What beauty costs in Almaty: a 2026 price study

We collected the price lists of 525 beauty venues in Almaty and added official statistics, Google search and job ads: what services cost, where it is more expensive, how fast prices grow, how much a specialist earns and when services are searched for most. At the end — conclusions for clients and for salons, and how we counted.

How much do beauty services cost in Almaty?

The typical price is the middle one: half of venues charge less, half charge more. We counted it for specific services: “manicure with polish” means only price-list lines that say so, without separate nail art or removal. A manicure with polish usually costs 9,000 ₸, without polish 6,000 ₸, a pedicure with polish 10,500 ₸, nail extensions 12,000 ₸. A women’s haircut costs 7,200 ₸, a men’s 6,000 ₸, a children’s 4,200 ₸. An hour of massage costs 17,000 ₸, facial cleansing 18,000 ₸.

Our numbers agree with official statistics. According to the Bureau of National Statistics for September 2026, the average women’s haircut in Almaty costs 7,544 ₸ and the average men’s 5,536 ₸; ours are 7,200 ₸ and 6,000 ₸. Within the same salon a women’s haircut costs a third more than a men’s (+33%), and the official gap is the same (+36%).

Colouring depends on hair length: a single colour on short hair costs about 15,000 ₸, on medium 18,000 ₸, on long 20,000 ₸; within one salon long hair costs 44% more than short. Complex colouring (shatush, balayage) costs about 35,000 ₸. A children’s haircut is 25% cheaper than an adult’s in the same salon. Laser hair removal is priced by zone: underarms 8,000 ₸, full legs 15,600 ₸.

To tell whether a price is cheap or expensive, compare it with the edges: 10% of venues charge less than the second column, 10% more than the last one.

Which district of Almaty is more expensive?

For each venue we compared its prices with the Almaty average for every service and took the middle of those comparisons, and for a district — the middle across its venues. District samples are small, so percentages are rounded to 5. In Medeu prices are about 20% above the Almaty average, in Bostandyk about 10%, in Almaly at the average. Auezov and Nauryzbay are about 15% cheaper, Turksib about a quarter cheaper. For Nauryzbay (19 venues) and Turksib (24) this is a rough estimate; Zhetysu and Alatau have fewer than 15 venues, so we draw no conclusions for them.

The district shows most in a women’s haircut: 10,000 ₸ in Medeu and Bostandyk, 7,800 ₸ in Almaly and 5,500 ₸ in Auezov. A manicure with polish, a pedicure with polish and brow shaping together cost about 28,500 ₸ in Medeu and 20,800 ₸ in Auezov: a difference of about 8 thousand ₸ per visit. On average across Almaty the same set costs 23,000 ₸.

How much more expensive has beauty become in five years?

In Kazakhstan, from September 2021 to September 2026, hairdressers and beauty salons became 97% more expensive, manicure 114%, men’s haircuts 106%, women’s 102%. All goods and services rose by 76% over the same period. Net of inflation, salons rose by 12% and manicure by 22%: that is how much more expensive they became compared with everything else. In Almaty itself salons rose by 87% with inflation at 75% — 7% net of inflation.

In 2021–2022 salons rose more slowly than other prices, and faster since 2023.

Which services cost more per hour?

The list price doesn’t tell the whole story: what matters is how long the service takes. We divided each service’s price by its listed duration and took the middle across venues. The cheapest hours are on nails: a manicure with polish and extensions bring in 6,000 and 5,700 ₸ an hour. Haircuts — about 8,000 ₸, colouring — 10,400 ₸. The most expensive hours are massage (17,000 ₸) and laser hair removal (23,000–27,000 ₸).

A pricier service doesn’t mean a pricier hour. Nail extensions cost 12,000 ₸ but take two hours — 5,700 ₸ an hour; a manicure with polish costs 9,000 ₸ for an hour and a half — 6,000 ₸ an hour, almost the same. A laser hour is expensive because the price includes the machine.

How much does a specialist earn in Almaty?

Job ads for beauty specialists on hh.kz in Almaty usually promise 350 to 700 thousand ₸ a month: these are the middles of the lower (“from”) and upper (“up to”) bounds across 51 and 42 ads on 11 October 2026. Almost half of these ads are for massage therapists (28 of 65), followed by nail technicians, brows and lashes, hair removal and barbers; there are only 8 ads for manicure alone. 28% of ads mention a commission; nine name the specialist’s share: 50% four times, 60% four times and 40% once. In 17 of the 39 ads that say how often pay comes, specialists are paid daily or weekly.

Let’s set that against the hourly rate. A manicure with polish brings in 6,000 ₸ an hour. If the specialist gets half, that is 3,000 ₸, and 350 thousand ₸ takes about 117 booked hours a month; at a 60% share, 97 hours. On a 2-on/2-off schedule (half the ads offer it) that is about 15 shifts of 6–8 hours with clients. 700 thousand ₸ on manicure means 194–233 hours, more than full time (176 hours): such sums come from services with a pricier hour or from working more.

