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The Salon Owner’s Playbook
New: full transcripts of our interviews with salon owners and educators, and the guides built from them.
Straight answers to the questions that keep salon owners up at night. No fluff, no gatekeeping. Written by a salon owner, for salon owners.
Salon Instagram Benchmarks: What We Found in 20 Salons Over a Year
The median salon post reaches 28 percent of its followers and earns 4.6 percent of the people it reaches. Posting more often did not grow the account.
Read the answer RetentionWhy New Salon Clients Don't Come Back
More than half the new clients in your chair never come back. The number everyone quotes for this is made up, and the real reason is almost never the hair.
Read the answer Reviews and ReputationHow to Get More Google Reviews for Your Salon (Without Begging)
The fastest way to more reviews is asking by text within an hour of the appointment, while she still loves her hair and is still holding her phone.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Marketing That Fills Chairs, Not Just Feeds
Most salon marketing fails for one reason. It is a portfolio, and the new client who is actually deciding where to book never sees it.
Read the answer Social MediaSocial Media for Hair Salons: What Actually Books Clients
A feed books clients when it answers the three things every new client asks before she trusts you with her hair. Miss one and she keeps scrolling.
Read the answer Salon AdvertisingSalon Advertising: Where Your First $300 Actually Works
Your first ad dollars belong where people are not yet looking, not where they already are. That is a small local Meta budget, not expensive Google clicks.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Promotion Ideas That Are Not a Discount
The best promotions raise perceived value instead of cutting price, because a discount trains clients to wait for the next sale.
Read the answer Money and PricingHow Much Should a Salon Charge? The Pricing Mistake Costing You Thousands
Price from your costs and your calendar, not from what the salon down the street charges. That salon may be underpriced and quietly drowning.
Read the answer Staffing and PayBooth Rent vs Commission: Which One Actually Makes You More?
It comes down to one number most owners never calculate: your profit per chair under each model.
Read the answer Staffing and PayThe Booth Rental Agreement Every Salon Owner Needs
A booth rental agreement protects you the day something goes wrong, which is exactly the day you will wish you had one.
Read the answer Tools and OperationsSalon Software and Booking: The Honest Buyer's Guide
The right salon software is the one your front desk and your stylists will actually use, not the one with the longest feature list.
Read the answer BrandingSalon Business Cards That Get You Rebooked, Not Just Handed Out
A salon business card earns its keep when it does one job well: get the client to come back.
Read the answer Tools and OperationsSalon Insurance: What You Actually Need
The insurance a salon actually needs starts with general liability and professional liability, the two most likely claims you will ever face.
Read the answer BookingsHow to Stop Salon No-Shows and Late Cancellations
No-shows stop when your policy has real teeth and clients know about it before they book, not after they miss.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Grand Opening Ideas That Pack the House
A grand opening works when you build the guest list before the doors open, not on the day.
Read the answer RetentionThe Salon Loyalty Program That Actually Brings Clients Back
A loyalty program works when the reward is easy to earn, easy to understand, and rewards the one behavior you want most: rebooking.
Read the answer Getting ClientsWhy Is My Salon Slow? How to Fill a Quiet Week
A slow week is almost never a talent problem. It is a visibility and rebooking problem, and both are fixable fast.
Read the answer Getting ClientsHow to Get More Clients as a Hairstylist
New clients come from being findable and being referable. Most stylists are neither, and both are fixable this month.
Read the answer Running a SalonSalon Manager and Front Desk Duties
Scott Buchanan grew from five people to 220. The manager's real job became the systems. Here is what owners actually run.
Read the answer Hiring and RetentionSalon Apprenticeships, State by State
From 1,250 hours in Utah to 4,000 in Wisconsin: 22 states checked against official sources, and how owners run associate programs.
Read the answer Hiring and RetentionSalon Culture: What Six Owners Do to Keep a Team
Wendy McCown moved her 16 stylists to a three-day week and they earned more. Six owners on the systems that keep a team together.
Read the answer Hiring and RetentionWhy Good Stylists Quit, and How to Keep Them
Good stylists rarely leave over money alone. They leave over feeling stuck, unseen, and unsure where they are headed.
Read the answer Getting ClientsHair Consultation Questions to Ask Every Client
Vivienne Mackinder asks about budget on paper, with three boxes to tick. Her whole consultation, and a form you can copy.
Read the answer Getting ClientsHow to Build a Clientele as a Hairstylist
A clientele is built on being findable, being memorable, and making the next visit automatic. Talent alone does not fill a book.
Read the answer Websites and BookingSalon Website Design: What Actually Books Clients
Most salon websites lose the booking in the first ten seconds, and it is almost never because they are ugly.
Read the answer Opening a SalonHow to Open a Hair Salon: What Six Owners Learned
Scott Buchanan opened with 450 square feet, five chairs and a $40,000 family loan. Six owners on what opening really took.
Read the answer Opening a SalonHair Salon Name Ideas, and Six Checks Before You Pick
Over 80 name ideas by style, how Allure and Salon Kreed got their names, and the checks to run before you buy a sign.
Read the answer Opening a SalonHow to Write a Salon Business Plan
A business plan is not paperwork. It is one argument, made nine ways: that your chairs will be full.
Read the answer Money and PricingHow Much Do Hairstylists Actually Make?
The number Google gives you for stylist pay leaves out roughly half the people doing the job.
Read the answer Money and PricingHow Much Do Salon Owners Actually Make?
Salon owner take-home varies wildly, and the number that decides it is not revenue. It is what is left after the chair costs are paid.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Marketing Strategy: A Simple 90-Day Plan
A marketing strategy is not a burst of posts. It is a plan you can run in an hour a week, aimed at one goal at a time.
Read the answerInterviews
Conversations with salon owners and educators who have been doing this a long time.
Interview With Vivienne Mackinder
Seven NAHA awards and Artistic Director for Vidal Sassoon and Trevor Sorbie. The hairdressers' hairdresser on training at Sassoon.
Watch the interview InterviewInterview With Greg Chavez
Forty years from an uncertain high school graduate to Salon Kreed in Colorado Springs, by way of a Paul Mitchell backstage.
Watch the interview InterviewInterview With Shelly Malizola
Built Allure Designs into a seven-figure salon with a small team, developed the Layback Foil, lifted retail sales 30 percent.
Watch the interview InterviewInterview With Travis Parker
Thirty-five years in hairdressing, a salon in Solana Beach, and an academy. On getting past the shyness that nearly stopped him.
Watch the interview InterviewInterview With Becky Dobbs
Forty years behind the chair, thirty of them in Huntsville. The Elleven Salon owner on Redken education and clients who stay.
Watch the interview InterviewInterview With Wendy McCown & Lensi White
Louisiana sisters, two different paths. One runs a studio for independent stylists, one is independent.
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