Meet the Delhi Man Helping 30000+ Women Feel Less Anxious About Salon Bills

The woman stands outside the salon for a moment longer than she needs to.

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She adjusts her bag, glances at her phone, and looks through the glass door. Inside, everything looks familiar. Chairs, mirrors, people waiting their turn. Still, she hesitates.

It is not the service she is unsure about. It is the bill that will come at the end. Will the price stay the same? Will something be added halfway through? Will she feel awkward asking questions?

For many Indian women, this uncertainty quietly shapes their choices. Salon visits turn into rare treats, saved for weddings, festivals, or moments that feel important enough to justify the spend. Regular self-care slips away, not because it is unwanted, but because it feels unpredictable.

This hesitation is what Kamal Gulati kept noticing long before he opened his first salon.

He was not watching trends or transformations. He was watching women pause. He saw the way they weighed comfort against cost, how they asked the same question twice, how some of them chose to leave earlier than they wanted to.

Where care becomes conditional

For Indian women, beauty has never been only about how one looks.

It shows up in everyday moments. A haircut before a job interview. Neat hands after a long week. The reassurance of feeling presentable while managing work, family, and responsibilities that do not pause.

Feeling good about how you look often changes how you carry yourself through the day. It adds confidence where there was hesitation.

Yet professional self-care often comes with conditions. High prices. Vague explanations. Bills that feel heavier than expected. Over time, this teaches women to hold back, even when they want to show up for themselves.

That gap stayed with Kamal.

Long before GK Studio existed as a place or a name, it existed as a question that kept returning. Why should something so closely tied to confidence feel out of reach for so many?

With Rs 10 lakh and a decision to prioritise clarity, he set out to build a salon experience where women could feel sure of what they were choosing.

Today, GK Studio operates four profitable branches across Gurugram and South Delhi, has served over 30,000 customers, and runs a professional product line that brings salon-grade treatments within reach.

But all these milestones came later. What came first was a focus on trust.

“I noticed a clear gap in the beauty industry, especially when it came to chemical treatments, which were often priced so high that many women couldn’t access them. With GK Studio, I wanted to bring transparency, affordability, and proper detailing, elements that were largely missing in major salon chains,” Kamal Gulati tells The Better India.

Learning the gap from within

Kamal’s journey into the beauty industry was not straightforward.

He completed his MBA in Insurance and Risk Management from BIMTECH in 2005–06 and later studied law, though he never practised. His family has been in the real estate business since 1986, but he says he always felt drawn to building something of his own.

In 2014, he entered the beauty space with The Makeoverz, a platform that listed salon and spa menus online, much like restaurant menus on food apps.

“That experience taught me a lot,” he recalls. “While we were promoting salons and makeup artists, I began to realise that true transparency was still missing.”

Menus were visible, but anxiety remained. Prices still shifted. Conversations at the counter still felt uncomfortable. Knowing the menu did not mean knowing the final cost.

That understanding stayed with him.

In 2021, he decided to try again, this time by building a space where women could make decisions without second-guessing themselves.

“Beauty is for everyone. Every woman deserves to look good and feel confident,” he says. “If we could become a medium to make professional beauty services accessible and affordable for women across India, I knew it was a step worth taking.”

Making certainty part of the experience

When his first salon opened on 30 December 2021, one reality was hard to ignore. In Delhi-NCR, a single hair treatment can cost anywhere between Rs 4,000 and Rs 10,000. For many women, paying that much means professional self-care cannot be part of everyday life.

So the focus shifted to something simple and deeply practical. A salon experience where the cost was known and clear from the start.

The services themselves were familiar. Hair smoothening, keratin and repair treatments, customised facials, hair styling, nail services, eyelash extensions, semi-permanent makeup, and everyday grooming. These were the services women were already seeking out.

What changed was how they were offered.

“Every business comes with its share of personal and professional challenges, but I was always clear about one thing. We had to maintain quality and transparency at all costs,” Kamal says.

Customers spoke openly about past experiences. Treatments that started at one price and ended at another. Services that became uncomfortable halfway through because of cost.

For Kamal, this reshaped what he believed women needed from a salon. He decided to build a space where they could sit down, knowing the bill would not catch them off guard.

Hydra facials start at Rs 699. Smoothening treatments begin at Rs 999. Keratin treatments start at Rs 799. A clear, length-based pricing chart is shared upfront.

