womanthismonth.com | FEBRUARY 2026 BEAUTY The truth owners do not want to hear Your staff often knows the market better than you. While you manage one or two salons, they talk to each other and track every new opening in town. They are not guessing what others pay, they simply know. Start with salary ranges Build your offers around clear ranges based on qualifications, experience and references. Quality has a price and it is an investment that generates returns. The mindset of hiring the cheapest option, expecting premium results and hoping people will learn on your clients must stop. If you want professional results, pay professional wages. Balance your team structure Having juniors and assistants is fine, every salon needs them. The mistake is building the entire team with only juniors and assistants. You need balance. Seniors and experienced professionals bring standards, mentorship and credibility that juniors cannot provide yet. They train the team, handle VIP clients and set the quality benchmark for the salon. The taboo topic: the salary gap Let us be honest about the Middle Eastern market. We often see Western or international employees earning more than equally talented regional stylists, which can create a feeling of injustice. Is it just about the passport? No. It is the cost of import. When you hire from a high cost-of-living country such as the UK or parts of Europe, you are not only paying for talent, you are paying to match what they would earn back home. If you do not offer a base salary close to those rates, they will not relocate. Here is the owner’s mistake: many owners pay high salaries but continue charging local prices. If a stylist costs you premium, the service price must be premium too. The reality nobody wants to discuss Consider this example. An Asian employee with excellent skills generates strong income for her salon and receives BD500. A European employee with the same skills, the same income generation and the same BD500 salary has a very different outcome. The Asian stylist may build significant savings back home, while the European stylist may struggle to maintain a decent standard of living in Bahrain. Same work, same pay, different realities. It is not about unfairness, it is about understanding that BD500 has different value depending on where you are from, while both people still add value to the business. Pay for value, then price for profit As a consultant, I have seen loyal professionals take home almost nothing at month’s end. I have also seen mediocre seniors collect top salaries while talented juniors outperform them and bring in more revenue. Neither is right, and both hurt your business. The guiding rule is simple: pay for value. If you pay rock bottom, you get zero loyalty. Most employees work to support their families, if you do not value them, they will leave for BD five more elsewhere. The smart solution is to create value through your pricing structure. Charge premium rates for senior stylists and standard rates for juniors. That way, you can compensate based on experience and market positioning while keeping the business profitable. Once this pricing strategy is right, everything changes. Salon Salaries: The Honest Reality! Every month, we invite readers to pose their own questions for Badia to answer in her next column. Make sure to ask your own by emailing [email protected] A k Badia Your Monthly Guide to Salon and Spa Success ? Because when staff do not have a clear vision of how, when and why their salary can increase, frustration never stops. If there is no clear path, no rules and no criteria for progression, every discussion becomes emotional. People compare, pressure builds and owners feel trapped. Salary problems reduce when teams understand what is expected, how they can grow and when an increase is possible. Without structure and visibility, salary will always be a problem, no matter the amount. Why do salary problems never stop in my salon, no matter how much I pay? Salary is one of the most sensitive topics in salon management. Most owners think it is simple maths, but it is actually a confrontation with market reality. 93
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