Letter: Beauty business is entrepreneurial incubator

Posted 5/25/17

Turning to page 1 of East Bay Life and seeing the celebration of Caboret Salon made me smile. It was so nice to see not only a successful business being celebrated in the paper, but a women owned …

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Letter: Beauty business is entrepreneurial incubator

Posted

Turning to page 1 of East Bay Life and seeing the celebration of Caboret Salon made me smile. It was so nice to see not only a successful business being celebrated in the paper, but a women owned business, a partnership and a business of 50 years — a business trifecta if you ask me.

Hairdressers and the beauty business in general often get a bad rap with outdated stereotypes and eye rolling when yet another salon is getting ready to open in the downtowns of America. Seeing a lasting business like Caboret is a great reminder of the many positives that this business and businesses like it offer to our towns and to women in general.

Hair salons historically were, and still are, a great entry for female entrepreneurs, and yet many women opening them don’t usually consider themselves in that light. More often than not, women hairdressers from the 50s and the 60s went into business owning to make some money, but more importantly to have the freedoms necessary to have balance with their families. Entrepreneurship was almost an afterthought.

The vocational aspect of the beauty business is so overlooked and underrated. With movies like Grease singing songs like, “Beauty School Dropout,” the messaging for our young has always been negative. In the eyes of many parents, the decision for their children to go to beauty school was thought of as a step down after high school. 

The fact is that it is a wonderful alternative or addition to a traditional college education. When you consider return on investment, it is a great opportunity for a young person who is undecided about college to build a skill set that is immediately marketable. After all, everyone needs a haircut. A one-year cosmetology license or a six-month skin license for a price of $12-$20k is a great choice. Almost anyone can get a job in the business and make that money back in the first year of employment. Unfortunately, many in-debt college graduates cannot say this.

The economics of hair salons and beauty businesses in the downtown area is also often overlooked. Unlike retail and restaurants, salons are appointment-based. This means that every day in every salon, from Thames Street to Wood Street and every street in between and beyond, customers are coming into our town for these services. This helps a struggling retail business in the world of Internet vs. brick and mortar, and the restaurant business. It helps them because the hundreds of conversations that are going on between hairdressers, nail techs, massage therapists and estheticians, and the relationships that have been nurtured are so often referrals to these places of business. In addition, the service providers who work downtown are eating, shopping and bringing their families back when they are not working.

So thank-you to East Bay Newspaper for celebrating the stellar Caboret women owners, the matriarchs of hair as you so perfectly referred to them. I am so glad that their business got the recognition it so deserved, and hopefully, other aspiring entrepreneurs will be inspired to take the leap and follow their hearts. Thank-you to Caboret for setting the example of great female business.

Alayne White
11 Constitution St.

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