Gender Neutral Pricing in your salon
The salon is a place where people come to feel relaxed and more so feel comfortable. Did you know that 93% of people have been misgendered during their salon/barbershop visit. This statistic provided by the Dress Code Project is staggering. And this is why they are helping implement change by offering education, events, and support to hairstylists to create a safer- more inclusive space.
WHY GENDER NEUTRAL PRICING?
It is our job as owners and leaders to take the proper steps to ensure that we are creating safer and inclusive spaces. It’s important to lead with love and compassion and make everyone feel welcome as they walk through your doors. When you price services based on time and or complexity of the service rather than by gender. It automatically makes people feel comfortable and showcases inclusivity. It also takes out gender roles in a hair salon by saying a “women’s haircut should be more, or a men’s haircut should be less.” And for many years, a man's haircut has been priced lower than a woman's haircut. Gender neutral pricing is a simplistic pricing structure based on time and or complexity that truly creates equality and inclusivity in your salon space.
What are some pricing options?
There are a few ways that will be great to implement in your salon. You can price based on time. Factoring all your business expenses, target profit, product, and hours worked you can work toward creating an hourly rate for your services based on your target price per minute. This will also take into account the length of hair as well since longer hair will typically take you longer.
You can also price based on time and complexity. You can create services like a short haircut and add options like a specialty haircut or long haircut. You can also add in a barber cut for scissor and clipper cuts. These services would be priced of course based on time and complexity of the service and your target price per minute. Offering gender neutral pricing can also simplify your booking process. This creates a clean and easy menu with less options while the client is booking online. Especially for a new client.
*There are states that mandate gender neutral pricing like California, New York, and Massachusetts. There are also counties across the country that have similar mandates. I would check in to your state and county mandates to ensure you are compliant. If you are looking for a resource and more education on how to create a safer, more inclusive salon space. Check out the Dress Code Project for more information.