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New Inverness salon returns with bigger team and range of treatments


By Ian Duncan

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Allan MacKenzie at the Loft. Picture: Gary Anthony.
Allan MacKenzie at the Loft. Picture: Gary Anthony.

ONE Inverness hair and beauty salon was open for just 19 weeks before it was forced to close due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Allan MacKenzie, who runs the Loft in Baron Taylor’s Street, had been hoping to open his own salon for around two years before the new premises became available towards the end of last year.

He opened the new business in November and he had built up an existing client base from when he was previously working at Bannatyne Health Club And Spa and they had followed him to the new business.

He said: “I was planning for April this year but I came to the shop last year and decided it was right.”

As well as on-the-job training in salons, he also attended a course at Inverness College and, in total, it took three years for him to qualify – he has been cutting hair for between five and six years.

He said: “I always wanted my own salon, to have somewhere of my own, somewhere we could take the good points and make it perfect.”

As well as himself there are two other self-employed hairdressers, a nail technician, an eyebrow technician and a make-up artist.

He said they were a good team and they all got on very well – as well as the original three team members, an additional four started when they reopened.

“When we reopened we had a much bigger team,” he added. “It really works, which is good.”

Mr Allan said they had managed to maintain contact with clients via social media during the lockdown by holding live question-and-answer sessions and added: “We let them know what was happening, it was a very worrying time for them as well, we tried to inform them as much as possible.”

They spent two weeks getting safety measures in place ahead of reopening last month. He said: “We did it ourselves rather than contract it out with the additional costs.”

He said it had been busy since they reopened and they were still trying to get through all the appointments.

He added: “The first eight days were just straight through with no days off, just to try and catch up with everyone.”

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