Repair work is the most consistently under-priced service in a loc studio. It is technically demanding, it consumes material, and because it usually happens inside an existing appointment it is absorbed into a price that was set for something else. The result is a service line that grows quietly while the margin on it shrinks.
1. The Three Repairs You Are Already Doing
Root thinning along the hairline and crown, slippage where a strand has lost its grip, and snapped or split ends from tension or dryness. Each has a different cause and a different material requirement, and each has a predictable frequency once you track it against a client's grid.
Recording which repair was performed and where on the head turns an unbilled favour into a diagnosable pattern. Three hairline repairs in a row is not bad luck; it is a tension or density problem you can fix at the next installation.
2. Pricing Repair as Its Own Line
Repair consumes strands, technique and time, and all three are billable. Price a per-repair rate for a small number of strands and a per-hour rate beyond that, and quote both before the appointment starts. Clients accept this readily when the rate is disclosed in advance, and studios stop subsidising repair out of maintenance income.
3. Turning Repair Into Retention
- Same-visit repair: handle small repairs inside a scheduled retightening, billed as an add-on rather than folded into the base price.
- Strand replacement: book as a short standalone appointment when several strands are involved, since it does not need the full retightening chair time.
- Root reinforcement: bundle with a density review, so the client leaves understanding what caused the repair and what prevents the next one.
4. Repair Data Feeds the Installation Quote
A studio that tracks repairs knows in advance which new clients are likely to need reinforcement at the hairline. That knowledge belongs in the original installation quote as an honest expectation, not as a surprise charge three months later, and it is the difference between a client who trusts the retightening schedule and one who leaves to find a cheaper rate.
The Loc Repair and Replacement Kit
Interlock repair strands, easy-install micro loc replacements and bulk kinky fibre for blending, sized for the short, frequent repair appointments that fill the gaps in a retightening schedule.
