YOUR VOICE, YOUR ESTABLISHMENT: WHY HAIRDRESSING, BEAUTY, AND SKINCARE EMPLOYERS NEED TO SPEAK UP ON THE 2027 MINIMUM WAGE
- EOHCB National
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
Written by Dane Frost
Every year, a commission makes a decision that lands directly on the till, the wage bill and, ultimately, the survival of thousands of small hairdressing, beauty, cosmetology and skincare establishments across South Africa. And every year, most establishment owners never say a word about it, not because they do not have an opinion, but because they do not know they are allowed to.
On 5 August 2026, the Department of Employment and Labour published Government Notice R.7772 in Government Gazette No. 55135, formally opening the window for written representations on the 2027 National Minimum Wage adjustment. The invitation, signed by the Acting Chairperson of the National Minimum Wage Commission, Mr Gavin Hartford, is open to everyone with a stake in the outcome: employers, employer bodies, trade unions and individual workers.
The window closes on 4 September 2026. After that, the Commission deliberates, drafts its recommendation and submits it to the Minister of Employment and Labour before the new rate is gazetted for implementation on 1 March 2027. Once that window closes, the real opportunity to influence the number has passed for another year.
Why this matters so much for our industry
Walk into almost any hairdressing, beauty, cosmetology or skincare establishment in South Africa, and you will find the same story: a micro or small establishment, often owner-operated, running on tight margins, carrying rent, stock, equipment finance and a handful of employees who are the actual engine of the establishment.
Unlike large retailers or manufacturers, which may be able to spread a wage increase across thousands of employees and a larger turnover base, a hairdressing, beauty, cosmetology or skincare establishment employing two, four, six or ten people feels every cent of a minimum wage increase almost immediately, in the wage bill, in the prices it needs to charge clients and in whether it can keep everyone employed.
That pressure has not been theoretical. Across 2025 and into 2026, more and more establishments in this industry have had to:
Cut working hours or working days to manage payroll costs.
Restructure roles, teams and shift patterns to remain viable.
Retrench employees, in some cases the very people the minimum wage is meant to protect.
This is the uncomfortable truth that does not always make it into national wage debates: when the cost of employing someone rises faster than a small establishment’s ability to pay for it, the result is not always a better-paid workforce. Sometimes, it is a smaller workforce.
What the minimum wage has done since 2019
To understand where this is heading, it helps to look at where it has been. Since the National Minimum Wage Act came into effect on 1 January 2019, the hourly rate has moved as follows:
Effective date | National Minimum Wage per hour | Increase | Percentage increase |
1 January 2019 | R20.00 | — | — |
1 January 2020 | R20.76 | R0.76 | 3.8% |
1 January 2021 | R21.69 | R0.93 | 4.5% |
1 March 2022 | R23.19 | R1.50 | 6.9% |
1 March 2023 | R25.42 | R2.23 | 9.6% |
1 March 2024 | R27.58 | R2.16 | 8.5% |
1 March 2025 | R28.79 | R1.21 | 4.4% |
1 March 2026 | R30.23 | R1.44 | 5.0% |
In just over seven years, the minimum wage has risen from R20.00 to R30.23 an hour, an increase of more than 50%. For an establishment paying several employees at or near this rate, that is not a small adjustment absorbed quietly into overheads. It is a compounding cost that has to be found somewhere, year after year, from a client base that has not grown at anywhere near the same rate. The 2026 NMW rate of R30.23 per ordinary hour worked took effect on 1 March 2026.
What could 2027 look like if employers stay silent?
This is the part that should concern every establishment owner in the industry. The rate that takes effect on 1 March 2027 will be shaped by the submissions the Commission receives during this window. If workers’ representatives make strong, well-documented submissions and employers, particularly small, labour-intensive service establishments such as ours, do not, the Commission will be working with a one-sided picture.
Based on the pattern of the last three adjustments 8.5% in 2024, 4.4% in 2025, and 5.0% in 2026 a further increase in the region of 5.0% to 6.5% for March 2027 is a realistic base-case expectation, even under normal circumstances. However, if the Commission does not hear from labour-intensive micro and small establishments about the real-world impact these annual increases are having on the reduced hours, restructuring and retrenchments already occurring in 2025 and 2026, there is a genuine risk that the eventual adjustment will be set without proper regard for what the industry can actually sustain.
Silence is not neutral. Silence is a missing data point, and the Commission can only weigh the evidence that is actually placed in front of it.
How to make your voice heard
The Department has made it straightforward to participate, and there are two ways to do so ideally, both.
Complete the online survey
A short survey questionnaire is available through the Department’s website and Facebook page. This forms part of the information-gathering process ahead of the Commission’s report, so even a few minutes spent completing the survey counts.
Submit written representations
Employers, employer bodies and individuals can submit written representations:
By post to: The Directorate: Employment Standards, Department of Employment and Labour, Private Bag X117, Pretoria, 0001; or
By email to: nmwreview@labour.gov.za
Closing date: 4 September 2026.
What to include in a written submission
A written representation does not need to be a legal document or an academic paper. What the Commission needs is real, specific and honest information from the establishments actually living with these adjustments. Consider including:
What has actually happened in your establishment over the past 12 to 24 months: reduced hours, restructuring, retrenchments, or an establishment that has had to close or scale back, and what triggered it.
Your cost structure: how wages compare with rent, stock and other fixed costs, and how much room, or how little, is left to absorb further increases.
What a further increase would mean practically: whether it would mean fewer employees, fewer hours, higher prices for clients or a combination of all three.
The knock-on effect on job security. Minimum wage increases are meant to protect workers, but if they result in job losses, that protection becomes meaningless for the people who lose their positions.
Sector-specific context. Hairdressing, cosmetology, beauty and skincare establishments operate on service-based, appointment-driven income that cannot simply be scaled up in the way a factory production line can.
Nobody is asking the Commission to ignore the very real cost-of-living pressures facing minimum wage earners. However, a sustainable minimum wage has to be one that establishments can actually afford to pay, because a wage increase that costs someone their job protects no one.
As the owner and employer of a hairdressing, beauty, cosmetology or skincare establishment, this is your window to put real numbers and real experiences in front of the people making this decision. It closes on 4 September 2026. After that, the conversation moves on without you, whether or not you had something to say.
Take ten minutes. Complete the survey. Send the email. Make the submission. Your establishment, and your employees’ job security, may depend on it.
