In a world dominated by seven-day trading, some business owners in north Queensland are pushing back against weekend hours.

Frances Nelligan owns a hair salon in Townsville with her business partner, Petra Graham.

It is not a lack of clients, but a lack of staff that is forcing them to shut shop on Saturdays, usually their busiest day of the week.

"We've had two senior stylists quit, one to open her own home business and one went in a completely different direction, into admin.

"Clients can't get an appointment because we're always fully booked because we don't have the staff. We have to have a waiting list."

Even a $1,000 sign-on bonus was not enough to lure would-be hairdressers to their salon.

"It didn't work. Mostly when we recruit, we get [zero] qualified hairdressers contacting us," she said.

In the cut-throat world of hairdressing, some salons in Townsville have resorted to poaching staff from other businesses.

"We really don't want to do that [because] it's a bit unethical," Ms Nelligan said.

'Women's work' no longer cuts it

Hairdressers are in hot demand right across the nation.

Data from recruitment website SEEK reveals an increase of 35 per cent in hairdressing job advertisements in the past three years.

However, it is a job with a reputation for burnout.

Australian Workers' Union national secretary Daniel Walton said hairdressing was the lowest-paid trade in the country, yet hair stylists were regularly exposed to endemic levels of wage theft and exploitation.

He also said hairdressers were exposed to "surprisingly dangerous" safety conditions, including chronic pain from being on their feet all day and exposure to chemicals, often without being provided with appropriate personal protective equipment.

"People who work in female-dominated industries shouldn't be expected to work for their passion alone, they deserve to be respected like other tradies," Mr Walton said.

Protecting workers' mental health

Ms Nelligan said it also was time salons started prioritising employees' mental health.

"I don't work Saturdays, so why should I ask my team to do that?" she said.

Considering work-life balance

Hairstylist Neve Russoniello has had enough after seven years working in salons.

She's set up a business from her home, where she can set her own hours.

"You don't realise what damage you're doing to your body," she said.

"Now I do two, 12-hour days a week and I take the next day off to recover."

Ms Russoniello said she was also catering to a growing demand for appointments outside normal working hours.

"Sometimes I start at 7am and get people through before they start work," she said.

"People are a lot more flexible … and I find a lot of my clients have a weekday off [because] they're mums or they work part-time."

Retaining talent

Data from recruitment firm Hays shows that 79 per cent of employees surveyed wanted a job with flexible work practices.

Hybrid working, flexible hours and part-time employment were on top of their wish list.

Hays' regional director in Townsville, Ged Walsh, said offering incentives — such as giving hairdressers every Saturday off — was one way employers could retain top talent.

"Another work-life balance benefit we're seeing more of is the provision of more days of annual leave."