The Hindu Business Line : Grooming is big biz today

"No. I wanted to be a chef,'' says Mr Vikram Mohan, Director, Bounce, place where the most talked-about-people of Chennai have their hair cut, styled and textured.

And it was not as a chef or in an international airline (where he worked briefly) that Mr Mohan made his mark, but as a hair stylist.

Of course, hair is big business, these days. Mr Mohan said that he saw business opportunity in the demand for high-end grooming solutions, especially in the hair and beauty segment. He decided to set up Bounce, on the lines of the unisex salons abroad.

His family is not new to this line of enterprise as `Kanya', the salon chain in Chennai and Bangalore run by his mother Ms Latha Mohan, has been around for about two decades.

At Bounce, hair is not cut, it is styled, to enhance one's personality. A lot of care is taken to make sure of this. Mr Mohan, for instance, uses five types of scissors when he works. On an average it take about 45 minutes for a style. A haircut costs about Rs 400 for a woman and Rs 250 for a man.

The emergence of the metrosexual male along with a highly paid young workforce have raised the demand for grooming and grooming products.

The salon business is still in its nascent stage in India and quite urban centric. Though the actual numbers are difficult to come by, there are about 35,000 salons in the country today, Mr Mohan said. Of these about 8,000 cater to the upper middle class and a hundred to the premium segment. The industry is growing at about 50 per cent, he said.

Customers at Bounce range from an 85-year-old lady who loves the cool atmosphere to children who call it `Jump'.

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