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The idea of owning a salon has been in the back of your mind for a while, and now you want to make it a reality. But how do you truly open a salon that is a cut above the rest? The truth is that opening a salon is a lot like starting any other type of small business: there’s research, licensing, hiring and plenty of decision-making involved before you can open your new salon’s door to clients.
Below, we cover everything from your first-day checklist to answers to the most common questions about opening a salon.
How much does it cost to start a salon?
According to BusinessDojo, how much it costs to start a salon business can range from $50,000 to $150,000 for a mid-market salon.
Startup costs for any salon business can vary significantly, but largely depend on:
- Size of the salon
- Location
- Licences and permits
- Business structure (i.e., chair rental versus hiring employees)
- Equipment
- Operational costs
- Marketing effectiveness
- Optimizing your scheduling
Since your goal is to be profitable as quickly as possible, planning is key. Establishing your salon startup costs, forecasting your revenue potential and finding your break-even point will help you estimate overall costs
First, determine the fixed costs that you incur on a monthly basis. Fixed costs are your salon’s expenses that don’t change with sales volume, and are typically non-negotiable (we call them fixed for a reason). Some of these include:
- Insurance
- Rent and lease agreement
- Utilities
- Equipment
Variable costs, on the other hand, are easier to manipulate, which can help you cut costs and save money. These are the costs of labor and materials that change with sales volume. Variable costs associated with opening a salon include:
- Labor costs
- Products and tools used by hair stylists
- Shipping and delivery costs to replenish hair products
- Advertising and marketing
How to open a salon in 10 steps
Before we dive into the details, here’s what you’ll need to accomplish as you prepare to think about how to open a salon:
1. Define your salon concept
Whether you want to become the go-to destination for curly hair or you’re picturing a high-end salon with award-winning stylists and complimentary Prosecco upon arrival, your salon concept should be woven into every aspect of your business, from the services offered to your style of customer service. Your concept should also be reflected in the name of your salon, your design, your decor and your price range.
2. Create a business plan for your salon
Your salon business plan should lay the foundation of your operations to serve as a roadmap as you turn your vision into a reality. It should also give potential lenders and investors a clear overview of your business if you decide to secure external funding. Be sure to include an executive summary, company description, industry analysis, geographic analysis, target market analysis, sample services, marketing plan, management strategy and financial plan.
3. Register your business
Choosing the right business structure and registering your business may not be the most exciting aspect of opening a salon, but it matters for taxes, liability, and paperwork.
- Choose the business structure that makes the most sense for your business (such as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation).
- Register your business with the state (and possibly your city or county, depending on your location).
- Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) if you plan to hire staff.
- Secure any required state and local licenses. These could include a general business license, a cosmetology establishment license, and zoning approvals to ensure your location is permitted for salon use.
Beyond registration, it’s smart to understand ongoing compliance you may be responsible for. This can include sales tax registration for retail products, workers’ compensation insurance, and local health and safety inspections.
Salon owners should also check whether their state requires individual stylists to hold active licenses and how that impacts independent contractors versus employees. Taking time to register your business properly from the start helps avoid fines, delays, and legal headaches so you focus on building clientele and growing your brand.
4. Select the right location
A salon’s location can make or break its success. If you want to serve a younger clientele, being next to a university can be a smart choice. If your price points are going to be higher than average, you might want to go for an affluent area. Think about visibility and foot traffic, and evaluate the size and interior shape of the salon premises to decide if it’s the best fit for your business goals.
Location impacts costs, so weigh up your options carefully. Think about whether you want to choose to spend more on rent to be downtown – and access downtown crowds – or want to open your doors in a suburban area where there aren’t many salons to compete with.
5. Order salon equipment
What kind of salon equipment do you need to purchase? Salon equipment makes up a large portion of your startup costs. To stay on budget and make smart spending decisions, create a basic checklist of the materials needed for your salon. Every salon needs the following:
- Salon stations that include a chair, mirror and storage space for hair and styling products.
- Shampooing stations with a chair, shampoo bowl and storage space for products.
- Drying stations for use during coloring services.
The amount of equipment you need depends on the size of your salon and the number of employees you decide to hire. Most salons have one station per employee, but hair stylists with opposite working schedules may be able to share a station.
A small reception area is also necessary for most salons. You’ll want a seating area for clients waiting to see your stylists, as well as a front desk to check in for appointments.
