Our continuous support to hairdressers during the crisis

As a historic partner of hairdressers, we have decided to increase our support to them during the crisis. We have been working to support them in reopening their salons to enable them to resume their activities under the best possible conditions. A look back at the action plan that has been implemented.

At the beginning of May, 59% of French people said they wanted to return to their hairdresser within the first week of deconfinement. A figure that shows the importance of these professionals in everyone's lives. It also reaffirmed our decision to support them during this difficult period.

"L'Oréal has been a partner of hairdressers for more than 110 years. That's why, during this crisis, we are closer than ever to our customers and completely determined to help them overcome the crisis," said Nathalie Roos, President of the Professional Products Division, on May 5. "We feel it's our responsibility to intervene and help them out," she adds. This is why we have decided to implement a major plan to support them with concrete solutions, including providing safety equipment, helping to reorganize salons and offering financial support.

Our primary concern has been the financial security of our partners. Since March 16, we have been committed to offering a debt freeze to all independent salons and hairdressers. A measure that affects 65,000 salons in France, and 100,000 around the world. 11,056 French clients have already benefited from this measure.

 We also wanted to continue to work towards their training, even at a distance. Thanks to L’Oreal Access, our e-learning platform, we have continued to offer training to hairdressing professionals in many countries through tutorials, webinars and various online educational modules. Its success was illustrated with a 52% increase in users between March 1 and April 1. Moreover, within six weeks, 44 countries started using the platform – up from 12 originally.

Lastly, we decided to provide European hairdressing professionals with 8.5 million masks and 3.5 million units of 400 ml hydro-alcoholic gel with any repeat orders, allowing them to resume their activities with peace of mind. In the future, the gel will be offered to them at cost price and masks at purchase price.

In time of adversity, this commitment to a profession in which we are historical partners has strengthened our ties [1]

In Portugal, together with Tech4Covid, we were able to launch the "Preserve" platform. What was our aim? To encourage people to order vouchers for hair services and products, which provides a new source of income for professionals whose salons are closed.

Finally, our Spanish teams launched an advisory service for hairdressers, aimed at providing them with answers about the measures needed to safeguard their business, and how to reorganize themselves to prepare for the future. A "Guide to Health and Safety in Salons", adapted to the new government health recommendations, was launched at the same time.

 
In all countries, we are committed to working alongside hairdressers, and we intend to continue to be their ally in managing the health crisis and its consequences. As Nathalie Roos explains: "It's the beginning of a new normal: things that have been put in place will remain in place, and the salon experience will be improved as a result."

 
This desire for improvement shared by L'Oréal and hairdressing professionals has already been extremely fruitful. According to a Harris Interactive survey, more than a third of hairdressers' customers in France and Germany, and more than half in the United States, considered their first post-confinement appointment more enjoyable than normal. This proves that together with our partners we can make the salon experience a special moment.