The Salos blog · International edition
Straight answers for salon owners — pricing, commission, client retention, no-shows, reviews and the software that runs it all. Written inside a working salon.
Money & tax
Work out what each chair-minute costs, add product, commission and card fees, and set salon prices that keep a margin. Dollar examples and a price-rise script.
Run & grow
Open a salon in Dubai step by step: mainland or free zone, the DET trade licence, Dubai Municipality approvals, Ejari, staff visas, costs and a timeline.
Clients & marketing
Plan your UAE salon's Ramadan and Eid: MoHRE's shorter staff hours, evening opening, rotas, the pre-Eid rush, deposits, Eid holidays and WhatsApp messages.
Money & tax
Salon services and products in the UAE carry 5% VAT. When to register, what your menu and tax invoices must show, how packages are taxed, and the fines.
Team & staff
Renting chairs or employing stylists in the UK: how status is tested, minimum wage and holiday pay from April 2026, and what a chair-rental agreement covers.
Team & staff
How UK salons must handle tips since October 2024: card tips passed on in full, fair sharing, a written policy, records, tax, National Insurance and troncs.
Money & tax
When a UK salon must register for VAT, whether the Flat Rate Scheme pays, and how vouchers, courses, deposits and chair rent are taxed, with worked numbers.
Team & staff
Booth rental or commission? How the IRS and ABC tests classify stylists, what you owe commissioned employees, how tips work, and the money math for each.
Run & grow
How to open a salon in the US: your state board's salon license, entity and EIN, sales tax permit, local permits, insurance, OSHA chemical rules and a timeline.
Team & staff
What US salon owners must do about tips in 2026: the no-tax-on-tips deduction, new W-2 boxes, the FICA tip credit for salons, tip reports and tip credits.
Pricing, packages, bridal work and the daily cash — where a salon's profit is made or lost.
Money & tax
How profitable a salon is, line by line: the costs on a P&L, gross vs net margin, a worked example in dollars, where profit leaks and the levers that lift it.
Money & tax
The maths behind your salon's average ticket, add-ons that pay, retail that doesn't feel like selling, tiered menus, staff scripts, incentives and tracking.
Money & tax
How to price salon memberships, monthly plans, prepaid packages and account credit so they bring in cash without eating margin, with worked dollar examples.
Money & tax
Sell more retail without pushing: the mirror script, a short range, shelf layout, markup and margin maths, retail commission and stock that doesn't expire.
Money & tax
Design a salon service menu clients read and book from: category order, service names, stylist levels, "from" prices, tax, add-ons and a sample menu.
Google reviews, WhatsApp, Instagram, slow days, retention and no-shows.
Clients & marketing
Handle salon client complaints in the chair, by message and in reviews: when to redo, refund or credit, who can approve what, and how a log finds the cause.
Clients & marketing
Build a salon refer-a-friend programme that brings real new clients: what to give each side, the maths, tracking, abuse rules and messages to send.
Clients & marketing
Measure salon client retention and rebooking, get first-time clients to a third visit, follow up by text, email or WhatsApp, and win back lapsed clients.
Clients & marketing
Get more genuine Google reviews for your salon: a Business Profile checklist, when to ask, reply templates, and the review rules Google enforces in 2026.
Clients & marketing
Work out what no-shows cost, then cut them with reminders, deposits, card on file and a fair cancellation window. Policy wording and templates to copy.
Clients & marketing
Find your salon's real dead hours, then fill them with off-peak menus, junior-stylist prices, express services and targeted messages, not discounts.
Commission, pay, hiring and keeping your best stylists.
Team & staff
Hire stylists, assistants and front-desk staff: a job ad to copy, where to look, a model-day trade test with a rubric, interview questions and onboarding.
Team & staff
Flat, tiered, targets, base pay plus commission, retail and team pools: one stylist's month worked six ways in dollars, plus a commission policy to copy.
Team & staff
How to run a salon front desk: the day hour by hour, call and text scripts, bookings and walk-ins, card and cash payments, rebooking, hiring and a checklist.
Team & staff
Why stylists leave, what replacing one really costs (with the maths), and the pay transparency, career ladder and client habits that keep your best people.
Opening a salon, licences, KPIs, stock, SOPs and client safety.
Run & grow
The 12 numbers that show how your salon is really doing, each with a formula, a worked dollar example and what moves it, plus a 30-minute weekly review.
Choosing and switching software, online booking and what AI can really do.
Software & AI
How to switch salon software without losing clients, prepaid balances or history: what to export, how to clean it, a cut-over plan and staff training.
No decks, no pressure. We set up a demo around how your salon runs — and you decide if it deserves to run on Salos.
is all it takes. On WhatsApp or a call — you pick the slot, we bring your numbers.