Whether you have clients on a waitlist or you're starting from ground zero, becoming an independent hairstylist or salon owner offers plenty of opportunities, along with a fair share of challenges.
Fortunately, there are resources to assist you nearly every step of the way, from processing payments to marketing your new business and connecting with prospective clients. So long as you've gotten your business registered and permits obtained, you're ready to start taking full advantage of these nine apps for hairstylists.
StyleSeat
StyleSeat is a perfect beauty marketplace that helps new clients search, discover, and book their next appointment with beauty and barber professionals. This salon appointment app does the busy work for you while you focus on delivering the perfect service. Customer loyalty, more bookings, and many clients are guaranteed.
Booksy
Booksy is a cloud-based salon appointment app for beauty salons, individual hairstylists and barbers. This hairstylist app is available for both ios and Android. It offers appointment times scheduling, text reminders, calendar management, online payments, and general salon businesses marketing management functionalities.
Vagaro Pro
Vagaro Pro levels up the salon business allowing for salon appointment and online booking management, payment processing and marketing tools. All of these are packed in a user-friendly hairstylist app software, which is fully integrated within their website software.
Snapseed
Snapseed, unlike most hairstylist apps on this list is a photo editing app that will allow your photos at website, Instagram page, or in Google search look professional and clients-welcoming. The software is simple to use in your phone, and the free version is more than enough to create the best salon feed.
Ring My Stylist
If you've decided on becoming an independent hairstylist or salon owner, Ring My Stylist will be your best friend. It's essentially a stylist appointment booking app – but with tons of perks that will help you stay organized, stand out to clients, and deliver a salon experience that's second-to-none.
With Ring My Stylist, you have the ability to:
- Manage bookings (reschedule, cancel, contact client)
- Customize your services with a duration, price, and detailed description
- Document client service history and formulas so you can provide consistent, quality services
- Automatically send out reminders to clients before their appointments
- View your daily, weekly, and monthly schedule
- Oversee client referrals
ChargeStripe
Let's cut to the chase – one of the most exciting parts of becoming an independent stylist or opening a hair salon is the opportunity to make money. You don't need a complex (and expensive) payment processing software to charge your clients for your services. ChargeStripe is an easy-to-use credit card reader. It's the perfect app for hairstylists who usually take cash or checks, but want to occasionally be able to accept credit cards to give their customers flexible payment options.
With ChargeStripe, you can expect:
- To accept credit card payments from your mobile device
- No monthly or annual fees
- No additional card reader required
- The ability to type in a card number, or take a photo with your phone's camera
- To easily add your typical services or packages, like "Womens hairstyles,"Mens haircut," or "All-over highlights" for one-tap charges
SalonCentric
As you're preparing for life as an independent stylist or salon owner, you'll need to find a retailer to supply your products and equipment. SalonCentric is a distributor that works with independent hairstylists and salon owners, serving as a one-stop-shop to fill your space with everything you need to get started. Shop for products, tools, custom furniture, salon stations, shampoo equipment, reception desks, retail stands, barber chairs, and more.
It's also one of the best apps for hairstylists to ensure you always have your go-to products in stock. SalonCentric sells salon-quality brands like Amika, Bio Ionic, Bioelements, Dermalogica, Design.ME, It's a 10 Haircare, Kenra, L'ANZA, L'Oreal Professionnel, Matrix, Olaplex, Pravana, Pureology, Redken, Sam Villa, Sexy Hair, StriVectin, and Surface.
Plus, SalonCentric makes it simple to re-order the products that you always need to have in stock by documenting your purchase history and storing it all in your online account. SalonCentric even has a Service staff that you can reach out to if you ever have issues with the tools and equipment you have purchased. You can also call them to order replacement parts or schedule a service appointment.
While you can take full advantage of the perks we just mentioned on a laptop or desktop, we recommend downloading the SalonCentric app to get access to these additional features:
- Loyalty Program and Rewards
- Barcode Scanning to look up products
- Inventory Lookup to see what your local retailer has in stock
- Communicate with your Salon Success Consultant
- Coupons and Deals
- Continued Learning Classes and Industry Shows
Instagram is one of the best apps for hairstylists. While you probably already have an account for personal use, it's time to start thinking about how to utilize it for business purposes. Stylists often use the app as an online portfolio to showcase their services, while clients use it to see if the stylist's work is up to their standards before booking an appointment with them.
You can also use Instagram posts, stories, and IGTV to provide helpful educational material to your following by posting tutorials and haircare tips. The more you position yourself as an industry leader, the more trust you will build with current and potential clients, leading to more people walking through the doors of your salon!
Not sure where to start with Instagram marketing? Check out influencers like Jamie Dana, Chrissy Rasmussen, and Waseem Yoans who have made a living off of teaching other hairstylists and barbers how to use Instagram for business.
Glamsquad
If opening a hair salon or working as an independent stylist is your dream, but you aren't 100% sure you're ready, a great place to start is the Glamsquad app. Allowing you to serve as a freelance hairstylist, this app helps you connect with clients in your area and get experience running your own business, creating your own schedule, and managing appointments.
Plus, you don't need a physical location for your salon when you use Glamsquad. When clients book with you, they select the location for the appointment, whether it be their home or a special venue.
With Glamsquad, you can also expect to:
- Manage your payments within the app
- Receive discounts on Glamsquad line of hair care and makeup products
- Join a community of experienced hairstylists that you can learn from
- Have access to classes, seminars, and Pro Sessions to stay on top of industry trends
FAQ
What apps do beauticians use?
In order to become beauty magicians and have enough time to create real magic, the best stylists in the industry use apps that not only help to schedule appointments but also manage the payments, chats with the clients, marketing and promotion of your salon, create clients’ profiles, provide analytics, and much more.
How do independent hair stylists build clientele?
Hair salon apps with an opportunity for payroll management, various financial tools, touchless credit card payments, access to social media channels, online booking, appointment reminders, synchronization with Google calendar, invoice management, and email marketing give a super power to every hair stylist and salon owners.
Having a salon booking app with multiple functions allows to win new clients, earn more money, and save time as well.
Besides, independent hair stylist builds their clientele through win-win partnerships with local small businesses, creating visibility offline and on an online platform, optimizing the Google search results, and encouraging the clients to recommend your salon business to friends.
Where To Find The Best Apps For Hairstylists
Each of the apps for hairstylists that we've mentioned above can be found in the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store, and many of them are free. To find more resources and connect with other stylists and barbers, follow us on Instagram.
Conclusion
Did you know that on average, a hairstylist wastes over 10 hours a week on various administrative and business tasks? Just imagine how many appointments you could fill during those extra ten hours! Apps from our list deserve your attention since they do the busy work for you – and meanwhile, you can focus on delivering perfect services, creating pieces of art, and getting paid.