Boost your reputation with popular salon hair care products

Many salon owners choose to partner with popular hair product companies. You benefit from the company's name recognition and from being your client's main source for these professional hair care products. The drawback is that your agreement may prohibit you from carrying brands from other hair product distributors.

I recommend: Redken offers hair care and styling products to suit all types of clients. Consider joining forces with Aveda to offer natural hair care products.

Expand your market with an ethnic hair care product line

Salon owners often use products designed for the specific needs of ethnic hair. Once under-represented in the market, ethnic hair care is one of the fastest growing in the country, so you can easily locate hair product distributors carrying lines for ethnic hair.

I recommend: Curls sells certified organic products for multi-ethnic hair. Register your salon with Mizani.

Cater to clients with special hair care needs

Both men and women buy products formulated to combat common hair problems, including thinning, damaged and hard-to-manage hair. As technology advances, new specialty hair product companies emerge.

I recommend: Contact Nioxin by phone or email to become an authorized reseller of their scalp and hair treatments. Join Club CHI to sell Farouk Systems, including Biosilk.

Strike up a good business relationship with hair care distributors

The easiest way to stock your salon with a variety of products is to work with hair product distributors. The Internet makes placing orders easy, just be sure you're working with a wholesale beauty supply distributor and not a "wholesale to the public" retail outlet; you could end up paying too much.

I recommend: Register with Sally Beauty Supply to purchase a wide range of hair care products for your salon. FolicaPro is a distributor of major brands, including Bed Head, Kerastase and Wella.