Whether you’re a hair stylist, nail technician, barber, or cosmetologist, your clients count on you to help them look their best. While it’s your job to make them look and feel great upon rendering your services, another one of your responsibilities is to protect your livelihood and your own peace of mind by purchasing the proper commercial insurance coverage. This article will discuss insurance for salons and other beauty-related businesses, including the policies you may need as an owner of one of these businesses and why.
Three Common Types of Insurance for Salons & Other Beauty Businesses
Ultimately, business insurance policies should be customized to fit your specific business’ needs, but in general, most hair and nail salons and barbershops at least have the following three coverages:
General Liability
General liability insurance typically covers legal and settlement costs associated with third-party claims of bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury. Say a salon client slips on the wet floor where you were washing hair and gets injured (a bodily injury). In this case, your general liability policy would help cover their medical bills (and any resulting legal costs if the client tries to sue).
Commercial Property
Commercial property or property liability insurance protects the physical space your business occupies (your salon, barbershop, etc.) as well as its contents (e.g., your computer, cash register, and equipment like hairdryers and sinks) against covered events such as theft and fire.
Professional Liability
Often referred to as errors and omissions insurance, this policy protects your beauty-related business from being sued by a dissatisfied client and against any client claims that you failed to deliver agreed-upon services. For example, if a hairdresser was asked to dye a client’s hair blonde but they messed up the chemical mixture of the dye, thereby causing the client’s hair to fall out rather than change color, professional liability insurance would cover the associated legal and settlement costs since your employee was negligent. 
Other Insurances to Consider for Your Beauty Business
Aside from those three, there are a couple of other types of insurance for salons that you may need to consider depending on your unique situation.
- Workers’ Compensation – Maybe you’re a solopreneur or just starting small, but if you do have employees, you’re required by law (in most states) to have workers' compensation insurance. This covers the medical treatment and lost wages for employees who are injured on the job or suffer a work-related illness.
- Business Owners Policy (BOP) - Many insurance agencies offer several types of commercial insurance bundled into one package called a Business Owners Policy or BOP. This includes the general liability and commercial property coverages we discussed above, as well as business interruption insurance, which covers the loss of income resulting from a covered event that disrupts the operation of the business. For example, if a pipe burst at your salon and you had to shut down until it was repaired, this insurance would cover your payroll during that time or may cover the expense of operating out of a temporary location.
With so many clients to tend to, you’re much too busy to spend more time researching commercial insurance policies, comparing prices, and picking a provider. Luckily, agencies like World Insurance are versed in working with small business owners like you to ease that burden every day. Reach out to World Insurance Associates, LLC, today to get set up with the appropriate amount of coverage for your beauty business’ unique needs.
This article is not intended to be exhaustive, nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel or an insurance professional for appropriate advice.