A Day In The Life of... Suki Beauty

Suki Beauty is a botanical, serene salon in Douglas with eco-conscious solutions for vegan hair & beauty treatments. Last year, my fiancé (Ross) and I moved from Dubai back to the Isle of Man to set up Suki Beauty. Not many people know that Suki Beauty is named after Ross’ mother an incredibly inspiring and elegant lady, Susan Key.

Suki Beauty is a business built from compassionate roots and Ross & I aim to create a safe space in the heart of Douglas that ranges from vegan hair & beauty to mental health and well-being.

I’m Jenna Heidstrom the Co-Owner and I’ll be taking you through what the first day of the working week looks like at Suki Beauty.

7am - 8:30am

My day usually starts with looking after Rocket, my little chocolate cocker spaniel. After prepping his breakfast and letting him outside to do his business, it’s then onto making a strong coffee. I usually have a to-do list as long as my arm as I’m currently in the process of building the 2nd floor of Suki, so coffee is a necessity!

I love giving myself a lot of time to get ready in the morning, believe it or not but I’m actually quite a shy person, so making sure I feel prepared and having that time can give me that little bit of confidence that I need to keep me feeling on top throughout the day.

8:30-9:30am

It’s time to head to the salon, catch up with the staff and do a quick sweep throughout Suki before our first client’s arrive. One of my staff members (usually Rachael - thank you!) will come into the salon on a Tuesday (the day before our working week begins) to do a deep clean, so on Wednesday the salon looks and smells amazing! We then water our collection of plants, prep the fridge for all of our client’s favourite drinks & herbal teas, get our diffusers spritzing amazing essential oils, and then it’s time to put on our Suki Beauty playlist.

Feel free to check it out, its a wild array of tribal…indie…whimsical songs that we all add to:

9:30-12am

I then go through the schedule for the day, seeing what treatments are happening and when, making sure all the staff are prepared and ready for all of their clients. One of my roles at the salon is to manage the reception, I wanted to take this on myself to personally get to know all of our clients and ensure that each and every person are enjoying their experience at Suki.

Most of the time I know exactly who it is that is coming in day-to-day and I end up spending most of my time catching up with returning client’s & getting to know new clients (which I LOVE)

On Wednesday’s we have, Rachael our hairstylist, Issy our nail technician and Louise our beauty therapist, doing our treatments. Over the last 9 months, we have formed a Suki Beauty family and all get on so well with each other, the dynamics and energy of the team really reflects in the salon’s overall ambiance - this was so important to me whilst hiring for Suki back in September.

The day for the staff then consists of blow-dry’s, hair dye, new sets of nails, waxing, massages, facials - all of which are done with our vegan products.

1-4pm

After coming back from lunch, which is either a quick stop at the Alpine for a take out salad or if I have more time…a catch up with a friend, I then return to complete all of the admin for the day. All client’s social messages are answered, emails are returned & I then go onto scheduling all my meetings for that week. These are usually with our hair partners, Davines, or with businesses that are helping me build the 2nd floor at Suki Beauty. I can reveal that one side of the 2nd floor of the building will become Suki Studio’s, a space that can be hired to instruct yoga/fitness classes, mindfulness or even nutrition - as long as the topic fits our ethos we are open-minded to how the space will be used!

4-6pm

I then prep the team for all upcoming plans for the week and see how they are all getting on individually. We usually take a mini stock check on Wednesday’s just to ensure that they have everything they need for the rest of the week.

On Wednesday’s we close at 6pm, so all of the staff are now finishing their last few client’s before close. I then help all of the girls clean up for the day, make sure all of the dishes are done after all of the drinks that were made and then put all of the dirty towels together for washing.

All of the staff then send me all of the before & after photo’s that they have taken from treatments that day, so I can then use these images on our social channels throughout the week (don’t worry, we ensure that permission is granted by each client).

The candles are blown out, the music is turned off and the Suki Beauty neon sign is turned off ready for another busy day in the salon on Thursday!

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