Hair stylist vs salon manager

The differences between hair stylists and salon managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a hair stylist, becoming a salon manager takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a salon manager has an average salary of $43,893, which is higher than the $38,221 average annual salary of a hair stylist.

The top three skills for a hair stylist include cosmetology, clips and kids. The most important skills for a salon manager are PET, cosmetology, and clips.

Hair stylist vs salon manager overview

	Hair Stylist	Salon Manager
Yearly salary	$38,221	$43,893
Hourly rate	$18.38	$21.10
Growth rate	11%	6%
Number of jobs	49,578	347,470
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
Average age	40	44
Years of experience	2	6

What does a hair stylist do?

A Hair Stylist's role is to provide services such as haircuts, treatments, coloring, styling, and even maintenance. Most of the time, the clients choose which style or treatment they would prefer, which is why a Hair Stylist must have extensive knowledge and keep up the current trends in Hair Styling. Moreover, a Hair Stylist can also recommend styling and treatments that would suit the client, even sell Hair Care products. Aside from providing quality service, it is also essential for a Hair Stylist to build rapport with clients to ensure customer satisfaction and have a robust client base.

What does a salon manager do?

A salon manager is responsible for monitoring the overall operations of a salon, ensuring the highest customer satisfaction, including the area's cleanliness and orderliness, and maintaining the adequacy of salon supplies to meet customers' requests and demands. Salon managers regularly strategize promotional offers and new services to attract customers and increase the business' revenues and profitability. They also provide training for salon staff and enhance their skills to maximize productivity. A salon manager must have excellent leadership, communication, and analytical skills, especially on managing financial reports and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns.

Hair stylist vs salon manager salary

Hair stylists and salon managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Hair Stylist	Salon Manager
Average salary	$38,221	$43,893
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $53,000	Between $31,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	Scottsdale, AZ	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Washington	Virginia
Best paying company	-	Craft Brew Alliance
Best paying industry	Health Care	Professional

Differences between hair stylist and salon manager education

There are a few differences between a hair stylist and a salon manager in terms of educational background:

	Hair Stylist	Salon Manager
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 34%
Most common major	Cosmetology	Cosmetology
Most common college	-	University of Pennsylvania

Hair stylist vs salon manager demographics

Here are the differences between hair stylists' and salon managers' demographics:

	Hair Stylist	Salon Manager
Average age	40	44
Gender ratio	Male, 9.2% Female, 90.8%	Male, 12.2% Female, 87.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 7.6% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 6.3% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	12%	10%

Differences between hair stylist and salon manager duties and responsibilities

Hair stylist example responsibilities.

Manage beautiful hairstyles with the use of flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers, and other hair products.
Manage product inventory for cosmetology products, place product orders, maintain the inventory.
Commission stylist, assist other stylists as well as cleaning and greeting guests.
Work extremely quickly and efficiently as a hairstylist to reach sales and productivity goals while maintaining exceptional customer service
Bleach, dye, or tint, using applicator or brush.
Specialize in braids, sew-ins, glue-ins, dreads, wraps, twist, and curls.

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Salon manager example responsibilities.

Manage salon operations including advertising, administration, managing stylists.
Manage biweekly payroll, and daily tip payouts.
Create utilities to automate generation of Java code for SNMP data GUI interface from MIBs.
Maintain a very strong clientele as a hair stylist, makeup artist and esthetician while managing the salon.
Manage and handle cash on a daily basis, including vault, ATM, and individual cash boxes.
Manage and lead a team seven associates and leverage responsibilities for team to meet and exceed sales goal.

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Hair stylist vs salon manager skills

Common hair stylist skills

Cosmetology, 31%
Clips, 20%
Kids, 7%
Makeup, 6%
Retail Sales, 5%
Cleanliness, 4%

Common salon manager skills

PET, 58%
Cosmetology, 6%
Clips, 6%
GRASS, 4%
Retail Products, 4%
Good Judgment, 3%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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