The short version
Most hair and beauty work is paid at the chair and never invoiced at all. The invoices that do exist are the ones that matter most: bridal parties, mobile bookings, packages and chair rental, and all four go wrong in the same way, which is vagueness about what was included.
What goes on a hair and beauty professional invoice
Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a hair and beauty document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.
- List each service separately. Cut, color, treatment. One line per thing done, at its own price.
- Separate retail products from services. Goods sold and services performed are different lines and often different tax treatment.
- Show the deposit and when it was taken. Bridal and package work is deposit-led and clients want to see it applied.
- Bill travel for mobile work. Getting to a client is time and cost, and it is why mobile pricing differs.
- For bridal, list every person and every service. Six people and eleven services is a document. Bridal package is not.
- State the cancellation and no-show terms. A missed appointment is a lost slot that cannot be resold.
The lines a hair and beauty professional invoice usually carries
These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Hair and beauty. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.
| Line | What it covers | Qty | Opens at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut and style | Consultation, cut and finish, with advice on keeping the shape between appointments. | 1 | $65 |
| Color treatment | Color applied and processed, including a skin test beforehand where one is needed. | 1 | $120 |
| Bridal or event package | Trial beforehand and the finished look on the day, timed around the schedule. | 1 | $350 |
| Products | Products used or taken home, listed separately so you can see what they cost. | 1 | $45 |
Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $580 before tax.
A worked hair and beauty professional invoice, filled in
This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.
INVOICE
Bill to
Your client name
Client address
Work carried out at
Job address
Job or order reference
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cut and style | 1 | $65 | $65 |
| Color treatment | 1 | $120 | $120 |
| Bridal or event package | 1 | $350 | $350 |
| Products | 1 | $45 | $45 |
| Subtotal | $580 |
| Tax at 10% | $58 |
| Total due | $638 |
Late payment. State your own rate and when it starts, so it is agreed before the due date rather than argued after it.
Subtotal $580, tax $58, total $638. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.
Bridal and event work, and the invoice for a party of eight
Bridal is the highest-value work in the sector and the most likely to be disputed, because it is booked a year ahead, priced as a package and delivered to a group.
Write it as a schedule. Each person named or numbered, each service against them, the time of the trial and the time on the day, travel, and any early start supplement. A bride reading eight named lines can see exactly what she is buying, where bridal package for eight is a number she has to accept.
Include the trial as its own line whether or not it is chargeable, and state the position if it is included. Trials are frequently the source of a fee argument precisely because everybody assumed something different about them.
Mobile work, travel and the early start
Mobile pricing exists because getting to a client, carrying equipment and setting up in their space costs time that salon work does not.
Bill travel as its own line, either as a flat call-out or by distance, and add an early start supplement where a booking begins before your normal hours. A five in the morning bridal start is a real premium and it is normal to charge for it.
Say what you bring and what you need. A line stating that the booking assumes access to power and a suitable working area is not pedantry, it is what prevents a doorstep negotiation on the morning of a wedding.
Packages, courses of treatment and retail
Course-based treatment work is sold as a block and delivered over months, which makes the invoice a record the client will return to.
Show the course, the number of sessions included, the sessions used and the sessions remaining, with any expiry date. That single set of lines prevents almost every dispute about a course, and it also prompts the client to book the sessions they have left.
Keep retail products entirely separate with quantities and unit prices. They are goods rather than services, they may be treated differently for tax, and mixing them into a treatment line makes both harder to reconcile.
Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how hair and beauty professionals price the work
Hair and beauty is priced per service at the chair, which needs no invoice at all. The invoices that matter are the ones for work that is booked ahead and delivered to a group: bridal, mobile, packages and courses. All four go wrong the same way, through vagueness about what was included.
| Model | Where it wins | What it quietly costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Per service | Everything at the chair, walk-ins and regulars | Nothing here needs an invoice, which is why the habit never forms |
| Package or course | Courses of treatment, bridal parties, memberships | Sessions used and remaining have to be tracked, or every course ends in a dispute |
| Mobile or event rate | Bridal mornings, on-location work, home visits | Travel and early starts are the real cost and the easiest thing to forget to charge |
For bridal, write a schedule rather than a package price: each person, each service, the trial, the time on the day, travel and any early start supplement. It is booked a year ahead, and a named list is the only thing either of you will still understand by then.
Working out what to charge
This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.
Writing it on your phone, in five steps
Most hair and beauty professionals write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.
- Open it with your trade already chosen. The hair and beauty invoice loads with cut and style and the rest of the lines already on the page.
- Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
- Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
- Set the terms to 7 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
- Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.
Getting paid once it is sent
Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.
Five dates decide whether a hair and beauty professional gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.
Mistakes that cost hair and beauty professionals money
- One line for a whole appointment. The client cannot see what each service cost.
- Bridal booked as a package with no schedule. Eight people, one number, and a year to forget what was agreed.
- Travel not charged on mobile work. The entire reason mobile pricing differs, given away.
- Course sessions not tracked on the invoice. Every course ends in a disagreement about how many are left.
