We catch up with local somatologist Gail Minott, who dedicated four decades to every nuance and shift in skin and beauty trends, as she settles into a new chapter of her life in the UK.

“The tug at my heart was indeed painful when the plane took off. I want to say to my clients who stood by me for so many years, I salute you! You made me what I am today – not only professionally, but emotionally too. To my past staff, thank you for contributing to my growth in so many ways,” the Benoni High alumni said of her departure from home soil.

Surprisingly, when a career in beauty fluttered its eyelids at Gail when she was fresh out of matric, she was slightly surprised.

She hadn’t considered this, being rather more interested in doing ‘something in travel’ for a living.

When her travels took her to Zimbabwe to visit a cousin, the vivacious blonde found herself enamoured with her cousin’s home beauty salon.

“I thought this looked like a cool career. I was into make-up and skincare, so why not?”

That leap of faith evolved into an incredible home-grown success story of resilience and self-belief for Gail.

Born and raised in Benoni, she recently emigrated to the UK with her husband, Mark, guided by the same principle on which her business was founded: with great risk comes great reward.

Fresh out of matric, she was one of 30 successful applicants out of 300 to secure a spot at Wits Tech to study cosmetology, earning the prestigious best practical student award.

“This was a great confidence booster,” Gail recalls. “After my studies, I worked for a few beauty salons to gain experience and confidence.

“I married and opened Face Value, which is my beauty salon, in January 1986. I stole the name from a Phil Collins album at the time. I adored him.

“My Wits lecturer, Mrs Du Raan, would be proud, I thought.”

Gail became a mom and faced the end of her marriage in 1995.

“Only then did I start building a career, as I had to be a breadwinner for my five-year-old daughter and myself.

“I had to take big risks with no real money on hand, but I believed in myself, my knowledge and my skills.

“I remarried and started expanding, including employing staff. We constantly moved the salon to bigger premises until we finally bought a very dilapidated home in Honiball Street, Rynfield. With a lot of work, it grew into Face Value Beauty Salon and Spa with five therapists.

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“We won Best of Benoni, and I felt I had reached a pinnacle in my career. But I wasn’t enjoying it. I hated being a boss! So, at age 50, I sold the premises and bought a home in Boatlake Village. We built a salon on top of our garages, and I went back to working solo. My clients followed, as always, and I was content.”

Then Covid hit. Gail had just started supplementing her income with a Canadian product when this company shut its doors.

“The whole industry took a massive knock and has still not fully recovered. Loyalties also took a back seat as clients started to order products online. Sales are the backbone of a salon as they supplement a very low profit margin (overheads are very high if you’re running a decent salon).

“In addition to this, I lost 36 high-paying clients to emigration or semi-gration. I knew I had to add more value (at my cost) to keep clients amid the YouTube beauty craze being offered by people with no training at ridiculous prices.

“I did a life coaching course in 2023, and it afforded me a lot more insight into my clients. I now hope that

I helped many in the salon see their worth and personal power. That growth is important to get out of their comfort zones and get ahead in their lives.”

Now in the UK, Gail is considering opening a wellness business that incorporates her life coaching experience and skincare.

Gail’s advice for aspiring Benoni salon owners

• Keeping up with learning is so important. Technology is now in your products, machines and treatments, and it’s changing and growing all the time. You don’t have to offer everything, just understand it.

• Your clients need to understand all their options. Help salons that offer something you don’t by sending them your client. They should help you in return (find someone who will create this symbiotic relationship). Also, understand your products and what they do.

• Word of mouth is really the only way a salon grows. Advertising helps to a degree in getting your name out there.

• Don’t offer cheap deals as it cheapens your salon because you under-sell yourself. Offer value for money.

• If you start too cheap, thinking you’ll put up prices when you’re busy, somehow it offends people. Add value by doing small jobs as freebies and build trust. If you’re there for your clients, they will be with you forever.

• Stay in the moment with your clients. They are paying you for your attention.

• I love skincare, love helping people and my thirst for knowledge has paid off. My clients know that I know! And they know that I care. In my experience, a lot of people are daunted by ‘over-professional’, uniform-clad therapists who stand at the front desk looking like vultures for your business.

• Most salons are not legitimate salons with somatologists as owners, or even qualified therapists. There is now a move to legalise and monitor salons, but of course, it’s going to cost the salons more, and that will affect prices.

• The other challenge is that clients do not value your time set aside for their appointments. If you charge for late cancellations, they are often offended and leave.

• It’s tricky and it’s a hard business to get involved in. I see young girls believing it’s a romantic business to be in, often opening up with no experience, only to fail soon when they have no work. It takes a long time for a clientele to build trust in you. Bank on anything from two to five years before you are on your feet.

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