Pro Tip
Most salon equipment and furniture can be bought at wholesale prices with your hairstylist trade certification or a proof of salon ownership, which can be a great way to save money if you are buying in bulk. Check out our full salon equipment checklist for everything you’ll need for setting up your new salon.
6. Choose the right point of sale
Choosing the right point of sale (POS) for your salon is a big decision, because your POS touches every part of your business — including money, staff, clients, and your sanity.
When assessing different payments processors, ask the following questions:
- What is the setup process like? Look for a payment processing system that is easy to set up with a simple interface. With Square for Beauty, you can sign up for free, then select your hardware or set up Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android to turn your smartphone into a payment terminal. There’s no need for an appointment with a technician or clunky hardware: Following the setup instructions to connect your hardware is usually straightforward, but if you need a little help, Square offers multiple support channels and tutorials.
- Do appointment scheduling and the POS work together? For salons, a point of sale isn’t just for payments. You POS should offer online booking, real-time calendar sync with staff availability, deposits or cancellation fees, and easy add-ons at checkout (like treatments or retail purchases).
- How fast will deposits hit your bank account after a transaction? You want to get paid for your services quickly and not endure lagging processing time. With Square, you can get paid as soon as the next business day.
- Is the payment processor secure? A payments system should have the right security measures and be PCI compliant. Ask about chargeback protection and fraud detection to get a better sense of how protected you are. Square offers built-in PCI compliance, end-to-end encryption and active fraud prevention to help safeguard your business and customers.
- How will you get charged? Look for a payment processor with clear pricing and no hidden fees. With Square, you only get charged a flat-rate transaction fee when you make a sale – there are no long-term contracts or monthly fees.
The right salon point of sale should integrate all sides of your business — including appointments, marketing, team management, and operations — to make your day-to-day management more efficient and help your business scale. The Square ecosystem of tools covers all of your your business needs, from booking with Square Appointments, managing your team with Square Shifts, retaining clients with Square Marketing, and more.
7. Pick the right scheduling and booking software
The right POS system can act as a receptionist and support your salon scheduling strategy. By integrating online scheduling with your POS system, customers can access hair stylists’ calendars and book appointments 24/7. This reduces the workload of your team, since you spend less time answering the phone and catching up on voicemail messages from customers looking to book or confirm appointments.
With Square Appointments, you can provide clients with fast, modern checkout (think Tap to Pay, Apple Pay, saved card on file), automate appointment reminders, provide digital receipts, an keep client profiles with service history and preferences. Square also makes staff pay and commissions effortless, offering automatic commission tracking, support for tips, splits, and product commissions, clean reports for payroll periods, and permissions by role (front desk vs. stylist).
Once we added Square Appointments, it was like night and day. We went from pen and paper to digital bookings. Artists had access to their schedule, they could check it remotely and look ahead at their week. Especially with multiple locations, and as we were growing, I couldn’t see all those paper appointment books at the same time. Now here I am, with a click of a button, I can see every store, every schedule.”
Jamie Randolph → Owner of Steel N' Ink
8. Outline your offerings and services
Your services are the centerpiece of your salon and should reflect your concept and brand. Think of your offerings strategically. Do you want to serve a high volume of professionals in the financial district of your city? If so, you probably want to keep your service list streamlined to get customers in and out the door quickly. On the other hand, if you’re envisioning a full-service salon where people can get treatments like Hair Botox or specialized services like hair extensions, you’ll want to build a more comprehensive menu that explains the benefits of each service.
Service descriptions are a marketing tool that can help convince new customers to try your salon, so they should be concise but appeal to your audience. For example, instead of just listing the prices for a blowout for short and long hair, add enticing descriptions such as, “Whether you’re looking for bombshell volume, boho beach waves or a sleek and glossy finish, our hair stylists will bring your vision to life.”
9. Hire the right staff
How do you hire the right hair stylists? Before you start recruiting and interviewing, create a list of what you are looking for in an ideal candidate. Nail down the hiring and retaining process by considering these factors:
- Skill set: The candidate’s skill set and capacity to learn are both important to consider when interviewing. Think about the years of experience you want your stylists to have. Do you want each stylist to have proficiency in coloring? Or are you going to hire dedicated colorists?
- Attitude: A candidate’s attitude and work ethic determine their dependability, ability to work with others and overall customer service.
