To better understand how confident beauty professionals and beauty schools feel about their businesses, the Professional Beauty Association (PBA), in partnership with PBA Business Member Pivot Point International, created the Pro Beauty Pulse.
This monthly index tracks industry sentiment across W-2 beauty professionals, 1099/independent professionals, salon owners, and beauty school leaders. We also include data from The KIM Report, providing real-world salon performance results to complement sentiment insights.
PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
The charts above reflect sentiment collected in July, when industry professionals were asked to assess their business conditions for June.
The data below, sourced from The KIM Report, shows actual industry performance for June.
Viewed together, these offer a comparison of how salon industry perceptions compare to salon industry results.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
June was softer than May across nearly every major measure. Revenue, services, clients, visits, and retail activity all declined month over month. The only major metric to improve was the average service ticket, which rose slightly.
Industry sentiment among commission salons reflected the June slowdown. The percentage of W-2 licensed professionals and salon owners who rated their business as poor or very poor increased, while the percentage rating their business
as good or excellent declined. In contrast, perceptions among 1099 licensed professionals showed only small shifts in sentiment.
It will be interesting to see whether these differences persist or if the groups are more aligned in next month’s Pulse research.
Year to date versus 2025, revenue growth continues to be driven almost entirely by higher pricing. Service activity and unique clients are showing only marginal growth, while unique visits and retail remain below last year.
While higher pricing can drive short term growth, in an increasingly cost-conscious economy sustained growth will depend on generating more clients, visits, and services.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The largest change in school sentiment was in the business outlook, which improved for the second consecutive month as negative expectations declined and positive expectations increased.
Given the one-year extension related to ongoing regulatory and government challenges, this improvement may reflect a reduced sense of immediate risk.
The KIM Report aggregates data from more than 10,000 salons and solopreneurs, each with 24 consecutive months on the same software platform to ensure data consistency and reliability.
June was a slower month than May. Salon revenue declined 4.41%, driven by fewer services (-3.43%), fewer clients (-2.73%), and lower retail sales (-4.64%). The only metric to improve from May was the average service ticket, which increased slightly (+0.18%).
Compared with June 2025, the picture was more positive. Salon revenue increased 4.84%, fueled by a 3.08% increase in the average service ticket and renewed growth in clients, visits, and services. Color services were a particular bright spot, with color service revenue up 5.70% and the number of color services increasing 4.63%.
For the year to date, salon revenue remains 1.50% ahead of 2025. However, that growth is being driven primarily by higher pricing, with the average service ticket up 3.04%. Client service volume is slightly ahead of last year’s levels, although
unique visits are down. Retail continues to lag, with product revenue down 3.72% and retail units down 5.80%.
STAY INFORMED
Explore more insights in The KIM Report, your source for real-world data and monthly performance trends shaping the professional beauty market.
