Special Features
Missing Your Me-Time? Here’s Why We’re Totally Appreciating Our Haircut And Color at JuRo
Modern Parenting’s Editor-in-Chief Marga Medrano-Tupaz got to chat with Jude and Rose Hipolito of JuRo Salon. Here’s what they had to say about lockdown life, the importance of family and the secret to (successfully) working with your spouse…
Moms, when was the last time you got your hair did? I got my post-lockdown hair fix after six and a half months! Now ladies, I know you all agree that it’s been tough, so this was a risk I was happy to take.
So finally, with safety precautions in place, off I went to JuRo Salon in BGC for a badly needed cut and color. I just needed to feel like I was “human” again (plus my roots, greys and split ends were screaming for help).
The pandemic has affected so many business operations, and the beauty industry is one of the hardest hit. So during my appointment, I caught up with the country’s most sought after hairstylists, the dynamic duo and the masterminds behind JuRo Salon — Jude Hipolito, precision cutter and Rose Velasco, master colorist. We talked about business, family, hobbies and the future.
What are some things you realized during the pandemic?
Pre-pandemic, we usually spent more hours being in the salon than being at home. As the Philippine brand ambassadors for L’Oréal Professionnel Philippines and teaching underprivileged Filipino teens in our advocacy, Power of Scissors program in the A Child’s Trust Is Ours to Nurture (ACTION) foundation, we had a full calendar planned for 2020, and everything just came to a halt.
We had to look at the positive side of things and that was really all about our family. We were so happy to finally be able to reconnect and bond more with our family. We attended our daughter’s online graduation from home and are now busy with online learning. We were also able to focus on hobbies such as roasting coffee beans, cooking and taking care of plants.
We are all about paying it forward. We also understood the importance of saving money and not to be overzealous. Flexibility and contingency plans are also key to staying alive and bouncing back.
As for work, we are so grateful to have regular clients who trust us. We remain hopeful and grateful that we are able to stay open. We are still very eager to learn and get better, as well as share our knowledge with others in the industry.
What are you doing to ensure your safety and that of your staff and clients in the new normal — seeing as salons are deemed non-essential services (of course, I object to that)?
We have always followed safety and sanitation protocols in JuRo Salon through the years, but this time, there are more added safety and sanitation protocols we follow with the new DTI regulations — things like filling out a health checklist, social distancing, wearing of PPEs for both clients and salon personnel, regular use of disinfecting and sanitizing tools and equipment, etc., This is for everyone’s safety when inside the salon.
We send our health and sanitation protocols to every client, whether new, repeat or a long time regular, prior to their appointment date. As added precaution, we require our staff to live within walking distance from us so that they can carpool with us to and from the salon during this pandemic. We don’t want to risk them taking public transportation.
For all the curious minds out there, what makes a cut and color from JuRo Salon so special and different compared to others salons?
Well, it’s like trying to explain the melt-in-your-mouth texture and taste of an A-5 Kobe wagyu beef or a bluefin Otoro sashimi or a finely tailored suit or a couture dress. Unless you’ve seen how it is prepared, the materials and tools used, and actually eating or wearing it, it’s hard to describe.
There is only way to find out and that is to experience a JuRo cut and color, and see how the hair grows or the hair color fades out. A JuRo experience is not for everyone, and that’s okay. It is for people who understand what it’s like to sit in our chairs and not have a single doubt or worry that we will provide them with world-class hair services in a totally safe environment. With up to three generations of JuRo regulars, we believe we’ve delivered that,consistently for the past two decades.
Our clients are like family to us. We were the first stop for a lot of people because they really looked forward to a JuRo treatment after being in lockdown for months. A lot of the requests we are getting are cuts, colors and styles that will grow out well during this pandemic and that are low maintenance.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a couple and business partners?
There are definitely more advantages than disadvantages. For example, we both know and understand each other’s strengths and our specializations. We support and collaborate with each other well, so decision-making is fast and conclusive. We share the same interests and passion when it comes to hair, and we are constantly inspiring and challenging each other to do better.
The challenging part is really about not being able to strike a work-life balance. We can’t help but discuss hair and business even outside the salon. When we have our arguments, it’s tough to work together, because we are human after all. But through the years, we have trained ourselves to be professionals and to put personal arguments aside when we are at work.
What is the secret behind your successful tandem — professionally and personally?
The secret behind our successful tandem is that we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and the fact that we have the same goals and the same passion is huge. It’s like having your best friend, collaborator, business partner morphed into one person. It’s really what you make of it.
I’m sure you’ve heard of a lot of salons closing their doors. What does the future look like for JuRo Salon?
Well, we are waiting for the time to come when the Philippines, and the rest of the world can safety travel and go out of their homes in the new normal. We have so many pending classes to teach, events to attend, both locally and internationally.
In the meantime, we are adapting. We’ve started doing home service for a select group of clients, but hopefully with the easing of the quarantine guidelines in the next few weeks or months, we can operate at 75% capacity. Last April, we went online via FaceBook Live and talked about Positivity and how we, as JuRo, were coping and preparing to open. It was well attended — we had an audience of over 5,000 Filipino hairdressers both from the Philippines and abroad.
Then in May, we conducted two JuRo X L’Oréal Masterclasses online, from home, using our daughter as the model. In June, when we were planning the phases of reopening, we did a couple of interviews with ABS-CBN and an Asian news outlet. So, we are not going away anytime soon.
Throughout this crisis, Jude and Rose realized that the most important things in life are family and health. The family you were born into is the one you will be stuck with when push comes to shove, so love them hard. Health is wealth — not just physical, but also mental, emotional and spiritual.
Hair is life and because of that, I am certain that Jude and Rose are here to stay.
Jude Hipolito and Rose Velasco are the creative and technical directors of JuRo Salon, respectively.
They are located at: Kensington Place #2D, 1st Avenue corner 28th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel. #(02)8822-5673
IG: @jurosalonexclusif
