A random act of kindness: how the industry showed they cared during lockdown

There are many ways to carry out a random act of kindness and show your team and clients you care without physically seeing them or giving them a hug, which we had to find out during this particularly challenging year. Lockdown was a lonely time for many – your team and clients might have been living alone, struggling financially or feeling stressed about the health of their loved ones, but so many in the industry pulled through and shared the love. For HJ's Stress-Busting Week, we round-up of some of the ways hairdressers and clients carried out random acts of kindness during the tough lockdown period to help reduce everyone's stress levels. We hope they put a smile on your face.

Random act of kindness: Sharing the love with clients

“We had an open contact policy for our clients and staff” “We are very fortunate that our relationship with our clients has always been based on communication therefore we had regular contact with them and more so during lockdown. Instead of this being purely hair based, we are now focussing on the care side of things and offering a random act of kindness. Our client’s range in age and for our more vulnerable clients we made it a point to contact them and ensure they had everything they needed during such a difficult time." "We are also operating an open contact policy- not only for our team but for our clients too, so they knew they can contact us about anything – not just hair! It’s important to be there for one another during this time and lend a shoulder should someone need one. The messages of support we received were fantastic and it’s only right that we return and extend the support to others.” - Brian MacMillan, F&M Hairdressing “Creating silly videos to keep clients entertained” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iau1PJ5hQxU “I was communicating consistently with the team to ensure they were part of everything I was doing. I was creating really silly videos to keep them entertained and give a little light relief each week. I had also been producing official videos on my YouTube channel so that our clients can watch and keep up to date with us. The response was so positive to this as they can see my face and really connect with what I am saying to them.”- Ross Charles, Ross Charles Hairdressing “We created a newsletter for clients and were asking for nominations to treat key workers once lockdown ended” “We’ve had some great conversations with our guests across social media, email and phone. We created a newsletter which featured images of our team with supportive messages and love hearts. This simple image was received so well and cheered up so many of our guests, some of which said it simply ‘made their day.’ "We’ve also launched our very own initiative to show our appreciation for the key workers in our local area of North Wales. Tommy’s Love and Care simply asked people to nominate a key worker they feel deserves to be treated once government restrictions are lifted. We were completely inundated with nominations and some of the stories are so inspirational.  We then chose around 30 names and they were given a voucher to use for any service within our salons at their own discretion. Having fought this pandemic, it is so important for us to say thank you.” - Esther Van Der Veken, Tommy’s Hair Company "We created an online store to help our clients and were providing individual advice to help during lockdown"  “We had a huge amount of calls from clients looking to manage their hair during lockdown and struggling to find what they need. We launched our online shop to ensure they have access to the products they would usually purchase when they visit the salon.

Random act of kindness: Sharing love with the team  

“Our team created Secret Santa-style care packages for one another” “As a team, we were talking every day on Whatsapp and Zoom calls. I thought it would be nice for everyone to exchange a care package. We put names in a virtual hat and partnered people up. I came up with the idea because I missed being with the team every day. We always look out for each other and this was a way of sending someone a little something – a face mask, lip balm, chocolates, hand cream and, of course, wine!" - Joe Reed, apprentice, Brooks & Brooks “We had team quiz nights and I started one-to-one catch-up calls” “To keep our team engaged and up to date with each other, we were doing a quiz night every Thursday with partners too. We found this was a light-hearted way to stay in touch and have some much-needed fun too. On Fridays, I sent the team an updated video with information on our return to work. I always included information from the latest government updates and ensured they were completely aware of what we were doing during that time as a business . I arranged one to one video calls with each of the team also. This was to check in with them individually and provide an open platform should they wish to voice any concerns or discuss any issues. This was probably the best thing I did for my team in lockdown. They all really appreciated it and it was really well received. In addition to this, I gave all team members access to a sports psychologist who was sharing techniques to stay positive and focused during lockdown. This expert also provides access to various online fitness coaches which the team are still loving.”- Simon Hill, SESH Hairdressing