- Products mixed into service lines. Goods and services blurred, and harder to reconcile at year end.
Hair and beauty invoice questions
How do I write a hair and beauty invoice?
List each service on its own line at its own price, keep retail products separate with quantities, show any deposit and when it was taken, bill travel for mobile work, and state your cancellation terms. The generator opens a salon invoice with services, products, travel and deposit already listed.
How should I invoice a bridal booking?
As a schedule: each person named or numbered with the services against them, the trial, the time on the day, travel and any early start supplement. A named list is what a bride can check a year after booking.
Should I charge for the bridal trial?
Either way is normal, but say which on the invoice. Trials are one of the most common fee arguments in bridal work purely because each side assumed something different.
Should I charge travel for mobile appointments?
Yes, as a flat call-out or by distance. Travel and set-up time is the whole reason mobile pricing differs from salon pricing.
How do I invoice a course of treatments?
Show the course, the sessions included, the sessions used and the sessions remaining with any expiry date. It prevents the standard course dispute and it prompts the client to rebook.
Should product sales go on the same invoice?
On the same document is fine, but on separate lines with quantities and unit prices. They are goods rather than services and may be treated differently for tax.
What should a salon invoice include?
Your business and the client, the date, each service on its own line, retail products separately, travel for mobile work, any deposit applied, the total and your cancellation terms.
Free hair and beauty professional invoice template
The free hair and beauty professional invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.
Invoicing guides for related trades
The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to hair and beauty professionals, and each one sits alongside its own free template.
Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.
Everything on this site, set up for hair and beauty professionals
The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to hair and beauty professionals rather than in general. The five marked links open with hair and beauty already selected.
Make the document at the door
Five of these open with hair and beauty chosen, so the page starts at cut and style instead of blank.
- Invoice Generatoropens set to this trade. The hair and beauty professional invoice this guide describes, priced and ready to edit.
- Quote Generatoropens set to this trade. Quote first: on bridal, packages and any course of treatment. Converts to the invoice without retyping.
- Receipt MakerProof of payment for a customer who paid you on the doorstep.
- Recurring InvoicesFor hair and beauty professionals billing the same client on the same day every month.
- Purchase OrderA numbered order for stock and parts your supplier can reconcile.
- Work OrderBook a visit with the address, the scope and who authorised it.
- Cost Estimatoropens set to this trade. Build the job up from materials, labor and margin before you quote it.
Templates for the round and the one-offs
The same hair and beauty professional lines, in the file format each customer expects.
- Hair and beauty invoice templateThe template this guide is written about, with the hair and beauty professional lines already on it.
- 200 invoice designsopens set to this trade. Put those lines in any of 200 designs and keep the one you like.
- 72 Word templatesEdit offline, or send a file a client can fill in themselves.
- 72 Excel templatesThe totals calculate themselves, which matters on a long line list.
- 72 fillable PDFsType into the fields and print, with nothing to install.
- Google Docs templatesCopy to your own Drive and edit from a phone.
- Google Sheets templatesSame totals, shared with whoever does your books.
- Blank invoice templatesA plain document for the visit that does not match your usual list.
- Quote templatesA priced quote on paper, for a client who wants the figure before the work.
- Estimate templatesA figure that is explicitly not a fixed price until you have seen it.
- Receipt templatesProof of payment for a client who needs it for their own records.
- Work order templatesThe scope, the site and the authorisation, before anybody drives out.
Work out the number first
This guide is about the document. These are for deciding what goes on it.
- Markup CalculatorTurn what a job costs you into the price you charge, without confusing markup with margin.
- Profit Margin CalculatorCheck what is actually left on a hair and beauty professional job once materials and time are paid for.
- Break-Even CalculatorWork out how many jobs a month cover your costs before anything is profit.
- Service Price CalculatorPrice a service against your own costs rather than against what somebody else charges.
- Sales Tax CalculatorAdd or strip tax on a figure before it goes on the invoice.
- Invoice CalculatorTotal up lines, tax and a deposit before you commit them to the document.
Get it paid without chasing every week
Terms of 7 days is the shape this guide assumes. Deposit: on bridal and event bookings, holding the date.
- Payment links and QR codesA link and a scannable code on the invoice, so paying is a tap.
- Late fee calculatoropens set to this trade. Works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter.
- Payment terms guideWhich terms actually get invoices paid, and the exact wording to use.
- Deposit invoicesWhen to ask, how much, and how the final invoice shows the balance.
- Chasing an unpaid invoiceThe reminder, the call, the overdue notice, then what comes after.
- Progress billingBilling a long job in stages so you are not funding it yourself.
- Invoice numberingA numbering system that never repeats and never skips.
- Change ordersPricing extra work in a way the customer has already agreed to.
Read next
- All 46 invoicing guidesThe same guide, written for every other trade on the site.
- 46 trade invoice templatesEvery trade, each opening with its own lines already priced.
- Invoicing glossaryPlain definitions of the words on an invoice, a quote and a job.
- The blogLonger pieces on quoting, billing, tax and getting paid.
- All 24 toolsEverything on the site in one list, including the ones not named here.