Beauty salon software: calendar, client card and reviews

Beauty salon software has to do more than a calendar: treatments with their own duration, courses, intake and before/after photos, and careful handling of health data. The checklist is below. Lookster is built for that: you put treatments of 30 to 120 minutes in the calendar with their own duration, schedule courses as a fixed series, let clients tick add-ons themselves and keep intake, notes and before/after photos on the client card. Reminders go out free by email and push, with no SMS costs, and verified reviews and your portfolio on the Lookster marketplace bring in new clients. You try it free for 3 months, at 0% commission.

What must beauty salon software be able to do?

A beauty salon differs from a hair salon on two points: treatments are longer and more personal, and you record more per client. A 60-minute facial, a 45-minute pedicure, a 30-minute IPL session and a 120-minute full-day treatment all need the correct duration in the calendar.

Run through this checklist for every system you consider. Lookster ticks every point.

1. Treatments with their own duration and price, from 30 to 120 minutes, different per team member if needed.
2. Recurring appointments for courses and treatment plans, with the option to move a single date.
3. Add-ons and several treatments in one booking, such as a facial with an extra mask or a brow tint.
4. Client card with notes and photos per appointment: intake, skin type, contraindications, products used, before/after.
5. Appointment history per client, so you see at every visit what you did last time.
6. Online booking without an account, with a free confirmation and reminder by email and push.
7. Verified reviews, only from clients who actually visited.
8. Portfolio on your salon page, with photos of your results.
9. Own login and calendar per team member, with working hours and breaks.
10. Secure storage: data in the EU, encrypted connections, daily backups.
11. Insight into revenue, occupancy and returning clients per team member and per period.

How do you schedule courses and treatment plans?

Schedule a course as a recurring appointment. A plan of six weekly microdermabrasion sessions goes into the Lookster calendar once: client, treatment, every Tuesday at 10:00. Each session automatically gets a confirmation and, 24 hours ahead, a reminder by email and push. If the client cannot make week four, you move only that appointment; the rest of the series stays.

The same works for regulars outside a course. A client who comes in every 3 or 4 weeks for a facial or a lash lift is scheduled once, and your calendar fills itself. At each session you note in the appointment how the skin responded, so you can follow the whole treatment plan.

What belongs on the client card: intake, skin analysis and before/after photos

A good client card in a beauty salon contains four things: the intake (skin type, contraindications, wishes), the skin analysis per visit, the products and settings you used, and photos of the result. With those four you can still see exactly what worked three months later.

In Lookster, notes and photos are attached to the appointment, so under "facial, 12 March" you immediately find the before and after photo and your notes. The client card also shows the full appointment history and statistics per client, such as how often someone comes and what they spend. You can call or message the client straight from the app, and mark a client who repeatedly skips appointments as a no-show.

What does the GDPR say about health data on your client card?

Health data is a special category of personal data. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) states that processing special categories of personal data is prohibited unless you can rely on an exception. One of those exceptions is that the person has given explicit consent to the processing of their own data. On top of that you need a legal basis, as with ordinary personal data; in practice explicit consent and legal basis often coincide here.

For a beauty salon that means, in practice:

1. Ask only what you need for a safe treatment. Pregnancy, medication, skin conditions and allergies matter for a peel or IPL. A full medical history does not.
2. Ask for explicit consent. A signature under the intake form or a box the client ticks themselves. A pre-ticked box does not count.
3. Say what you record, why and for how long. A short paragraph on your intake form is enough.
4. Store it securely. Software with data in the EU, encrypted connections, daily backups and a separate login per team member. A notebook in a drawer or a WhatsApp chat falls short of that bar.
5. Keep it to yourself, and delete on request. A client may ask what you have recorded about them and may ask you to erase it.

Lookster meets that fourth point: your data is stored in the EU, all connections are encrypted and backups are made every day. Every team member has their own login and permissions. This article is not legal advice: when in doubt, consult the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens or a lawyer.

Reviews and new clients through the Lookster marketplace

New clients choose a beauty salon on two things: photos of results and reviews from other clients. A system that automatically asks for a review after every appointment and only shows reviews from people who actually visited builds that reputation without you chasing it.

Lookster sends a review request by email and push after the appointment. Only clients with a completed appointment can leave a review, and those reviews appear together with your portfolio on your salon page on Lookster, which is also findable on Google. Through that page and the free Lookster client app for iOS and Android, new clients book with you directly, at 0% commission. How to get more reviews is covered in get more salon reviews.

With commission marketplaces you pay for those same new clients. Treatwell charges 35% commission (excl. VAT) on the first booking of every new client who comes through the platform (checked 27 October 2026). On an €80 facial that is €28 per new client. Through Lookster it is €0.

What kinds of software are there for a beauty salon?

There are roughly four types. Lookster combines a calendar, a client card with photos, free reminders, verified reviews and its own marketplace, without commission.

Salonized offers a 14-day trial and sells SMS credits from €0.11 per message; Fresha gives a 7-day trial and charges €0.15 per SMS after 20 free messages a month (both checked 27 October 2026). With Lookster you have 3 months to try everything at your own pace, and reminders never cost anything extra.

What salon software is exactly and which features are standard is covered in what is salon software. Prices per provider are in salon software costs.

What Lookster offers your beauty salon

Lookster is built for salons that work by appointment, with exactly the features a beauty salon uses every day: treatments with their own duration, courses and regulars as recurring appointments, add-ons, a client card with before/after photos, free reminders, verified reviews and your portfolio on the marketplace. You work from the Lookster Dashboard app on iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows, or in the browser, synced live.

After 3 free months you pay €19.95 per month excluding VAT (Dutch "btw") for up to 3 team members, €5 for each extra team member, cancellable monthly and at 0% commission. You take payment with your own card terminal; Lookster handles calendar, bookings and clients. Selling products and gift cards come with Lookster Pro, together with the till with Tap to Pay and iDEAL QR. Pro is already running at a select number of salons and will be available to everyone soon.

You can run Lookster next to your current system until you are sure, and setup is done in an evening. Read what Lookster does specifically for beauty salons, or see the comparison in best salon software.