Beyond Waste: How Efficiency Transforms Your Salon’s Profitability

The Power of Efficiency in a Sustainable Salon

Many salons focus on reducing waste and cutting costs by carefully tracking product use and reordering habits. While this is important, a truly sustainable approach comes from looking at the bigger picture—focusing on efficiency within your team’s services, application techniques, and colour mixing processes.

As Albert Einstein famously said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Instead of focusing purely on what’s being wasted, the real game-changer is ensuring your team is working efficiently to prevent excess waste from happening in the first place.

The Hidden Cost of Waste in the Salon Industry

According to Vish, the salon industry is experiencing massive amounts of colour waste due to inefficient application and over-mixing. Here are some key statistics:

• ·       27% of colour is wasted in salons.

• ·       20% of waste comes from over-application—this is still waste!

• ·       1 in 5 colour services are not profitable.

• ·       Every client requires a different amount of colour, yet many salons use a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

• ·       Lowlights cost 3x more per gram than highlights, yet they are often priced the same.

• ·       Every gram of product dispensed must be profitable.

These numbers show that waste isn’t just about what gets thrown away—it’s about inefficiencies in how products are used in the first place.

Shifting the Focus: Efficiency Over Waste Tracking

Rather than obsessing over how much waste is in the bin, salon owners should be proactively monitoring efficiency within their teams. Here’s why:

🌱 Better Efficiency = Less Waste Automatically – When stylists apply colour correctly, mix only what’s needed, and work with precision, waste naturally reduces.

🌱 Improved Profitability – If 1 in 5 colour services aren’t profitable, the focus shouldn’t just be on cutting costs but on ensuring every gram of product dispensed brings in profit.

🌱 A Positive Approach – Constantly talking about waste can feel negative, whereas focusing on efficiency helps build confidence, skill, and profitability.

How Vish Helps Drive Efficiency in Salons

Vish is a colour management software that helps salons track and control product use for every client. Instead of guessing how much colour is needed, Vish provides accurate measurements based on previous services, ensuring the right amount is mixed every time.

At Ora Hair, we’ve been using Vish since 2022 to improve our team’s efficiency, and the results speak for themselves:

• ·       In the first year of using Vish, we saved over £8,000 in waste and unnecessary reordering.

• ·       Our team has become more mindful and confident in their application techniques, leading to better results and higher profitability.

• ·       Since implementing Vish and shifting our focus to efficiency—which naturally reduces waste—we have successfully lowered our professional percentage from 8% to 5%. This change has saved us £14,270 in additional professional costs from 2022 to the end of 2024.

Final Thoughts: Make Efficiency Your Priority

If you want to create a truly sustainable and profitable salon, the focus needs to shift from waste tracking to efficiency management. By training your team to mix and apply colour correctly, monitoring product use, and using tools like Vish, you can reduce costs, increase profits, and create a salon that runs smarter—not just greener.

Are you focusing on efficiency in your salon, or are you caught up in analysing waste? The shift could make all the difference.