Should I choose used beauty furniture or buy new?

When you are opening up a salon or refurbishing an existing one, perhaps one of the most important questions is what to buy, where from and whether new is essential or if used salon furniture would do just as well.

The answers to these questions depend on your budget, your target clients and your salon style but there are some basic rules of thumb that you can use as a guide to help you prioritise things. When buying beauty furniture for a salon, spa, clinic, or home studio, the best choices usually come down to five areas: durability, comfort, hygiene, functionality, and long-term operating costs.

This quick guide is a roundup of what many experienced buyers typically evaluate before purchasing.

General considerations

Build quality and durability

Anyone who has been in the trade for a while will know that cheap beauty furniture often looks good online but fails quickly under daily use. To avoid making these basic purchasing errors, consider prioritising:

• Steel or reinforced aluminum frames instead of thin MDF-only construction
• High weight capacity ratings
• Commercial-grade hydraulic pumps and motors
• Tight stitching and reinforced seams
• Stable bases that don’t wobble

For electric beds/chairs:

• Quiet motor operation
• Smooth lifting/reclining
• Backup manual release
• Warranty coverage on motors and electronics

At Direct Salon Furniture we supply some of the best and most trusted salon brands to UK hair salons, beauty salons, spas and more. We make sure that the products we feature are from trusted brands such as REM, Takara Belmont, Ayala, Nelson Mobilier, Crewe Orlando and more. Clearly, you are more likely to get these benefits from new salon furniture.

Client comfort

Think back to the various salons you have visited over the years and the time you have spent there. There is inevitably a lot of sitting down that takes place, both waiting for and receiving treatments. It should be pretty clear that client comfort directly affects repeat business!

Important details to look out for:

• Cushion density (too soft breaks down quickly; too hard feels clinical)
• Proper lumbar and neck support
• Adjustable headrests and footrests
• Memory foam or high-resilience foam
• Ergonomic positioning for long treatments

For treatment beds:

• Check width carefully — narrow beds save space but reduce comfort
• Heated options can improve premium service experiences

Technician ergonomics

Many buyers focus only on clients and forget staff comfort. As salon and beauty professionals, you are often required to work in positions that are less than ideal for your own comfort. Fortunately, well designed beauty furniture can go a long way towards mitigating these strains, boosting staff morale and productivity. Research in ergonomics has helped inform product design and many pieces of new salon furniture have been built with use and not only aesthetics in mind.

Poor ergonomics can lead to:

• Back strain
• Shoulder fatigue
• Reduced treatment quality

Good furniture should:

• Adjust to proper working height
• Allow enough knee and leg clearance
• Support easy movement around the client
• Include accessible storage and tool placement

Experience shows that hydraulic salon chairs or electric adjustability is usually worth the investment in busy salons.

To buy new or used, that is the question!

In an ideal world with unlimited budgets, you might buy everything new, but in many cases, for most salon owners, the smartest approach is usually a mix of new and used — not fully one or the other.

The key is deciding which items are “business critical” and which are mostly cosmetic.

Buy NEW for high-use or hygiene-critical equipment

These are the items that directly affect:

• client comfort
• staff ergonomics
• reliability
• hygiene
• your salon’s reputation
• 
  

If these fail, your business suffers immediately.

Best bought NEW

• Hydraulic styling chairs
• Electric beauty beds
• Pedicure chairs
• Shampoo backwash units
• Reception seating clients touch constantly
• Anything with motors, pumps, plumbing, or electronics

Why new often wins here:

• warranty protection
• fewer repairs
• safer electrics/plumbing
• cleaner upholstery
• longer lifespan
• better client impression

Industry guides consistently warn that used hydraulic or motorised salon furniture can hide expensive failures like leaking pumps, unstable bases, or worn motors.

Buy USED for low-risk furniture

Used makes more more sense for:

• waiting room tables
• retail shelving
• mirrors
• décor pieces
• storage cabinets

The reasoning is simple - if budgets are tight and you need to cut corners to open, these pieces don’t receive much wear and tear. If you are just starting out you may need to prioritise the items in the “buy new” list first. As you establish yourself, there will come a time when you will be able to afford the “wants” as well as the “needs” to give your salon the finishing touches of quality that some customers might expect from a premium salon.

The biggest mistake first-time salon buyers make

They overspend on aesthetics and underspend on function.

A £70 “Instagram-looking” salon chair that breaks in 6 months is usually worse value than a £350 commercial chair that lasts 7–10 years.

Quick comparison

Best value strategy by budget

Tight budget

• Buy core equipment new
• Buy décor/storage used

Mid-range budget

• New chairs + beds
• Used mirrors/reception furniture

Premium salon

• Mostly new
• Used only for vintage statement pieces

At Direct Salon Furniture we have over two decades experience in assisting and advising salons on making the best choices with their available budgets and we have helped numerous salon professionals get off to a great start. We also have the knowledge of the often bewildering choice of options and can help advise people on the most popular and reliable solutions for their particular needs. Call us today on 01270630280 or visit us at https://directsalonfurniture.co.uk/