The glossary
Processing Time
Processing time is a period during a service — such as a colour treatment or conditioning treatment — when the product is developing and the client requires no active attention from the stylist.
During many salon services, there is a window when the product applied to the client is developing — colour processing, a deep conditioning treatment setting, a chemical relaxer working through the hair — and the stylist's hands are free. This is processing time.
In a traditional single-booking model, processing time is dead time. The stylist cannot start another service because the column shows them as occupied, even though they are physically available. Over the course of a day, processing gaps can add up to two or three empty hours in a stylist's schedule.
Smart salon scheduling uses processing time as an opportunity rather than a constraint. By identifying the start and end of a processing window, the scheduling system can offer the stylist appointments that fit neatly within that gap — a fringe trim, a brow wax, a blow-dry finish for another client. The stylist earns more in the same working day without extending their hours.
This type of scheduling is sometimes called double-booking, but it is more accurate to call it parallel booking — the stylist is performing two services in sequence, with one in a passive processing phase while the other is actively attended to. Managed well, it is standard practice at high-volume colour salons.
OpenChair's processing-time scheduling calculates service windows and availability using configured durations and processing gaps. Waitlist opportunities are surfaced separately for operator review.
See it in OpenChair
Online BookingCommon questions
What services involve processing time in a salon?
Services that commonly involve processing time include: hair colour (all types — balayage, highlights, toners, colour corrections), chemical treatments (perms, keratin treatments, relaxers), deep conditioning and hair mask treatments, and some scalp treatments. Processing times range from 10 minutes for a toner to 90 minutes or more for a full colour correction.
Is double-booking during processing time safe?
Yes, when managed correctly. The key is ensuring the processing window is accurately timed so the stylist can return to the first client before processing is complete. OpenChair's Processing Gaps feature handles this automatically — it only offers appointments that fit within the confirmed processing window, with buffer time factored in for each service type.