Four years after I graduated as an experienced unisex hairstylist, I Interned with a student senior colleague while on campus at the university, from whose tutelage I served as a makeup runner (intern) on countless Private & students’ production-gigs in and outside of the university arts theatre studio, where I learnt practical hands-on on film and stage makeup.
My interest in beauty and makeup propelled me in specialising in the same, at the theatre arts department of the prestigious University of Ibadan where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007.
I would, later on, build a small business around my expertise as a Hair and beauty consultant for media and tv show.
In recent years, my exposure in the beauty business space have allowed me to learn, grow and become a more rounded sales-oriented beauty business expert.
I have rare opportunities to work and learn from well-structured and adequately funded international cosmetics brands. This has helped me to better understand , the core ingredients that makes global and most sought after beauty business brands perform efficiently and stand a longer test of time in a target market.
I have written this guide to be very easy to comprehend, even if you are a beginner you should find this guide helpful.
Here is a quick overview of what you will learn from this guide.
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Four Categories of people interested in a beauty business
The major challenges in the under-developed Beauty industry [locally] that you should know
Five beauty business categories you must leverage
Five beauty business categories you must leverage
What category of people are interested in beauty business
the most challenge with getting started
the different beauty business category
Identifying your area of focus [this is where you pick a niche]
beauty business monetization model
Getting trained in your market
Four Categories of people interested in a beauty business
- A newbie [Enthusiast]
This category of beauty followers is untrained and have no real-world experience in the beauty business. Although, you may partly have a little bit of learning about customer service, fashion, colours and whatever fuels your interest.What fuels your interest to want to begin a beauty business?
if you get fascinated and are curious about how the beauty industry, or a particular category of beauty business works, it is safe to assume you are inexperienced. A beginner seeking to know more. learn how to start a retail-based beauty business in 90-days or less hereIn order for you to gain more experience with the category that you are most interested, you must undergo a beauty business training. If someone have ever told you, that you could start your beauty business with no form of foundational training, then I’ll be very straight with you. Without a basic foundational beauty business training you will struggle a great deal; to compete, to act confidently- knowing you know exactly what to do, what to expect, say less, stand out from the crowd.For you as a newbie, seeking first the industry knowledge will avail you the opportunity to be a master of your own category. and it also helps you to avoid the unnecessary tension most “wannabe newbies” go through at the beginning phase.So, essentially it’s very important that you are deliberate about your beauty business decision as a newbie. And be ready to make the needed sacrifice in getting drilling about the area you will want to target.
For a starter, you could access your training through an established beauty/cosmetics organization or virtually or as a “self-trained”.
Although, I don’t advise you if you are a newbie reading this guide to learn without having a beauty business mentor to lead you, [either in a one-on-one mentoring or virtually]. - The self- trained artist
Just like any other industry where hands-on skill is the main requisite for quality service delivery. It is not strange also, to see self-trained Makeup artist and beauty vloggers who through their passion for the beauty-business can build a business for themselves.But you may think if it’s advisable to choose the self-training approach as a beginner? My answer is a No-No! If you are truly serious about building a business.Why? This is because a mentor already traveled this same path before you.
Your ability to draw from the years of experience of your mentor, for one, is a confidence booster that you must be unique.All the time you would have wasted doing guess-work would already have been taken care of for you. This for me is priceless.And what makes the world of difference in the real beauty business scenario as a newbie freshly starting out.
If for any reason, that you must choose ‘’self-taught’’ as an option, ensure you have a mentor whom you can be accountable to. Someone whom you could seek advice or guidance from.This is what I recommend, learn the basics of the category you are most interested in from a mentor or a professional institute or in a traineeship arrangement. And from here you could build more skills on your own as you have more experience, exposure and practice time. But you must first get trained and learn the basics!
- The trained cosmetologist /Beauty professional The trained beauty technician, artist or a beauty business manager all have one thing in common. They, from the onset, discover they have a passion for beauty or its related categories.They are deliberate in their choices, putting everything on the line, to gain more information on the area that best appeal to them.
Here are some of the specialities a beauty technician or Beauty business professional could gain to have a helpful edge: - Beauty business investor
An investor can be a trained beauty technician or manager whom after years of practice decides to own and build her own business.However, the most common scenarios are the investors with little or no technical background of the beauty industry or its related categories.But they gain their motivation from providing a beauty business platform in a brick & mortar setup. To meet the beauty needs of people [men & women] with whom they target .An investor with no technical background will often need to hire top professionals in makeup, hairstyling, salon management, beauty advisory and sometimes beauty representatives/marketers. To run a competitive and successful enterprise.The beauty business investors are more prominent players within the cosmetics business. Either a manufacturer or as a most sought-after cosmetics distributor/ retailer. They could also be pioneers of beauty shows and trade fair events.A good number of investors have also invested in beauty & cosmetics category as part of the lifestyle section of a supermarket or a department store, beauty salon, recreation/wellness and spa. This influencing major shifts and consumers patronages for the beauty business in the different target markets.
The major challenges in the growing or under-developed Beauty industry/market [locally] that you should know
- The Lack of quality training and exposure
- Steep Cost of enrolling in a beauty school or quality training as an international enrollee
- Capital [funding]
- Over-saturation of under-exposed business owners in some of the categories e.g Makeup business
- Competition amongst players for the consumers’ market share.
- Poor pricing of professional services.
- Lack of a uniform standard practice in the industry resulting into; trademark infringement, product piracy and the infiltration of adulterated/ non-tested/approved consumer products by the food & drugs regulatory agency , amongst others.
