Seven things to do now for record days in your hair salon, all the way to Christmas. 🎄

8 Oct 2026 · @Tess

December is one of the busiest months of the year for hair salons, but realistically the Christmas result is set up in October. Once the book is full, there is little room left to change how the season runs.

In his seven years as a senior sales executive at L'Oréal, TopKnot's co-founder, Hamish Cameron looked after more than 100 salons as loyal, repeat clients. On his visits, he saw the most successful salons do the same things leading up to Christmas.

We're Tess and Hamish, the founders of TopKnot, and we help hair salons lift their average ticket price without discounting. These are the seven things worth doing this October to set up record days in the salon, all the way to Christmas. None of these are complicated or rely on discounting.

1. Put a number on it

Start with a daily financial goal that fits your salon. Depending on how many stylists you have, divided by the number of bookings and the services booked. That's your benchmark.

Then add a little on top for upsells and gifting. A lift of $15 per client across ten clients adds $150 to the day.

Each stylist has a figure for the day, and together those figures make the salon's goal. Write the numbers down where the team can see them, then revisit them each week as the book fills.

Next, give each stylist a daily target of their own. A salon-wide number can feel abstract, but a personal one is tangible. It also gives everyone something to stretch for, and a clear view of their part in the result.

2. Fill December first

Open the December book now, and rebook every October client before they leave the chair. Clients who book early get the times they want, and the salon gets a month it can plan around.

A simple line at the desk is enough: "December is filling quickly, shall we lock in a time now?"

A full book also changes the conversation. Instead of squeezing in last-minute cuts, the team can guide clients toward the services that suit the season: colour before the party, a treatment before the holiday, a blow-dry for the big day.

It helps to map the weeks out. Longer colour services sit best in early December, with shorter styling appointments held for the final week before Christmas.

Keep a waitlist as well. Plans change in December, and a short list of clients who would love an earlier time means an empty chair can be filled quickly. It is also worth confirming Christmas week appointments a few days ahead.

3. Choose one add-on

Pick a single add-on for the season: a gloss, a treatment or a blow-dry upgrade. One offer, made to every client, by every stylist.

Keeping it to one matters. The team only has to learn one service, one price and one way of describing it. Clients hear the same suggestion from everyone, so it feels like part of the visit.

Choose something that fits inside the existing appointment time. An add-on that lifts the ticket without lengthening the day is the simplest path to a higher daily figure.

Give the add-on a name and a clear price, then add it to the service menu and the booking system. When clients can see it written down, it stops feeling like an extra and starts feeling like part of a Christmas visit. A little festive wording helps, as long as it stays true to the salon.

4. Curate a small gift edit

Five or six gift-ready pieces will do more than a crowded shelf. Order in October so the edit is on display by mid-November, when clients start thinking about Christmas.

It helps to understand why clients buy gifts in a salon. A few arrive with a wish list, but most do not. They are still wondering what to get for a mum, a sister, a partner or a best friend, and the list feels long.

This is where hair salons have an advantage. The client is already sitting down, already relaxed, and already trusts the person looking after them. A beautiful gift, boxed and ready to go, takes one name off the list before they leave.

So choose the edit with the gift giver in mind:

• A spread of price points, from a small thank-you gift to something more generous
• Pieces that suit most hair types, so the choice feels safe
• Gift-ready packaging, so nothing needs wrapping
• Products the team already uses and loves

Think beyond shampoo and treatments, too. Hair tools and accessories make lovely gifts because they suit almost everyone and are used every day. A beautiful hairbrush, gift boxed, is an easy choice for a client buying for someone whose hair they have never seen.

A gift is easiest to say yes to when four things are true:

• It comes recommended. Clients trust the person who looks after their hair, and a stylist's own favourite carries weight.
• It is ready now. Boxed, wrapped and in a bag before the client leaves, with one name off the list.
• The choice is simple. Three options at different price points are easier to choose from than thirty.
• The visit has been generous. A client who feels well looked after often wants to give something back.

