The Greater Bay Area Beauty Industry Summit Anchors New Directions of Standardization, Digitalization and Internationalization

On January 6, 2026, a gathering bringing together elites from the hairdressing industry in the Greater Bay Area and a conference exploring the future development direction of the hairdressing industry was held at the AAMA Learning Center (Guangzhou).

President Yang Yulian of the Guangzhou Beauty, Hairdressing and Makeup Industry Association, core members of the AHMA Hairdressing Society, renowned master hairdresser Mr. Lai Weian, and Mr. Tan Zhijian, founder of Cloud Aesthetics, among other industry leaders, gathered together to conduct in-depth discussions on key topics such as industry standardization, AI empowerment, and talent development, laying out a clear blueprint for the high-quality development of the beauty industry in the Greater Bay Area.

△ Ms. Yang Yulian, President of the Guangzhou Beauty, Hairdressing and Cosmetology Industry Association (Left)

Ms. Yip Wai Man, Founder of the AHMA Hairdressing Society (Right)

△ Mr. Hu Zhiqiang, Honorary President of the AHMA Hairdressing Society

△ Mr. Lai Weian, Master Hairstylist

△Mr. Tan Zhijian, Founder of Cloud Aesthetics

Addressing Pain Points in the Hairdressing Industry: Standardized Development is the Key

The hairdressing industry in the Greater Bay Area is currently mired in multiple predicaments: vicious competition driven by low-price involution, uneven quality across salons, immense pressure on craftsmen to balance technical expertise with marketing, and the chaotic practice of poaching talent maliciously. However, the industry also holds promising opportunities. Hairstyling professionals from the United States have returned to the Chinese mainland to learn, underscoring the great potential of the Greater Bay Area’s hairdressing industry.

To tackle these disorders, standardized certification is the linchpin. Leveraging the advantages of the Greater Bay Area’s "9+2" city cluster, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and the Vocational Training Council of Hong Kong have launched the "One Exam, Multiple Certificates" program for beauty and hairdressing. Though not mandatory, the program has gained wide recognition within the industry.

AI Empowers the Innovation of the Hairdressing Industry: Marketing and Customer Acquisition No Longer a Hurdle

Amid the digital wave, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a catalyst for the transformation of the hairdressing industry. Cloud Aesthetics provides AI services to well-known chain brands, enabling the digital replication of hairstylists’ images and the automatic generation of promotional content. This has drastically reduced marketing costs and precisely addressed the pain point of craftsmen being "skilled in technique but lacking in marketing acumen".

Beyond content creation, AI technology is set to deeply empower the entire beauty industry chain: functions such as promotional poster generation, digital human live streaming, and image optimization have already been implemented with tangible results. In the future, plans are underway to build an exclusive knowledge repository for the beauty industry, offering digital support for industry education and making technical learning and experience inheritance more efficient. With the help of AI tools, both large chain salons and small independent stores can upgrade their marketing strategies and optimize services, thereby enhancing their core competitiveness.

Talent Development Fills the Gaps: Laying a Solid Foundation for Industry Upgrading

Ultimately, the core competitiveness of the hairdressing industry lies in "people". Currently, the industry faces a noticeable educational gap: small salons lack a comprehensive training system, while although large chains have established their own training bases, there is a shortage of advanced training resources for the industry as a whole. In response, the conference proposed multi-dimensional solutions: inheriting the original aspiration of beauty industry practitioners from the 1980s and 1990s to uphold technical excellence by sharing successful entrepreneurship cases; encouraging practitioners to participate in basic and advanced training; and integrating industry resources to build a sector-wide training platform, ensuring that professionals from salons of all sizes have access to growth opportunities.

From standardized certification and AI empowerment to talent development and resource integration, the beauty industry in the Greater Bay Area stands at a critical juncture of transformation and upgrading. This conference, which brought together the wisdom of the entire industry, not only faced the pain points head-on and clarified the development direction but also outlined a blueprint for "standardization, digitalization, and internationalization". It is believed that with the joint efforts of industry associations, enterprises, and practitioners, the beauty industry in the Greater Bay Area will break through bottlenecks, improve quality and efficiency, and embrace a more vibrant and competitive future!