Stop Raising Prices Randomly: Here's How to Price Your Hair Services Correctly

~ 4 minute read

I'm guilty of this: telling stylists to "raise your prices" without giving real context about how to raise them. That instruction can feel confusing and meaningless when you have no idea what you should be raising your prices to.

In my Pricing Isn't Personal classes, I give full detail about this and help stylists create goals and plans for increased profit. But I recently noticed that on Instagram and in my blog posts, I rarely talk about the crucial step that comes before a price increase.

With the new year here and our minds on fresh starts and business goals, now is the time. Let's talk about the work that happens before the increase.

Start with this fundamental question: What should my service prices actually be?

Before we think about raising prices, we need to make sure our current prices accurately reflect what we need them to achieve. Does your current service price cover your expenses? Are you being paid for your time? Are you making a profit amount that aligns with your current stage of business?

These were the questions I had when I started down the service pricing rabbit hole 10 years ago. When I first asked myself what my service prices should be, I had no clue. Because I didn't know, I also didn't know when or how much I should raise them. Eventually, out of fear and frustration, I would do something random, like raise everything by $5. Better than nothing, but not strategic or purposeful.

My income felt like a lottery. I didn't know how much I was actually making from each service, which meant I had no way to know which services needed to increase or by how much.

When I ask other stylists in my classes what their service prices should be, they usually feel a little lost too. Which is completely understandable and exactly what we're here to straighten out.

So back to the question: How much should our service prices be?

Our service prices should reflect the amount we need to make hourly to live our lives and the amount our business can support right now.

It's crucial to know how much you're making per hour, per service, before you know how much that service price should increase. When you don't know this, you end up in that income lottery I was stuck in. When it's time to "raise your prices," you feel the pressure and fear I felt, because talking to your clients about something you don't really understand yourself feels awful.

This is why learning what our prices should be is the first and most important step. This is the step that empowers us to make change and teaches us to trust ourselves and our business decisions.

Service price alignment comes before service price increase.

To figure out what my service prices should be, I needed to know how much I was actually making from each service. The amount that went straight to my bank account to use for my life. How much did each service cost me? How much time was I really taking, start to finish?

That was eye-opening. My profit varied wildly from service to service. Some services were barely breaking even.

This led to my next question: Why would I continue to offer lower-profiting services?

That's when it clicked. I didn't need to stop doing those services, but I did need to align the price to reflect the profit I needed to make. Price alignment was my lightbulb moment and the piece of the pricing puzzle that has set me up for continued profit growth.

Price alignment is the foundation of my pricing system. By aligning my prices first, I was able to predict consistent profit. This preliminary work set me up for all my future price increases. I needed to work on aligning before I thought about increasing. I did this by working through all the details involved in each service price and making sure the profit I needed to make was included in that calculation.

Once my prices were aligned, yearly increases became simple and predictable. Each year I adjust my hourly profit goal and make sure each service price reflects that number. Some years I have higher increases, some years they're smaller. It all depends on my current business stage and my goals. Everything from client communication to execution is systematic and easy.

Going down this pricing rabbit hole has been career-changing. It gave me the confidence to open my salon knowing I could price services for my employees, raise those prices, and justify them. I knew I could coach my renters to help them maximize their profit potential. It allowed me to reduce my behind-the-chair hours while maintaining higher profit. And it was all strategic. It took me years to figure out, work within, and fine-tune. But now I have a system that works and is highly repeatable.

After working within my pricing system for years and seeing success from it, I started teaching it. I learned through working with my team that sharing my information and helping them think through their pricing was career-changing for them too. Helping other hairdressers understand pricing and set them up for maximum profit felt like a calling.

So I created Pricing Isn't Personal, a series of short online videos where I walk you through figuring out what you're actually making per service, aligning your prices, creating a plan for increases, and learning how to talk to clients about money with confidence. It's the exact system I use year after year to see real profit growth.

It's not hard. It does require a little work on your own numbers, but I walk you through each step. It's empowering to know exactly what you have to do each year to continue profiting purposefully in your business.

January is the time. This is when we're most honest with ourselves about what needs to change. If figuring out your service pricing has been sitting on your to-do list, or if you've been raising prices without a real plan, now is the time to get it handled.

Through the end of January, Pricing Isn't Personal is $249 instead of $349. This is the only time I'm offering this price. 

You're completely capable of figuring these things out. I did, and I'm a hairdresser just like you. We're so fortunate to work in an industry with limitless potential. Knowing how to maximize our profit potential and create the life we want for ourselves is ours to take. We have to do a little work to get there, but it's possible.

If you're ready to stop guessing and start knowing, this is your moment. The discount ends January 31st and is automatically applied at check out. Don't let another year go by wondering what your prices should be.

About Anny VanDriel

Anny is a salon owner and hairdresser educator who has been teaching pricing strategy and business confidence since 2021. She developed a strategic pricing framework that allowed her to steadily increase her income over 10 years while maintaining client loyalty and reducing her working hours. Through her Pricing Isn't Personal course, she helps hairdressers create sustainable, profitable businesses rooted in self-trust.

Connect with Anny on Instagram @annyvandriel