Hair and Beauty Terms and Conditions

What are hair and beauty terms and conditions?

Hair and beauty terms and conditions will often have standard clauses, these include: 

Acceptance

An acceptance clause is usually found at the beginning of the document. An acceptance clause can include a sentence or two which notes that a customer accepts and agrees to the terms once they request the services offered by the salon or beauty clinic.   

Pricing and payment

Your terms and conditions should clearly outline how much you charge per service offered, including how customers are to pay you. For services like hair dressing where prices may differ, it is important to indicate that the prices are only an estimate only and could depend on different variables like hair health, hair length etc.  

Disclaimers

The hair and beauty industry is quite risky, and thus, it is important to have disclaimers in place which limit your legal liability. Some examples of disclaimers you may choose to incorporate include: 

1. excluding liability for events out of your control (i.e. skin/ hair reactions to specific treatments); 
2. failures in treatment due to the customer’s mistakes; and  
3. factors generally beyond your control.  

If you need any advice when it comes to disclaimers, make an enquiry below to get in touch with our experienced team of commercial lawyers.

Cancellations or changes to appointments

It is likely that you will have customers who change or miss an appointment. As such, you can minimise disputes arising by having it clear in your terms and conditions that you make no guarantees that an alternative time or particular hairdresser or beautician will be able to service the customer for the new appointment. 

It is also common to charge a late cancellation fee where a customer cancels within 24-48 hours of a scheduled appointment. However, it is important to ensure that the cancellation fee is a genuine pre-estimate of loss sustained by you, otherwise it may be rendered as a penalty and thereby unenforceable. One example of a penalty may be where a customer cancels 3 weeks prior to a scheduled appointment, if a substantial cancellation fee is charged then this may be classified as unreasonable as it is possible another booking could have been made.  

Dispute resolution

It is more than likely that you will have customers who are not happy with your services. Having dispute resolution clauses is essential to counteract this by ensuring that you have a process of resolving disputes and protecting your brand’s reputation.

By providing hair or beauty services, you should be conscious of the Australian Consumer Law. Some points to be mindful of are: 

• you cannot exclude, limit, restrict or modify a consumer guarantee in a contract;  
• consumer guarantees for services include:  
  • that a service provider carries out services using acceptable levels of care and skill;  
  • the services are reasonably fit for the particular purpose specified; and 
  • the services will be supplied within a reasonable time.