- Personality: A candidate’s personality should match the company culture you infuse in the salon. Whether you are aiming to be an upscale boutique or a family-focused shop, you want your company culture to be naturally instilled in your employees.
Once you’ve hired and onboarded your employees, you might feel like your job is done. Not so fast. The salon industry is competitive, and you often see hair stylists jump from one salon to the next. In order to prevent employee turnover at your salon, you have to provide your employees with reasons to stay. Here are a few ways to boost employee engagement and retain staff:
- Build strong relationships with your direct reports and encourage team bonding activities outside of working hours.
- Outline a career path and learning opportunities for employees, and give your hair stylists an opportunity to advance.
- Promote from within before you hire outside your salon; this encourages stylists to stay.
- Offer competitive compensation compared to salons in the area.
- Provide motivational perks like employer-sponsored pension plans, health and dental coverage plans and flexible hours to keep employees feeling valued.
You’ll also need to choose the right hair salon compensation model. You have a number of options for pay structures at your salon, including:
- Booth renters
- Independent contractors
- Salaried employees
- Employees with hourly pay
- Hourly pay with flat-rate or tiered commission
- Hourly pay with performance bonuses
Regardless of your decision, a tool like Square Shifts can take the guesswork out of managing your team’s time by letting you easily build a digital schedule, automate time tracking and streamline tip and commission management if that’s part of your compensation model.
10. Create a marketing plan
How do you develop a salon marketing plan? It can be hard to figure out which marketing tactics to prioritize. Here are some tips to help your salon stand out and build up a loyal base of repeat clients.
Build a marketing strategy based on your salon
It’s time to go back to your salon business plan: What are your business goals and who are your target customers? What makes your salon unique or sets it apart from the local competition? Do you sell retail products or have a cafe on site? These are all factors to consider as you frame your business concept and market your brand.
Next, think about where your target customers find new products and services through a market analysis and determine where you want to direct your marketing efforts — whether that’s on social channels, through email marketing or via paid ads.
For a deeper dive into marketing strategies for your salon, consider new ways to attract clients to your business, such as posting in local Facebook groups or creating video content for platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and use these ideas to boost your marketing efforts.
My goal is for our email newsletters to never feel like marketing. Clients like to hear about what’s new with Urban Nail Box and the team. We also include services that are trending at that time of year and encourage clients to prioritize self-care. We have over 15,000 contacts in Square, and our emails get open rates above 50%.”
Rachel Dang → Owner of Urban Nail Box
Stay up-to-date with industry and marketing trends
As a beauty business, staying up-to-date with the latest trends is key to winning new clients and keeping them coming back. Talk to your clients during their appointments about what their pain points are and what they’re interested in (this could be anything from products to treatments to how they want to hear from you).
Join industry forums or communities to stay on top of what’s happening. Follow influencers or other prominent leaders in your space on social media. And stay up-to-date with trends, industry reports and data-backed findings on what beauty customers want.
As you gather information, think about what applies the most to your business concept — what is your salon known for that customers want and how can you get the word out?
Also consider any new areas of opportunity. What are you learning about client interests and is there anything new you could incorporate into your salon to cater to them? Think: new services, live classes, online tutorials or group events. Be sure to talk to your staff and get their take on marketing opportunities and new ideas.
Turn customers into brand ambassadors
The final piece of the marketing puzzle is getting your salon some organic word-of-mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients. Consider offering gift cards or a referral program where happy customers can refer their friends in return for some sort of perk.
One of our most popular marketing campaigns is our annual gift card discount for Black Friday. Last year, we sold $17K in gift cards on that one day alone.”
Set up a Google Business Profile and encourage customers to leave you Google reviews, which boosts your visibility in local search results and encourages potential customers to choose your salon.
Sync your Google Business Profile with Square and use Square Marketing to create automatic email campaigns to collect Google reviews after a completed appointment. You can choose who gets prompted, whether you want to target first-time visitors or people who still haven’t left you a review. Reviews get automatically added to your profile, and you can track your efforts in your Square Dashboard to see how effective your campaigns are.
What makes a salon profitable?
Profitable salons come in many forms, but repeat clients and diversified revenue streams are what tend to help salons succeed in a hyper-competitive industry.
