How to start a hair salon in Norway: a checklist from idea to first customer

The list below follows the order in which things depend on each other. The business has to exist before you sign a lease in its name, and the till has to be working before the first customer pays. Do it in a different order and you'll end up doing parts twice.

This guide covers Norwegian rules only. The sources are Norwegian, and most of them are only available in Norwegian, so we name each authority and explain what it does. If you're coming from abroad, the Brønnøysund Register Centre's pages in English are a good first stop.

Do you need a trade certificate to open a salon in Norway?

Not under the rules we have read. The hygiene regulations for hairdressers (forskrift om hygienekrav for frisør-, hudpleie-, tatoverings- og hulltakingsvirksomhet) set requirements for premises, equipment and hygiene, not for the qualifications of whoever does the cutting. The notes to the regulations say the business itself is not subject to approval. A Norwegian trade certificate (fagbrev) can still matter to customers, and to stylists you may want to hire one day.

The checklist, step by step

1. 1Work out your hourly price. Divide your fixed monthly costs (rent, insurance, systems, loans) by the hours you can realistically sell. Then you know what an hour has to cost before you've bought a single pair of scissors. Add VAT if you'll be registered.
2. 2Choose a business structure. A sole proprietorship (enkeltpersonforetak, ENK) is the simplest to start, but you are fully and personally liable for its debts. A private limited company (aksjeselskap, AS) separates your own finances from the salon’s and needs at least NOK 30,000 in share capital. Both are registered with the Brønnøysund Register Centre (Brreg).
3. 3Find the premises, and report them. Under section 5 of the hygiene regulations, premises used for hairdressing must be reported to the municipality (kommunen) before they are taken into use. The same applies when a salon changes owner, and after major refurbishment. Ask the municipality which form it uses before you sign the lease.
4. 4VAT (mva). Hairdressing services are subject to VAT. The business must be registered in the VAT Register once it has sold more than NOK 50,000, excluding VAT, within a 12-month period. Source: the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten)
5. 5Till system. Skatteetaten treats card or cash payment on delivery as cash sales. A business with cash sales must, as a rule, use a till system that has a product declaration (produkterklært kassasystem), and can be fined without one. The exceptions are narrow. Read Skatteetaten's page on till systems and ask the supplier whether their system has a product declaration.
6. 6Bookkeeping rules for hairdressers. Chapter 8-3 of the Norwegian bookkeeping regulations (bokføringsforskriften) has rules just for hairdressers. Product sales and treatments must be kept apart, and haircuts must be identifiable on their own. The Z report must show turnover per staff member. The price list must be dated and signed by whoever sets the prices. Every booking must be documented with the time, the customer’s name, who does the work, the type of treatment and whether the appointment went ahead (sections 5-15 and 8-3-3).
7. 7Insurance. If you take on staff, you must have occupational injury insurance (yrkesskadeforsikring) for them. Ask an insurer about liability towards customers, contents and equipment, and business interruption as well.
8. 8Accountant. Get in touch before your first invoice. The two previous points are much easier to comply with if the till and the accounts are set up properly from day one.
9. 9Price list and services. Write down every service with its duration and price. The duration matters as much as the price: a colour that takes two hours can't sit in the appointment book as one.
10. 10Appointment book and booking. Decide how customers will book: by phone, on a website, in an app, or all three. Enter your services, working hours and breaks, and make a test booking yourself before you share the link.
11. 11Get found. Create a Google Business Profile with the right address, opening hours and booking link. The guide to local visibility for hair salons explains how.
12. 12First customer. Hold a trial day with friends or family. Run through the whole thing: booking, arrival, treatment, payment at the till, and booking the next appointment before they leave.

Your appointment book is also an accounting record

This is easy to miss. For a hairdresser in Norway, the appointment book is documentation under the bookkeeping regulations, and it has to show which appointments didn't go ahead. A paper diary where cancelled appointments get rubbed out doesn't meet that. In Stamly, every appointment is stored with the time, customer, stylist and service, and a cancelled appointment stays in the book marked as cancelled. Ask your accountant whether your setup covers the requirements, and how long the records must be kept.

Stamly is a booking system. It isn't a till system. Customers book in the app or on the salon's page on stamly.net, the salon runs the appointment book and the customer database in the portal, and staff use the Stamly Business app. Payment is taken through the salon's own till and card terminal. If you have staff, they can clock in and out in the timesheet.

The first two months are free. You add your card when you set up payment, and the first charge comes when the two months are over. Cancel before then and you pay nothing.

The first hundred customers

A new salon depends on customers coming back, and the single most useful habit is booking the next appointment before she leaves. A loyalty programme with points per visit gives her a reason to choose you again. Read how to get fewer no-shows too.

If you plan to rent out a chair to share the rent, read what a chair rental agreement should cover before you write one. And if you're wondering what a system costs, Stamly's prices are public.