How to improve acoustics in a hair salon

Good acoustics for hairdressers in hair salons 
In some hair salons the acoustics can be an issue because of sound reflecting surfaces, such as mirrors, smooth and hard flooring and ceilings. Our customer and hairdresser Leonie also used to have acoustic issues in her hair salon. She told us that, especially on busy days, talking customers and hair dryers were causing so much noise that a normal conversation was almost impossible. It also had a tiring effect on her and her staff. We came up with the following solution and products:

How to improve acoustics in a hair salon?
Improving the acoustic in a hair salon is not that complicated. The first step is to look for those large empty spaces on walls and ceilings, these are, together with a hard and smooth flooring, the sound reflecting surfaces that causes reverberation, and thus bad acoustics. In this hair salon we saw immediately the biggest problem, the ceiling! This large smooth ceiling provided an excellent sound reflecting surface. All kinds of sounds would bounce around the hair salon, via ceiling to the walls, the large windows and again, the ceiling. 

Our initial advice for this hair salon was to look for a nice acoustic ceiling product that would fit beautifully in the interior, because you want your hair salon to look good too! To obtain a soft and dampened acoustic effect, that you may know from the theatre for example, is by mounting plenty of acoustic panels to the ceiling. In this hair salon the acoustics is improved by using Akotherm SF panels. 

How many acoustic panels make for good acoustics?
To improve rooms acoustics in a not too complex space, such as a hair salon, we can use the acoustic rule of thumb. What does that rule say? This rule tells us that in theory a room of 100 m² requires about 50 m² of sound absorbing surfaces and/or acoustic panels. Sound absorbing surfaces are also curtains and carpets, which you won't find a lot of at the hairdressers. In practice we see that an amount of 35 m² sound absorbing can also result in a reasonable improvement. However, not every hair salon is the same in terms of dimensions, and more important, the number of customers at one given time. So, the number of acoustic panels and the desired end result will differ for each hair salon. If you need advice for your salon, just let us know.

We love customer feedback!
We just love it when customers spontaneously email use photos and send us feedback about the solution we've offered and the products they bought! The photos on this page were provided by hairdresser Leonie and are showing the Akotherm SF panels to the ceiling in her beautiful hair salon.  Leonie told us the following:

After working several months in a bigger building with more colleagues, we noticed that we didn't like the acoustics. It was almost like a chicken coop, with all the customers, hairdressers, and blowing hair dryers! After some research on Google we ended up at the website of the Acousticshop, with plenty of materials to choose from. Since I didn't exactly know what would be the best option for us, I called the company and was told to make use of Akotherm SF plates. The first time, we ordered 15 pieces and we directly noticed the difference! As we were attaching the plates to the ceiling, we could hear that talking started to sound differently. After a year, we still decided to order another 10 plates, so that we could spread the plates even better across the room. Because we installed them against the ceiling, they don't undermine the sleek interior, so they don't bother us! It is an ideal solution to prevent the salon from turning into a chicken coop and we are very excited about it! Qualitative and fast service, and good advice! Greetings, Leonie

Acoustic panels to improve your acoustics
To improve the acoustics in this hair salon our customer used Akotherm SF (Smooth Finish), but there are more products you can choose from. We recommend to choose a product with a thickness of at least 40 mm.

• Akotherm Edge
  Simple but very effective acoustic panel.
• Flamex Edge
  Sound absorbing panel with faceted edges.
• Flamex Basic
  Basic acoustic panel.
• Soundstone
  Acoustic panes for suspended ceiling. 

Questions about acoustics in your hair salon?
Do you have any questions about acoustics or would like to receive a product sample? Please feel free to contact us!