Salon Supplies in Austria: Buying for Barbershop and Salon
Salon supplies are the least spectacular item in the shop – and the one the month hangs on. Nobody comes to you for the neck strips, but when they run out on a Friday afternoon, every client notices. This guide is written for barbershops and hair salons in Austria. It is not a product list but the decisions behind one: how you calculate, what has to be cleaned between two clients, when a large size pays off and how to recognise a supplier who picks up the phone in an emergency.
So it is clear who is writing: we are Avida Cosmetics e.U. from Pichl bei Wels, Austria, and we import the barber brand Kabuto Katana. We have an interest in you buying from us – and we know the questions that actually get asked on the phone. This text should be worth something to you even if you end up ordering elsewhere.
Calculate salon supplies per client, not per bottle
The most common error in purchasing is treating the bottle as the unit of calculation. What matters is not what a pack costs, but what one appointment uses up. Take a typical men’s cut with a contour shave and write down what goes into it:
- Neck strips – one strip per appointment, a pure single-use item, no exceptions.
- Replacement blades for the straight razor – into the disposal box after every shave, never a second time.
- Disposable gloves for colour work, shaving and cleaning.
- Shampoo and conditioner at the wash station, more or less depending on hair length.
- Talc powder for the neck and the contours after the blade.
- After shave or cologne as the finish.
- Cotton wool, tissue, paper towels – the items that never make it onto the order list and are still constantly empty.
On its own every item looks laughably small. Multiplied by your clients per week, it decides your costing. Work it through once and you see immediately where a larger size actually helps – and where negotiating the price is a waste of time because the item barely moves the needle.
Once you know how many appointments one roll of neck strips covers, you reorder to a plan instead of in a panic. What gets used up at the chair day after day sits in our Barber Tools & Accessories range – together with the devices we have so far only announced.
Barbershop supplies: what has to be cleaned between two clients
Combs, brushes, blade sets and capes pass through every pair of hands that sits in the chair. Whatever works directly on skin and hair has to be cleaned between two clients – and it has to be ready for use again right afterwards. For blade sets a cleaning and care spray such as the 5-in-1 cleaner for clippers and shavers does that job: it loosens hair and residue, keeps the blade running smoothly and protects it against rust. Capes and towels go through the laundry anyway.
With combs the tooth spacing counts as well: fine for clean transitions, coarse for the top hair. Three models that work together are worth more than nine random ones.
The clipper itself belongs in this list: a blade set running dry gets hot, cuts bluntly and is harder to clean. Clipper oil and the cleaning spray are the items most often forgotten in an order and the first ones looked at during an inspection. They generate no revenue – they preserve the value of the most expensive tool in the shop.
Bulk sizes or single bottles – when the canister pays off
Large sizes are not an end in themselves. The rule is simple: a canister pays off for everything that gets used up, keeps for a long time and runs in one variant only – shampoo, conditioner, shaving gel, the classic cologne at the chair. The bigger the container, the less packaging you buy per application and the less often a reorder falls due.
The counter-check matters just as much. A large size does not pay off for items that rarely move, not for a choice of fragrances – three small bottles beat a canister there, because you can offer a selection – and not for goods the client is meant to take home. A five-litre canister that stands around for a year is not a saving, it is tied-up capital plus occupied floor space. Rule of thumb: a container should be empty in about three months, otherwise take the smaller size.
Our bulk sizes sit under Barber & Salon Supplies. That the trend is moving away from miniature packaging is not purely a salon question: how the EU packaging regulation ends single-use miniatures in the accommodation sector from 2030 is set out in the article on the hotel mini-shampoo ban.
Yield at the wash station, brand on the shelf
Salon supplies fall into two halves that are bought by completely different rules. At the wash station the client never sees the bottle; what counts there is yield, dosing and a scent that annoys nobody after ten hours of work. At the shelf he buys exactly the brand he smelled at the chair an hour earlier – that is the whole mechanism of retail sales.
Retail is the only item on your order list that brings money in instead of costing it – everything else is operating supplies. But it only works if the chair and the shelf speak the same language. Work with a wax that is missing from the shelf and you give the sale away; put something there that you never use yourself and the client notices the moment he asks.
For the shelf: better a few items you can explain than a full wall. Three textures with a clear difference – matte, glossy, strong – sell better than twelve variants of the same effect. What can be explained on the client is in the hair wax guide, and for the finish after the shave in the guide to after shave and kolonya. The retail range sits in Hair Styling.
Trade wholesaler, online retailer or direct sales: where barbershops buy
For salon supplies in Austria you essentially have three routes open to you. Each has a strength and a price – not in money, but in effort.
The full-range trade wholesaler covers almost everything, from colour through devices to furnishings. Advantage: one order, everything in it. Disadvantage: in a catalogue of that breadth you are one customer number among many, and advice on a single line is rarely available in any depth.
The online retailer is quick to use and open around the clock. In return nobody there knows your range, complaints run through forms, and on reorders you catch a different batch without warning.
