How to Start a Barbing Salon & Make Over ₦500,000 Monthly

Have you ever wondered what it takes to start a successful and highly profitable barbing salon business in Nigeria? The barbing salon equipment, tools and kits needed to make your business a huge success and the talk of the town? Or how to draw a good barbing salon business plan?

You’ll find answers to all of those questions in this guide.

After carrying out an absolute feasibility study on barbing salon businesses in Nigeria, I decided to share this guide with as many as are interested in setting up a standard barbing salon business in Nigeria.

There’s no doubt the salon business is a lucrative one to startup. In fact, it is lucrative to the point that it is featured in our list of top lucrative businesses in Nigeria that do not require any certificate to start.

But before we begin to dive deep into the main lesson I’ll start from basics because of people who might be finding some terms confusing or difficult to understand due to grammatical differences.

What is a barbing salon?

In Nigeria, a barbing salon is basically a shop people visit to get haircuts; other services may include hair treatment, dying, dreading and other beauty-related services.

Many barbershops in Nigeria render all the aforementioned services, so that explains why Nigerians prefer to call it a barbing salon.

So, if you’re more familiar with the American English, Barbing Salon = Barbershop 🙂

How much do barbing salon owners make?

The answer to that question is subjective, as there are many factors that will determine how much you can make from a salon business.

Factors include:

• Location
• Quality of shop & services
• Number of hours put into the work
• Cost per head for haircuts, etc.

The average price for haircuts in Abuja suburbs is ₦400; while in towns like Asokoro, Wuse, Maitama, etc. you may require within the range of ₦800 to ₦1 000 for one haircut.

Bearing all that in mind, for 20 haircuts a day, a salon located in Abuja suburbs will rake in ₦8 000 per day; while a salon located in the town could rake in as much as ₦20 000 a day.

Established salons in busy areas cut way, way higher than just 20 hair per day.

If we calculate on the high side, ₦ 20, 000 per day × 30 days in a month gives you ₦600 000/month.

So in summary, a well-established salon in a good location could earn as high as ₦600 000 monthly, which is above the ₦500 000 I promised.

Consider the extra ₦100 000 a bonus. 🙂

With all the figures above, it’s not hard to judge that some barbers are actually millionaires. Some of them earn a lot higher than degree holders.

Barbing salon kits, tools & equipment:

Every business requires certain kits, tools and equipment to be run effectively, so does a barbing salon. However, you can do without some of those appliances and kits, while some of them are extremely important and can’t be overlooked.

To run an effective barbing salon business you need the following kits, tools & appliances:

• Standard rotatable barber chairs
• Quality Clippers
• Standby Generator
• Sterilizers
• Standing fans, ceiling fans, and/or Air Conditioners
• Cover Clothes
• Wall mirrors
• Cosmetics (Hair creams, sprays, dyes, relaxers, conditioners, facial powders, etc.)
• Miscellaneous tools (combs, scissors, blades, tissue papers, etc.)
• Towels & towel warmer
• Entertainment system
• Waiting-chairs
• Lightning, wiring & power sockets
• Furniture (decorations, cupboard, tables, etc.)
• Barbing salon pictures & wallpapers, etc.

Barbing salon business plan in Nigeria

At first, I thought of publishing a barbing salon business plan in PDF format for easy download; but then again I had a reconsideration and thought of just posting it here since the whole process is not so complicated. Barbing salon is surprisingly very easy to setup.

Notwithstanding, you must still have a good business plan in place so that you don’t get stranded along the line.

1. Discover a lucrative location

Location matters a lot in any business. So, if you’re really interested in making a minimum of ₦500 000 per month from your barbing salon, you must discover the most lucrative location around you.

What defines a lucrative location?

• Highly populated
• Good value per haircut
• Not too many established potential competitors

The above three requirements are the most important things to consider when choosing a location for your business.

2. Find out what it costs to set up a Barbershop in your location

If you’ve been asking the question “what does it cost to set up a barbing salon in Nigeria?” The answer to that question is: there’s no definite cost required.

It all depends on your location and how big you want to start.

Some salons could cost you as much as ₦2 000 000 to start up; while some can go for as low as ₦200 000.

Most lucrative locations usually require more capital. But the good thing is, your capital will be realized within the first few months of launching the business.

Also, if you want to start a salon that can accommodate just one barber, then you’ll also end up spending less. But if you want to start up a salon that can accommodate as much as 4-6 barbers, you’ll end up spending more.

Furthermore, the number, quality, and size of gadgets and appliances also contribute a lot to the overall cost required to set up your barbing salon.

3. Rent and furnish your shop

When you find a good location, make sure you snap up that location as soon as possible. The reason is, you never can tell how many people are having the same plans as you.

Good locations are usually hotcakes. If you’re staying in a very busy town, then I believe you’ll get a better picture of what I’m saying.

I earlier made mention of the barbing salon kits, tools and equipment needed to run a successful business.

Everything I listed above is extremely important. Some people do not like patronizing salons that default in any of them. So if you really want to make ₦500 000 you must not default on any of them.

4. Give your barbing salon an epic name

Branding plays an important role in the success of any business; that’s why you must choose an epic and memorable name for your barbing salon.

A name that’s interesting, intriguing and easy to remember.

I believe some of the barbershops you can recall now have easy-to-remember names. If they didn’t you’d have found it difficult to recall their names.

Another reason you need to give your business an epic name is that it’ll have a greater chance of spreading fast within your community and it’ll be very easy for people to describe your barbing salon to others.

5. Employ quality barbers

This depends on how you plan to run your business. Do you want to be the one working there, or you want to employ barbers that will work for you and give you daily or weekly returns.

Whichever it is, you must be ready to deliver the best quality services to customers that come to your shop.

If you’re the one that will be in charge of your barbershop, then you must learn all how to barb. In fact, you must be an expert barber.

If you’re not an expert barber, I’d advise you to stay clear of your business and learn for a while from another person.

The reason is, a new business must deliver only the best services. If not, you’ll lose customers even before you make them.

On the other hand, if you’ll be making use of the services of other barbers that will give you daily or weekly returns, then those barbers must possess all the qualities necessary to grow a new shop.

Don’t entrust your new shop to the hands of a learner. If you do, your business will be on the road to failure.

6. Get a license

Make inquiries about what license you need to get for your business as applied to your location. This will help you avoid any form of embarrassment from government or union officials.

7. Create awareness around your location

What do you do before and after you launch a new business? Do you just sit in your shop waiting for luck?

If you want to succeed at your barbing salon business, then you must create an early awareness immediately you launch your business.

Here are ways you can create awareness for your new business:

• Banners & Posters
• Fliers
• One-on-one conversations
• Advertisement (Local radio or TV station)
• Social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Creating awareness is not limited to the options above. Just find out what’s convenient and easy for you.

8. Make good early impressions

In the barbing salon business, the first impression matters a lot. Bad news spread faster than good news. So, if you want to succeed in your business, don’t give the community any bad news about your business, especially not within the first few weeks.

When people visit your shop, give them the best treatment possible. Be friendly and polite to customers; and above all, give them the best haircut possible.

With all that, you’ll win over new customers and the news about your salon will spread like wildfire in your community.

I have shared tips that can help you start a successful barbing salon business in Nigeria. If you have any contributions to this piece, you can let us know using the comment section below.

Every opinion is welcome 🙂