In some cases, stylists can also make money by convincing clients to buy a product that was used on them during their service. However, this represents a minuscule amount of revenue says Shira Devash Espinoza, a freelance stylist based in New Jersey. “When working in a salon, you’re constantly pushed and ‘rewarded’ to sell, but only earn maybe 10 percent of it if you’re lucky,” she says.
How They Spend It
So what happens to Krzyminski’s hypothetical $100? The majority of it, she says, goes toward licensing fees, personal supplies, and tools (blow-dryers, flatirons, curling irons), and continuing education classes. That means even on a jam-packed day, a stylist may only make enough take home pay to cover the essentials of food, shelter, and clothing.
Tips, on the other hand, help pay for the supplemental benefits that those not in the service industry take for granted. Says Stephanie Brown, a colorist at Manhattan’s Nunzio Saviano Salon, “It’s a physically demanding job, and most salons are too small to provide health benefits or paid vacations and sick days.”
Ladda Phommavong, a stylist at Third Space Salon in Austin, Texas, says that those gratuities are what helped her become the in-demand stylist she is today. “The tips I received from clients meant being able to take outside courses to hone my craft,” she says. “If clients knew I was saving up to take the master colorist course and that their tipping was directly contributing to me becoming a better stylist for them, I think they would definitely want to be a part of that.”
Freelance Isn’t Free
Many stylists choose to forgo the commission-based life and instead strike out on their own by renting booths in salons. This basically means paying a weekly or monthly fee—our stylist sources said they generally pay around $120 a week or $880 a month, depending on where they are based—to reserve a semipermanent spot to see clients. In these cases, stylists keep 100 percent of their service fee as well as their tips. The downside? “We pay for absolutely everything—refreshments, cups, capes, color bowls, foils, brushes, scissors, styling products,” says Jennifer Riney of Brushed Salon in Oklahoma City. They are also on the hook for paying liability insurance and credit card fees.
Freelancers like Sarah Finn, who rents a chair at The Ritz Day Spa & Salon in Watertown, New York, say that one big perk of being on their own is an uptick in tips. “I've worked at salons where my clients paid at a cash register and their tips went through many hands," says Finn. "I don’t know if it's just because they're paying me face-to-face or if tips went missing at other places, but I definitely make more as a booth renter.”
Another option for freelancers is the coworking salon. Arturo Swayze, the founder and CEO of ManeSpace in NYC, is a pioneer of this relatively new setup. He provides short-term rentals for stylists who don’t need or want a regular stint in a salon. Stylists reserve a time slot, use an app to unlock the space, and see their clientele as needed. But even in this scenario, says Swayze, there is still uncertainty.
