The Evolution of the Modern Hair Salon Chair

For centuries, people have transformed the way they style and care for their hair. Due to this, salons and barbershops have also undergone many transformations over the years. Hair tools, salon equipment, and styling techniques continue to adapt and modernize, influencing the salon experience.

Hair salon chairs play an integral part in the salon experience, providing a comfortable and functional seating arrangement for clients while also allowing hairstylists to work with ease. The hairstyling game has changed over time, and so have the chairs that hairstylists use in the process. Take a look at the evolution of the modern hair salon chair and discover how to update your salon space to match modern ideals.

Starting With the Standard

Beauty and hair grooming services have been in existence for centuries, dating as far back as ancient Egyptian and Roman times. However, salon establishments didn’t officially come to fruition until the 18th century. Until then, beauty and grooming services took place in the comforts of one’s home.

The extent of a salon setup included shears, razors, a sharpened blade, and a standard chair or stool. The basic required necessities of a salon chair in the past involved a flat surface for the client and a raised platform to position the client in good lighting. Standard salon chairs did not provide any fancy properties like reclining or adjustable components. They just provided a place for the client to sit.

Jefferson’s Swivel Invention

The initial invention of swivel chairs is hard to trace back to one individual. Some of the earliest forms of swivel chairs derive from ancient times. However, we can attribute the design, which is similar to what we know today, to the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.

As a means to upgrade his comfort and seating options while writing the US Declaration of Independence, Jefferson devised a simple solution to give seated people more mobility. The president modified chairs with an iron spindle and sash pulleys between the seat’s flat surface and legs, allowing people to rotate their bodies while seated. Jefferon’s swivel engineering eventually led to the famous Windsor Chair and inspired many modern salon chair designs.

Introducing Reclines and Foot Rests

Reclining mechanisms make it easier for barbers to shave facial hair and for clients to lie back for shampoo services. Reclining engineering first came to fruition around 1850 as a French military reclining camp bed that functioned as a chair, chaise, and cot. Later down the line, Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker designed a reclining wooden bench that changed reclining mechanisms and chair designs.

Built-in footrests also came into play over time. For many years, footrests were stools and ottomans separate from a chair. Eventually, footrests became a part of chair designs as a built-in feature. Combining the main body of a chair with footrest capabilities and adding recline mechanics is just the beginning of the sleek, space-saving, multifunctional designs of modern furniture.

Koken’s Hydraulic Lift

From the late 1800s into the early 1900s, Ernest Koken revolutionized the design of salon and barber chairs. Koken patented the reclining barbershop chair—an innovative piece of salon equipment built with an attached footrest, head support, and reclining backrest.

Later down the line, Koken’s innovations expanded and improved, bringing modern salon chair designs to fruition. Koken added hydraulic operations to salon chairs, which allows stylists to easily control the chair’s movements and enhance adjustability. The hydraulic mechanics gave salon chairs the added ability to adjust heights, expanding stylists’ work conditions.

Enhancing Comfort Features

With practical functions and designs covered, the next improvement for salon chairs became comfort features. Comfort is a major component of the salon experience, especially as salon services become more akin to a spa-like luxury rather than just a basic grooming service.

Padded cushioning and smooth vinyl upholstery became prominent features of salon chairs, giving clients a cozier and more relaxing experience as they get their hair done. Client experiences influence the success of a salon’s services and reputation, making comfortable salon chairs a necessity in the modern hair industry.

Adding Ergonomic Engineering

Ergonomic engineering further modernizes and enhances salon chair designs. Ergonomics is a specific design feature and applied science that elevates an object’s comfort and functionality to improve efficiency. The application process includes using psychological and physiological principles in a structure’s engineering.

Common properties of an ergonomic salon chair include:

• Posture support
• Body alignment
• User adjustability
• Support structures (e.g., hand rests)
• Padded seating

Ergonomic functions enhance a salon client’s comfort and a stylist’s work conditions, improving the salon experience for all parties involved. As people’s health and safety become more of a priority, many manufacturers are building chairs with ergonomics in mind.

Designing Sleek Modern Structures

The latest yet most prominent addition to modern salon chairs is aesthetic implementation. Modern salon furniture consists of distinct visual design elements, like minimalistic structures, sleek upholstery, and abstract shapes. They exude a classy, artistic aesthetic that enhances your salon’s appearance, all while providing quality functionality.

Every aspect of a modern salon chair strives for quality with simplicity, giving you the best without taking up too much space. Each material component features high durability properties. Additionally, aesthetic designs complement multiple other interior styles and spaces, making them perfect for almost any salon.

The evolution of the modern hair salon chair includes multiple contributions from across the years. Each functional and design aspect of the modern chair is an accumulation of many great inventions of different moments in time. As the chair continuously changed, so did the salon and grooming process, slowly building the salon experience that we know today. Modern salon chairs are multi-faceted pieces of equipment that enhance clients’ and stylists’ experiences and adapt to the current day’s needs.

Elevate your salon’s work conditions and services with a modern salon chair from Keller International. Our selection of chairs offers an array of design options to explore and multiple quality features to benefit from. Add some modern furniture pieces to your salon and provide a luxury salon experience to your clients.