Beauty Salon Equipment- How To Find The Best Setup For You

Planning a beauty salon means finding the beauty salon equipment that successfully balances the customer's comfort with the stylist's convenience - all without breaking your budget!  As the client must be satisfied with the services received, he or she must also enjoy the feel of the salon. Uncomfortable chairs and unflattering lights will seriously decrease the chances of a return visit even if you have remarkable stylists. On the flip side of this, your beauty salon equipment has to be practical as well as aesthetic. If the employees have trouble using the lift pedals on the styling chairs or reaching the client's hair in the shampoo unit they will not be able to do their best work. Keeping both sides of this equation in mind, cost presents another problem. However, depending on your budget and situation it is entirely possible to find the right equipment for your salon.

Let's start with what you need. If it is simply a hair salon, the necessary supplies might be limited to salon chairs, salon stations, hair steamers, styling chairs, and shampooing bowls. You'll want to have at least half as many hair washing stations as salon stations so no one is stuck waiting for a suds-up. If you plan on offering more than just hair care, more beauty salon equipment will be necessary: facial beds for skin treatments, pedicure and manicure stations, or even tanning booths. By adding extra services you are encouraging satisfied clients to come back for all their beauty needs. Lastly, don't forget the reception area! Comfortable couches and reading material might be enough to encourage a walk-in to stay and wait.

After you have decided what beauty salon equipment you want for your salon, it is time to decide the best way to make it fit your budget. A simple Google search will display millions of options - I recommend Tispro, Jeffco, or Bob's Beauty Supply. Tispro offers a variety of products, all at reasonable prices and frequently available at wholesale. You can find styling chairs and dryers both for less than $300. Jeffco's prices are a little higher, but you can get highly customized equipment - check out the dozens of different finishes to match any style salon! Bob's Beauty Supply has a range of beauty salon equipment, running from extra cheap to rather expensive. Generally these supplies are bought individually, but several sources now provide "salon packages", where you can get all your beginning, basic supplies for a more modest price. Take JTE System for example: you can get a two station salon package for under $2,000 dollars (which is much less than getting the equipment individually). Their package includes styling stations, styling chairs, shampooing unit, trolley, hair processor, and hair steamer, as well as an assortment of additional small supplies. Regardless of what company you decide on, you'll want to look around and find the best possible equipment you can afford with your budget. A quality item will provide you with years of use as well as happy clients and stylists.

The most important item of furniture in a beauty salon or barber shop is the barber's chair. It is the piece of furniture most often used by clients. The chair needs to be stylish and comfortable. It also needs to be functional for the barber or hair stylist. Some of the top manufacturers of barber chairs include Collins, Pibbs, Takara Belmont, and YCC.

Beauty salon chairs come in many shapes, colors and designs. It is now not uncommon to see children getting their first haircut sitting in their own special sized chair next to their parent's beauty salon chair. The style and message you want to convey to your clients can be done with your own design concept and the beauty salon chair plays an integral part of that communication.

The salon chair, along with the layout of the salon, the design of the individual work stations, the lighting, the furniture and the cabinetry can say a lot about the type of salon message you wish to convey. If you are still using beauty salon chairs made over 15 years ago, then the impression that your clients might take with them is that you are a little behind the times. In the fast moving beauty industry, it is important to portray an image that you are current with the latest fashions and trends.

Collins: Grayson Hydraulic Styling Chair

Collins offers an incredible wide range of beauty salon chairs. They have over 45 different models available. The Grayson Hydraulic Styling Chair is just one of their premier models. It comes with custom upholstery and a beautifully done back panel which is laminated. It's urethane arm add to the overall stylish look of the chair. The Collins Grayson chairs come with an excellent guarantee against defects in workmanship or materials.

Pibbs 9800 Nova Hydraulic Barber Chair

Is made from porcelain and solid steel and comes with an adjustable headrest and thick cushions. It is solid cast aluminum and weighs only 200 pounds. It has a comfortable reclining backrest and has a kick out frame in an old fashioned frame.  It's vinyl upholstery comes in a variety of colors. The chair is made in Italy and come with a one three year warranty on the pump and one year warranty on other components.

Takara Belmont Odin

The Odin by Takara Belmont is a very comfortable and sleek chair with stylish lines and an seat having four inches of foam for ultimate comfort. The Odin has aluminum arms, and a black arm cap. It's footrest is done in an European style and has upholstered arms. Although the standard color is black, other colors are available. The chairs total weight is less than 90 lbs., the top weighing 26.5 lbs and the base 61.5 lbs.

YCC H-6679BKR (Round Base)

This lovely beauty salon chair comes with a "U" shaped footrest and has a solid rubber footpad. It has a one piece seat and back rest with a small center opening. The curved armrests are made entirely of a black hard plastic. All furniture by YCC is manufactured to comply with the California Fire Retardant Law.

