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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 Policies: What 124 Top-Rated Salons Put in Writing, Plus a Template
Late arrival, redo windows, refunds, returns, deposits, children and tipping, counted from 124 published policies.
Read the answer Hiring and RetentionSalon Commission: What 84 Top-Rated Salons' Hiring Pages Say, and the Math on Each Split
Pay models, published splits and benefits from 84 salon hiring pages, plus where minimum wage and overtime rules bite.
Read the answer MoneyBuying or Selling a Hair Salon: What 879 Sales Say It's Worth
Median sale price, earnings multiples and time on market from 879 reported salon sales, plus SBA loans, seller notes and Form 8594.
Read the answer Tools and OperationsVagaro Alternatives: 2026 Prices for 10 Salon Booking Systems, by Team Size
Ten booking systems priced for 1, 3, 5 and 10 stylists from their own pricing pages, with Boulevard pricing and card rates.
Read the answer MoneyHair Stylist Taxes in 2026: What a Booth Renter Owes, Deducts and Can Shelter
2026 IRS numbers at four income levels: self-employment tax, quarterly payments, no tax on tips, and what a Solo 401(k) saves.
Read the answer Money and PricingHow Much Do Lash Techs Make? Pay in Every State, After Rent
The closest federal pay figure for lash work, set against rent in 49 states and DC, and how it compares with hairstylist pay.
Read the answer Money and PricingHow Much Do Nail Techs Make? Pay in Every State, After Rent
Federal nail tech pay set against rent in 48 states and DC, and how it compares with hairstylist pay.
Read the answer Tools and OperationsSalon Cancellation Policy: What 124 Top-Rated Salons Charge
Notice windows, late and no-show fees, deposits and late-arrival rules from 124 published salon policies, plus a template.
Read the answer Hiring and RetentionHair Stylist Interview Questions: 24 to Ask, and What Owners Listen For
24 questions grouped by what they reveal, the working interview, and what four long-time owners say they hire for.
Read the answer Salon DataSalon Statistics 2026: What 24 Salon Google Listings Did in 12 Months
806,672 listing views, 212,776 calls, clicks and direction requests, the seasonal curve, and what reviews do and don't predict.
Read the answer Staffing and PayWhat Is a Salon Suite? What 235 Suite Listings Charge
The median suite asks $208 a week, $8 more than the median booth. Rent by region and what the difference buys.
Read the answer Tools and OperationsVagaro vs GlossGenius: 2026 Prices Side by Side
What one stylist, five and ten pay a month on each, read off the vendors' own pricing pages.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Event Ideas for Fall and the Holidays
One small event a month, a set number of spots and a deposit to book. Five fall and holiday ideas that fill chairs without a discount.
Read the answer Salon MarketingSalon Newsletter Ideas: What to Email Your Clients
The salon email that gets read answers a question your clients already ask in the chair. Where to find those questions, and how to shape the email so it books.
Read the answer Social MediaSalon 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
On Boulevard's numbers, more than half of first-time clients at the average salon don't book a second visit. The number everyone quotes for this has no study behind it, and the most common reason isn't 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 Advertising: How to Advertise a Hair Salon, Starting With $300
Which kind of ad to run first, what it should show, where to send the click, and how to tell if it paid for itself.
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. You don't know their costs, and their prices may not cover yours.
Read the answer Staffing and PaySalon Booth Rent in 2026: What It Costs and When It Beats Commission
It comes down to one number a lot of owners never calculate: your profit per chair under each model.
Read the answer Staffing and PaySalon Booth Rental Agreement: Free Template, Clause by Clause
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 BrandingHair Salon 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: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Renew
Salon insurance changes with your state, your services and who works for you. So here are the seven questions I'd bring to a licensed agent before you sign or renew.
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 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. A lot of 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 Apprenticeship by State: All 50 States and DC
From 1,250 hours in Utah to 4,000 in Wisconsin: all 50 states and DC 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
A lot of salon websites lose the booking in the first few seconds, and it's rarely because they're 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: What 227 Top-Rated Salons Are Called
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 SalonSalon Business Plan: How to Write One, With a Free Template
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 Make? Pay in Every State, After Rent
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 Make? Census Data on 922,000 Salons
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.
Watch the interviewWant Storm to run your social media?
That’s our salon social media management: we plan your posts, write the captions in your voice and post them under your name, every month. Book a free 30-minute call with Rebekah. She'll look at your Instagram and Google listing and tell you the first thing she'd fix, even if you never hire us.
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