my schedule is manic at the best of times, and most salons are only open when I’m in the office, the Christmas calendar is always a nightmare.”

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The potential of this relatively un­tapped market – led by demand from wealthy consumers and the broader backdrop of strong global haircare and beauty sales – is catching the eye of venture capitalists, private investors and brand-name hairdressers. Moreover, they bel­ieve that catering to consumers for whom looking good is a professional priority as well as a personal one has year-round appeal.

Last month saw the UK launch of Blow Ltd, a salon-style start-up with high-profile backers from the fashion and e-commerce sector including Nick Robertson, founder of online retailer Asos, and Mark Sebba, chief executive of Net-A-Porter.

From 7am, the Covent Garden shop in central London offers clients a menu of styles of blow-dry in 30 minutes for £25. Myriad makeover and manicure options at £15 see women in and out of the store in just 15 minutes. Customers book a slot, rather than a specified stylist, online. In the bid for maximum efficiency, there are no distracting mirrors (unless re­quested) or magazines.

“The proposition with our multi-service shops – where several treatments are carried out at once – is that of ‘fast beauty’ at highly competitive prices,” says Dharmash Mistry, co-founder of Blow Ltd and a former venture capitalist at Balderton Capital. Blow Ltd’s plans to roll out a further 99 outlets in premium postcodes nationwide are under way.

He says the business is innovative in the way it blurs the lines bet­ween beauty services and e-tail. As well as the booking process, products from the brands used in the salon are available through Blow’s website: both give it an opportunity to collect data about individuals as well as the chance to hone a bespoke and targeted Blow Ltd experience by tracking their choices. “In the UK there are 55,000 salons and 94 per cent are single-owner, so it’s a fragmented market ripe for someone to disrupt it. We’re part of a broader revolution in lifestyle retail, where online and offline experiences are forging together,” says Mr Mistry.

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Co-founder Fiona McIntosh, a for­m­er editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, adds: “The traditional beauty spa model – expensive and indulgent treatments centred on relaxation – is less and less relevant to many 21st-century women . . . Clients want to be in and out as quickly as possible with minimum fuss and maximum impact.”

The founders of Blow Ltd and their backers are betting that there is potential for fast-beauty services outlets to become the professional woman’s go-to “accessible luxury”. Other early movers in the UK market to recognise the potency of speed, glamour and efficiency include top British hairdresser Daniel Hersheson, who launched his four Hersheson Blow Dry Bars in the City and West End of London five years ago in order to complement the established uber-luxe salon sessions for which he was already known.

Mr Hersheson’s son Luke has described the expansion as an important means of diversifying and developing the Hersheson brand. “A lot of women want a blow-dry once a week – whether it’s a classic blow-dry or sexy, party hair. We’ve also undercut every blow-dry price in the West End. We are aiming for a cross-section of people aged from 18 to 50, earning anything from £20,000 to £500,000 a year,” he said.

In the US, where this type of fast-luxury service is already established, entrepreneurs who trailblazed affordable, high-quality grooming have seen demand surge for the fast, no-fuss service.

In 2008, California stay-at-home mum Alli Webb started Drybar, a door-to-door $40 blow-dry business – whatever a client’s hair length or type – as a means of occasionally getting out of the house.

“In just a few short months the business had become tot­ally overwhelming – I simply couldn’t keep up with the calls coming in, despite the fact I wasn’t offering either cuts or colouring,” she says. “I realised the business model I had inadvertently stumbled upon – a quick ‘pick-me-up’ of salon quality but at a discount price – had the potential to be a gold mine, particularly as people scaled down how they spoiled themselves in the wake of the economic downturn.”

Ms Webb also recognised she need­ed a bricks-and-mortar presence.

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In 2010 she and her husband Cameron invested their life savings in the first shop, with her brother Michael Landau becoming Drybar’s CEO and main investor. Three years down the line, the company has 35 US sites and 2,000 employees, plus projected revenues of about $40m for 2013.

Last year Drybar raised $21m from Boston-based private equity firm Castanea Partners to fund its expansion, and the founders recently hired the former president of OPI Nails, John Heffner, as CEO: “We needed someone with extensive experience [in] nurturing and growing world-class consumer product companies,” says Mr Landau.

He admits that when his sister ask­ed him to join Drybar, “I was highly sceptical and couldn’t wrap my head around the concept – I’m bald, so I thought she was nuts to think women would invest consistently like that in their hair.” Mr Landau adds: “Today I continue to be staggered almost daily at just how much I underestimated demand. Each bar averages between 60 and 100 blowouts per day.”

The company plans to expand overseas, including in the UK. It has laun­ched a branded range of products and hairdryers online that is also sold by leading retailers including QVC and Sephora.

The founders acknowledge the “in­evitable” competition in fast-beauty blow-drying. As a result, Ms Webb says, the focus is on expanding while also ensuring that the service is consistent across every salon, and to ensure “that we provide the same quality of service that I offered when it was just me, my kit and my car”.