TWO Jamaican beauty professionals are planning expansion of their businesses to the Florida market this year.

The two, Jennifer Samuda, principal of Jencare Skin Farm, and Melody Aarons, Chic Lines Beauty Salon, collectively hold more than 50 years experience in the beauty industry, with their influence extending overseas through clients and business associates.

Aarons told Caribbean Business Report yesterday that she should be opening a branch of her salon in Florida by the end of October this year. Chic Lines International will be located at the Cross Town Shop complex at 3432 Red Road, Miramar, Florida and will be a full service salon, offering hair and nail services. Aarons said the salon will service her customers in the area, some of whom she has been travelling abroad to work with regularly.

In addition to her clients and the large Jamaican population living in the area, Aarons said the reason for expanding to Florida is its proximity to Jamaica.

“Florida is Kingston 21,” she quipped. “You can get there quicker than you can get to MoBay,” said Aarons.

Having had training and experience both locally and abroad, including a master’s degree in cosmetology from Dudley’s, North Carolina, where she has also taught for two years, Aarons said the transition should be quite easy for her.

“You see because they lay out the rules I don’t think you will be surprised. Their rules are clear so they are easy to adhere to,” Aarons said. One thing that will not be business as usual for Chic Lines International is the modus operandi that typify some ‘black owned’ salons in the area.

“I don’t want to be the typical black hair salon. I’ve visited some of them and too much time is wasted in them,” she said. Chic Lines International will be run by appointment only with minimal waiting time between clients, Aarons said. She is confident that the move will be a good one given Jamaica’s reputation for producing great hairstylists.

“Jamaica has produced some of the best hairstylists and skin care people in the world,” said Aarons.

Samuda, a former Jamaica Observer Business Leader nominee, will also be expanding in the United States market with her Jencare line of products. The beauty professional, however already has a branch of her Jamaican-based company on Red Road in Miramar, Florida.

Samuda has not slowed down in her over 30 years in the beauty and skin care business. Jencare has launched 42 new products since November, with at least one more, dubbed the ‘face lift’, to be launched for Mother’s Day this year. The product, which as the name suggests is developed to reverse the signs of ageing will go for $3500 per bottle, a price Samuda said is way below the typical price for a comparative anti-ageing product distributed by companies internationally. She should know, because Jencare makes many of those products for the companies.

Many of her formulations are marketed and sold under international labels which then pay royalties to Jencare. A secrecy agreement signed by Samuda forbids her from disclosing which companies she makes these formulations for, but Samuda disclosed that they are among the largest and most revered beauty brands in Europe and America. Samuda holds 300 patents worldwide for her skin formulations made locally.

“We are doing products now under secrecy bond. If people knew Jencare produced their products it would compromise their sales” said Samuda.

“Whether you know it or not, we make it. And I am not saying we make everything, but we make a lot of things that you go up there and you buy under that label. It’s just a pity I have a secrecy bond because if I start to name names you would never believe,” said Samuda.

Samuda’s sojourn into the international market was not without its growing pains however. She told Caribbean Business Report how one company overseas tried to swindle her out of the legitimate earnings for one of her formulations.

“I can tell you that I got the shock of my life when one international company that was buying a product that we produce tried some funny business. We were going at a ballpark of US$50 for the container of products that we were selling them and they turned us down, wanting instead to pay US$35. US$35 would be at a loss,” Samuda explained.

I told them it’s a big contract and we would love to do it but we cannot do it at a loss.”

“They came back to us and decided on the US$50 but they did it in a way so quickly that I wondered. I found a lawyer who specialised in copyright law and I had the shock of my life. They have the product out and they are selling it on their website now for US$900!”

Samuda pointed out that the packaging of the product, though expensive at US$30-US$35, could not have been the cause for such a significant mark-up in price, especially since it was Jencare that printed the bottles and seals.

“The printing of those bottles is done by us. We print the bottles for them, seal, everything and they pay the print charges and market the product. But regardless, they fought us to pay US$50 for it and on that US$50 our mark-up was only 25 per cent and they are selling it for $900. It was painful,” said Samuda. “So now most of our products that we have on the international market we have patents for.”

However, despite the challenges, Samuda is confident that the transition is the right thing to do.

“I’m here to tell you we all make mistakes but we must try to ensure that we all learn from them. We can enter any arena and we can do exceptionally well,” she said.

Samuda also has a distributor that handles her products in Europe. The success she has experienced in that market has bolstered her confidence that Jencare can succeed in any market. “In Europe we are doing superb, beyond my expectations.” Initially I was a little timid about entering the US market. I thought big companies like Estee Lauder dominate there and could I ever measure up but don’t underestimate yourself,” said Samuda.