Top Services Offered at a Beauty Salon

The beauty industry has a few different types of businesses. The most common types are hair salons, barbershops, beauty salons, beauty spas, and nail salons. A beauty salon is an establishment where a hairdresser, beautician, or couturier conducts business. Although there are a variety of services offered at beauty salons, here are the top ten services:

• Men’s, women’s, and kid’s cuts
• Formal Hair
• Keratin Treatment
• Toner
• Extensions
  • Clip-in
  • Tape-in
  • Sew-in/weave
  • Fusion/Bonding
  • Microlink
• Brazilian Blowout
• Braiding
• Hair Dye
  • Highlights
  • Low lights
  • Ombre
  • Sombre
  • Balayage
  • Babylights
  • Bleach

Men’s, Women’s, and Kid’s Cuts

A haircut is not just taking scissors to hair and making it shorter. There are many types of haircuts for men, women, and children. A haircut may also include shampooing and conditioning of the hair. Top haircut styles:

Formal Hair

Formal hair services are for special events like prom, weddings, graduation parties, pictures, or any other formal event. These services include haircuts, curling, dying, and other hair services. Sometimes services like braids, flowers, or makeup are offered. The stylist will do their best to make the client look extremely formal and match the outfit they will be wearing.

Keratin Treatment

Keratin is a fibrous protein that is the key structural material in the makeup of the hair. Over time many things such as the sun, hair dye, blow dryers, and other chemical treatments can strip hair of its natural keratin leaving hair damaged and vulnerable to breakage. During a keratin treatment, the stylist applies a product containing keratin to the hair and then seals it using a flat iron. This treatment helps improve the strength of the hair, moisturize and reduce frizziness, and make the hair more manageable. This treatment is how to make curly or wavy hair straight. These treatments can be pricey, but these treatments last up to a few months.

The only concern with these treatments is keratin products typically contain cancer-causing ingredients such as formaldehyde. Be sure to use these products to do so in a well-ventilated area. Stylists will want to make sure to inform the client beforehand about the risks of these treatments.

Toner

Hair toner is a treatment applied to the hair to help strengthen and repair damaged hair. It is used for bleaching or highlighting hair to help obtain the desired color. It keeps the hair from getting too brassy but maintains a more blonde color. Toner also helps keep the hair from getting too damaged from these color processes and keeps the hair feeling soft and manageable. A common use for toner is to adjust highlights & low lights.

Extensions

Hair extensions are pieces of human and synthetic hair added to the hair to add length and volume. The type of extensions you want to use depends on what you want to be able to do with them. Like natural hair, human hair extensions can be dyed, curled, blow-dried, bleached, etc. These types of treatments would melt and destroy synthetic hair extensions. Also, human hair extensions last much longer than synthetic hair extensions.

There are five different ways to have extensions put in. 

• Clip-in
• Tape-in
• Sew-in/weave
• Fusion/Bonding
• Microlink

Clip-In

Clip-in is a temporary extension option. Extensions of hair have pressure-sensitive clips attached to them and are easily applied to the base hair. They are easy to remove and reapply at any time. They are not worn for long periods, to be slept in, or while washing your hair. The clips, if worn often, can cause some hair damage. They cause the least damage of all extensions because they do not require heat or chemicals to apply or remove. These extensions can be applied at home.

Tape-In

These are pieces of hair pre-taped together. A stylist is optimal for the application of these extensions. After aligning with the root, the stylist uses a heating element to activate the glue attached to the hair extension. These can be worn while showering and washing your hair. However, use special care when washing the hair extensions because it could loosen the glue. If cared for properly, these may be worn for up eight weeks.

Sew-in/Weave

The hair extensions are braided into the hair and then sewn into the braid with a needle and thread. This process is the best-suggested way of doing it for those with thick hair. An experienced stylist should apply these types of extensions because this process can take quite some time and is hard on the scalp. Be sure to wash them to avoid the growth of bacteria and moisturize the scalp. These extensions can be worn for up to eight weeks.

