A Saudi salon year turns on the Islamic calendar: shorter Ramadan shifts for Muslim staff and two four-day Eid holidays that move every year. Ladies' salons also follow strict municipal licence rules. Salongram, a free Android app that runs in Arabic, keeps the diary, staff hours and payment records, but it takes no card payments.
Try the demo with a salon in جدة
صالون ريحانة
جدة · SAR · 12:00 to 23:00, Saturday to Thursday
A working copy of the app's screens with a sample salon in جدة: local staff, services and prices in SAR, in Arabic (right to left).
Salongram is a free salon booking app for Saudi salons and barbershops: appointments, clients, staff hours and WhatsApp reminders in one Android app.
The rules and the calendar. Women's salons follow detailed municipal licence conditions, from the facade to the sign on the door. Working hours shrink for Muslim staff in Ramadan, and each Eid brings four days of holiday whose dates move with the lunar calendar. Payments are now mostly electronic, and more Saudi women are working than a few years ago.
On 14 May 2025 the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing updated the requirements for women's beauty salons under the Law of Municipal Licensing Procedures. A licence needs Civil Defense approval and a commercial registration that covers the activity. The facade must be frosted or clear glass, reception must be screened from the rest of the salon by a wall, and a 'No entry for men' sign must be posted.
The same MOMAH rules prohibit home services, meaning any service outside the salon, unless a specific licence is obtained through the Balady platform. They also add standards for sterilizing tools and using single-use tools. A salon that sends a stylist to a bride's home should check that licence first.
Under the Labour Law, actual working hours may not exceed eight a day or 48 a week. During Ramadan they fall to no more than six hours a day or 36 a week for Muslim employees, and time set aside for rest, prayer and meals does not count as working time. The rota changes for a whole month.
HRSD lists four days of Eid al-Fitr leave, starting the day after 29 Ramadan, and four days for Eid al-Adha, starting on the day of Arafah, both by the Umm al-Qura calendar. National Day is one day, and Founding Day on 22 February is another. Because the Eids follow the lunar calendar, their Gregorian dates move earlier every year.
Employees are entitled to at least 21 days of paid annual leave, rising to at least 30 days after five years with the same employer, and the employer may set the leave dates according to the needs of the work. For a salon that means deciding early who takes leave away from Ramadan and the Eid run-up.
The Financial Sector Development Program reports that electronic payments made up 79% of individuals' retail payment transactions in 2024, up from 70% in 2023, with 12.6 billion non-cash transactions against 10.8 billion. In 2024 Samsung Pay was also launched through mada, the national payment network.
GASTAT's labour force survey put the participation rate of Saudi females at 34.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the employment-to-population ratio of Saudi females at 31.0%. For a ladies' salon, that is a large group of clients who book around a working day.
With Saudi women's labour participation at 34.5%, a ladies' salon may well hire new local stylists, and every screen they use, from the diary to the reports, reads right to left in Arabic with amounts in riyals. Only the prepared WhatsApp texts are still English.
In Ramadan, Muslim employees work no more than six hours a day. Change each stylist's hours for the month and late evening slots that nobody is working disappear from the diary and the booking link.
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha each bring four days of leave, with the rush before them. Add staff time off well ahead, and when someone cancels in the busy week, the waiting list shows who wants the slot.
Every employee gets at least 21 days of annual leave, 30 after five years, and the employer may set the dates. Entered as time off, it shows who is missing next month before clients book them.
Home services need their own Balady licence. Each service can be marked as bookable online or not, so a salon without that licence keeps home visits off its public booking page.
Electronic payments were 79% of retail transactions in 2024. mada and card payments go through your own terminal, and Salongram notes how each client paid so the end-of-day figures match it.
We found no official survey of how Saudi clients book salon visits, so we will not quote a share for phone, WhatsApp or Instagram. Salongram works with whatever reaches the salon: it keeps one diary in Arabic, prepares messages you send from your own WhatsApp, and gives clients a booking link for after-hours requests.
