Smart Step's Salon Bliss Lifestyle Mat.  
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Smart Step's Salon Bliss Lifestyle Mat. 

As part of our Designing Minds series, industry furniture, equipment and design experts are tacklling reader questions. In this installment, Smart Step's Daniel Bouzide addresses the following:

With health and wellness such a big concern today, what is one of the easiest ways to do a quick salon refresh, that takes the health of our salon team into account?

Daniel Bouzide 
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Daniel Bouzide

Bouzide: Any salon makeover is designed to stimulate the mind as the improved visual impact creates new excitement for the clients. Some makeovers may be exotic and others merely a welcome facelift. Regardless of the depth, delight should be present for both the client and the stylist.

Let’s face it, any salon makeover is expensive, so it really needs to yield results. The obvious is to maintain current customer retention and invite new customers which add revenue. Everyone wants to work in a cool, fresh, exciting place. The makeover can also invite good talent to join the team. But just like the fashion world, the novelty of that salon re-fresh will level off in time and eventually become the norm.

What about the stylist? How can this makeover investment impact the artists that create the salon revenue that will ultimately pay for the makeover? It is simple, involve them. Include their workstation as a part of the décor and makeover.

It is often overlooked that the stylist is the one who ultimately endorses the investment and makeover in those deep personal client conversations. If he or she was not a personal part of the refresh, they could indirectly sabotage the salon makeover efforts. Be sure that an element of the makeover includes the workstation. Show them, a part of this beauty is for you!

An example of a salon refresh may be a decorative epoxy floor or possibly a beautiful tile or hardwood design. In all three of these cases the stylist is still standing on a very hard, challenging work surface and likely won’t appreciate the expensive aesthetics of the hard floor.

If an old worn mat was previously used, it is usually the first thing to go because it is now a complete eyesore on that beautiful new floor. At Smart Step, we give every reason to add the decorative standing solution and be a part of the health and wellbeing of the salon makeover.

Gone are the days that a hairdresser would work a 12-hour day, go home, and make a TV dinner and fall asleep in the recliner watching reruns, just to do it again the next day. At Smart Step we know that today’s stylists work hard, yet much smarter. Well educated, they understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance in their regimen. They want to meet their friends for happy hour, be at Johnny’s baseball game at 6:00 or go to the fitness center on their way home. Simply put, a healthy work environment is imperative to the success and happiness of today’s stylist.

It is vital that the health and wellbeing of the stylist is taken well into consideration when salon makeover investments are planned out. With significant costs usually associated with décor facelifts, one of the easiest and appreciated improvements are the standing mats that the stylists will perform on.

Actually, a quality Premium Salon Standing Solution, is one of the most economical ways to add to a salon makeover. A Premium Decorative Mat salon mat can cost as little as $200 per chair and pay tremendous rewards with the stylist, making it the most cost-effective way to compliment a salon makeover.

We have all seen the extensive wear and tear, stains and deterioration of the floors that are often at the most focal point of the salon, around the chairs. Surprisingly, much of the floor mat industry has not evolved and seldom fits in salon décor updates. Mats are usually black, tattered, torn and are generally eyesores. Most salon makeovers do not include these unsightly, barely supportive pieces of foam even when new and leave the stylist to fend for themselves.

That was then. Smart Step/WellnessMats has been manufacturing Premium Standing Solutions since 1996 at our own factory in St. Louis, MO. With the Beauty Business being one of 8 divisions, we have become the innovators and leaders of the Premium Anti-Fatigue Mat category while producing over 1.2 million mats annually.

WellnessMats, the decorative division of Smart Step can be found in thousands of settings where a premium standing solution is needed along with attractive décor aesthetics, such as upscale hotels, casinos, and high-end retailers. Sold as a high-end commercial standing mat for the home, WellnessMats are sold through partners such as William-Sonoma, Frontgate, Dillards, Pottery Barn and many more.

It was through this division that inspired us to add the Decorative Salon Mats 10 years ago. It was sort of a no brainer with the beauty industry being about just that – Beauty. The best-selling decorative salon mat is the Bella Collection, Bella meaning beautiful.

The other key to the success of Smart Step is the performance and durability of our Standing Mats. Every Smart Step/WellnessMat is produced with our proprietary pure polyurethane. With the identical composition as our Salon Mats, our smooth surface mats are found in Hospitals, Factories, Homeland Security and many other taxing occupational settings.

To be an important part of any salon makeover, Smart Step has addressed all the salon unsightly concerns. The edges will never curl, the mats will never bubble up or delaminate. The mat will never compress or lose its bounce back. Every Smart Step mat has a clear coat finish to make them easy to sweep and clean while reducing foot traffic and color stains. The non-slip bottom keeps a Smart Step Mat in place free from sliding.

To summarize, including a Smart Step Decorative Mat in a salon makeover has a direct correlation to the stylist and the overall feel and look of the refreshed salon. The Decorative Mat will look beautiful for the salon owner and provide outstanding comfort, support, and wellbeing for the stylist for years to come. To see more on how to complete your salon makeover, visit www.smartstepflooring.com.  

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