Most salon menus were written once, three years ago, when the owner's supplier prices were different. The menu didn't move. The costs did.
Mistake 1: Pricing to competitors
Copy-pasting the salon across town's prices and shaving 10% "to be competitive." You have no idea what their product cost is, their chair time is, or their overhead is. You're pricing to their business, not yours.
Mistake 2: Ignoring product cost per service
A full balayage uses ~$22-28 in product on medium-density long hair. If your service price is $180 and your chair time is 3.5 hours, you're netting about $45/hour before overhead. That's below what most stylists could earn hourly assisting.
Mistake 3: One price, no levels
"Cut $85." No levels. Now your master stylist and your one-year apprentice charge the same. The master's book fills first, the apprentice can't grow their book, and clients who'd happily pay $150 to see the master pay $85 instead. You just left ~$65/service on the table across half your bookings.
The three-lever fix
1. Cost-plus base. Product cost + (chair time × your hourly target) + overhead allocation = floor price. Anything below that loses you money on the service, period.
2. Level pricing. Junior / Senior / Master, each with a specific price. Even a $20 gap between levels shifts a chunk of bookings toward the level that's under-booked.
3. Add-ons priced. Toner ($30), Olaplex ($25), deep-conditioning masque ($20). Don't bundle them into the base price - offer them at checkout. Add-ons drive average-ticket-value up 12-20% when priced separately.
What "starting at" is really doing
"Balayage starting at $180" is a compromise. It gets people to book, then the price gets adjusted on the day. Fine for busy salons; disastrous for new clients who feel bait-and-switched. If you use "starting at," the actual number needs to appear before the client sits in the chair - during consultation, in writing.
The rebook conversation nobody has
A menu isn't just prices. It's the rebook interval. Balayage every 8-10 weeks. Highlights every 4-6. Toner every 4. Print the rebook interval next to the price. Clients rebook when it's on the menu, not when the stylist has to bring it up.
Build a level-priced, cost-plus menu with the Service Menu Builder and the Pricing Calculator.