Barber shop and salon

About the business

The arithmetic of a salon is short: how many chairs, how many customers a day, and what the rent is. Very little else matters. It starts with one chair and one barber and grows by adding chairs. In Dhaka an ordinary haircut is Tk 120, a styled cut Tk 170, a shave Tk 80-130, a basic facial Tk 300 and hair colour Tk 400-1,000; a roadside barber working off a stool charges Tk 30-50. Materials are almost nothing. A blade costs Tk 6-23 and a shave uses one, so an Tk 80-130 shave carries under ten taka of material. The real costs are rent, the barber's share, electricity and water. Barbers usually work on a share of takings rather than a fixed salary, so a thin day is thin for the owner and the barber alike. Equipment is a one-time cost: an SS-frame salon chair is Tk 6,490-7,250 and a professional clipper or trimmer Tk 1,495-2,100, while hydraulic chairs and shampoo basins in larger salons cost far more. One rule now has to be front of mind: the price list must be displayed. On 19 August 2026 the National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate fined a Chandpur salon Tk 5,000 for billing Tk 2,500 for a cut, shave and facial, and ordered it to display prices. Charging what you like without a displayed list is now a punishable offence.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• Salon chairs (SS frame Tk 6,490-7,250, hydraulic more), mirrors, a shampoo basin, trimmers and clippers (Tk 1,495-2,100), scissors, razors, combs, a hair dryer, towels and aprons.Equipment
• Blades (Treet five-pack Tk 28 wholesale, Gillette Tk 270-280 a dozen), shaving foam, gel, shampoo, face wash, hair colour and facial supplies. These prices date from 2023.Starting stock
• A displayed price list for every service, required under consumer protection law. Not setting and displaying prices in advance is a punishable offence; a Chandpur salon was fined Tk 5,000 on 19 August 2026.Licence
• Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, non-judicial stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, plus VAT and signboard fee. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
• Skill with the scissors. Customers come for the barber, not the shop, and when a barber leaves his customers go with him.Skill
• A wholesale cosmetics supplier. Imported gels, creams and colours depend on imports, so prices jump whenever imports stall.Supplier
• A shop on a street or in a bazaar with electricity and water. Space is per chair, so the chair count sets the size of the rent.Workspace

How the work is done

1. 1Look at the neighbourhood. A salon works where people can walk to it: a para corner, the bazaar, a factory gate or outside a college.
2. 2Decide the number of chairs first and take the shop to fit. For one chair you can rent a corner of a bigger shop rather than a room of your own.
3. 3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300 and a fee by trade type.
4. 4Buy chairs, mirrors, a basin, trimmers, scissors, razors and towels. An SS-frame chair is Tk 6,490-7,250 and a professional clipper Tk 1,495-2,100.
5. 5Write out every service price and display it large in the shop. This is now a legal requirement and the consumer rights directorate fines shops that do not.
6. 6Hire barbers. In most shops they work on a share of takings, so settle the share before they start.
7. 7Keep a per-chair book of how many customers came and which services they took. That book is what tells you whether another chair will pay.
8. 8Buy blades, foam, oils, colour and facial supplies wholesale. By the dozen or carton they cost far less than retail.
9. 9Clean the tools and use a fresh blade for every customer. Blades carry blood-borne disease, and one bad name empties a shop.
10. 10Line up extra barbers before Eid and the wedding season. On the nights before Eid shops stay open until 2 am and customers wait hours for a turn.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital, Time to first revenue · বাংলাদেশ

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