Sola Salon Studios to the Rescue

The Hair Nerds have always been fans of independent stylist and the companies that truly support them.

Enter Sola Salon Studios.

Founded in 2004 with the dream of doing more than designing beautiful, move-in-ready salon studios. Co-founders Stratton Smith and Matt Briger set out to build a thriving community where independent beauty professionals could create a life and career they loved.

As Sola has continued to grow and thrive within our industry, it’s easy to see why stylist flock to Sola as a first choice in taking control of their business and studio spaces.

Keep reading to find out why The Hair Nerds <3 Sola Salon Studios.

What sets Sola apart and why is your culture so unique?

At Sola, we lease salon studios, but the heart of our culture is really to provide the support and resources to help an independent hairdresser or beauty professional succeed as a salon owner. With nearly 16 years of experience, 500+ locations and 15,000 independent salon owners in our family, we have seen and learned from all of the collective experiences and continue to innovate and provide new technology, education, tools, industry partnerships and more, as well as constant innovation inside of our salon studios. 

At Sola, our focus on community is what helps to build a unique culture of independents who are supporting each other, whether locally, or virtually all across the country and in Canada, too. Throughout the last two months, we have seen our community band together more than ever so that we can all get to the other side of this #SolaStrong. 

Before salon closures, Sola was already taking steps to create a safer environment. What were some of those steps and will they become a part of the "new-normal" for cleanliness?

At Sola, each of our stylists works independently (or in some cases with a studio mate) inside a totally private studio with floor-to-ceiling walls and a sliding glass door, which provides ultimate control of the cleanliness of their individual studio. The safety of our stylists and their customers is our number one concern, from the beginning and now as we reopen each of our locations when legally allowed to do so.  

Before salon closures, we followed all guidelines from the CDC and our franchisees increased the frequency of the sanitation of all common areas - shared hallways, entryway and break rooms. We also provided our stylists with a list of sanitation best practices and communication best practices to keep in touch with their guests. 

As soon as our salons started closing, we launched a COVID-19 Resource Center, to house resources such as recorded webinars, blogs, upcoming virtual education and financial guides and resources for the Sola community, which we also made available to all beauty professionals. 

Now, as we prepare for reopening, our locations are undergoing deep cleaning to sanitize and disinfect all common areas and our stylists are being asked to deep clean their individual studios. We provided our stylists with a Barbicide back-to-work plan, customized for Sola, hosted a webinar with Barbicide, and also documented best practices on the Sola Blog. We recommend all Sola stylists get Barbicide certified prior to reopening.  

We also sourced medical grade disposable masks, reusable masks and capes for our Sola Store to provide easier access to necessary PPE. As our locations are reopening, the government guidelines and regulations are different everywhere. We are equipping our local franchisees and managers with the information they need to ensure they are fully informed of what is required to reopen and strictly follow all guidelines, putting safety first. All of our locations that are reopening are keeping the front doors locked at all times to ensure that the only people in the building have an appointment and are taken directly to their stylist's private studio. Depending on the location, the break room is either closed or only one person is allowed in there at a time. For the time, we are requiring stylists take their laundry home rather than using shared laundry resources to mitigate traffic in the break room.

We remain in constant communication on ways stylists can help prepare their studios for reopening, including sanitation, communication, business strategies and more. 

How is Sola preparing for salons to reopen?

We are following all local guidelines and making sure we have the necessary PPE, disinfectant and materials needed to reopen. For our community of beauty professionals, we have hosted a number of webinars around reopening discussing topics such as sanitation, studio updates, pricing, scheduling, communications, business, marketing, rebooking and adjusting to the new normal. 

Whether a salon never closed, closed for a short period, or is still closed, we are entering a new normal. It's imperative that we fully support our community through this crises. 

What prompted the decision to forgo charging rent to suite owners during this time?

When salon businesses like Sola were mandated to close, our independent salon owners stopped earning an income. Our stylists are small, independent business owners, and at Sola, it's our promise to put our beauty professionals first. We felt that not collecting rent was the right thing to do. 

What resources have been/will be made available for Sola stylists?

We have created a number of blogs covering topics such as sanitation, communication best practices, reopening strategies and checklists, pricing, self-care and more.

We have hosted webinars on business, marketing, social media mental health, reopening strategies, panel discussions with our community, hosted by Sola Salon Studios, Nina Kovner, Daniel Mason Jones and more. We have also hosted a number of artistic classes with Joico, Hattori Hanzo Shears, Sam Villa Brand, Vivienne Mackinder and more. 

We created financial guides on EIDL, PPP and guidance on unemployment as well as a downloadable financial guide for personal finances.  

We launched the Sola Stories Podcast featuring several episodes specific to COVID-19.  

We are fully committed to our community and will continue to support them through this crises.  

All of this and more is hosted on our COVID-19 Resource Center (www.solasalons.com/covid19).

Thinking about becoming a Sola Studio independent artist? Click here for more info.