Fusion/Bonding

The fusion or bonding process is when extensions are applied using a tool that looks like a glue gun. The glue is applied to the end of the extension and then attached to the natural hair. These can be treated like natural hair, using your everyday products. These typically only need to be repositioned or reapplied every few months. The main downside to these is that the chemicals from the glue can severely damage the hair or clog the pores of the scalp.

Microlink

The hair extensions are attached to small sections of hair using a small bead closed together with a special tool that tightens it and holds it in place. Because it goes on a small strand at a time, this is a very time-consuming process. If not done correctly, it can damage the natural hair, and the extensions may loosen. You can wash your hair with everyday products and style it. These extensions only need to be reapplied or repositioned every few months.

Brazilian Blowout

Brazilian Blowout is a brand name for in-salon liquid keratin treatment. Like a keratin treatment, a Brazilian blowout uses a product that helps treat damaged hair. A product is applied to the hair and sealed in with flat iron. This product places a protective layer around the strands of hair which heals damaged hair. These treatments make hair manageable. It helps to moisturize and smooth hair. Stylists trained in handling these harsh chemicals should be the only ones doing this style. This service must be done in a well-ventilated area. These treatments can last up to several months. 

Braiding

Braiding consists of twisting, winding, pulling, and shaping hair strands. This a professional service of braiding hair. These styles can be simple or rather intricate. Hair braiding has been around as far back as 28,000 BC. In some regions in the Bronze and Iron Ages, hair braids were a means of communication and social status. Different patterns communicated things such as the tribe a person belonged to, their age, marital status, wealth, power, and religion. Today health benefits of braiding hair are reducing damage, especially when sleeping, keeping hair nourished, and reducing frizziness from drying naturally. Top braid styles of 2022:

• Gypsy braids
• Heart cornrows
• Stitch braids
• Micros
• Beads
• Box braids
• Snail braid updo
• Braided buns

Hair Dye

A service where the stylist applies a hair-changing color product on hair from root to tip. The length and thickness of the hair determine how long this service will take. It also depends on how many colors the hair is to be dyed. There are hair coloring options such as:

• Highlights
• Low lights
• Ombre
• Ombre Highlights
• Sombre
• Balayage
• Babylights
• Bleach

Highlights

When applying highlights, the stylist strategically adds a hair dye, lighter than the base color, to thick strands of hair wrapped in foil. This look maintains that sun-kissed, natural, multi-toned colored hair. Highlights brighten and add dimension to hair.

Low Lights

Low lights are the exact opposite of highlights. The stylist strategically applies a hair dye, darker than the base color, to thick strands of hair wrapped in foil. Low lights add depth and texture to your hair.

Ombre

The word ombre means having colors that shade into each other. Ombre hair service is a technique of dying the hair from one color beginning at the roots and shading into another color down to the tips. Ombre is a dramatic transition between colors, usually done between two colors, like pink to blue.

Sombre

Sombre is the same service as ombre, but lighter, softer colors. It is a more subtle version of the ombre where the transition between colors is very light. Sombre is a popular style among celebrities.

Balayage

Balayage, a french word for sweeping, is a technique where the dye is painted on the hair in a sweeping motion from midshaft downward on random selections of hair. This technique is used to make the highlights look more natural. The color is usually a few shades lighter than the natural hair.

Babylights

Babylights are similar to traditional foil highlights. The stylist strategically applies a hair dye, lighter than the base color, to thin strands of hair wrapped in foil. This style maintains a more natural, born-this-way look.

Bleach

Bleaching is a process of using a chemical that strips the color from each strand of hair, lightening it. Because of the chemical processes used, this can be very damaging to your hair. The length of time you must leave the bleach in depends on the color of the base hair and how light the client wants to go. The darker the hair, the longer it has to set. The lighter they want to go, the longer it has to set. Use a toner in combination with the bleach to keep it healthier and maintain a more natural blonde color. For the best blonde results, go to a professional who specializes in handling these chemicals.