Have scissors, will travel

BY JA Strom —
Seniors who have difficulty leaving their homes to go to a hair salon have a new option: in-home hair care. In Sync Salon will bring the stylist to you.

The salon is among an increasing number of businesses that see potential in the growing senior market and understand the importance of delivering services in innovative ways.

Owner Mark Austin saw the need for such a service during his 17-year career in the home care industry. An individual may not be able to leave his or her home because of limited mobility or an illness or has to rely on a family member for transportation, Austin explained, but they still want to look and feel good.

His salon in Robbinsdale is the hub from which the moble services are available in Minneapolis and the western suburbs. Austin bought the salon, which already had a substantial senior clientele, in January.

The in-home services offered — to both men and women — include hair cutting, styling, coloring and perms, facials, manicures , pedicures and foot massages.

Austin makes sure the stylist who goes to the home is appropriately trained. “We know how to take care of dry, sensitive skin, tender scalps, thinning hair and fragile nails and feet,” Austin says, “whether at the salon or in your home.”

Right now, Austin is concentrating on building relationships with home care agencies that would add his salon services to the list of personal care they provide their clients. “It’s a matter of getting our name and what we offer out there,” Austin says, “so people know our service is available.”

With winter slowly creeping towards us, Austin sees a potential increase in demand for in-home care, as the harsher weather makes it more difficult for some seniors to get out.

Austin also sees potential in family members buying their senior relative a gift certificate for an in-home salon visit — a sort of “Spa Day” at home.

(Posted September 11, 2008)