Best Books For Hair Stylists And Hair Salon Owners To Read
Diana Muresan
You don’t find reading books essential in your hairstylist career? You’re totally wrong. The truth is, even though you have a practical job, where physical demonstrations are key to becoming an expert, books are still one of the main things contributing to growing our knowledge.
Spending at least 15-30 minutes a day reading a book can improve the way you manage your business and the way you interact with your clients and work staff.
As a hairstylist, you’re most likely to have a passion for anything that has to do with hair. In this category, we can include books too, because there are plenty of them on different interesting subjects. From marketing ideas for hair salons to hairstyle trends and techniques, it is essential to find your inspiration in books where experts in your industry have put all their knowledge.
There are books that are just perfect when you want to relax and enjoy a coffee in a little break, and there are books that will show you step by-step how to improve yourself at the salon. Well, get ready to put your hands on all those books and improve your business life. In the end, the salon is the place where you spend most of your time, right?
1. It’s Not Really About the Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty (Tabatha Coffey)
This deeply inspiring woman, Tabatha Coffey, shares her life experience in a book for hair stylists with a single purpose: to encourage you to get in touch with the most powerful and successful part of yourself. This book can be considered a journal, a business manual, or a coaching guide, but one thing is sure: “It’s Not Really About the Hair” will encourage you to awaken the most important beauty of all: “the true beauty that is you.”
2. Girl Boss (Sophia Amoruso)
Girl Boss is the book that will give you the courage to be yourself and to think freely, without any boundaries. Sophia, the book’s author, was a girl with a tough childhood; now, she has become a woman with a beautiful career. Girl Boss proves that success isn’t about being famous and liked by everyone. It’s about knowing your worth, setting your goals, and following them. I guess this is one of the best books for hair stylists and hair salon owners you can read this year! 🙂
3. Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life (Barbara Stanny)
Barbara Stanny, the author of this book, is a journalist, motivational speaker, and financial educator. Her research is based on many interviews, including more than 150 women whose annual earnings range from $100,000 to $7 million. Barbara turns every piece of information she finds into a specific strategy that can help you increase income in your own business.
4. The Stylist (Cai Emmons)
This is the book for hairstylists you can read when you want to relax and dream a little bit. It tells the story of Hayden, a hairstylist working in a salon based in New Jersey, where laughter and joy fill the whole room when suddenly a stranger that hides lots of secrets and has a controversial past comes in.
5. Hair Fashion and Fantasy (Laurent Philippon)
In the past, having an impeccable hairstyle was a sign of belonging to a high class in society. According to Laurent Philippon, Cleopatra wore elaborate braids; in Marie-Antoinette’s era, people competed to pile their hair extremely high, and punk fashion created a fantasy of spiked and dyed hair in strident colors. Shortly, this book celebrates the art of hair.
6. How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
Dale Carnegie once said that “success means to achieve what you desire, and happiness means to love what you achieved in life.” Well, How to win friends and influence people is proof that you can do absolutely everything in life; you can have the job you desire, and you can be successful, but all of them require determination and work.
Dale Carnegie’s advice about success in life has motivated and inspired a lot of people in their business and personal lives. This timeless bestseller, How to Win Friends & Influence People, will teach you how to make people like you, steps to change people without arousing resentment, and much more! This best book for hair stylists will change your perspective without realizing it.
7. The Fantastic Hairdresser (Alan Austin-Smith)
Alan Austin’s book helps people pursue their goals through empowering quotes, tips, and different exercises meant to remind all hairdressers in the world why they should love their job.
The author works in the beauty industry, firstly as a creative director for a famous brand, then as a salon owner. In his career, he considered marketing an essential element in creating a unique experience for clients. According to the author, any interaction with a client is marketing as it makes a long-lasting impression, be it positive or negative. You and your hair salon team will love this book for sure!
8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni)
In this book, Lencioni describes the five dysfunctions of work teams and what are the reasons why even the best ones often struggle. He developed in this book for hair stylists a model and an actionable plan that can be used to overcome these common problems and build an effective team. Briefly, Lencioni has written a simple message for all those who desire to become exceptional team leaders.
9. The Salon Owners Bible (Simon Lotinga and Julie Eldrett)
“What’s your salon’s purpose” “why should your staff choose to work with you”, or “why should a customer choose your salon to care about” are just some questions that find their answer in this book. By the time you’ll finish reading it, you’ll know better what to change in your salon to make an improvement in people’s lives, and especially in yours. It is practical and interesting, so take it now and enjoy your free time by taking some notes. 🙂
10. The Conflict Pivot (Tammy Lensky)
After passing a certain boundary, conflicts in business relationships can become deeply personal. This book talks about finding the key to avoiding them to resolve one. In “The Conflict Pivot,” Tammy Lenski shares the powerful approach she developed for over 10 years with the purpose of turning conflicts into the peace of mind. Now you, too, can forget everything that keeps you stuck in the middle of a conflict and find some tips that will keep away tension both in your professional and personal lives. What better way to learn how to deal with angry clients than to learn from one of the best books for hairstylists?
Last but not least…
If you’re not yet using a hair salon scheduling app, I strongly recommend you Goldie. It will help you easily keep track of appointments and reduce client no-shows using text reminders and payment processing. You don’t have enough time in a day? Let your clients book themselves online on your free booking website. Spend less time managing appointments and more time doing what you love! You can download it for free in the App Store or Google Play.