If some pieces are seasonal, it is fine to say so. There is no need to create urgency. A simple, honest "we only have a few of these left" is enough.

5. Put retail where clients pause

Retail sells best in the places where clients stop: the front desk, the mirror and the basin. If a client can pick something up, they are more likely to take it home.

Walk through the salon as a client would. Notice where the eye rests while the colour develops, and what sits within reach at the desk. Those are the places for the gift edit.

The mirror station is often overlooked. A stylist who reaches for a product during the service, then sets it down in front of the client, has already started the conversation. By the time the client reaches the desk, the gift is familiar.

A small card can help too. "The team's favourite" beside one piece gives clients an easy place to start.

Keep the display simple. A few pieces, clearly priced, with one out of its box to touch, will invite more interest than a full wall of stock.

6. Give the team the words

The best retail stylists are rarely the smoothest talkers. They are the best listeners. Selling a gift is really about understanding what the gift giver needs, then making the choice easy.

The consultation is the natural place to begin. A light question at the start of the appointment opens the door, and the answer shapes everything that follows. Three things are worth listening for:

• What matters most to the gift giver. It might be budget, or simply having one less thing to think about.
• Who the gift is for. Their hair, their routine and what they would enjoy.
• What would suit them. A piece from the shelf, a service from the menu, or both.

Open questions work best, because they get the client talking. It helps to begin with the person the gift is for, then move to the gift itself.

To open the conversation

• "How is the Christmas shopping coming along?"
• "Who is the hardest person to buy for this year?"

About the person

• "Tell me a little about her hair. Is it long, short, curly, fine?"
• "Does she colour it?"
• "Any idea what she uses at the moment?"
• "Is there anything she finds tricky about her hair?"

About the gift

• "Is it a little something, or the main present?"
• "What matters most for this one?"

Some hair concerns are personal, so keep the questions light. If a client mentions something sensitive, such as thinning hair, follow their lead and let them share as much as they wish.

Listening well

Good questions only work when the answers are heard. A few habits make the difference:

• Give full attention. Tools down for a moment, eyes meeting in the mirror, phone out of sight.
• Let the client finish. A pause is not a gap to fill, and the most useful detail often comes after it.
• Say it back. "So something gentle for fine, coloured hair, and a little bit special. Have I got that right?"
• Recommend two or three things, not the whole shelf. Choose the features that matter for this person and leave the rest.

A client buying for a teenage daughter with long, knotty hair does not need the whole range explained. One detangling brush, and one reason it suits her, is enough.

Then finish with one easy line: "This is what I used today, shall I pop one aside?" No hard sell is needed. When a recommendation comes from listening, it feels like care.

Practise the questions out loud at a team meeting before December begins. Stylists who have said the words once or twice find them far easier to use at the chair. It also helps newer team members, who can feel hesitant about recommending retail.

7. Count it daily

Keep a simple tally at the front desk: the day's total, the number of add-ons and the gifts sold. It takes a minute, and it keeps the goal in front of everyone.

Share the numbers with the team each morning. Small wins are worth noticing, and a quiet day is easier to turn around when it is spotted early.

At the end of each week, look at the tally together. Which add-on was chosen most? Which gift left the shelf first? The answers show where to reorder, and what to talk about more in the week ahead.

Small lifts, day by day, are what add up week by week. By the time Christmas arrives, the habit matters more than any single big day.

A calmer, stronger Christmas

None of this needs to be complicated. For most hair salons, Christmas goes well when a few simple things are done early, and done by the whole team. October is the month to begin.

Retail is a big part of that, and it is where we would love to help. TopKnot hairbrushes are made to be recommended with confidence: beautiful to look at, gentle on hair and gift boxed for the shelf. Every salon order also comes with a ready-to-post social media set, in-salon education and an online wholesale ordering platform.

If a head start on the gift edit would be useful, we would be glad to send a TopKnot gift pack with samples of our launch brushes. Claim a TopKnot gift pack here.

Same salon, a few small shifts, and a very different December.