Trends may come and go, but Naturals Salon is here to stay. 2025 marks the 25th year since Veena Kumaravel and her husband started one of India’s largest salon chains, with over 900 branches operating across the country. What started as a team of 10 has grown into over 12,000 today.
Veena comes from a business background and spent her twenties learning lessons and picking up tricks of the trade. After starting a family, she and her husband decided to launch their own business. Her husband was in the haircare products line, so the natural way forward was an extension of that. Around the same time, they met a woman from the Taj Group who was technically trained and willing to manage a salon. She wanted to invest in them, and they were looking for the right opportunity. It was a match made in heaven.
“Back then, the salon industry was not very recognisable. It was a taboo topic. People used to have hairdressers or beauticians go to their houses, or it was done in single-room spaces, which were few and far between. It was otherwise two extremes, five-star hotels or small neighbourhood salons. We realised that there was a huge gap in the market and that these services were not easily accessible. There had to be a middle ground. We wanted to provide good-quality services in a nice, ambient space for customers to feel comfortable. Our first branch was on Khader Nawaz Khan Road, and we had positioned ourselves as a premium service,” Veena explains.
Veena Kumaravel, co-founder of Naturals Salons
Soon, however, the investor had moved away from management, and Veena and her husband had to figure things out—employing trained staff and running the salon as they saw fit. The biggest challenge then and now is manpower. Identifying, training, and employing staff is a huge task. “In those years, it wasn’t a very lucrative career, so not many people were interested in taking this up as a job. There were very few academies or institutes for getting trained in this field. People generally learnt these things hands-on; there were no courses for it. Right now, we’re inching towards 900 salons, so the requirement for manpower is huge. We started getting people from Northeast India to get trained. We don’t charge them for the training; we give them accommodation, and once they have finished receiving the training, we place them in our salons. We call them smile providers,” she beams.
“Earlier, fashion trends were slow to come to India. If a style originated in Paris, it would take 6-12 months to come to us, but today, with the growth of social media and a global digital presence, everyone is aware of a trend at the same time. Now, big skincare and fashion brands have found a huge market in India, with the population and the number of salons across the country. They’re vying for a piece of our market! Skin and haircare brands even customise their products to suit our skin tone and hair texture.”
Veena mentions that The Body Shop was a big inspiration for them, both in terms of products and the franchise model. They wanted to bring in products like those with natural fragrances, but India was an unstable market back then, and affordability was another issue for international brands. Today, the beauty sector has evolved from being solely for occasions to being a basic, essential service. Nails, skin, hair, makeup: needs have become specialised, she points out. In the early years, you would enter a salon for a service, and you would be seated, and a makeup artist or hair stylist would come to you. Now, you get to choose a specific stylist suited to your needs and budget; that’s how much the market has grown.
Smile providers at a Naturals branch opening
Being in the business for a quarter of a decade, Veena explains some of the lessons she learned. “Being updated is the biggest lesson. Customers today know everything, so we need to be aware as well. Keeping up to date with trends and what’s popular is key to giving your customers a satisfying experience. We were a bit late to the bandwagon on digital and influencer marketing, but now we’re caught up. It is still a big challenge, since we’re not dealing with a single salon; we’re dealing with hundreds.”
When asked if she would do anything differently, given a chance to start over, she ponders, “I’m not sure if I would do anything differently, because we’ve tried a lot of innovative things right from the start, and it seems to have worked. We tried dial-a-beautician home services and a mobile salon, which went around to events and colleges with the beauty products in hand. These were mainly to gain traction and reach more people. Recently, we opened skincare stores called BAE, Beauty and Experiences, where we sell skincare and haircare, and also offer experiences like nail art. We aim to cater to everybody, so we have three different brands under our umbrella brand—Naturals, which is mass premium, Naturals Signature, which is mid-segment, and Page 3, which is premium.”
The ever-cheerful smile providers across Naturals Salon’s branches
The biggest advantage they had, Veena says, is that they started with fresh eyes, not belonging to the beauty space. They looked at it from a business standpoint and came up with unique concepts that did not exist at the time, and continue to explore new ideas. They were one of the first brands to have brand ambassadors like Genelia, Kareena Kapoor, and most recently, Sreeleela. They’ve also launched their own skincare line, selling sunscreens, serums, and lotions, called Next Face.
“For me, personally, I think the trust and loyalty customers show towards us is what keeps us going and is allowing us to grow steadily. People who came to us in the initial days still come to us, and if they see me, they make it a point to say hello and let me know they remember me, which is so heartwarming,” she smiles. “When we started, it was only packages for women, but we wanted to stand out, so we gradually started specific premium packages for men, brides, and nail art. Once we started franchising, we moved to single-use beauty kits, which is now the norm for hygiene and accountability. One facial kit per person, and then it is disposed of.” At Naturals, innovation goes hand in hand with giving people the opportunity to do something for themselves.
Receiving an award and recognition for becoming the world’s fastest growing salon chain
“So many of our franchises were started by women. We are proud of the fact that we encourage women to become entrepreneurs as well as become smile providers. Training and developing skills to start a career is empowering, no matter what the space is. Now, our academies provide comprehensive training courses ranging from a few months to a year, depending on the specialisation. Once certified, the students can work with us for a while and then decide if they want to work elsewhere or set up their own venture. We also offer vocational training in colleges. If someone is interested in pursuing beauty as a career, they can join the full-fledged courses and continue their journey with us,” Veena says proudly.
Naturals is also looking to integrate AI and take its existing technology up a notch. “We want to introduce AI models for more personalised, customised treatments. It can precisely pinpoint the issue prior to treatment for a more effective result. Consultations will use AI to analyse, guide, and help select the best possible solution to your problems, increasing the accuracy and authenticity of our services,” Veena details.
On the topic of being motivated to do this every day for 25 years, she smiles, “I am awed by the confidence the women who work with us gain after a few months of working. It gives me immense pride and joy to see that we’re touching the lives of people, giving them financial independence, and making a little difference. Most importantly, the trust our customers have in us. That is something I will never take for granted,” she concludes.
Naturals salons have made their way to Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka, and Veena is determined to reach more countries. The Naturals promise, she assures, is ‘Customer first’. What the customer wants, they aim to deliver plus one.
For further details, check the naturals website www.salons.naturals.in
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