Just found out my color gloss is way more expensive than I thought

I was at the supply store yesterday getting my usual tube of color gloss for touch-ups, and I saw a price tag that stopped me cold. I've been using the same brand for like 3 years and never paid much attention to the cost per application. But I did the math while waiting in line, and it turns out I'm spending around $8 per client for gloss alone. That's like 20% of what I charge for a full service when you factor in everything else. Found it on the back of the box too, there's a little chart that breaks down coverage per ounce. I never looked at that part before. My last class at the community college mentioned markup on products, but this hit different seeing it with my own numbers. Anyone else ever crunch the numbers on their regular supplies and get surprised?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.gavin5d ago

The real shocker is when you actually time yourself and realize how much the labor time eats into your profit, not just the product cost. Most people getting worked up over $8 of gloss are overlooking that they're spending 20 minutes applying it and another 15 wiping it off. If your time is worth anything that's where the real money disappears. The gloss itself is a sunk cost you already factored into your price structure ages ago. You probably raised your rates to cover that $8 and then some when you first started using it. So what's the big deal now? Are you planning to switch to a cheaper gloss and hope your clients don't notice the difference in shine?

kai9145d ago

yeah but have you actually broken down what you're paying per squirt though? cause i did that once with my demi permanent colors and realized i was using almost twice as much product per application as the technical sheet said. like the coverage chart on the box assumes you're using some perfect thin layer but real life application always ends up thicker. so your $8 might actually be more like $12 or $14 when you factor in real world usage. did you weigh out exactly how much gloss you use on a head or are you just going by the box math? that little chart always lies in my experience.