If you are following me on Instagram, you might have seen my stories showcasing my experience at The Grove Salons at JLT, Dubai. I don’t think I’ve had such a detailed chat about my hair as I did with their hair magician Cherizeh Gadhiali. She didn’t just give my hair a new color, but brought it to life with a special state of the art Kerastase treatment that gave my dried up ends some much needed TLC.

Loving my new ‘Matte Blonde’ color. Its less on the brazen orange and more on an earthy muted, nearly green tone that seems to work well with my tanned complexion.

And the cherry on the cake was a pampering mani and pedi session. The salon also offers a wide range of beauty pampering deals including facials, body massages and an entire section dedicated to Kerastase hair treatments.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Ruchika Singhal, the owner of The Grove Salons. She shares with us her business story and a few insights into the business side of the beauty world.

• Please tell us a little about The Grove Salons. When did you start this concept, and how does it differ from other salons around the city?

Founded in 2017, The Grove Salons is launched as a go-to salon for all your hair and beauty services. We offer customer experiences via professional services, personal touch, always up-to-date with the latest trends and a sincere interest in every individual who is in search of their personal beauty; this is the Credo of The Grove Salons.

Present in 2 locations, we are serving Dubai’s contemporary community with a vibrant ambience, friendly, trained and communicative stylists who adhere to quality and skilled hair crafting. It has now grown to a full service salon and we carry a strong ethos of no compromise on products and no hard selling of services.

• Tell us a little more about yourself. What were you doing before embarking into the salon business, and what inspired you to start?

My career started as a software and marketing professional in a multinational and moved on to manage channel distribution for a leading Security software vendor in the MEA region. A functional and multi dimensional business experience and an innate interest in lifestyle industry laid the foundation of The Hair Crafters Company in 2012.

My objective was to create a platform for passionate and creative hair and beauty experts, where they can bring in their passions and exhibit their skills in an open, no hang-ups work culture. We managed to bring together a company that is structured, organised, system driven and reflective of a good corporate culture within an industry known to be individualistic and is primarily stylist driven.

THC then embarked BBLUNT’s first international outlet at prestigious DIFC in 2013.

• You were connected to the celebrity Indian label BBlunt. Can you elaborate?

BBLUNT was brought to Dubai, UAE in 2013 by The Hair Crafters Company as a Franchise Partner located at Liberty House, DIFC. I can definitely say that we have been successful in capturing the hair business of the contemporary Indian diaspora here in UAE.

We want to carry this experience to expand into Dubai’s international community hair and beauty needs. Hence, we have moved over to launch our own brand ‘The Grove Salons’ in 2017 both at DIFC and a brand new luxury salon at JLT.

• How do you choose your staff, and how do you ensure they are up to date with the latest trends in beauty?

Our recruitment has been generally through the goodwill and reputation of our company that attracts talented hairstylists aspiring to explore international grounds. We conduct technical and behavioral tests to determine stylists’ readiness on the floor and ability of superior customer experiences. All our staff is constantly training in house on latest trends and products by our Creative Director, who brings us a rich experience of over 2 decades.

• What product brands are used in The Grove Salons?

We handpick brands that inspire us and give us the bandwidth to grow in creativity and explore the ever-changing market trends. We also believe in investing with brands’ with high technology, innovativeness and quality quotient.

We are offering a mix of Kerastase Rituals and treatments, LOreal Professional, Redken, Pravana in Hair Care, Dermalogica for Skincare and handpicked treatments and colours for Nails.

• Please advise on the top 5 hair trends we need to look out for in 2019.

2019 sees our clients constantly fed with the latest celebrity cuts, product launches and at the moment trends. We are constantly striving to keep our feeds current and topping is the optimistic Living Coral, the Pantone Colour of the year. This trend works really well as an everyday hair color for Blondes, and we are inspired to add subtlety by adding it to the tips and champagne blonde highlights for the dark haired.

Chestnut Brown reigns in the natural brown look and has been our classic favorite. Those looking for a big change and low maintenance color, adding Aubergine and Dark Plum hue colors using the Balayage technique are our top 2019 trend picks.

We highly recommend maintaining the volume and shine of your hair with a right haircut. Professional in salon treatments and at home hair care products as the best ROI for your salon visits from the OTC brands.

Haircuts for 2019 – Shaggy Haircuts, inspired by K POP, feathered ends and layers add body, movement and look great with on girls with wavy or straight hair. Mid length bobs with an undercut for the bold and daring or the Blunt Bobs works well for all hair types.

Apart from hair & nails, what are the other services offered at The Grove Salons?

We are a full service hair and beauty salon and offer Haircuts, Colour and treatments, Skin services such as Facials, Threading and Hair removal services, and Hands and Feet treatments including Gel and Acrylic Nail Extensions.

Our DIFC location has a Mens section for Hair and on chair grooming services and JLT location offers luxury Kerastase Rituals and treatments in an exclusive VIP room.

Get 15% off all services at The Grove Salon JLT with my code Tezzy15!

The Grove Salon has a branch in DIFC and JLT:
DIFC – C-04 Liberty House
JLT – Cluster U
Visit thegrovesalons.com for more details. For bookings, give them a call on +971 4 3526300