Switch Salongram to Arabic and every screen reads right to left, with prices in riyals. Staff who prefer English can switch back on their own phone.
Languages and currenciesEach staff member has their own working days, hours and breaks. Change them for Ramadan and change them back after Eid, and the diary warns you if a booking falls outside someone's hours.
Staff hours and time offSalongram prepares confirmations and reminders with the client's name, service and time, and opens them in WhatsApp for you to send. The templates are written in English today and can be edited before sending.
WhatsApp messagesWhen every chair is full before Eid, add clients to the waiting list with the time they can come. If someone cancels, the app shows who fits the free slot.
The waiting listAn illustrative day, not research: a women's salon in Jeddah with four staff, open from midday until late on the last working day before Eid al-Fitr, with brides, regulars and a waiting list. The demo on this page uses a similar salon, in Arabic.
The owner opens the staff columns: the diary is full until late, and three clients are already on the waiting list for any evening slot.
A bride's mother calls to add henna for two guests; the booking takes the henna technician's next free hour and records an advance.
A client cancels her blow-dry; the waiting list shows who fits, and the free slot is booked within minutes.
Reminders for tomorrow's first clients are opened in WhatsApp one by one and sent from the salon's own number.
The sales report splits card and cash for the day, ready to check against the terminal before the salon closes for Eid.
Most retail payments in the Kingdom are now electronic, through mada cards and phone wallets at the terminal, with cash a shrinking share. Salongram records each payment as card or cash, plus advances and refunds, so the day's totals match your terminal. It does not take the payment itself.
Electronic payments were 79% of retail payments in 2024. After the terminal approves it, mark the booking as paid by card.
Cash is now the smaller share of retail payments. A cash payment from a walk-in can be saved in seconds on the Quick Payment screen.
If you take an advance for a bridal booking, record it on the booking so the balance due shows when the client arrives.
Type in your own numbers. A no-show is a slot nobody else could take; reminders and a waiting list are how most salons win part of it back.
An estimate from the numbers you enter (a month counted as 4.33 weeks). Nothing is sent or stored. Salongram is free to download.
Download Salongram free from Google Play, choose Arabic and Saudi riyals, and add your services and prices, from blow-dry to henna and bridal make-up.
Add each staff member with her working days and hours, then set Ramadan hours and the Eid days you close as time off or closed days, using their Gregorian dates.
Create the optional account to back up the diary and get your booking link and QR code, ready for your Instagram profile or the salon window.
Yes. Salongram is available in Arabic with screens that read right to left, as well as English and Spanish, and it shows prices in Saudi riyals. The prepared WhatsApp message templates are in English for now and can be edited before you send them.
Yes. You add each staff member with her services, working days and hours, and clients are kept in one list with their history. Salongram has no staff logins, so the owner or reception runs the diary on one phone or tablet, or on several devices with the same account.
Yes. Working hours belong to each staff member, so you can shorten them for Ramadan, when the Labour Law limits Muslim employees to six hours a day, and restore them after Eid. A booking outside someone's hours shows a warning before you confirm it.
No. Clients pay at your own terminal with mada, a credit card or a phone wallet, and you mark the booking as paid by card. Salongram never handles the money; it records card and cash so the day's totals match your terminal.
No. Salongram is a diary and record-keeping app and needs no licence of its own. Salon licences, Civil Defense approval and any home-services licence are handled through the municipality and the Balady platform, not through the app.
Look for Arabic screens, staff hours you can shorten for Ramadan, time off for Eid and a clear payment record. Salongram is one free option on Android that does all four. It does not process mada payments or check Balady licences, and its WhatsApp messages are in English for now.
Yes. Salongram is free on Android and runs fully in Arabic, right to left, with prices in riyals. A barbershop can add its barbers, services and working hours, and share a booking link. Card payments still go through your own terminal.
Set up tonight, add your services and team, and book your first client in under a minute.
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