Salon stock control: where your colour goes
You buy supplies every month but don't know what one colouring costs you. What a recipe card is, how to set one up and how it changes your prices.
Most salon owners know their supplies spend as “roughly 800–900 ₼ a month”. Compared with total turnover, that looks fine. The problem is elsewhere: nobody knows which service uses how much.
Two things follow. First, prices are set on gut feeling. Second, supplies “evaporate” — nobody can track who used how much.
What a recipe card is
A recipe card is a service’s recipe: what one hair colouring needs, and how much of it.
A simple example (prices are illustrative):
| Material | Quantity | Unit price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour (60 ml tube) | 1 tube | 12 ₼ | 12 ₼ |
| Developer | 90 ml | 0.04 ₼/ml | 3.6 ₼ |
| Foil | 10 sheets | 0.15 ₼ | 1.5 ₼ |
| Gloves | 1 pair | 0.3 ₼ | 0.3 ₼ |
| Total | 17.4 ₼ |
Now you have the number. If the service is 120 ₼ and the stylist’s commission is 40% (48 ₼):
120 − 48 (stylist) − 17.4 (materials) = 54.6 ₼That’s the salon’s net from one colouring — before rent, utilities and other costs. Setting a price without knowing this number is guesswork. More on how commission is calculated: How to calculate staff commission in a salon.
How to set up a recipe card
Step 1 — record materials in units. Colour in “ml” rather than “tubes” where possible, because a colouring sometimes uses half a tube. The more precise the unit, the more accurate the numbers.
Step 2 — take the cost from the real purchase price. Not the list price — what you actually paid. When a supplier raises prices, update the price on the card too, or your cost of goods stays out of date.
Step 3 — record the typical amount, not the ideal one. Hair lengths vary. Short hair takes half a tube, long hair two. Record the most common case, then compare with actual usage over two or three months and adjust.
Step 4 — create service variants. Make “Colouring (short)” and “Colouring (long)” separate services. Both the price and the recipe card will be right.
What changes
Once recipe cards are in place, three things happen automatically:
Stock goes down by itself. When a service is completed, the amount on the card is written off stock. You no longer need to count everything from scratch at month end — and the gap between what the system shows and what’s actually on the shelf tells you something else (see below).
You’re warned before you run out. Each product gets a minimum level. When colour drops to 3 tubes, you get an alert. Hearing “we’re out of colour” while the client is in the chair is an expensive moment.
Cost of goods becomes visible. It’s clear which services really make money. Often it turns out the most expensive service isn’t the most profitable — short, cheaper services can earn more per hour.
What a discrepancy means
The system says 12 tubes; you counted 9. Three tubes are missing. There are three possible explanations:
- The recipe card is wrong — actual usage is higher than recorded. Fix the card.
- A service was done without being recorded — an appointment that never went through the till.
- Stock went missing — or a staff member took it for their own use without recording it.
All three are worth knowing, and all three only show up when you keep records. Without them, the gap is just “the way things are”.
Where to start
Don’t try to put your whole catalogue on recipe cards in one day. A practical order:
- Pick your 10 best-selling services. They usually bring in most of your turnover — check your own sales report.
- Record only expensive materials — colour, ampoules, keratin. Leave gloves and wipes for later.
- Run it for two months, compare with actual usage, adjust the cards.
- Then add the remaining services.
In Rezneed
The inventory section keeps products, stock per location, suppliers, purchase orders and returns in one place; you can find a product by barcode (scanner on web, camera on mobile). A recipe card is attached to a service: when the appointment is completed, materials are written off stock automatically and the service’s cost of goods is calculated. When a product drops below its minimum level, you get an alert on WhatsApp.
Products staff use for themselves are recorded as internal use and can be deducted from their pay — which removes part of the “stock went missing” explanation. Supplier debts and prepayments are tracked there too.
On the reports side, there are separate product, stock and service reports, each exportable to Excel — so “how much does this service bring in?” and “how much of this material are we using?” are answered from the same panel.
Set up your first 10 recipe cards this week: try Rezneed free for 45 days, no card required.