Am I saying there are no chances for a beginner, hell no…In fact there are far more opportunities everyday in the beauty business space if you hone your game, focus on your strengths and define your offer for your market.
There is always an opportunity to convert this into good sales and revenue. Only that you must be ready to put in the work.
Be it in the capacity of a Beauty salon owner, Cosmetics retailer, Hairstylist, Makeup artist, manufacturer, Sales representative, Influencer and many more.
Are you ready to do this?
Five beauty business categories you must leverage
Beauty business market is a broad industry. And for your easy comprehension of this guide, I have attempted to narrow these down into five major categories. Let’s dive right into it;
Personal/self care Category
The personal care beauty business sub-market is where a cosmetics retailer holds a big sway and influence.
The players in this category provide the products required daily to help foster good looks, beauty regimen, good body aura, youthful appearance and a healthy lifestyle for men and women. These includes:
- Men grooming products e.g. shaving kits – shaving powders, razor sticks, aftershave, bump treatments etc.
- Deodorants- e.g. roll-on
- Fragrances
- Oral e.g. breath fresheners, tooth care products, mouthwashes, etc.
- Anti-ageing products etc.
The platform to reach and target your buyers include:
- Beauty retail store
- Direct selling- one on one sales
- Online shop [E-commerce]
- Supermarket [Modern trade stores]
- Pharmacies [Drug stores]
- Salon and Spa [Retail]
Skincare Category
These are products and services that meet the skincare needs of men and women.
To be a player or an authority in the skincare service market, you will need to be exposed to some training in esthetics. For an overview of what it requires to be an aesthetician,you can read it up here .
The aim of a skincare product retailer or service provider is to help people (women especially) find youthful skin appearance, rejuvenation of the skin from pigmentation disorder, amongst other skin challenges that beauty care products and the aestheticians in the skincare category are seeking to remedy.
Here are some products-type to consider for the skincare category;
- Bathing Soaps (bar and liquid soap)
- Body lotions and creams
- Shower gel
- Facial care cream
- Anti-wrinkle products
- Hair removal products
- Skin rejuvenating products (treatments & supplements)
To reach your target market in the Skincare market category, this includes:
- Spa services + product sales (Retail)
- Direct selling- one on one sales
- Online skincare product shop e.g.
- Skincare product e-commerce set up
- Products review and recommendation Blog site
- Beauty consultation service
- Supermarket Cosmetics sections
- Pharmacies
Makeup category
This is unarguably one of the most popular beauty industry sub-markets. Our faces are where all expressions are communicate. Be it a happy or unhappy vibes. You don’t need to verbally express your feelings before it’s visible in your interactions with others.
It becomes clear and very essential for people to ensure they take proper care of their facial regimen daily. Some of the reasons women wear makeup are;
- To help boost confidence– you know that feeling you get when you are properly dressed and you know you are beautiful? That’s the same thing a properly worn makeup does to the confidence or general persona of a woman.
- To cover imperfections – Imperfections are undesirable scars or facial indentations that are taken care of with the use of makeup products such as concealers, foundation e.t.c
- An artistic expression– There are moments an artist of makeup may express a creative imprint on a client or a muse, they easily achieve this with makeup products and some application knowledge. If you have ever changed your look for Halloween or a vintage carnival then you already are familiar with this.
- Makeup is a beauty magnifier for detailing and accentuation purposes. Ever witnessed where a lady with a full round face got transformed into the highly coveted oval face type before? If you haven’t, then you should check this beginner’s guide on highlighting and contouring makeup technique. It’s a very powerful technique to sculpt the facial structure to look the exact way you may desire.
Here are how to reach your target market in the Makeup and facial care category:
- Direct selling- one on one sales
- Online retail shop
- Products review and recommendation Blog site.
- Beauty consultation service
- Products review and recommendation Blog site.
- Beauty/cosmetics department store
- Supermarket beauty/lifestyle category
- Pharmacies (drug store)
- Salon services + product sales [retail]
- Make-up services + product sales [retail]
Haircare Category
This is also one of the most patronized beauty categories by men, women & children.
The Haircare market is huge, your ability to meet the almost everyday demand of this market consistently can help you lay a strong foundation or an impression that you are an authority in the hair business space. Impacting your revenue and your overall influence.
Hair care regimen may include DIYs (Do it yourself) on a daily or weekly hair maintenance practices, to help foster a healthy hair growth lifestyle.
The Trained hair care professionals in the hair care niche play a significant role by offering professional advice and services, creating and setting hairstyle trends; Contributing immensely to the popularity and constant growth of the hair market segment.
Hair care product manufacturers are key trend setters in the hair care space. With an array of new haircare products/innovation released into the market every other week, It becomes hard for a hair care consumer not to notice you gear all these towards catching the market’s attention.
And this is hugely responsible for a robust industry that is constantly in demand.
The ceaseless needs of men and women to desire the best of hair care solutions, hair-style trends, hair care tools, multifunctional and result-oriented products amongst other needs, will keep being a major driver for growth, revenue and expansion of this category.
The products in the hair category include;
- Organic hair care products
- Hair shampoos
- Hair conditioners
- Hair moisturizers
- Receding hairlines and bald hair remedies
- Hair colour
- Hair care relaxer systems
- Hair cream and lotions
- Professional Hairstyling tools and accessories
- Hair extensions (Human hair, hybrid and synthetic hair)
- And wigs
The business channels to reach your target market or users include:
- Beauty retail stores
- Hair care products/tools market
- Hair salon + Hair products bar [Retail]
- Online shop e.g.
- Haircare blog site
- Vlogging and hair care products review
