How much does a beauty salon earn from a head spa treatment? Realistic figures and profit margins
The short answer
A head spa treatment typically yields between €55 and €95 per session Op, with an average around €70. If you subtract the direct costs from that, it leaves between €45 and €80 net margin It pays for itself in most salons after 40 to 80 treatments — with an average of 2 to 3 treatments per week, that is within a year.
But that's the short answer. If you really want to know if a head spa is right for your salon, it helps to take a calm look at it – not from a sales brochure, but from how it would look in practice for you.
What do you charge for a head spa in Belgium?
The prices we see in salons in Flanders and Brussels vary quite a bit, and that has everything to do with positioning. A simple 30-minute scalp cleanse usually sits between €45 and €60. A complete treatment with massage, mask and afterglow of 60 to 75 minutes goes towards €75 to €95. At premium spas in Antwerp or Brussels we even see prices above €100 per session, but that is often with extras such as an aromatherapy element or a personalised hair analysis.
| Type treatment | Duration | Price range |
|---|---|---|
| Scalp cleansing basics | 30 minutes | $45 – $60 |
| Full head spa treatment | 60 – 75 minutes | $75 – $95 |
| Premium with aromatherapy | 75 - 90 minutes | $100 - $130 |
What's particularly striking is that customers are willing to pay a relatively high price for this treatment. It feels like wellness to them, not a haircut. This gives you, as a salon owner, margin space that you don't have with a regular wash and blow-dry.
What does a head spa actually cost per customer?
The variable costs per treatment are lower than many people think. A realistic calculation for a 60-minute session:
| Cost Item | Per treatment |
|---|---|
| Products (shampoo, scrub, mask, serum) | $4 - $8 |
| Water + electricity | €1 - €2 |
| Towels + disposable items | €1 - €2 |
| Total direct costs | €6 – €12 |
When you work with your own staff, the labor cost is naturally added—for an hour of work, we're already talking about €18 to €25 including costs. With a price of €70, you are left with a net of €33 to €46, and that's before you add any fixed costs.
If you do the treatments yourself, those labor costs obviously remain with you — which makes the margin considerably higher, but it costs you time that you could also spend on other services.
When will the device pay for itself?
The purchase price of a head spa device in Belgium is approximately between €2,500 and €4,500 for a professional mobile model, and €5,000 to €9,000 for a fixed treatment chair with an integrated system. Add some extra for the initial stock of products (€150 to €300) and possibly a Head Spa training for yourself or your staff.
Here are three realistic payback scenarios for a €3,200 mobile device, with a €70 selling price and €60 net profit margin per treatment:
| Bookings per week | Treatments until break-even | Payback time |
|---|---|---|
| 2 per week | ~53 | 6-7 months |
| 3 per week | ~53 | 4 - 5 months |
| 5 per week | ~53 | 2-3 months |
Important to realize: this is a calculation based on direct margin. If you include fixed costs (rent, subscriptions, marketing), that point shifts. But the device is usually not a major bottleneck in an existing salon where the space and clients are already present.
Would you like to click through to the devices on which this calculation is based? View our head spa devices — the mobile models are typically what we recommend for salons that haven't yet set up a fixed treatment room.
The less visible dividend: customer loyalty
What many salon owners underestimate is what a head spa does for the relationship with your clients. It's a treatment people like to repeat – not out of necessity like a haircut, but because they simply enjoy it. We often hear back from salons that their head spa clients on average every 4 to 6 weeks to return, even though the treatment itself was not a “hairdresser's necessity.”.
“It is not a treatment that people do once to solve a problem. It is something that they want to keep doing, because it has become a moment of peace for them.”
On top of that, customers are more likely to book an additional service during the same visit—an extra haircut, a gloss treatment, a brow treatment. The head spa thus becomes a kind of entry-level offering that pulls the rest of your services along.
That's difficult to put into a spreadsheet, but in practice, it often makes the difference between an “interesting side note” and “this was my best investment of the year.”.
For which salons does it work less well?
Honesty is part of it. A head spa is less profitable when:
- Your salon primarily focuses on high-volume, low-margin services and doesn't have room for longer appointments.
- If you don't have a separate quiet corner—a head spa requires some tranquility, not the hustle and bustle of an open salon.
- Your target audience is mainly focused on functional haircuts and not on a wellness experience.
In these situations, a head spa can still work, but it needs to be intentionally positioned — for example, as a premium offering by appointment on quieter days, or in a separate space.
Getting started
Do you want to know whether it is right for your salon? The most realistic starting point is simply to come and see a device in action and experience it yourself, you have to have experienced a head spa once to imagine what you are going to offer your clients. Only then does the calculation become concrete, because then you know which type of treatment you would like to integrate into your salon.
At MediRelaxa Can you visit our showroom to view this calmly without sales pressure? We work specifically with salons in Belgium and know the market — so we can tell you reasonably directly whether your situation is well-suited or not.
