I pay mine $16/ an hour but I must mention she is my girlfriend as well. She upsales at least 50% of our customers and I have a below average household
income for our city in my area. Before I had her there I had a manager for 10/hr and I had lots of problems. The place would be dirty and I did not trust her one bit. With my girlfiend in there now the sales are up 40% ( most likely a combo of previous theft as well as the previous manager's general poor attitude towards customer satisfaction) so I feel better paying her $6 an hour more and knowing the salon is running at it's full potential. A good manager can make you but more importantly can break you in a very short period of time. Plus she is my girlfriend , I wouldn't be paying this to someone who I didn't know. With a combination of her there all day and new marketing ideas we have pushed ourself for our busiest year yet, and the highset profits yet even though the labour is high. I believe in great customer service so I have 2 girls on at night as I have quite a large salon and customer service is compromised ( especially sales) if the 1 girl working is busy wiping beds and answering the phone that rings off the hook instead of dealing with a sale or potential upsale. I believe that you get what you pay for and I have heard a lot of positive feedback as far as customer service goes in my salon ever since I put my girlfriend in there.
This is just my opinion.