When we talk about barber shop supplies, we are talking about a whole range of products. They include, but are not limited to, aftershaves and colognes to towels and neck stripes. Combs, clippers, trimmers, brushes, mirrors, shears, and spray bottles are just some of the things needed in a barber shop. The basic barber shop will focus primarily on the cutting of hair and the trimming of beards. While some professional beauty salons will provide a wider range of services, examples include hair style and coloring to manicures and pedicures.

Combs are one of the principal tools of the barber trade. Combs come in many different sizes and widths. Some combs are designed with a specific haircut in mind. The Original Flat Top Comb is designed with a leveling device to give a precision haircut each and every time. The 8" rat tail combs come with either comb-coarse teeth or comb-fine teeth. Clipper mate combs are exactly what the name implies, to be used in conjunction with hair clippers. The Oster Company has a variety of combs for each step of the haircutting process, from an Oster Master Flat Top Comb, to the Oster Pro Styling Comb and Oster Original Finishing Comb. Oster has been a powerhouse in the world of barber shop supplies for many years. They manufacture almost every type of product needed in a barber shop.

Besides combs, clippers also serve a vital function in the beauty industry and should be mentioned in any list of barber shop supplies. Some of the top makers of clippers in the market today include; Andis, Oster and Wahl. The price of clippers, as in all barber shop supplies, depends on the model and features of the product. Most clippers are purchased come equipped with texture guards included. Here are some models of the top clippers available in most barber shop supplies stores:

Andis Ultra pivot Clipper

This clipper is advertised as having up to four times the cutting power of other comparable clippers. It can be used easily on either wet or dry hair and comes with eight attachment combs. The manufacturer also offers a one year warranty on the product.

Oster Power Line Clipper

This clipper by Oster has a universal motor which easily cuts through, dry, wet, or thick hair quickly and with sheer efficiency. This clipper comes equip with two blades, a #00000 gold blade and a #1 blade. All blades from the Oster Model 76 can be used in the Power Line Clipper.

Wahl Super Taper II

This clipper from Wahl comes equipped with a variety of color coded attachment codes in various sizes, from 1/8 inch to 1 inch, with a styling comb, a cleaning brush and oil for the blade. The clipper uses Wahl Clipper Blades numbers 1006, 2105 and 2191and comes with a manufacturer one year warranty.

Barber shop supplies also include the decorations one sees at a barber shop, such as the barber poles, barber books, shop signs and welcome mats. Of course no barber shop is complete without the necessary barber chair. The barber chair is one of the most costly items found in barber shop supplies stores.

Remember Queen Latifa's movie when she was starting out a beauty salon and it was very hard for her to get a loan from the bank for capital investment? Well, if only she started out with some used beauty salon equipment, then probably things would have been easier for her. Although it was not mentioned that she actually didn't use used beauty salon equipment, as a rule of thumb for those starting out without a big capital, this is the way to go.

Beauty salon equipment are super expensive and even if you have a big capital, you should be sure that the profitability of your new business is at a high percentage positive otherwise, you will end up in a big negative balance. Know for a fact that you can have used beauty salon equipment which can do the job the same as new ones at a very reasonable price. This way, you get to save your money and use it for other operational expenses.

One benefit of buying used beauty salon equipment is that you get to have branded names like Collins or Beldevere. There are plenty of suppliers out there who can sell you just what you need at half the price of a new one. You just have to have a little patience and play the thrifty, savvy shopper you can become to acquire the best used beauty salon equipment. At least with second hand equipment, you do not have a testing period or a run-in time before your equipment can become fully operational.

Check out the Takara Belmont Classic Styling Station. You can surely have this under a thousand dollars instead of a $2,500 dollar tag for a new one. Search the web and it is pretty sure you will find this baby in that second hand price range. The 42" Wall Mounted Styling Stations can also be picked up for as low as less than $200. A pedicure unit can also be bought for as low as under $300 dollars. A portable massage table can also be bought cheaply for less than a hundred dollars.

There are countless sources for used beauty salon equipment. The only possible problem you will encounter is which one to buy. If you know what kind of services you are going to offer for your salon, then you know exactly what you need. You do not have to buy all the equipment at once. You can buy one by one until you have all what you need and the equipment can grow with your business.

Your services can also grow with your equipment. As you buy the basic ones, so you can also provide basic services like haircut, manicure, pedicure or any other services that do not require lots of equipment.

After your business becomes successful, then you can now have the luxury of buying brand new equipment. At least at that stage, you know that it can cost you to nothing even if the cost of a newly bought hot oil steamer cost thousands of dollars. Until then, just enjoy the benefits of used beauty salon equipment.