“We started smoothening treatments at Rs 999 for shoulder-length hair and introduced a clear, length-based pricing chart so customers knew exactly what they were paying for,” he adds.

For many women, that clarity changed how often they allowed themselves care.

Keeping things clear, even on busy days

As footfall increased, the challenge was to keep the experience feeling just as clear.

Booking an appointment needed to stay simple. Knowing the bill needed to stay easy. Small confusions had a way of growing once a space became busy.

Today, appointments are handled through a chatbot on WhatsApp and Instagram, allowing women to book without back-and-forth or uncomfortable conversations. For many, it means fewer surprises and fewer decisions to negotiate.

Behind the scenes, attention to product quality has remained steady.

“We don’t use local products,” says Gulati. “We work with global brands like L’Oréal and Streax, and we’ve also developed our own professional range under the brand KG.”

That range includes keratin, botox, and nanoplastia treatments, along with shampoos, masks, and serums. These products are sourced from manufacturers in South Korea and used consistently across all outlets. For customers, it translates into familiarity. The same service feels the same each time.

For now, these products are available only at the salons, though Kamal plans to expand into e-commerce in the future.

That is where the larger story pauses, and the ordinary yet important one begins.

The people who keep the place running

Payal, one of GK Studio’s employees, remembers what steady work felt like when she first found it.

She joined from Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, unsure of how long the opportunity would last, but willing to learn. Over time, the routine settled in. Training sessions. New skills. The confidence to speak to customers without hesitation.

“We receive regular training and strong support in customer handling, which helps us deliver high-quality services with confidence,” she says. “It makes me proud that clients trust us for our transparency and affordability.”

Before joining GK Studio, Payal says her income was never regular, which created financial strain at home. “Today, I have a steady job that allows me to contribute to household expenses,” she adds.

Inside the salon, learning goes beyond beauty techniques. Employees are also trained in basic computer skills, including managing systems and Excel sheets, tools that help them feel more capable both at work and beyond it.

“We started with just three or four people, and today we are a 56-strong team. Through these trainings, I’ve seen real growth. They are more skilled, more confident, and financially stronger,” says Kamal.

Today, over 56 staff members work across four outlets. For many of them, this work brings something simple and powerful: steady income, practical skills, and a sense of dignity.

Over time, that sense of care and clarity began to travel beyond the salon’s walls.

How far can trust travel?

Samridhi Kinra did not discover GK Studio through an advertisement. A friend suggested it. Someone she trusted told her it felt different.

She remembers how carefully she watched the bill during earlier salon visits, how the final amount often made her uneasy. So when she walked in this time, she paid attention to the small things.

“What I loved the most was the transparency. There is no confusion, no hidden charges. Earlier, I used to worry about my bills, but now, because of their chatbot, everything is clear,” she says.

That sense of clarity is what brings her back.

GK Studio began its journey in 2021, opening its very first salon the same day it was founded. What started as a single space grew steadily, first with a second outlet in May 2023, followed by a third in November the same year. By February 2025, the brand marked another milestone with the opening of its fourth salon, reflecting a carefully paced expansion shaped by experience and demand.

The expansion has been guided by both long-term vision and customer need.

“While the aim was always to build an affordable and transparent salon brand for women, many clients started travelling long distances and requested us to open salons closer to their homes,” shares Kamal.

Today, the salon operates across Gurugram (Sector 46, Sector 7, and Sector 90) and Chhatarpur in South Delhi, and has served over 30,000 customers. Much of this growth has travelled through conversations like Samridhi’s.

“We have over 4,200 verified reviews, which is rare for a salon business. We make it a point to collect feedback from every client,” says Kamal.

For Samridhi and many others, it is the honesty, consistency, and value for money that turn a recommendation into a routine.

Looking ahead

The hope now is to take this approach beyond metro cities and into Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns.

“Beauty should not be limited to the metros. I want every woman of India to feel beautiful and confident,” Kamal says.

At its heart, this story is about something simple.

About women being able to sit down in a chair without fear of being surprised. About workers finding stability and pride in their skills. About trust being built slowly, one clear decision at a time.

Sometimes, that trust begins with something as small as knowing the bill before the service starts.

Sources:

‘How GK Studio is bringing transparency and affordability to India’s salon market’: by Megha Ghosh for Your Story, Published on 10 Sepetember 2025.