Billing for your beauty parlour and cosmetics shop in Delhi
A facial, a jar of cream and the beautician's home visit are each a line on one bill.
From the festival eve's last mehndi cone to the artist's hands counted at night
The cone warning comes at five, not at nine
On the eve, the low-stock warning tells you at five that the cones are going faster than the afternoon allowed, while there is still an hour of the evening left. The second lot is sent for then, and not after the last woman in the queue has been told there are none.
The morning at the family's flat is one bill, with what was done and what was used
When the beautician comes back from a family's flat, put each woman's service on one bill as its own line, and add the creams and the colour that left in the bag. Send it on WhatsApp to the number of the woman who pays. The shelf's count falls by what left in the bag, so the month end holds no surprise.
The artist's hands are counted from the table's bills, and you settle on one number
Each hand she draws goes on a bill as a line. At night you open the table's bills, count the hands, and settle with her on that number. Her count and yours are no longer two, and a half-rate palm for a child is a line that anyone can read.
Tools for a counter and a chair that are busiest on one evening of the year
Offers for regular customers
A discount for the woman who has her mehndi done here every Karva Chauth, noted on her page so you can give it at the chair.
Bills on your phone
Mehndi for two hands, threading and a face pack: three lines at three rates on one bill, sent to the customer's phone.
Orders to suppliers
The order for cones, bindi packs and bangle sets sent a week before the eve, with last year's eve in front of you, and what came noted.
Daily reports
At closing on the festival eve, the day's sales with the mehndi table's hands on one side and the shelf's cones, bindis and bangle sets on the other, read before the cash box is counted, so the notes in it have a number to match.
Why a Delhi parlour's festival eve, home visits and mehndi artist's hands never reach the register
Karva Chauth eve, with mehndi on both hands for every woman in the queue
On Karva Chauth eve the queue stays all day, and most of it wants mehndi on both hands. Each hand takes a cone, and the same women take a bangle set and a card of bindis on their way out. Bills are written in the margin of the appointment book, and by night nobody can say how many cones the day used or how many pairs of hands were done.
The price agreed on the phone, and the fifth woman who wants her hands done too
For a bride or a party the beautician goes to the family's flat and does the face, the hair and the hands of four women, and the price is agreed on the phone for the four. A fifth woman asks for her hands as well, and the morning goes on. The visit ends with a sum said aloud and nothing written, and when the family asks a week later what the extra came to, you say a number from memory.
The mehndi artist at the table by the door is paid for each hand
On busy days you set a table by the door for a mehndi artist, who is paid for each hand she draws. A hand drawn for a regular on the house, a pattern started and stopped, a child's palm at half the rate: each is a different line of her pay, and none of them goes into the register. At the month's end she asks for her sum and you add it from memory.
Questions Delhi parlour and cosmetics owners ask about the festival eve, the home visit and the artist's hands
Can the phone book the evening's slots for the women who want mehndi?
No. It does not keep an appointment book. The appointment book stays as it is, and the phone takes the bill for each hand when she is done.
The beautician goes to a flat with a bag of products. Can the visit be a bill, with the products on it?
Yes. Make one bill under the family's name with each service as a line and each product used as another, and send it on WhatsApp. The shelf's count goes down by what left in the bag.
A woman who had mehndi last Karva Chauth asks for the same price. Can I see what she paid?
Yes. Open the day last year in the sales and find her bill. Its lines show what she had and at what rate.
Mehndi cones are made in the morning and sold by the piece. Can I count the batch?
Yes. Add the cones made to the stock, and each sale takes its cones off. At night the count shows how many should be left, and a gap is a cone given away or spoiled.
One festival evening that Delhi's beauty counters plan for
CAIT estimated about Rs 8,000 crore of Karva Chauth business in Delhi alone in 2025, out of about Rs 28,000 crore across India. For a counter that sells bangles, bindis or mehndi cones, a single evening of the year carries a large share of its sales.
On Karva Chauth 2025 CAIT said sales of sarees, pooja thalis, sweets, jewellery and cosmetics surged, and beauty parlours, mehndi artists and salons had long queues all day. In such a day a parlour's chair and a shop's counter are busy at once, and the day's sales show which of the two earned more.