The beauty and wellness industry in India is catching the fancy of entrepreneurs and corporates alike. Gone are the days when visiting a salon was restricted to having a hair-cut or indulge in services like a manicure and pedicure. Today, what we have around is a combination of salon and spas which promise you a ‘feel-good’ factor not just externally but also internally with various options for massages and relaxation treatments. Sonal Suhukla visits Tresstalkh at Bandra (W) in Mumbai and shares the ambiance and customer services extended by the team.

A Quick Walk Through
As you enter the salon, the first thing that catches your attention is the inviting surroundings and intelligent use of the available space to incorporate both the salon and spa related activities. The wooden interiors in the lobby, highlight the luxurious ambiance which makes you feel at ease. The salon which is spread across 800 sq.ft (80 sq.m) area has made a sensible yet attractive use of space for storage of various products, providing enough room for seating arrangement in the entrance and other treatment rooms.

The salon houses five neat rooms:
1.    Ritual Room for hair treatments.
2.    Hands and Feet Bar for manicure, pedicure, nail art and foot massages.
3.    Express Room for waxing, threading.
4.    Age Lock Room for age-defying treatments
5.    Keraskin Room for facials and more.

The understated white and black colour scheme in each of these rooms depicts purity and the elegance of service makes sure that they look immaculate and ‘ready to serve’.

Outside, in a ‘structured dome zone’, hairstylists snip and prune, curl and re-bond, highlight and touch up. Here the arrangement of mirrors and other essentials gives the place a very vibrant touch.

The Ambiance
One of the highlights that shall catch your attention is the play of lights used throughout the store. Shares Meetah Thakkar, director – Tresstalkh, “We have special lightings in hair styling areas for exact color matching process. This was undertaken post an extensive discussion with our styling team. We made sure to involve them during the decision making process. We have used very soft day light and white lights in Keraskin and Kerastase rooms. Color changing LED’s are used in wall design fins to create drama in the massage room.”

Concept
Explaining the need for this type of full service salon Thakkar says, “As the Indian consumer is getting more and more conscious about their looks, there is this sudden emergence of salons and spas across the country. The need of the hour is to provide a holistic set of services to the customer making sure all their needs in the genre of beauty and wellness have been taken care of. Today’s customer not only wants the best service but is also on a look out for having a perfect ambiance and atmosphere. Hence it becomes imperative that minutest of details are taken care of while designing the interiors and especially so when the space that you have at your disposal is limited, keeping in mind the high real estate costs.”

Exclusive Services
Thakkar also takes pride in extending her services as a healer using crystal therapy. She has been providing crystal therapy, colour therapy and theta healing to a small set of people in the know.

Thakkar well understands the intricacies associated when it comes to having a good rapport with her customers. She has personally trained her staff when it comes to taking care of customer relationship and customer service. According to her, the key highlight of the customer service at Tresstalkh is being welcomed with a smile and addressing the smallest of query a customer would have in addition to detailed consultations given by the trained kerafacialists.

Adds Thakkar, “Also, while performing the ritual, subtle conversations help us understand the lifestyle of the person better, and we can guide them towards more informed choices.”

The feeling of space with a clever use of lights and colors is well taken care of apart from making sure that there is a clear demarcation between the rooms they have within the salon.

Thakkar  is a professionally trained cosmetologist with Lilliand Maund in U.K and she plays the force behind business operations of Tresstalk.

Besides her, there is Purvi Thakker (director) who takes care of the operations and the marketing activities. The third director at Tresstalkh is Deven Mukhi who works towards  building up the brand, making policy decisions and is in the business of Franchising for various brands. The team at Tresstalkh is well in sync with the current market dynamics and together they are working towards the expansion of the chain across the country in the years to come.

• Name of the architect-Designer : Jenny Kartika, Iconic Designs. Indonesia. Project     Management Consultants,     NiravSomaiya, Swapnil Desai,     RigvedInfrastructure, India.
• Name of some of the major     suppliers: NiravSomaiya, Swapnil Desai, Rigved Infrastructure, India.
• Fixtures: Rigved Infrastructure
• Flooring:Ritik Ceramics, Dadar     and Golden Marble.
• Furniture and Lighting:Rigved     Infrastructure
•  Brand Used for Lights: Philips and     Ankur Light Fixtures