Colour cost per service: stop mixing by eye

One Australian salon's price list puts the rule in two sentences. The Mane Space says its standard mix is 50g of colour, and charges per gram for any extra that thick or long hair needs. It also says it uses Vish to monitor colour usage and charge accordingly. A salon pricing every full head alike pays for the long, thick heads out of its own margin.

Charging per gram is one answer. Knowing what a service actually costs in product comes first, whatever you decide to charge.

Work out the colour cost of one service

Consider a regrowth. Colourists on the Salon Geek forum describe mixing around 30g of colour with 30g of developer for a regrowth. Thicker hair raises that figure, finer hair lowers it. Your own numbers will differ, which is exactly why they belong on paper.

1. Cost per gram of colour: the tube price divided by the grams in the tube.
2. Cost per gram of developer: the bottle price divided by its size.
3. Grams of each in a typical bowl for that service.
4. Multiply and add. That is the product cost of the bowl.

Do it for each service on the menu: regrowth, full head, half head foils, full head foils, toner. Foils add lightener and developer, usually in a different ratio from tint, and a toner after foils is another bowl.

Count what is left in the bowl

Mixed colour that goes down the basin still cost the salon money. The cost of a service is whatever the colourist mixed, not whatever reached the head. A bowl mixed "to be safe" costs the same whether it is used or not.

Count the back bar

Bond builder, stain remover, the colour-safe shampoo and treatment at the basin are all part of the service. They are easy to leave out because nobody weighs them.

Weigh the bowl, not the tube

A set of scales at the colour bar changes the habit more than any rule. Mix to a weight, not to a squeeze.

One colourist on the same Salon Geek thread describes weighing the weekly waste to keep an eye on it. They also remix prelightener in smaller amounts through a service, rather than one full bowl, so it stays fresh. Both are cheap to copy. The leftover weight at the end of each service tells you whether the standard mix is right.

Set a standard mix and say what happens past it

Once you know the grams a typical service takes, that standard belongs on the price list, the way The Mane Space does it. The price list also states the rate for extra colour. Per gram is the most exact. A flat surcharge for long or thick hair is simpler and still better than nothing.

Say it at consultation too. The Mane Space's price list notes that the consultation settles the final price, and that thick hair may cost more. A client who hears before the colour goes in the bowl accepts a surcharge. The same client, surprised at the desk, disputes it.

Put grams on the formula card

"6.1 and 7.0 with 20 vol" tells the next colourist the shade and the developer. It does not tell them how much to mix. The grams of each product, the developer, and whatever remained all record against the service.

The next appointment then mixes the right amount first time. The price quoted at consultation matches the service, because it rests on what that client's hair actually took.

Look at colour cost per stylist

Once the bowls carry a weight, the colour cost of the same service compares between stylists. A big difference is usually a mixing habit rather than carelessness. One stylist mixes a second bowl early, another mixes the full tube of lightener every time. Treat it as something to train, not something to police, and it will stay honest.

The standard mix gets a review twice a year, and whenever a supplier changes its prices. A standard set when a tube cost less is a standard that is quietly losing money again.