2.10.5.4Vertical

Specialty Color Salons

Hair salons specializing in hair coloring and color correction services.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Hair Salons (2.10.5), the segment that Specialty Color Salons sits within. They are not figures for Specialty Color Salons on its own.

Market size
~$26B
Growth
~2.5%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~72,778 firms
Firms by employee count

95.4% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 69,424 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe3,354 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
3,13093%
100–499
2036%
500+
211%

The largest personal-care category by firm count and the template for the sector's economics: recession-resilient, recurring, and intensely fragmented across ~73,000 firms. The structural shift is the salon-suite model (Sola, Phenix), which leases chairs to independent stylists and turns the operator into a landlord; that, plus value-haircut franchises (Great Clips, Sport Clips), is where consolidation actually runs, because traditional salon roll-ups struggle against booth-rent economics.

NAICS 812112. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Service fees and product sales; franchise/suite-rental income

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$352,634
Revenue per employee
$65,941
Employees per firm
5.3
Recurring revenue
Moderate

recurring repeat visits

EBITDA margin
10–20%
Capex intensity
Low

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 44% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Owner-operator dominated: 92% of businesses have no employees and take 49% of revenue
  • Thin strategic-buyer pool: only 21 firms exceed 500 employees, so exits skew sponsor-to-sponsor
  • Largest personal-care category by establishment count.
  • Salon-suite rental model reshaped the industry.
  • Recession-resilient but intensely fragmented and labor-driven.

NAICS 812112. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Nonemployer Statistics.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Value-haircut franchise networks
  • Salon-suite real-estate platforms
  • PE-backed beauty consolidators

What’s driving deals

  • Franchise consolidation in value haircuts.
  • Salon-suite rental model expansion.
  • Fragmentation limiting traditional roll-ups.

Find Specialty Color Salons acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Specialty Color Salons (2.10.5.4) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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