Salon service profitability calculator.
Enter service price, product cost, stylist commission rate, and how long the service takes. See real profit per service — after commission, product, and the chair-hour cost of the time it takes.
Per service
Defaults work for most small shops in the EU.
Profit per service
Why "she did €75 of services" doesn't mean you made €75.
Most salon owners measure stylists by service revenue. But after commission, product, and the chair-hour the service took, real profit per service is usually 30-50% of the headline price. Some services lose money entirely once you count the chair-hour opportunity cost.
The formula
Profit per service = (price ÷ (1 + VAT)) − stylist commission − product cost − (service hours × chair-hour cost)
What chair-hour cost means
Your monthly fixed costs (rent, salaries, software, insurance) divided across your total chair-hours per month is what each chair-hour "costs" you in fixed overhead. If a service takes 90 minutes, the chair-hour cost is 1.5 × your hourly rate. A €75 service that takes 90 minutes is much less profitable than a €60 service that takes 30 minutes.
Why profit per hour matters more than profit per service
A service that earns €30 in 30 minutes (€60/hour) is twice as profitable as a service earning €40 in 60 minutes (€40/hour). The chair is your finite resource — book it with what earns most per hour, not per service.
What to do
Calculate profit per hour for your top 10 services. Three categories will emerge: stars (high per-hour, push these), filler (mid per-hour, OK), and losers (low or negative per-hour, raise prices or stop offering). Most salons have 1-2 losers they keep offering "because the regular always orders it."