Random act of kindness: Sharing free education  

“We offered the team a daily education fix” “Since the very start of lockdown, the educators at Sanrizz ensured that we would keep in touch with our team on a daily basis with a daily education fix. Although we did not deem it compulsory, we were delighted in that we do generally attract a full house on a daily basis. This kept our artistic foundations progressing – and it’s was also a wonderful vehicle in which to keep in touch with everyone and to ensure their good health and general mental stability throughout this very difficult time.”- Sharon Cox, education director, Sanrizz Salons “We let the team know what free education is available at the beginning of each week.” “Both myself and my team turned this time into a pure learning zone – I let all my team members know what free education is available at the beginning of the week and urge them to follow. We then get together on a zoom call at the end of each week to discuss what boxes were ticked, who we felt were great, not so good, fabulous or bad! We also listened to numerous recorded live sessions – especially the HJ Goes Live ones as ‘getting to know’ the artists that we have so admired was amazing. This led us to draw up a list of who we would like to talk to and now we hold a coffee break catch-up twice a week and we’ve had the good fortune to have one-to-one chats with the great and the good! It’s was incredible having ‘us’ time with the likes of Errol Douglas, Bruno Marc, John Vial, Steven Smart and really great businesspeople like Mark Creed and Alan Simpson.” - Danilo Giangreco, Danilo Hair Boutique “We donated all the money generated from our education sessions to causes such as the NHS” “We worked hard with all our team through online education sessions and inspirational evenings. Grace Dalgleish had lots of education planned throughout 2020, and this seemed to be the perfect way for her to carry on her educational ideas and advice, as well as share with the hairdressing community everything she has been working on. Grace is an amazing educator- we wanted everyone to come back with a positive mind and the knowledge to tackle any situation. We donated all the money generated from Grace’s session to causes such as NHS charities and donated money from Kayleigh’s session to the Hair & Beauty Charity – we  massively appreciated anyone who made a donation!" - Sally Brooks, Brooks & Brooks

Random act of kindness: Clients showing how much they care   

“My clients offered to pay for their missed appointments”    “It was a very interesting time for us at Tristan Eves as we are located in a small community in the very stunning town of Petworth, West Sussex. The fact that ‘everyone knows everything and everybody' meant we  all gathered together harmoniously and we were intent for all the small businesses here to survive the lengthy lockdown period. This was the view of not just the small businesses owners but our clients that have also shown us such unwavering support. We’ve had a loyal bunch of clients ever since we opened up our doors and we were surprised to see payments appearing on our bank statement from several of them. When I rang each of the clients to ask what the payment was for, suggesting that they were pre-paying for their next haircut, they said: 'We are paying for the appointment we missed.'  This reaction really brought a lump to both mine and Tristan’s throats. You can’t get more loyal than that can you? As for our team, we were such a tight-knit group that rarely a day went past without interaction with one or other. We were in it together and we were each prepared to get back to work through such a testing time. It’s definitely been an interesting, testing time for all businesses, but the kindness of everyone has practically killed the anxiety.” - Michael Smith, Tristan Eves “We had so many clients sending gifts and we were doing shopping deliveries for them too” “Many of my clients were asking me if there’s anything I need before they go out and do their shopping deliveries. I also had so many gifts sent to me from clients – sweets, drinks, hampers, skin care – it was so lovely. We were keeping in touch with as many clients as possible, having weekly calls with them and we were also doing shopping for a few of our clients. Everyone pulled together and it was so lovely. This time has shown that clients really do love and appreciate us. I’ve had lot of my clients for over 25 years or more, so they really know me and we’ve become friends. Many of us had weekly Zoom parties and quizzes, which was great fun. People in this industry are so kind and that’s one thing that’s really lovely and special about it.” - Jim Shaw, TONI&GUY, Billericay

HJ’s Stress-Busting Week is sponsored by Wella Professionals. For more information about Wella Professionals or to connect with their team, follow them on social media via Facebook and Instagram.