A price list built on guesswork
Your price list says a full head tint is one price, with an extra charge for long hair, and a full head of foils is another. Those prices were set years ago, adjusted for inflation, and checked against the salon across the road. Nobody has ever measured how much colour actually goes into each one.
Some stylists mix generously, just in case, and the leftover goes down the sink. Some clients with thick, long hair use two or three times the colour of others but pay the same. The monthly colour invoice from the wholesaler goes up, and it is hard to tell whether that is more clients, more waste or higher prices.
Why colour cost is invisible
Colour is bought in bulk and used in small portions, so there is no natural link between the invoice and the appointment. The till knows the service sold. The wholesaler knows the tubes bought. Nothing sits between them.
Waste is also hidden. A bowl of mixed colour that is not used is thrown away, and nobody records it. Over a week, across a team, that adds up.
And extra charges for length and thickness are applied at the stylist's discretion, which is fair enough, but some stylists apply them and some do not, and the salon cannot see the difference.
What that costs the salon
| Blind spot | Effect |
|---|---|
| No product cost per service | Prices that may not cover the colour |
| Mixing waste unrecorded | Product thrown away every day |
| Length charges applied unevenly | Some clients undercharged |
| No view by stylist | Coaching opportunities missed |
| Invoice rises unexplained | Hard to know what to change |
What you charge and how you talk to your team about it are your decisions. We give you numbers you can trust to base them on.
How we measure colour per appointment
- We set up your colour and developer list with a cost per gram or per tube, taken from your supplier invoices and updated when prices change.
- Product used is recorded per bowl. With a bowl-weighing tool such as SalonScale or Vish, the weight is read automatically. Without one, stylists pick shades and amounts on a tablet as they mix, which also records the formula.
- Each bowl is linked to the client's appointment in your salon software, so the product cost sits next to the service and price charged.
- Leftover colour can be recorded with a tap, so waste becomes visible rather than guessed.
- A report shows average colour cost by service type, by stylist and by hair length category, against the price charged, over any period you choose.
- Where the length or thickness charge was not applied but product use suggests it should have been, the appointment is flagged for you to review.
If you already use a bowl-weighing system, we connect its data to your bookings and till rather than asking your team to change what works.
What you can see after a month
The report shows which services use the most colour against their price, and which stylists mix more than their colleagues for the same service. You can see how much colour is mixed and thrown away. When the colour invoice goes up, you can see whether it was volume, waste or price. When you review the price list, you do it with numbers rather than instinct.
- Real colour cost for each service
- Waste visible and discussable
- Length and thickness charges applied fairly
- Price reviews based on data
The conversation with stylists changes too. Instead of a general plea to be careful with colour, you can show each person their own mixing next to the team average, and let them draw their own conclusions.
Does this sound like your salon?
- You do not know what the colour in a full head costs you.
- Colour is mixed generously and leftovers are thrown away.
- Length charges depend on who is doing the colour.
- The colour invoice rises and you are not sure why.
- Your colour prices were set years ago and nudged since.