Hair Stylist Booking Software, from Your Instagram Bio
Clients pick a trim, a root colour or a balayage, are offered only times long enough for it, and pay a deposit on the long ones. No DMs to answer.
Updated 22 October 2026
Why do hair stylists lose chair time to booking by DM?
A trim takes 30 minutes. A full balayage takes four hours. When clients book through DMs and WhatsApp they rarely say which, so you either squeeze a colour into a cut slot or leave a gap nobody fills. Then there is the client who booked Saturday at ten and never turned up. Tymeslot gives every service its own length, buffer and price, so the booking page only offers times that fit, and the long colour appointments can carry a deposit.
Why a bio link and a DM inbox don't protect a column
Instagram DMs can run a quiet column, but not a busy one. Every enquiry needs an answer, the answer needs your diary, and none of it holds anyone to anything. A client who books a four-hour colour by message has put nothing down, so a no-show costs you the afternoon and the product you prepared.
The salon platforms solve this, but they come with a monthly subscription, a marketplace you may not want to be listed on, and card fees through their own payment service. Tymeslot is smaller. You get a booking page of your own to put in your bio, a length and buffer for each service, email reminders, and on Pro a fixed deposit, paid into your Stripe account, before the slot is confirmed.
Everything hair stylists need. Nothing they don't.
A Length for Every Service
Trim, cut and blow-dry, root colour and balayage each get their own duration, so the booking page only shows times the whole service fits.
Notice for Skin Tests and Product
Colour services carry 48 hours' minimum notice, enough for a skin test to develop and for you to order the toner you are short of, while a blow-dry can still be booked the same morning.
Fixed Deposits on Long Appointments
On Pro, a balayage client pays a €50 deposit before the four hours are theirs; the rest is paid at the chair as usual. Trims and blow-dries need no deposit at all.
Colour Corrections You Approve
Box dye to blonde is not a booking to take blind. Turn on approval for colour correction, read the client's photo link, then accept the request or decline it and the deposit goes back automatically.
Your Bio Link Is the Booking Page
Put tymeslot.app/yourname in your Instagram bio, or place the booking page on your salon website as an inline calendar, a popup or a floating button.
Reminders Sized to the Service
Give balayage a reminder two days out, so a client who cannot make it frees the afternoon in time, and a cut a single reminder three hours before.
See the difference
Without Tymeslot
With Tymeslot
Common scheduling scenarios
How do hair stylists stop clients booking the wrong length of appointment?
Clients don't always know how long a service takes. If they pick the service first and the time second, the length is never their problem.
- Create a meeting type for each service: trim (30 min), cut and blow-dry (60 min), root colour (90 min), full balayage (240 min).
- Cuts get a schedule with 10 minutes between clients for sweeping up, and colour on another with 15 minutes to mix and clean bowls.
- On Pro, ask colour clients for a link to a photo of the look they want, and whether their hair has been coloured or bleached in the last six months.
- Set a 30-minute slot interval on cuts, so three short appointments fit neatly into the gap before a long colour.
How do hair stylists fit in a skin test before colour?
Many colour brands ask for an allergy alert test 48 hours before every colour service. When that is arranged by message, it gets forgotten, and the colour appointment has to be moved on the day.
- Create a free 10-minute "Skin test" meeting type with short notice, so a new colour client can drop in while passing the salon.
- Give root colour and balayage 48 hours' minimum notice, which leaves room for the test between booking and appointment.
- Write in each colour description that a skin test is needed at least 48 hours before, with a link to book it, so the client sees it before paying the deposit.
- Add a yes or no question on colour services asking whether the client has had a skin test with you in the last six months.
How do hair stylists cut no-shows on long colour appointments?
A missed trim is half an hour. A missed balayage is an afternoon. The protection should match the size of the appointment.
- On Pro, connect Stripe and set fixed deposits on the long services, such as €20 on root colour and €50 on balayage, leaving trims free to book.
- Send colour clients a reminder two days before, and one the morning of the appointment.
- A client who has to move a balayage does it from their confirmation email, and the four-hour block reopens on your page for another client.
- Write in each colour service description what happens to the deposit if the client cancels late, because Tymeslot does not apply that rule for you.
See Tymeslot in action
A starter setup for hair stylists
| Meeting type | Duration | Buffer | Minimum notice | Bookable ahead | Payment at booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut and blow-dry | 60 min | 10 min | 4 hours | 6 weeks | None |
| Skin test | 10 min | 10 min | 4 hours | 6 weeks | None |
| Full balayage | 240 min | 15 min | 2 days | 90 days | €50 deposit at booking |
Intake questions
- Is this your first visit?
- Has your hair been coloured or bleached in the last six months?
- Have you had a skin test with us in the last six months?
- A link to a photo of the look you would like.
The cut and the skin test share a schedule with four hours' notice. Balayage sits on a second one with 48 hours' notice, which leaves room for the test, and a 90-day horizon for clients planning colour around a wedding or holiday. Allergy history belongs on your consultation card, not the booking form.
Tymeslot compared with Fresha and Booksy
Fresha and Booksy are full salon platforms; Tymeslot is a booking page for a stylist who fills their own column from Instagram and regulars. A freelancer or chair renter mostly asks three things, so those are the rows: the monthly cost, how a deposit on colour is taken, and whether there is a free plan at all. If you want full prepayment through Fresha Payments, or a cancellation fee charged to a card on file with Booksy, those platforms do it and Tymeslot does not.
| Feature | Tymeslot | Fresha | Booksy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Free; Pro adds colour deposits | €12.95/month, plus card fees of 1.29% + €0.20 | $29.99/month + tax, plus $20/month per extra staff member |
| Deposit or payment at booking | Pro: €50 fixed deposit on balayage | Yes: deposit or full prepayment, with Fresha Payments | Yes: a deposit or cancellation fee, with a card on file |
| Free plan | Yes: every service from trim to balayage | No: 7-day trial on the paid plans | No: 14-day trial, no card needed |
Sources checked 5 October 2026.
How much time could you save?
A rough estimate, not a promise.
320
minutes saved per week
277.3
hours saved per year
€15,252
annual value of saved time
Which calendar apps do hair stylists use with Tymeslot?
Start free, upgrade when you're ready
A stylist who takes payment at the chair and only wants the right length per service can stay on Free. The €50 balayage deposit in this setup and the photo link question are what €9 a month on Pro pays for; approving colour corrections before they are booked already works on Free.
Free
€0 / month
Pro
€9 / month