How to Price Hair Colour by Hair Length
If a client with a bob and a client with waist-length hair pay the same for global colour, one of them is paying too much and the other too little. Usually it’s the salon that pays the difference, in product and in time.
Here’s a worked example you can copy. The numbers are made up (use your own), but the method is the point.
Step 1: find your product cost per gram
Take the price of a colour tube and divide by the grams in it. Do the same for developer. If a 100 g tube costs 600 and you mix it with equal developer that costs 0.50 a gram, a 1:1 mix costs roughly:
| Item | Per gram |
|---|---|
| Colour | 6.00 |
| Developer | 0.50 |
| Mixed 1:1 (average of two) | 3.25 |
Your real number will differ. Weigh what you actually use a few times and you’ll know it.
Step 2: weigh it by length
Use a scale for a week. The amounts below are typical for a full colour, but weigh your own.
| Hair length | Product mixed | Product cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short (above shoulder) | 60 g | 195 | 1 hr 15 min |
| Shoulder | 90 g | 293 | 1 hr 30 min |
| Mid-back | 130 g | 423 | 2 hr |
| Long (waist) | 180 g | 585 | 2 hr 30 min |
Step 3: add commission and time
Suppose a chair-hour costs you 700 in rent, bills and fixed pay (divide your monthly fixed costs by the hours your team can really book), and your stylist gets 30% commission. The longer service carries more of both.
Step 4: find the price that leaves a profit
For each length: price = (product + time cost) ÷ (1 − commission − margin). With a 30% commission and a 25% margin, you divide by 0.45.
| Length | Product | Time cost | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | 195 | 875 | 2,378 |
| Shoulder | 293 | 1,050 | 2,984 |
| Mid-back | 423 | 1,400 | 4,051 |
| Long | 585 | 1,750 | 5,189 |
So the long-haired client should pay more than double the short-haired one, which is what feels right to anyone who’s worked on both. Round the prices to something tidy (2,400 / 3,000 / 4,100 / 5,200) and keep the band names plain: “short, shoulder, mid-back, long.”
Add the extras separately
Toner, gloss, bond-repair treatments, a haircut: each gets its own line. A client who wants highlights and a trim is two services, not one with a discount buried in it.
Talk about it with confidence
When someone asks why her price is higher than a friend’s, you now have an answer: “It’s based on how much colour and time your hair takes.” Most people nod. It’s far better than guessing at the till and quoting a number you later regret.
The free service profit calculator does Steps 1 to 4 for any service, and our backbar cost guide shows how to track what you use. If you enter the recipe against each service in Salonipy (the Products used per service section), stock is deducted when you bill it, so your cost figures stay honest.
Related: Service profit calculator · Salon price list · Backbar cost