Direct sales through the importer – our route – is the opposite: a narrow range, but one fixed contact person and resupply in days rather than weeks. The honest disadvantage: we are not a full-range supplier. We cannot supply colour, furnishings, laundry and disinfectants from a single source. We cover care, styling, the shave finish and the tools at the chair – for the rest you still need somebody else.
The honest answer to “one supplier or several?” is: several. A full-range supplier for the breadth, a specialist for the line at the chair, somebody nearby for quick resupply. Put everything on one supplier and you stand still the moment they hit a shortage.
Lead time and minimum order value shape your working week
Two figures shape purchasing more strongly than any unit price. The first is the lead time: it decides how much you keep in stock. If you get a resupply within two to three working days, a small buffer will do; if you wait two weeks, you have to pay for that buffer and store it.
The second is the minimum order value – the quiet trap in many terms of business. Add items just to reach a threshold and you buy goods you do not need yet, losing exactly the advantage you ordered there for. So do not look at the discount tier first, but at this: how often do I have to order here to never be caught without neck strips, without buying ballast every time?
As for our route: we deliver within Austria only, we ship orders within 1–2 working days (delivery by Austrian Post in 1–3 working days), and businesses in the area collect from the warehouse in Pichl bei Wels, Austria, by arrangement. Details on the Shipping and Pickup page.
Five questions to ask before your first order
- Do I get samples? A product you have tried on three clients goes onto the shelf differently from one out of a catalogue.
- What happens to goods that do not sell? Not everyone takes them back – know the answer before twelve units are standing on the shelf.
- Who picks up the phone when something is wrong? A name and a direct line are worth more in an emergency than a ticket system.
- Does the formulation stay the same across batches? If a product suddenly smells different, your regular client notices before you do.
- How long will spare parts and service be available? With devices and furniture this is the most important question of all: a chair with a broken pump and no spare part available is a dead workstation. Full disclosure: we have announced clippers, trimmers and hairdryers, but they cannot be ordered yet – on the preview pages the order button is disabled and carries the note “Coming soon”. We only release them once we have the stock and the service to back them.
Trade law and hygiene rules: what applies in Austria
Two things outside your control help decide what is on your order list. First, the craft of hairdressers and wigmakers is a regulated trade in Austria; access runs through a certificate of competence. Second, employee protection and hygiene rules apply, and they feed straight through into your supplies: surface and instrument disinfection, disposable gloves and safe blade disposal are standard items you keep in stock permanently. The Federal Guild of Hairdressers collects the relevant regulations and provides an evaluation guide for hair salons as well as group information sheets on hairdressing cosmetics (collection as of August 2025). This is not legal advice, as of August 2026; for your individual case the Gründerservice (start-up service) of your Chamber of Commerce is the place to go.
From Pichl bei Wels into Austrian salons
Kabuto Katana is a Japanese-inspired barber and grooming brand; the name refers to the helmet of the samurai, to protection, clarity and discipline. Distribution for Austria runs exclusively through Avida Cosmetics e.U. in Pichl bei Wels, Austria. The goods are held in Austria, not in a central depot abroad, and some of our customers get their resupply brought to them in person by the sales van.
What the range covers can be seen in the online catalogue. And if you want to come on board as a business: the For Retailers page explains how the cooperation starts – tiered pricing and terms on request, because they depend on range and quantity.
Frequently asked questions about salon supplies
What belongs to a basic stock of salon supplies?
Five blocks: consumables at the chair (neck strips, gloves, replacement blades, cotton wool, tissue), tools in the hand (combs, brushes, scissors, straight razors, capes, spray bottle), care on the client (shampoo, conditioner, styling, after shave), hygiene and machine care (oil, cleaning spray, listed disinfectants, blade disposal) and the goods for the shelf. Draw the list up by blocks instead of by product categories and you forget things less often.
What separates barbershop supplies from classic salon supplies?
The overlap is large, the emphasis shifts. In the barbershop the shave runs alongside everything else: replacement blades, shaving gel, talc powder, after shave, neck strips and fade brushes are daily business, plus more capes per chair because appointments turn over faster. Classic salon supplies put the weight on colour, bleach, rollers and care for long hair. If you offer both, keep two separate lists – otherwise you are constantly missing whatever only one side needs.
Do bulk sizes pay off for a barbershop?
For everything that is used up at the wash station and the shaving chair and runs in one variant only, yes – shampoo, conditioner, shaving gel and cologne are the classic candidates. Not for a choice of fragrances, rarely used items and goods for retail. Practical limit: a container you cannot empty in about three months ties up more capital and floor space than it saves.
Can I order directly from the importer as a salon in Austria?
Yes. Businesses order directly from us; we deliver Austria-wide, and collection from the warehouse in Pichl bei Wels is possible by arrangement. The way in is the For Retailers page: you write briefly which products interest you and get the information for businesses back, tiered pricing on request included.