How to Start Your Own Hair Salon or Barbershop

Do you dream of opening your own hair salon? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to start a barbershop. If this sounds like you, you’re in the right place. Let’s run through the advantages of launching a business in this field, and discuss the 10 key steps to bear in mind when you do.

Did you know there are over 43,000 hair and beauty businesses in the UK generating a total of £7.5 billion for the economy? In fact, the number of hairdressing, barbering and beauty companies has grown by 45 percent in the past five years alone (NHBF). Clearly, this is a highly lucrative industry capable of supporting a vast quantity of businesses.

Why open your own hair salon?

• It’s a relatively safe investment - People will always need to get their hair cut, so demand is unlikely to diminish much over the coming years.

• You can boost sales with high-quality cuts - Lots of people really care about the way they present themselves to the world. So, it’s not surprising there’s a large proportion of customers willing to shell out for a quality cut.

• You can get creative - Trends change all the time, and the cuts people ask for one month might be different to the styles they’re demanding the next. As a hairdresser or barber, you’ll have the chance to learn new skills and try new techniques to give people the perfect look.

Steps for opening a hair salon or barbershop

Follow these steps to launch a successful hair salon or barbershop.

• First things first, you need to make sure your business complies with the relevant regulations. You’ll need to adhere to:

  • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
  • Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002
  • Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2004

• You’ll need to be approved by a Health and Safety Executive. They’ll sign your health and safety poster and you must display it clearly in your salon or barbershop.

• If you hire more than five employees in your business, you must complete a risk assessment, making a list of potential hazards and taking measures to avoid them. Even if you don’t have five workers, we recommend you create a risk assessment anyway.

• Create a written health and safety policy if you have a workforce of over five people. You should also run a training scheme before they start working - and then on a regular basis - to make sure your staff know what to do if something goes wrong. Log every health and safety session as a written record. You’ll also need to nominate a first aider and, ideally, someone to apply emergency first aid at work (EFAW).

• Ask each customer if they have any allergies or special requirements before you get to work. You don’t want to attract negative press caused by someone having an adverse reaction to one of your products.

• Implement good hygiene standards. Keeping your salon clean and tidy is essential if you want to build a large customer base. Sweep up hair, disinfect tools and provide fresh towels every time someone new sits in the chair.

>> Read more:

• Q&A: Does Rush Hair Franchise in the UK?
• Hair salon for sale in the UK: What to look for
• Rules and Regulations to Consider When Opening a Hair Salon
• Day in the Life: What It Takes to Run Your Own Hair and Beauty Franchise
• 8 Tips for Building a Business Plan for a Successful Hair, Beauty, or Cosmetics Franchise

• Be presentable. You and your staff are the face of your business, so make sure you look fresh, tidy and clean. And if you have great hair styles, even better.

• Practise fantastic customer service. It’s cliché, but the customer really is always right. Hair dressing is one of those businesses that often seems to come under fire for its customer service. Some people are happy to talk all day about their job, family, friends and what they’re having for dinner; others would rather sit in silence. Judging the right course of action is important if you’re to keep your customers happy. Everything from answering the phone, booking in clients and suggesting a certain hair product needs to be done with the right tone and attitude.

• Great time-keeping skills are essential in a hair salon or barbershop, so always be punctual. To maintain optimal customer turnover, you’ll need to get as many happy customers through the doors as possible. But there are many benefits of sticking to a strict schedule. A speedy service also prevents long queues, late appointments and frustration among customers.

• If selling additional hair and skin products forms part of your business model, make sure you know your range inside out. You’re supposed to be experts, so every team member needs to know the ingredients of each product and the type of hair or skin it’s designed for. Then, they’ll be able to tailor their recommendations to certain customers and increase their chances of making a sale. Plus, the customers will be happy with their purchase.

>> Read more:

• Top 5 Hair and Beauty Franchises in the UK
• Guide to starting a beauty store business
• How to start a beauty franchise
• Start Your Own Beauty Shop with a Franchise

Hair salon and barbershop franchise opportunities

If you’re interested in running your own hair salon or barbershop, you can reduce the chance of business failure by joining a franchise. By investing in a well-known brand, you’ll have the backing of an established company with a proven model and ready-made customer base. Here’s one of our best hair salon franchise opportunities:

Rush Hair

Rush Hair provides professional haircare services to clients all over the world. The brand has expanded to over 70 UK locations that cater to over 16,000 customers a week – a customer base that continues to grow year on year. The successful hair salon franchise is partnered with high street brands like ghd, REDKEN and L'Oréal, which allows it to use the highest quality hair products on the market.

• Becoming a Rush Hair franchisee: You’ll get all the support you need to launch your Rush business within six months of applying to become a franchisee.

• How much you need to invest: Rush welcomes savvy entrepreneurs who are able to make a total investment of around £160,000. You don’t need any experience in hairdressing, as you’ll take on more of a managerial role.

• What you get for your investment: Before you launch your Rush salon, you will take part in a comprehensive initial training programme covering the business model. There’s also ongoing support provided by the dedicated franchise teams to help with all the technicalities and legalities. The brand likes to think of itself as a family as well as a business so, as well as being able to capitalise from a proven business model, there is ample support.

"Our people are our product. If you’re thinking about franchising, before it works for me, it has to work for you." – Andy Phouli, Co-Founder and Chairman of Rush

Find your perfect business opportunity

Why not take a look at our full range of businesses in the beauty sector? You can sort the selection by the franchises’ popularity and investment requirements. Alternatively, browse our UK franchise directory or check out our other articles.