What it costs to open a braiding business in Mississippi

What Mississippi changes

• Hair braider registration: State Department of Health, plus its brochure’s self-test, $25. What Mississippi asks of a braider.
• An LLC: $50 to file the Certificate of Formation, then a free annual report by April 15.
• A salon suite: we found no published suite prices in Mississippi, so the calculator starts at home. Put in a quote you have.
• A storefront: we found no published retail rents for Mississippi’s cities either.
• The registration is all the state asks, wherever you braid: no shop license, and an inspection only checks the brochure and its self-test are where you braid.

With the same $180 bookings, 4 a week (17 a month), each setup in Mississippi covers its month at: at home 1 and at clients’ places 1.

How these numbers are worked out

• Before your first client is the one-time costs plus your first month, so you open with that month paid.
• Hair is 5 packs of 3X pre-stretched hair a booking, what medium knotless to mid-back takes, at a beauty supply’s regular price. Set it to $0 if your clients bring their own.
• Card fees are Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ on every booking, as if every client pays by card.
• Insurance is the average general liability policy hair salons buy through Insureon, $35 a month. Professional liability, which covers a client’s claim about the service itself, averages $42 more there.
• Break-even is the month’s fixed costs (rent, insurance, the app) divided by what each booking leaves once its hair, card fee and driving are paid, rounded up.

What isn’t counted

What nobody publishes in a way we could check: a suite’s deposit (operators set it lease by lease), a storefront’s build-out, utilities and taxes on top of a triple-net rent, products, a ring light and the small tools on the supplies checklist, and income tax. Most of these are write-offs. Tap a line to put in your own figure.