Free Guides
Free pricing guides and calculators for beauty pros
Every guide here exists because the standard pricing advice in this industry does not survive contact with a calculator.
“Charge three times your product cost” ignores your rent. “Match the salon down the street” assumes their numbers work, which they may not. “Raise your prices when you’re booked out” is how people end up booked solid and still broke.
So these walk through the actual arithmetic instead: what a service costs you once product, your time, overhead and card fees are all counted, what margin is left, and what to charge to earn what you need. Written for stylists, nail techs, estheticians, makeup artists and PMU artists — the math is the same across all of it, only the inputs change.
Free, complete, and none of it asks for an email.
Not sure where to start
- 1You have never worked out what a service costs youHow to Calculate the Cost Per Service in a SalonThe number every other decision on this page depends on.
- 2You know your costs but not whether they are goodWhat Is a Good Profit Margin for a Salon?What is left after everything is paid, and what counts as healthy here.
- 3You know your prices are too lowHow to Raise Your Prices Without Losing ClientsHow to move them without the conversation going badly.
Calculators
Enter your own costs and a target margin, and each one returns the price to charge. They run in your browser, nothing is saved, and there is no sign-up.
Hair Pricing Calculator
Colour, cuts, treatments and toners. Counts bowl product, your time at the chair, and the overhead that runs whether the chair is full or not.
Nail Pricing Calculator
Gel, acrylic, dip and natural care — including chair time and booth rent, if booth rent is what you pay.
Facial Pricing Calculator
Backbar product, room time, and the single-use supplies that quietly add a few dollars to every treatment.
Makeup Pricing Calculator
Kit depreciation, travel, and the hours before and after an event that almost nobody charges for.
Microblading Pricing Calculator
Sterile single-use supplies across both the first session and the touch-up, plus licensing and insurance.
Pricing your services
What to charge, worked out from your own costs rather than copied off the salon down the road — whose numbers may not be working either. If you read one thing here, read the cost-per-service guide first; everything else assumes it.
Facial Pricing Guide: How Much Should Estheticians Charge?
Learn how to price facials using your true costs, profit margins, and overhead. A free esthetician pricing guide with real examples, price ranges, and a formula that tells you exactly how much to charge.
Updated July 2026
How to Calculate the Cost Per Service in a Salon
How to calculate the true cost per service in a salon or spa — product, supply, labor, and overhead — with a simple formula and a worked example so you can price for profit.
Updated July 2026
Hair Pricing Guide: How Much Should Stylists Charge?
How to price hair services — cuts, color, balayage, and extensions — from your true costs and target margin, with average salon price ranges and a simple pricing formula.
Updated July 2026
Nail Pricing Guide: How Much Should Nail Techs Charge?
How to price nail services — gel, acrylic, dip, and pedicures — from your true costs and target margin, with average nail salon price ranges and a simple pricing formula.
Updated July 2026
Makeup Artist Pricing Guide: What to Charge
How to price makeup services — event, special occasion, and bridal — including travel fees, trials, and kit costs, with average makeup artist price ranges and a simple formula.
Updated July 2026
Microblading Pricing Guide: What to Charge
How to price microblading and permanent makeup from your true costs — sterile single-use supplies, the included touch-up, licensing, and time — with average PMU price ranges.
Updated July 2026
How to Raise Your Prices Without Losing Clients
Raise your prices without the awkward conversation. Retire the old service and launch an upgraded version with add-ons that cost you almost nothing.
Updated October 2026
Margins and profit
What is actually left once product, your time and your overhead are paid. Revenue is the number people quote at each other; margin is the one that decides whether the business survives.
What Is a Good Profit Margin for a Salon?
Learn what a healthy salon profit margin looks like, how to calculate it, and practical ways to improve profitability for salons, spas, and estheticians.
Updated July 2026
How to Find Your Most Profitable Salon Services
Your busiest service may not be your best earner. How to compare salon services on profit per appointment, margin and profit per occupied hour.
Updated October 2026
Discounts and promotions
What a promotion really costs you, calculated before you run it rather than after. A 20% discount is rarely a 20% hit — it usually comes straight out of margin, which is a much smaller number than price.
Growing without discounting
Filling the book and raising your average ticket without training clients to wait for the next sale.
Questions about pricing your work
How do I work out what a service actually costs me?
Add four things: the product you use per service, your time at the rate you want to earn, a share of your monthly overhead, and the card processing fee on the payment. Most people count only the first one, which is why the number comes out so low. The cost-per-service guide walks through each part with worked examples.
Is “charge three times your product cost” a real rule?
No. It ignores rent, insurance, software, your time, and card fees — all of which you pay whether the chair is full or empty. Two providers with identical product costs and different rents need different prices. The multiplier is a shortcut that happens to work for whoever invented it.
What is a healthy profit margin for a salon or spa?
It depends on whether you rent a booth, lease a suite or run a space with employees, because each carries a different overhead load. The margins guide covers the realistic ranges for each setup and how to tell whether a specific service is pulling its weight.
Do these guides work for hair, nails and makeup, or only skincare?
All of them. The arithmetic is identical across the industry — product, time, overhead, fees — only the inputs change. There are dedicated calculators for hair, nails, facials, makeup and microblading, and the written guides apply whatever you do.
How often should I recalculate my prices?
Any time your costs move, which in practice means at least twice a year. Product prices creep up, rent changes at renewal, and a price that was right two years ago is quietly losing you money now. The numbers go stale even when nothing feels different.
Are the guides and calculators really free?
Yes, and none of them ask for an email. The calculators run in your browser and the guides are complete articles, not teasers. Profit Suite is the paid product that does this continuously for every service you offer, but nothing here is gated.
Stop doing this math by hand
Profit Suite works out the true cost and margin for every service you offer, and keeps it current as your product prices change — so the number stays right after the guides have done their job.
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