What it does, and what it doesn’t
BraidDeck is booking software for independent braiders: a page where clients configure a style, see what it costs and how long it takes, and book a time that actually fits. Here is exactly how far that goes today.
Available now
Your booking page
- Styles that price themselves
- Size, length, colour, hair, add-ons — each option adds to the price and to the time. Price tables where two choices together cost more than apart are supported too.
- Only times that fit
- Your weekly hours, split shifts, the time you need to be finished by, a turnaround between clients, how much notice you need, how far ahead you book, and how many clients you take in a day.
- Deposits into your own Stripe account
- A flat amount or a percentage, set per style if you like. You are the merchant of record and payouts follow your normal Stripe schedule. Or no deposit at all: bookings are then confirmed straight away and no Stripe account is needed.
- Your policies, agreed before paying
- Cancellation, lateness, preparation, payment — in your words. Clients tick to agree, and the booking keeps the exact wording they agreed to.
- Your own address
- yourname.braiddeck.com, with your logo, photographs, colours and fonts.
- Clients can move their own booking
- If you allow it, and only up to the notice you set.
Running your day
- Bookings by day, week, month or list
- Each appointment drawn to its real length, with how its time was worked out.
- Walk-ins and phone bookings
- Enter them yourself so they block the time too.
- Refunds from your dashboard
- All of a deposit, part of it, or none — your call, per booking.
- Clients, imported
- From a spreadsheet, another booking app's export, or your phone's contacts.
- Earnings, hair stock and sales
- What your booked work is worth by month; the hair each style uses, set aside when a booking is paid; sale prices with optional start and end dates.
- Google Calendar, both ways (optional)
- Events in your calendar block times on your page, and bookings appear in your calendar and move or disappear with them.
Messages about a booking
- To your client, by email
- A confirmation with a calendar invite, a reminder the day before, and an email if the appointment is moved or cancelled.
- To you, by email
- When someone books, and when a client moves their own booking.
Current limitations
- One braider per account
- There is no multi-staff support: no staff members, chairs or shared salon calendar. Each account is one person's book.
- It does not find you clients
- BraidDeck does not list you in a directory, run ads, or send people to your page. Clients come from wherever you share your link — Instagram, your bio, word of mouth.
- No marketing tools
- No campaigns, newsletters, promotional texts, or automated rebooking and win-back messages. The emails BraidDeck sends are transactional: each one is about a booking a client has already made.
- No texts to clients
- Clients are emailed only. Texts to you about new bookings are built but not switched on yet — US carriers require the sending number to be registered first.
- Google sign-in, and Google's review
- You sign in with a Google account. Google has not yet finished reviewing BraidDeck's calendar access, so until it does, Google may show a warning screen when you sign in or connect your calendar, and your Google account is enabled during setup.
- The balance is not collected through BraidDeck
- Only the deposit is paid online. The rest is settled with you on the day, however you normally take payment.
- Cards issued outside the US
- Stripe charges about 1.5% more for them, and today that difference comes out of your side of the deposit.
- Setup is by hand
- There is no self-signup yet. Every account is set up with you after you apply.
Planned
No release dates. These are next because testers need them, not because they are scheduled.
- Texts to you when someone books
- Built; switched on once the sending number's carrier registration is approved.
- Google's approval of calendar access
- Being prepared for Google's own review, which removes the warning screen once approved.
- Your full deposit on cards issued abroad
- Making up Stripe's extra charge on those cards out of BraidDeck's share instead of yours.
Want to test it with your own clients?
Testing is free to join, and the booking fee during your test is agreed with you before you take a single booking.