Job ads are employers’ promises, not earnings, and hh.kz shows only a small part of hiring: 65 ads for specialists out of 13.4 thousand ads on the site in Almaty. Many specialists are found through Instagram, Telegram and word of mouth — we don’t see those ads. You can work out your own commission in the article “Commission for beauty specialists”.

When are beauty services searched for most?

Seasonality shows in Google search: how much more or less often people look for a service than in a usual month. In summer people search Google more for everything — taxis, restaurants, pharmacies — so we removed that general rise to leave the interest in the service itself. Pedicure depends on the season most: in June it is searched 2.7 times more than usual, and in December two and a half times less. June is also the peak for nail extensions (+48%), hair colouring (+40%), sugaring (+29%) and manicure (+29%); in autumn they are searched 15–30% less than usual. Massage, brows, lashes, cosmetologists and barbershops are searched almost evenly all year.

Manicure and nail extensions have a second peak in December (+24% and +30%); manicure is searched least in November (−16%). Short bursts show up in daily and weekly data:

• Before New Year, manicure is searched 39–59% more on 20–31 December than on 1–14 December (2023–2025).
• Before 8 March, manicure is searched 17–51% more on 1–7 March than on 1–21 February (2024–2026), though March as a whole is below usual.
• At the end of August, barbershops are searched one and a half to two times more than in July and early August — probably haircuts before school.

What does this mean for clients?

• Check a price against the typical one: a manicure with polish under 6,200 ₸ is among the cheapest 10% of offers, over 14,000 ₸ among the most expensive 10%.
• Check what the price includes: removal, nail art and polish are often separate lines, and colouring and laser are priced by hair length and zone.
• The district changes the bill: a women’s haircut usually costs 5,500 ₸ in Auezov and 10,000 ₸ in Medeu.
• At least a third of price-list lines (36%) are given as a range “from … to …” — confirm the total before booking. In summer and December nails and colouring are searched for more — book ahead.

What does this mean for salons and specialists?

• Over the last three years salons rose by 12–15% a year with overall inflation at 9–12%. How many clients you can lose when raising prices without losing income is worked out in the article “How to raise salon prices”.
• Count the hourly rate, not the service price: a long service can bring in as much as a short one, and an hour on nails is four times cheaper than an hour of laser.
• More slots for June — for pedicure, extensions, colouring, hair removal and manicure; for December — for manicure and extensions. Specialists in summer services are better off taking time off in autumn. Massage and brows hardly depend on the season.
• At a 50% share a manicurist needs about 117 booked hours a month to reach the 350 thousand ₸ in job ads; at 60%, about 97.

How we counted

• Typical price is the median: the middle value, with half of venues below and half above. We didn’t use the arithmetic mean: one very expensive venue would shift it.
• Prices. Price lists of 525 beauty venues in Almaty in the Naya catalogue, collected on 4 October 2026 (the date of collection, not of the price-list update) — more than 25 thousand lines. A service is the lines whose name names it (“manicure” and “polish”), without separate add-ons; for a venue — the middle of those lines, for Almaty as a whole — the middle across venues. Where a price list gives a range, we take the lower end: at least 36% of lines are ranges, and for colouring the upper end is on average 1.7 times the lower. The table edges are prices below which 10% of venues fall and above which 10% do.
• Districts. For a venue — the middle of comparisons of its prices with the Almaty average for every service (only venues with at least two services), for a district — the middle across its venues; percentages are rounded to 5. A district with fewer than 15 venues is not coloured.
• Hourly rate. The price of a price-list line divided by its duration; middle across venues. Durations are as listed.
• Price growth. Consumer price indices of the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of Kazakhstan: the ratio of the September 2026 and September 2021 indices, for Kazakhstan and for Almaty. “Net of inflation” is a service’s growth divided by the growth of all prices (1.967 ÷ 1.758 = 1.12, i.e. +12%). Average haircut prices — Almaty, September 2026.
• Demand. Google Trends for Kazakhstan, 2022–2025: interest in a month compared with the average month of the same year. The summer rise in all search is removed: each month is divided by the same measure for five non-beauty queries (taxi, restaurant, pharmacy, dentistry, car service); the real summer rise may be slightly bigger. A service whose peak is below +15% or holds in fewer than three years out of four counts as even. We don’t show “makeup”: in search it is mostly do-it-yourself makeup.
• Job ads. Open ads for beauty specialists on hh.kz in Almaty on 11 October 2026: massage therapists, nail technicians, brows and lashes, hair removal, hairdressers and barbers, cosmetologists without medical requirements; tenge and monthly pay only. “From” and “up to” medians were counted separately. We do not publish employers’ names.

Limitations. These are venues with online booking and an open price list, mostly salons in central districts: 70% of the sample are in Bostandyk, Almaly and Medeu, and six venues are in a suburb. Home-based and Instagram specialists are barely in the sample, so prices across the whole market are likely lower. A list price is not always what ends up on the bill. Google search is not every client: some search in maps and Yandex, and Google’s share in Kazakhstan is falling. We will update the study and show what has changed.