Education and Training Awards 2021

Education and Training Awards 2021 29 Best Emerging Hair Extensions Training Provider – North England Award-winning Lox of Love is at the top of its game when it comes to hair extensions. We speak to founder, Victoria Cartwright, about her passion and the new business opportunity she is offering. Lox of Love began as a freelance hair extension service across the North East in 2012 after Founder Victoria Cartwright, spotted a gap in the market for high-quality hair extensions and aftercare services in her area. The brand has since grown to include salons in County Durham and Leeds, and with multiple awards for their hair extension specialism, the brand now has franchise opportunities available. Victoria herself has many prestigious accolades under her belt. She recently won the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2020 and she is a finalist in the Fashion and Beauty category for the North East in the 2021 awards. As well as this, Victoria is currently being featured in the Top 30 Influential Entrepreneurs of 2021 in the Entrepreneurs Herald and is a Finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year at the British Hair and Beauty Awards 2021. She also qualified for a PHAB Service Star in 2020 for the quality of her services to her clients, which sits alongside multiple awards for hair extensions. Hair extensions and business are her passions and being able to combine the two and teach all she knows to others is the best of all worlds. Whilst hair extension techniques have progressed dramatically in recent years, there is still a distinct lack of ongoing, advanced technical and business training for this hair industry niche, with many people completing one day training courses and expecting large, ongoing incomes from them. The reality is very different and Victoria believes that a more robust and regulated programme should be available to hair extension technicians, in order to offer the soundest advice to existing or would-be hair extension wearers. The Lox to Learn Academy was launched in response to this challenge, in order to offer technical and business support, and mentoring to existing hair extension technicians or to hairdressers and salon owners wanting to introduce a profitable and reputable hair extension service into their salon. Lox of Love and the Academy focus on quality and integrity. The Lox Way aims to make hair enhancement a normal part of a person’s salon visit, making guests feel their absolute best, instead of wishing their hair was longer, thicker, blonder or brighter. “We teach our guests, and now our trainees, that you really can have the hair you have always wanted, but we teach our guests how to maintain it responsibly and with their own hair health as priority,” Victoria says. “We have a robust, tried and tested process of consulting, fitting and maintaining hair extensions for guests and in turn, this keeps them returning to our salons as Lox of Love champions, who recommend us time and again.” May21206 Lox of Love’s repeat custom is its biggest focus, rather than trying to attract new clients, and this has seen the salon grow 40% year on year pre-Covid. The Lox to Learn Academy teaches this business model in its entirety, promoting transparency and integrity as core business philosophies. “We are innovative in that our service menus adapt to client demand, industry trends, seasonal demand and global pandemics!” The Lox to Learn Academy provides the fundamentals of how to plan, survive, strategize, grow, and of course, deliver amazing hair. “We are not about competition, but about sharing knowledge. A more regulated and educated hair extension industry will increase the demand for hair enhancement services, and so there will always be plenty of clients to go around. It is part of the Lox to Learn philosophy and liberating for our trainees!” To differentiate from competitors, Lox of Love and the Academy focus on transparency and integrity, with no hidden agendas, no surprise add-ons, and nothing but support and knowledge sharing in all that is offered. The programmes teach advanced technical installation, cutting and blending techniques, how to work with hair extensions and colour, as well as how to adapt or completely overhaul existing business models, including the all-important pricing aspect, to ensure on-going profitability, sustainability and a good reputation. The Academy is solely aimed at qualified hairdressers or hair extension technicians looking to advance their skills. “We want to ensure that the industry as a whole is better educated and is providing better quality services to clients in order to give the industry more legitimacy. “The Lox of Love salon brand boasts an incredible team of passionate and dedicated stylists and technicians.” In fact, to support the Academy launch, the diligent team worked during the lockdown periods on ensuring that their training delivers everything it should and in the best possible way. “The team all have a particular niche, and we nurture that and ensure that our training is broken down into bitesize chunks delivered by the individual best suited for it. Our team thrives better this way, and the students get to see their passion.” Regarding the future, The Lox of Love salon brand now has franchise opportunities available and is moving to new areas of the UK. Alongside this, Victoria and the team have been working for the past few years on their own brand of hair extensions which will be officially launched in 2021. Contact: Victoria Cartwright Company: Lox of Love Web Address: www.loxoflove.co.uk