A salon price list does two jobs. It tells clients what they will pay, and it decides whether each hour in each chair makes you money. Most lists get the first job right and never check the second.
This guide starts with what a service costs you, then builds the list from there. Every peso figure below is a made-up example for a hair salon. Put your own numbers in their place, and the same steps work for nails, lashes, and waxing.
Know the three costs in every service
Every service on your list uses up three things. If the price doesn't cover all three, the service loses money no matter how busy you are.
- Product: what goes on the client's hair or nails. Color and developer, foils, keratin solution, shampoo, polish, wax.
- Chair time: your rent, utilities, front desk, laundry, and software, spread over the hours you sell. A two-hour color uses twice the chair time of a one-hour cut.
- Stylist pay: a commission on the price, or a share of a salaried stylist's monthly pay for the hours the service takes.
Find what an hour in a chair costs you
Add up a month of fixed costs, then divide by the chair hours you actually sell. Dividing by every hour you are open makes each hour look cheaper than it is, because no salon is booked every minute.
Say your fixed costs are ₱120,000 a month. You have 4 chairs, open 10 hours a day, 26 days a month: 1,040 chair hours. If about 60% of them get booked, you sell 624 hours. Each sold hour carries about ₱190 of fixed cost.
Cost each service, then compare them by the hour
Now put the three costs against each price. In this example, stylists earn a 30% commission on the price, and chair time is ₱190 an hour:
| Service | Time | Product | Chair time | Stylist 30% | Price | Left for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blow-dry | 45 min | ₱40 | ₱143 | ₱135 | ₱450 | ₱132 |
| Haircut and blow-dry | 1 hr | ₱60 | ₱190 | ₱210 | ₱700 | ₱240 |
| Root color | 1 hr 30 min | ₱450 | ₱285 | ₱540 | ₱1,800 | ₱525 |
| Keratin treatment | 3 hr | ₱1,200 | ₱570 | ₱1,350 | ₱4,500 | ₱1,380 |
The last column only tells half the story. Divide it by the time each service takes: the blow-dry leaves about ₱176 an hour, the haircut ₱240, the root color ₱350, and the keratin treatment ₱460. A chair booked with blow-dries all day earns less than half of one booked with keratin.
To set a price from what you want an hour to earn, work backward. For a one-hour haircut that should leave ₱300: add product, chair time, and the ₱300 (₱60 + ₱190 + ₱300 = ₱550), then divide by what is left after commission (0.7). That gives about ₱786, so ₱800.
Set a price for each stylist level
A director's haircut and a junior's haircut take the same chair and similar product, but clients wait weeks for one and not the other. Charging the same leaves money on the director's chair and empty hours on the junior's. Set one price per level, such as a haircut at ₱600 with a Junior, ₱800 with a Senior, and ₱1,000 with a Director.
Keep it as one haircut with three prices, not three haircuts. In Onsuki, set Price by level on the service, and clients see each stylist's price where it differs and can filter by level. If you pay commission, a percentage rises with the price by itself, and Commissions can hold a rate for each level. For how big the gap should be, see how to price services by staff level.
Use From prices where the hair decides
Some services can't be priced until the stylist sees the client: color on long or thick hair, color correction, or a treatment where the amount of product depends on length. A fixed price there is either too high for short hair or a loss on long hair.
- Set the From price at the least the service can cost, such as a root color on short hair. The final price can only go up from there.
- Say what moves the price in the description: "Hair past the shoulders and color correction cost more. Your stylist confirms the price before starting."
- Agree on the price before the color goes on. A surprise at the counter loses the client, even when the price is fair.
In Onsuki, choose Starting At for the service. Clients see "From" the price and are told the final price is set at their visit. You enter the final price at checkout before taking payment, and it can't be lower than the starting price or a deposit already paid.
Turn extras into add-ons
A toner, a hair mask, or a scalp treatment on top of a service is often the best-earning time in the chair, because the client is already there. Listing each one as an add-on, with its own price and time, means clients can pick it when they book, and the calendar keeps the extra minutes free.
Say a toner adds 20 minutes and ₱500. Using the earlier numbers, it uses about ₱120 of product and ₱63 of chair time, and the stylist earns ₱150. That leaves ₱167 for 20 minutes, which is about ₱500 an hour, more than any service in the table.
- Group them by service, such as "Add a treatment" on haircuts and "Finish your color" on color services.
- Make a group required only when the service needs a choice, such as hair length on a blow-dry.
- Give each add-on its real time, or the next client waits.
In Onsuki, add-ons live in groups that you can reuse across services. Each add-on adds its price and its time, and clients choose up to one from each group when they book. See Appointments.
Lay out the list so clients can choose
A price list is read on a phone, usually in a hurry. Clients need to find the service, understand what is included, and see the price without asking you in Messenger.
- Group by what clients look for: Haircuts, Color, Treatments, Nails. Put the most booked services first in each group.
- Name services by what clients get, such as "Haircut and blow-dry", not internal codes.
- Show the time next to the price, so a client knows a keratin treatment takes the afternoon.
- Write one line on what is included, such as "includes wash and blow-dry". It answers the question before it is asked.
On your Onsuki booking site, services are listed under each category's heading, and clients can filter by category. Use Edit website order to put categories and services in the order you want, and Preview website to check it. See Online booking.
Recheck the list when your costs change
Product prices go up, rent goes up, and a stylist moves up a level. Each change moves the numbers in the table. Once or twice a year, and after any big cost increase, redo the cost of your top services and adjust the prices that have fallen behind.
- Product: count what you used against what you bought. In Onsuki, mark color and other supplies For services in Inventory and recount them to see what a month of services used.
- Chair time: redo the cost per hour with your current rent and your booked hours.
- Your mix: if the low-earning services fill most of your hours, raise them or make room for the ones that earn more.
Onsuki holds your whole price list, from prices by stylist level to From prices and add-ons, and shows it on a booking site clients can book from. See Hair salons.
