The mane man

David Charlton wanted to be a geologist once before he eventually opted for what his friends would call the "easy life" and founded David’s Salon Inc.

After 27 years in the Philippines and 190 salons, Charlton stands at the helm of a beauty business that annually rakes in P600 million in revenue. Already, his equity partners have sunk in P500 million of investments in David Salon’s salons, spas, and fitness and training centers. Now, they are rallying behind him in his bid for a bigger chunk of the Asian market.

"If the Xiamen salon inside the SM mall works, we will open two to three more and branch out across China. We will open up spas as well. We can have a couple of thousands of salons there. The prospects are limitless," said Charlton

Start

As a child, the salon was Charlton’s playground. His uncle opened a posh salon in England when the boy was eight and took David’s mom, herself a hairstylist, to work with him. She is a single parent. David’s father used to be a metal worker.

Little wonder that by the ripe age of 12, David was helping out in the family beauty business, bringing out the coffee to grand matrons with royal titles, all waiting to have their hair done.

By age 16, Charlton was a full-fledged hairdresser, with top marks from the South Shields Technical College for the Advanced City and Guilds of London Institute Examination in Men’s and Ladies’ Hairdressing. By the time he was 20, he was teaching two national hairdressers associations.

"Hairdressing in England is also very competitive. If you are not good, you can’t survive," said Charlton. "My friends worked in the coal mines, in the shipyards, or in the factories. After they finish work at 4 o’clock, they’d spend an hour and a half getting grime and pit dust off their bodies. In my case, I just walk out of the salon, fresh and clean when I was done."

Adventure

At age 22, Charlton accepted a job in Asia. He had never flown in an airplane, never been outside his country. His assignment was Rever Salon at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Manila.

"I had plans of staying here for two years and then returning to England. But Rever kept increasing my salary. Then, they made me a partner. Within three to four years, they were expanding so fast in Hong Kong, they sold out their Manila salon to me," said Charlton.

Seeing the void in the local market for a salon that provides high-quality hairdressing services at reasonable prices–that niche underserved by the few big salons that catered to the A-B market and the neighborhood parlors that catered to the C-D crowd–the first David’s Salon was opened in 1989.

Eight years ago, DSI was restructured.

"We began to run the business like a corporation. It’s not very usual but I had no choice. We had reached the stage where I could no longer visit each salon every day even when I put in 20 hours a week more than anybody else (as I still do today). I couldn’t talk to the staff one by one or teach each hairstylist and worker. I had to give away responsibilities. The first to go was accounting. The last was the training of the staff. Nevertheless, I still visit the salons whenever I can. My staff normally visit two salons per day," said Charlton

Business Models

DSI has two business models–as partner or as franchisee. As a partner, the company makes money only when the salon makes money. One of the company’s biggest partner is the family of SM founder Henry Sy. Under the franchise set-up, the company gets a fixed percentage of the salon’s gross income per month, whether the salon is profitable or not.

In both business models, DSI provides the staff while its partner/franchisee invests an average of P3 million for the site, equipment, and supplies.

"The heart of the business is staff training. Sometimes, it’s better to have people with zero training but no bad habits. We teach them the most basic things–from how to sweep the floor to how to deal with people and do the newest cutting and perming techniques until they become top hairdressers. We send many of our staff abroad, from London to Las Vegas. Added all up, that’s a company investment of P100,000 for each person that we train," said Charlton.

While one or two salons out of 150 may get back their investment in a year, the average payback period is about five years.

Market

Although the clientele of each salon depends on its location, David’s Salon continues to have a strong following among career women and professionals from their early 20s to early 40s. Between 20% and 40% of its clients are men.

In terms of location, mall-based salons bring in the most cash although a number of stand-alone salons in residential areas have also proven to be very profitable because of their low rentals.

"In the Philippines, we are considered a luxury item, so we go with the trend in luxury goods," said Charlton.

On the average, a David’s Salon client will spent around P400. Hair coloring is one of the salon’s more popular services.

‘For me, beauty is healthy, glowing skin, shining, well-groomed hair. The most plain-featured person can look better by being fit and healthy. I have never met someone who looks after herself who is not attractive," said Charlton.