Fabian Fuentes Hair

The fastest pay rise in hairdressing is a growing column. Growing the column takes both sides of the chair.

- Rebooking: move regulars from 8-week to 6-week cycles and their annual value lifts 33%
- Retail: one product prescription per client puts commission in the stylist’s pocket and margin in the till
- Treatments: a $20 in-basin add-on across 15 clients a week adds around $14,000 a year through the column

Track all three for eight weeks. Then have the growth conversation together. Stylists bring the numbers. Owners bring a reward structure so everyone shares the upside.

Save this one as a reminder!

Benchmarks: Kitomba industry data. Worked examples assume a $120 average visit. Your numbers will differ. The method will not.

You said the basic wage is unlivable. The data agrees.

Real pay for a qualified hairdresser is up $64 a week since 2000 after inflation. On the 2026 award you keep about $938 a week after tax. The national median rent is $681 a week.

- Renting alone: 73% of your take-home pay
- Sharing: 36%
- The stress line: 30%

Salon owners are squeezed by the same economy, so nobody in the salon is the villain here. The floor stopped keeping up for everyone.

Tomorrow: three moves stylists and owners run together to grow what the column earns, starting with your next client.

Figures: Fair Work MA000005, ATO tax rates, ABS CPI, Cotality rental data, March 2026. Minimum award rates shown. Many salons pay above.

You have spent your entire career making other people feel good.

And somewhere along the way, the industry started to believe that because you do this so well, you should just be okay.

65% of hair professionals have experienced anxiety, burnout, or depression. Most of them never told anyone.

Because who holds space for the person who holds space for everyone else?

If you are not okay right now, that is okay. You do not have to earn the right to struggle.

If this series resonated with you, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a message. That is what I am here for.

Resources below if you need them:

Beyond Blue NewAccess for Small Business — free, confidential mental health coaching.

Everymind Ahead for Business — digital wellbeing hub for small business owners.

There is a difference between being supportive and absorbing someone else’s pain.

Both start from the same place… care. But one protects you, and one slowly empties you.

Three things that actually help:

1. Acknowledge without absorbing. You do not have to fix it. You just have to hear it.

2. Transition deliberately between clients. A physical reset before the next person changes everything.

3. Decompress with someone safe after work - not rehashing, just releasing.

You spend your career making people feel better. You are allowed to protect your own energy to do it.

Save this one. And share it with a stylist who needs to hear it.

Australia has listed hairdressing as a skills shortage occupation for four years in a row.

And the industry keeps asking: where did everyone go?

The data tells a different story. Many new stylists are leaving within 18 months…. not because they don’t love hair, but because no one prepared them for the emotional weight of the job.

8 or 9 heavy conversations a day, with no tools to protect yourself, adds up fast.

This is not a recruitment problem. It is a wellbeing problem.

Tomorrow I am sharing the one skill that changes everything — and almost no one is teaching it.

Follow so you don’t miss it.

You can have a full book, a chair that never sits empty — and still feel completely alone.

There is a very specific loneliness that comes with running your own salon. No one to share the wins with. No one to call when a client leaves you rattled. No check-in at the end of the day.

Research confirms it — isolation is one of the top mental health challenges for Australian small business owners.

The chair can be the loneliest place in the world. Even when someone is sitting in it.

If this resonates, drop a comment below. I want to hear from you.

65% of hair professionals have experienced anxiety, burnout, or depression during their career.

65%.

That is not a you problem. That is an industry problem.

This week I am running a series on something the hair industry does not talk about nearly enough - mental health behind the chair.

If you have ever driven home from a full day feeling completely empty, this series is for you.

Save it. Share it with someone who needs to hear it.

The best no-show policy is the one you never have to use.

That happens when clients have a genuine relationship with you, when cancelling actually feels significant to them.

97% of salon regulars say relationship is the number one reason they stay loyal.

Three things build it fast:
1. Prescriptive rebooking at the chair (doubles your rebook rate)
2. A 48 hour follow-up after every service
3. A membership model that converts unpredictable income into stable monthly revenue

This is the kind of conversation I am having with Qld/Nsw salons right now.

Someone cancels. You have a gap in two hours.

Here is the exact 3-step system to fill it in under 30 minutes.

Step 1 (0-5 mins): Automated SMS blast to your waitlist.
Step 2 (5-15 mins): Personal text to your top VIP clients.
Step 3 (15-30 mins): Call your “move-up” list.

Plus the 24-12-2 reminder system that stops the gap from forming in the first place.

Save this. You will need it.