You Don't Have to Work Saturdays — Nobody Told Me This for Years

A few years ago someone said something to me that stopped me completely in my tracks.

We were talking about schedules — the kind of conversation independent hairstylists have when they are tired and running on empty and trying to figure out why the freedom they signed up for still feels so out of reach. And right in the middle of it, this person looked at me and said:

You know you don't have to work Saturdays if you don't want to, right?

I just stared at them.

Because it had genuinely never occurred to me. Not once. I had been working Saturdays my entire career — through every salon I worked in, through going independent, through building my own space — and I had never asked myself whether I actually wanted to. It was just what hairstylists did. The salon I trained in was open Saturdays. My mentor worked Saturdays. Everyone around me worked Saturdays. So I did too.

Not because I chose it. Because I inherited it. And kept following it without ever asking why.

The Rule That Was Never Actually a Rule

Here is something worth sitting with: nobody made that rule.

There is no lease agreement that requires you to be open on Saturdays. There is no condition of your booth rental or your suite that says you have to offer Saturday appointments. It is not written into the job description of being a hairstylist. It is an assumption — one that got passed down through commission salons where Saturdays are the highest traffic day and the owner needs everyone on the floor — and it migrated into the independent stylist world where it no longer makes any logical sense.

Because you are not splitting your income with a salon owner. You are not trying to maximize chair occupancy for anyone else. You set your own rates, you choose your own clients, and you design your own schedule. You went independent for exactly this reason.

So why are you still following a rule that was never actually yours to follow?

The Monday You Already Have

Think about this for a second.

You already have Mondays off. Almost every hairstylist does — it has always been the industry standard, salons close on Mondays, and nobody questions it. You have been taking Mondays off your entire career and your business is completely fine. Your clients adjusted. Your income did not collapse. The world kept turning.

Saturday is the exact same thing.

The only difference between Monday and Saturday is that someone along the way gave you permission to take Monday off — and nobody ever gave you the same permission for Saturday. So you kept showing up.

But here is what I want you to understand: you do not need permission. You are the owner of your business. You are the one who decides which days you work. And if you have never actually decided about Saturday — today is a good day to start.

What Happened When I Stopped

I took Saturdays off. Not overnight — I gave my regular Saturday clients time to transition to other days, I adjusted my pricing to support working one fewer day, and I made it a professional business decision rather than just quietly disappearing from the schedule.

And here is what happened.

My clients did not leave. The ones who genuinely valued my work found a way to come on the days I was available. A few didn't rebook — and looking back, those clients were more loyal to the day and the convenience than they were to me and my work. That was useful information.

My income did not drop. When your pricing reflects what your work is actually worth, you do not need to work six days a week to earn what you deserve.

But here is the thing that surprised me most. I came back on Tuesday genuinely happy to be there. That feeling — showing up rested, present, actually excited about the clients I was seeing — I had not felt that in years. And I had not realized how much I was missing it until I had it back.

That is what sustainability feels like. And it started with one question nobody had ever asked me before.

So I Am Asking You

Do you actually want to work Saturdays?

Not do you have to. Not what would your clients think. Not is it what other stylists are doing.

Do you — personally, genuinely — want to?

Maybe the answer is yes. Maybe Saturday is your best day, your most energizing day, the day your ideal clients can only come. If that is true — keep it. Own it. Make it a conscious choice.

But if you have been working Saturdays for years without ever asking yourself that question — I want to give you the same gift someone gave me a few years ago.

You do not have to.

Saturday is a choice. Make it on purpose.

xo Jen

Watch the full video on my YouTube channel where I share the whole story — what changed, what happened to my income, and the practical steps for making the shift professionally.