Employed, self employed or renting a space: how to choose your working model in hair and beauty

Quick answer: There are four main ways to work in hair and beauty: employed on a wage, employed on commission, fully self employed, or renting a chair or room inside someone else's business. Employment gives you steady pay and legal protections. Self employment and renting give you control over your prices, hours and clients, along with the costs and the risk. In most countries your status is decided by how you actually work day to day, not by what a contract calls you, so always check the rules where you live before you commit.

Picture two stylists who qualify in the same class. One joins a busy salon on a wage, gets a full column on day one and learns from a senior team. The other rents a chair two streets away, sets their own prices and builds a following from scratch. A year later both are happy, and both are earning. They simply chose the model that suited their life at that moment.

That is the heart of this decision. There is no single best way to work in this industry. There is the way that fits your skills, your client base, your appetite for paperwork and your plans for the next few years. This guide walks through each model, shows how the rules differ around the world, and explains how to make sure the model you choose is the one you are really working under.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by country, state and province, so check with your local tax authority or a qualified adviser.

The four main working models

Employed on a wage

The salon sets your hours, gives you clients from its bookings, supplies products and pays you an agreed rate. Tax is usually taken from your pay before it reaches you. In return you normally get employment rights such as paid holiday, sick pay rules and protection from unfair dismissal, depending on where you work. It suits anyone who values a steady income and would rather spend their energy on clients than admin.

Employed on commission

Many salons pay a base wage plus a percentage of your service or retail takings, or commission alone where local minimum wage rules allow. You are still an employee, so the salon still controls how and when you work. Commission rewards a full column and strong retail, and it gives ambitious people a way to grow their earnings without the overheads of running a business.

Self employed in your own business

You might work from home, go mobile, or open your own premises. You set your prices and hours, find your own clients, buy your own stock and insurance, and handle your own tax. Every pound or dollar you earn is yours, and so is every cost. Our guide to self employed expenses and what you can claim is a useful next read if this is your route.

Renting a chair or room

Chair or room rental sits between the two. You pay a salon owner for space, either a fixed rent or a percentage, and run your own business inside theirs. It gives you a professional setting without your own lease, and gives the owner income from empty space. If this appeals, we help you find a room or chair to rent, and we help owners fill empty rooms and chairs too.

How common is each model?

Self employment is a big part of this industry almost everywhere. In its written evidence to the UK Parliament, the National Hair and Beauty Federation reported, using its 2023 industry statistics, that around 62 per cent of people working in hairdressing and barbering and around 65 per cent in beauty are self employed.

The pattern is similar in the United States, although it varies by trade. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 80 per cent of barbers and 48 per cent of hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists were self employed in 2025, compared with 23 per cent of manicurists and pedicurists and 29 per cent of skincare specialists.

New starters are choosing it too. A VTCT Skills survey of more than 260 stylists who had qualified within the previous three years, published in March 2025, found 34 per cent were self employed and 26 per cent were employed in salons. A third of respondents said owning a salon was their long term goal.

Your status depends on how you work, not on the label

This is the point that matters most. Calling someone a chair renter, a freelancer or a contractor does not make them self employed. Tax authorities look at the reality of the working relationship.

In the UK, HMRC published dedicated employment status guidance for hair and beauty in May 2025. It compares employed and self employed working practices side by side. In broad terms, you look employed if the salon:

• sets your start and finish times, your days and your time off
• decides where you work and what tasks you do each day
• provides your clients and your products
• pays you a set rate rather than you setting your own prices

You look self employed if you choose your own hours and location, bring your own clients, may buy your own products and equipment, set your own charges and only earn when you have appointments. HMRC's own example of a self employed chair renter pays rent, buys their own products, keeps their own client records, sets their own prices and is free to work at other salons too. The guidance is clear that the table alone will not settle your status, and points people with a mix of features to its Check Employment Status for Tax tool. It also notes that someone can be self employed for tax but still have worker status under employment law.

