What are the most effective hair treatments?

If you’re a hair pro, you’ll know how important it is to offer the right hair treatments for your clients—whether you're based in a salon, at home or mobile. It can be the difference between being booked and busy or not hitting your targets.

But with so many different hair treatments, how do you know which to offer? Here's our guide to the most effective treatments and how to decide which ones you want to provide as part of your job.

How to choose which hair treatments you offer

Doing your research is essential when putting together your treatment menu. Think about your clients (or your ideal types of clients), their demographics, hair concerns and budget. It's all well and good offering a product as part of an offer or promotion but then struggling to get full-price bookings.

Also, keep on top of market trends and what's going on in your local area. What services and treatments do your competitors offer? Sometimes, it makes sense to make sure you're not left out, but sometimes, you might spot a gap in the market waiting to be filled by a great hairdressing professional (that's you!).

Understanding the cost of training, products, profit margins, and your clients' costs is also really important. If you're paying for your training and products, you need to ensure they will make you money. If you're employed, then ensuring the salon has the right resources to offer a treatment you're trained in is important, too.

If you're employed by a salon and spot a treatment or trend coming up that you feel would benefit the salon, don't be scared to mention it to your manager or salon owner. Sometimes, being the first to offer something means you build up a reputation and experience that gives you a competitive edge.

The most effective salon hair treatments

Wondering what are the most effective hair treatments to offer your client? Here’s a closer look at some tried-and-tested treatments that are in demand and work for lots of different clients:

Keratin treatments

Keratin treatments are a game-changer for those dealing with frizz and unmanageable hair. This treatment infuses keratin, a natural protein, into the hair shaft, smoothing the cuticle and eliminating frizz. The result? Hair that's significantly smoother, more manageable, and effortlessly sleek, making styling easier for your clients.

There are 700-1000 searches for keratin treatments on Google every month in the UK*, and 500 additional searches for keratin treatments near me each month, so it’s a treatment that’s in demand with clients.

Deep conditioning treatments

Regular exposure to styling tools, pollution, and the environment can leave your clients' hair dry and damaged. Deep conditioning treatments penetrate deeply, delivering moisture and nutrients to dehydrated hair, leaving it softer, shinier and healthier. It's a great add-in treatment for most clients and services, and you can make a good profit from it.

There are 1,300 searches for deep conditioning in the UK every month*. Your clients are looking for someone that offers this treatment.

Scalp treatments

Healthy hair starts at the scalp. Scalp treatments, often accompanied by a relaxing massage, can improve circulation, unclog hair follicles, and remove excess sebum. They're especially beneficial for those dealing with dandruff, itchiness or an imbalanced scalp. A healthy scalp provides the ideal environment for hair growth, too, so this is a great way to sell it to your clients, and it doesn't have to cost you much to add it on.

There are over 4,400 searches for scalp treatment in the UK every month* and interest in scalp care is rising, so offering this on your treatment makes sense.

Olaplex treatment

If your clients are a fan of hair colouring or frequent heat styling, Olaplex might be your hair's new best friend (and they’ve probably already heard of it by name). Olaplex treatments work to repair and strengthen the bonds within the hair shaft that can be damaged by chemical treatments and heat. This leads to reduced breakage, improved texture and longer-lasting colour.

People in the UK search for Olaplex treatments around 6,600 times a month*, and they search for Olaplex treatments in their local area around 210 times per month, too. This is a treatment that clients ask for my name.

Hair glossing treatment

A hair glossing treatment can work wonders for hair that lacks vibrancy and shine. These treatments add a semi-permanent colour and a glossy finish to the hair, enhancing its overall appearance without the commitment of permanent colour. It's a great add-in treatment to a hair colour but works just as well for clients who don't want a dramatic change.

There are around 800-1,000 searches for hair glossing treatments in the UK every month*, so it's one to get familiar with if you're not already offering it in your salon.

How to introduce a new treatment to your clients

If you've decided to add a new treatment to your services, sometimes it isn't enough to just add it to your treatment menu and hope for the best. You need to raise awareness and drive demand with your clients and target audience. If you've done your research and decided on what treatments you will add, the next step is training and education so you can deliver the treatment properly—educating your clients on treatment comes next.

Here’s what to think about when you’re about to offer a new treatment:

Develop a pricing strategy

Work out how much it will cost you to offer the service, and make sure you're going to make a profit. Sometimes, short-term offers are good as an introduction to encourage clients to try new services, but you need to make sure that you're going to make money or be able to convert them to pay in full in future.

Make sure you’re insured to offer the treatment

Having the right hairdressing insurance for every treatment you offer is important, as is showing you have the right skills and processes to offer it. Check in with your insurance that you're ok to offer the treatment you want and that there's nothing you need to do differently to your usual services, such as extra patch tests or waivers for your clients to sign.

Get supplies and equipment

There's nothing worse than hyping something up, getting enquiries and then not being able to deliver. Make sure you can get your hands on the right products and equipment to deliver your new treatments. Sometimes delays, demands, and broken tools can happen to the best of us.

Market your services

Start educating your customers about your new treatments and why they need to book them with you. This could be on your socials, in person, in your salon or in something like an email newsletter - if you can do some before and after visuals, even better. Make sure you reflect it on your price lists, too.

Keeping your skills and treatments up to date

Keeping your treatments and skills up to date is really important as a hairdresser. The industry's evolving constantly, and your clients have more awareness of treatments and services than ever. Updating your skills and offering a range of treatments shows your commitment to offering the best experience to your clients and can help you and new clients, too.

The hair and beauty industry is seriously competitive and thrives on innovation. Keeping up with the latest treatments and skills is important to stay caught up and keep your salon or mobile hairdressing business profitable. It's also a great way to retain clients, keep them happy with your services and gain a competitive edge to bring in new ones.

* Data from SERanking, 28.08.23

Specialist hairdressers insurance through Ripe 

Whether you're a salon owner or a freelance or mobile hairstylist, you may want to consider specialist insurance to protect yourself against the worst-case scenarios.

Insurance arranged by Ripe includes up to £10m of Public and Products Liability cover, and up to £5m Treatment Risk cover as standard, so you’re protected against third-party claims for injury or property damage.

You can also choose additional cover options, such as Employers' Liability and Buildings cover, so you're only ever paying for the cover you need. 

Find out more about how we can help here, or get an instant online quote today.