Choose the Colors for your Salon: Top Tips & Common Mistakes to Avoid

Focus on color? No, not hair color (for a change!), but of the walls, furnishings and interior of the salon. Choosing the best colors for your salon is an often overlooked aspect that can make a difference, even in terms of revenue.

Consumer attitudes and behavior related to salon visits are evolving. Customers are increasingly demanding and look for quality and expertise at the right price. They do not only evaluate cutting capabilities or the services they offer, but also have an eye on the level of comfort and ‘pleasure’ the salon offers.

For this reason, designing a hairdressing salon cannot be left to chance. Care should also be taken to the reception area, location of the retail area and above all the colors chosen for the walls and materials used. Here’s a brief guide on common mistakes to avoid and a few tips to correctly choose the colors for your salon, making it a more enjoyable and welcoming place.

Color Psychology

In general, the salon must be a warm, comfortable, place where the client is tempted to rest because, as we know, the more he will be, the higher the chances of buying. The environment therefore has to adapt to the type of clientele and make it feel comfortable: if the target is above all young fashion people, the premises will have to be colourful, with trendy and lively décor. If the type of customer is a more sophisticated woman, the salon image must also be the same.

Until many years ago, the choice of color for the walls for hairdressing shops often tended to a single shade, usually very pale. Or even white, matched with black furnishings. There were so many extremely sophisticated and minimalist salons, but definitely aseptic, delivering order and cleanliness but also little personality. Today there is a partial counter-tendency: the more you personalize the salon, it is given individual character and originality, the greater the success. And of course this is also with color, which is increasingly a strategy to be studied with care.

With regard to colors, it should be pointed out that each color has a different effect on our brain and on emotional changes, so we can actually talk about “color psychology”. Here’s how they affect emotions and moods, and how to use them for the benefit of the salon…

WHITE: The main color of light. Associated with purity, cleanliness, security, peace, innocence, brightness. Perceived as a synonym of perfection. Here we experience a sense of peace.

BLUE: A cool color that inspires confidence and safety. It is by no means very much used by financial services.

YELLOW: The color of the sun, communicates positivity and optimism. Stimulates creativity and energy.

GREEN: Denotes serenity and freshness. Depending on the many nuances it can take on different meanings: the darker and deep ones are usually associated with prestige and wealth, while the lighter ones induce calm and relaxation.

RED: Color of energy, fire, provocative, great to capture the attention. It can trigger passion, but it can also be a danger. To be careful…

PURPLE: The right mix between the passion of red and the tranquility of blue, evokes mystery and spirituality. Lavender shades are more prone to romance and nostalgia.

ORANGE: Exuberance, fun and vitality, albeit often associated with younger customers. In lighter shades, such as fishing, it spends well with the sphere of health, beauty and even catering.

BLACK: It’s the color of luxury. Denotes sophistication and sophistication, which is why it is often the distinctive color of expensive products.

BROWN: The color of the earth, transmits feelings of stability and durability, its shades more clear, close to ocher and brick, are positively associated with something luxurious.

How to Choose the Best Colors for Your Salon

When it comes to color, and particularly light, the first of the relevant aspects is the chromatic appearance, that is, the fact that the colors are perceived differently in terms of the amount of light and the context in which they are found. One mistake is to isolate a color outside the context in which it is inserted, because our eyes will perceive it differently.

When deciding on the colors for the hairdressing salon, the first thing to consider is the size of the room. The cool and clear shades, for their ability to reflect more light, have the function of visually expanding the environment. Dark shades, and red derivatives, give the feeling of shrinkage, winding, heat: the eye will see the walls approaching each other. To raise a ceiling, for example, cold or neutral colors, perhaps clearer than those chosen for the walls, will need to be used. Instead, to lower high ceilings, dark shades will help, especially green, blue, brown and red.

In narrow and long environments such as corridors, it is advisable to use hot or dark colors in the background wall (for example, red, orange, blue or brightly coloured as yellow as a yellow) to ‘approach it’; Cold and light colors (blue, white, bright pastel shades) in the side walls to get the optical effect of more space.

The second factor to keep in mind is that flooring is the first surface to look at when we step across the threshold of a salon. A dark floor will exalt the walls, so –unless you want to create some continuity in the environment and uniform it– it is good to opt for contrasting, lighter shades on the walls to make them brighter. While a light floor creates a neutral atmosphere, and in this case the advice is to choose brighter and more intense colors for the walls.

The Right Color for any Furniture

The matching color wall / furniture is another key aspect to consider in choosing colors for beauty salons. If the style is contemporary and contemporary all the colors are admitted, although it is preferable to opt for non-ringing colors (the range of grey, ropes, coffees, Siena earth, blues, some nuances of purple).

If the style is classic, it may be interesting to estimate deeper shades: shades like dark reds, green, sugar cane or ochre yellow. Which give importance and prestige.

If the style is rustic, it is best to opt for the warm shades. That is, the derivatives of orange, red, yellow range, brick colors… sometimes even with shades of blue that tend to heat, even though it is mostly cold. Instead, avoid pastel shades, such as light blue and pale pink.

If the style is “nordic” (hence steel furniture and minimal shapes), it is advisable to use mainly shaded colors such as greys, olive greens, and perhaps introducing elements, details, or colored wall portions as orange or even black or violet.

Absolutely fundamental, never forget that furniture, curtains and components play an important role to create harmony or contrast, depending on the desired end effect.

Read more about Outfitting a Hairdressing Salon: 10 Mistakes to Avoid