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Step 1: the hourly floor (10 minutes)
Add up a month: rent, products, insurance, software, phone, transport, the tax you actually pay — and the salary you want to take home. Divide by the hours you can genuinely sell in a month (not the hours you are open). For a solo hairdresser that might be €3,200 ÷ 110 hours ≈ €29 per hour. That is the number no service may fall below.
Step 2: the neighbour check (5 minutes)
Look up the three providers a client would consider instead of you — same area, same level — and note what they charge for your two most common services. You are not copying them; you are checking that your floor lands somewhere in the same street. If your floor is above all three, either your costs are wrong or you need to be visibly better and say so.
Step 3: prices per service (5 minutes)
Multiply the floor by the real duration of each service, including the tidy-up between clients, then round up to a number people say out loud. A 45-minute cut at a €29 floor is €22 of floor plus your margin — €35 to €40 in most cities. Long services (colour, lashes, a 90-minute massage) get a slightly higher hourly rate: an empty two-hour slot hurts more than an empty half-hour.
Step 4: when and how to raise
Raise once a year, or as soon as the diary has been full for three months. The announcement: “From 1 October my prices go up by about 10% — a haircut will be €40. Thank you for coming back, it means a lot.” Four weeks’ notice, one sentence, a date, no apology. On the booking page, change the numbers on the day. Expect one or two people to leave and everyone else to book as before.
The mistake that costs the most
Not the wrong number — the hidden number. “Price on request” in the DMs means every enquiry costs you a conversation and half of them never book. Prices on the page filter for people who are ready, and they let those people book at 11 pm without asking you anything.
Who this is for
Anyone who sells their own time: hairdressers, nail and lash techs, massage therapists, tutors, trainers, groomers, coaches. If you sell products or employ staff, the method still works but the cost line gets longer.
What this won’t fix
This method gives you a floor and a sanity check, not a market study. Where you sit above the floor depends on your skill, your area and how full your diary is — and only the diary tells you the truth. TapBook shows your prices on the booking page and lets you change them in a minute; the decision on the number is yours.