Consider offering a client loyalty program to reward repeat clients. What you offer as part of your loyalty program is up to you, but points that clients can redeem for products and services, special offers and deals, free merchandise, invitations to special events or the chance to test new products and services before they’re released are all popular salon loyalty program options.
According to the 2025 Square Future of Beauty report, 84% of consumers said exclusive discounts are the most valuable part of a loyalty program, followed closely by the ability to earn rewards (83%) and personalized experiences (69%). With Square Loyalty, you can set up your loyalty program in minutes and choose whether clients earn points by visits, amount spent or items or categories purchased.
Loyalty programs aren’t the only way to entice clients to return. Diversifying your revenue with new offerings (like retail products or events and classes) also helps attract clients and allows your business to be more adaptable to financial pressure and industry change. Take note of how other businesses have successfully expanded their offerings.
How do I open a salon with no money?
Even if you don’t have adequate savings or enough funding up-front when considering how to open a salon, there are still a few options to consider.
Limit up-front costs
Consider leasing equipment so you don’t have to pay the full cost of your salon equipment up-front or opening your salon in an already established business, such as a salon suite or a booth rental. Both of these options allow you to bring on clients, market your business and build savings without having to take out a loan or pay the full rent for a storefront.
Recruit investors
There are plenty of avenues to raise money for your business. Here are a few to consider:
- Consider friends and family or people in your network or community that may be interested in investing in your salon.
- Attend industry events or conferences to make new connections that could help lead to funding.
- Apply to an accelerator program that can help broaden your connections and support new business growth.
- Look into an angel investor that will provide initial funding for an eventual return on their investment.
Before you commit to any kind of investment, do your due diligence to be sure the investment is sound, or consult a legal or financial advisor.
Apply for a small business grant or loan
If you’re set on a standalone salon that’s all your own, there are plenty of different types of business loans that can help you get there. The are a handful of organizations that help connect small businesses with loan programs or grants, such as the SBA, Grants.gov, and various state and local programs.
If you use Square, you may be eligible for a customized loan that you can automatically repay based on a percentage of your sales.
I absolutely love Square Loans. They offer pre-approved loans, clearly outlining how much you can borrow, the repayment terms, and a one-time fee. I don’t even have to think about putting money aside or paying off the loan. The loan paid off itself.”
Nikki Ally Rae → Hair stylist and owner of Be You Hair
How can I make running and operating my salon easier?
There are plenty of aspects that make operating your salon easier, like reliable staff and a consistent cash flow, but the right salon management tools and software can make or break your operations.
Square for Beauty is built for and used by salons across the globe, helping sync and simplify all sides of your business so you can save time and focus on clients and growth. Allow clients to book 24/7, take payments anywhere, automate scheduling and manage your entire team and multiple salon locations — all from a centralized point of sale.
How to open a salon FAQs
Can I open a beauty salon in my home?
Yes, you can open a beauty salon in your home and it can be a successful business model. You’ll still need to register your business and look into your local regulations and permit requirements, as you may need to comply with zoning rules and get public health approval before being able to serve customers from home.
Can you open a salon without a license?
No, you cannot open a salon without a license. In the U.S. specifically, you cannot legally operate a salon without the required licenses, including licensing for the business itself and individual professional licenses for stylists, barbers, nail techs, estheticians, etc.
What is the cost to open a salon?
According to BusinessDojo, starting a salon can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 for a mid-market salon. Startup costs can vary significantly depending on factors like your location, the size and type of salon, how big your team is and what compensation structure you go with, as well as the equipment you choose.
What’s the best salon software?
The best salon software is a modern point-of-sale (POS) that combines the ability to accept multiple payment types with integrated tools that help you streamline operations and grow with your business. Square for Beauty is designed for the unique needs of salons thanks to features like online booking, shift scheduling, inventory management and more.
Square Loans, LLC and Square Financial Services, Inc. are both wholly owned subsidiaries of Square, Inc. Square Loans, LLC d/b/a Square Loans of California, LLC in FL, GA, MT, and NY. All loans are issued by either Celtic Bank or Square Financial Services, Inc. Square Financial Services, Inc. and Celtic Bank are both Utah-Chartered Industrial Banks. Members FDIC, located in Salt Lake City, UT. The bank issuing your loan will be identified in your loan agreement. The individual authorized to act on behalf of the business must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and at least 18 years old. Loan eligibility is not guaranteed. All loans are subject to approval.