How the rules look in other countries

United States

Each state sets its own approach, and California shows how quickly things can change. Its AB5 law brought in a strict test for independent contractors, with exemptions for many beauty professionals who rent booths. For nail technicians that exemption ended in January 2025, which left many unable to booth rent, as Nails Magazine reported. In October 2025 the Governor signed AB 1514, which restores the exemption for licensed manicurists until 1 January 2029, provided they meet conditions such as setting their own rates and hours, being paid directly by clients, keeping their own book of business, holding their own business licence and issuing a Form 1099 to the owner they rent from.

Australia

From 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act gained a new definition of employment that looks at the real substance and practical reality of the working relationship, including control, financial risk, who supplies tools and the expectation of ongoing work. Rules on sham contracting were also tightened in February 2024, so a business now has to show it reasonably believed a worker was a contractor. Fair Work notes that tax, superannuation and workers' compensation each use their own tests, so a full check covers all of them.

Ireland

Revenue updated its guidance to reflect a revised Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status published in November 2024. As elsewhere, it looks at how the work is actually done, not just the paperwork.

Everywhere else

Canada, the EU, the UAE and others all have their own tests. The common thread is control, clients, pricing, equipment and financial risk. Your local tax authority can confirm where you stand.

False self employment: why getting it clear protects everyone

False self employment happens when someone is treated as self employed but in practice works like an employee. Sometimes it is deliberate. Often it is an honest drift, where a rental arrangement slowly starts to look like a job.

The Australian Hairdressing Council's guide to rent a chair arrangements lists the kind of signs regulators look for: the salon handling the renter's bookings, payments going through the salon's systems, the renter using salon tools, or wearing the salon's uniform. For the person renting, the cost can be lost holiday pay and protections they were entitled to. For the owner, it can mean back tax, penalties and claims.

The way to keep things clear is simple: let the renter genuinely run their own business, and write the arrangement down.

Making a chair or room rental work well

A good written agreement makes the relationship easy for both sides. It usually covers:

• rent, how it is paid and when it rises
• whether rent is due during holidays or illness
• notice periods for either side
• what is included, such as towels, laundry, water, heating and reception space
• cleaning, hygiene and damage
• how products are bought and stored
• insurance, with each person holding their own public liability and treatment cover

Renters keep their own booking system, payment method, client records and pricing. Owners keep the shared standards that protect the premises, such as health and safety rules.

Questions to ask yourself before you choose

1. Do I already have clients who will follow me? Self employment and renting work best when you start with a base.
2. How steady does my income need to be? A wage is predictable. Self employed income rises and falls with your bookings.
3. Do I enjoy the business side? Tax returns, marketing, stock and insurance all become your job.
4. What training do I still want? Many salons invest heavily in education for their teams.
5. Where do I want to be in three years? Each model can be a stepping stone to the next.

Plenty of people move between models across their career, and that is a healthy thing.

FAQs

Is renting a chair the same as being self employed?

Renting a chair can be self employment, but only if you genuinely run your own business: your own clients, prices, hours, bookings and payments. If the salon controls those things, you may be treated as an employee whatever the agreement says.

Can a salon tell a chair renter what hours to work?

An owner can set opening hours for the building, but controlling a renter's working pattern is a strong sign of employment in most countries. Agree access times in the contract and leave the renter to set their own appointments.

What is false self employment?

It is when someone is labelled self employed but works like an employee in practice. It can leave the worker without rights they are owed and leave the business facing tax bills and penalties.

Can nail technicians booth rent in California?

Yes, again. AB 1514, signed in October 2025, restores the exemption for licensed manicurists who meet set conditions, until 1 January 2029. Check the California rules directly for the latest position.

Do I need my own insurance if I rent a chair?

Yes. As a self employed renter you normally need your own public liability and treatment insurance, as the salon's policy usually covers only its own staff and premises.

Find the space or the role that suits you

Whichever model fits your next chapter, we are here to help. If you want your own space, we help you find a room or chair to rent. If you would rather join a team, browse salons looking for people like you on our jobs page, where we help owners find staff and help professionals find their next role.