The best portable barber chairs are practical and easy to carry. Reduced weight and good postural support with height adjustment are crucial. Some of these mobile barber chairs also swivel to make styling easier.
Portable barber stations aren’t easy to find as they’re in high demand. The current work-from-home situation also affects barbers, not just office workers. This is why a new way to do business with a travel barber chair is the way forward, possibly for years. As businesses adapt, finding the right mobile barber equipment is a must.
Who needs a portable barber chair?
There are different types of professionals looking into getting a portable salon chair. From freelancers to established mobile barber businesses, there’s room to get into this line of work for everybody. Here are a few categories of professionals for which a foldable barber chair goes the mile.
- Traveling barbers
Traveling barbers are those who typically offer their services at the customer’s home, within city limits. While it wasn’t always a service in high demand, things are different for barbers today.
- Traveling stylists
You can also use a portable hairdressing chair for styling hair. The same chair is a great choice to make anyone look good. Ideally, you’d find a chair that is not too heavy so that your hands are ready for action without being tired from carrying heavy styling chairs around.
- Mobile salon owners
A portable hair-cutting chair can also work for newly established mobile salon businesses. If you’re the owner of such a business this is your first purchase, together with a car or other type of vehicle.
The best portable barber chairs you can get online
After scrutiny, the following portable barber chairs ranked highest. They are cross-industry chairs successfully used by traveling barbers.
1. Artist Hand Foldable Barber Chair
A lightweight portable barber chair often needs to create a makeshift barber station at your clients’ home. Artist Hand creates such a setup with a foldable barber chair with a barber stool that you can use as the ultimate combo for shaving, hair styling, makeup, manicure, or as a general folding salon chair.
This is the type of traveling barber chair that’s highly customizable and this is why so many people have already started using it.
Adjustability is key
Both the footrest and the backrest are fully adjustable. The reclining backrest can be adjusted to a proper angle so that your customers lay back comfortably and safely. Depending on your line of work, this portable styling chair can also offer an adjustable footrest angle.
While you might think a foldable barber chair lacks ruggedness or physical strength this isn’t the case here. Artist Hand portable barber chairs have 375lbs (170kg) maximum user weight capacity.
If you want to have the 360-swivel versatility of a proper barbershop chair you can also use the stool that ships with this mobile barber chair. However, you won’t be able to adjust it be height, some bending is required.
Pros
- Sturdy metal frame construction
- The backrest reclines up to 60 degrees
- The footrest reclines to 45 degrees
- Included removable headrest pillow
Cons
- The stool isn’t height adjustable
2. Paddie Portable Barber Chair
A similar design on white is available from Paddie. This portable hair-cutting chair for barbers is ideal if you want your clients to sit in a good position while enjoying a comfortable seat. Even as a folding barber chair for travel, it still offers great comfort.
The high-density sponge is used as cushioning on this mobile barber chair for styling. It offers the right support in all contact areas including the armrests. The good news is its armrests are removable for even more versatility even when working away from a salon.
Safe construction
A steel frame with 330lbs maximum weight capacity is key for this barber chair for travel. It holds it in place on almost any hard surface such as tile and hardwood floors.
Both the backrest and the footrest of this mobile salon chair are also adjustable. Backrest recline presets allow you to find the correct angle for each client regardless of height.
Pros
- Available in elegant white
- Water-resistance materials
- It holds users of up to 330lbs
- Included towel hook
Cons
- It ships without a stool
3. Heaven 3-Fold Portable Barber Chair
Mobile barber chairs can even come in even lighter construction. This chair even fits in a carrying case so that you can travel easily as a barber. This carrying case ships together with the mobile chair.
A few reasons to get it to include its adjustability and washable materials. Made from 3 sections as its name suggests, this portable barber chair allows backrest and footrests adjustments. Its included padded armrests are also ideal for when you want to offer your client an even better ergonomic sitting position.
Included headrest for support
Unlike a few other similar portable barbering chairs, Heaven included a removable headrest with its chair. This can be used for shaving or better head support when you’re styling the beard of your client.
Another good reason to get this chair is its PU leather cover. While not real leather, this cover can still be cleaned properly after each customer so that it looks good and so that you tackle germs after each client.
Pros
- It can be carried in a travel bag
- Included a removable face pillow
- Available in white and blue
Cons
- No additional barber stool
4. Teeker Rolling Stool Chair
There’s always room for innovation when it comes to the ideal portable barber chair. Who said this chair has to be foldable? Depending on your traveling vehicle, you might even consider a traveling barber stool chair. If you have a car to carry it in, it can provide that swivel feature a regular folding portable barber chair typically can’t.
All sides covered
This swivel portable barber chair is height adjustable as well. This means you don’t have to constantly bend and deal with low back pain with short clients.
Available with or without a backrest, this mobile barber chair is ideal for clients who want to sit with their legs up as well. The leg base is ideal for keeping your feet up as well.
The portable salon chair adjusts by height from 47 to 61.5cm (16.1” to 24.2”) and it eliminates a lot of the limitations of a folding barber chair.
Pros
- Made with leather that is easy to wipe clean
- The low weight of just 8.8lbs (3.9kg)
- It sits on rolling casters
- Ideal for 360 swivel
- Multifunctional portable spa stool
Cons
- It has no armrests
5. Ver Portable Barber Chair
Ver’s portable barber chair is used as a portable makeup chair. However, its multifunction role is crucial in the current situation where more people are working from home and only getting out for essentials.
This folding barber chair also ships with a headrest, which can’t be said about most of its alternatives. While you can always take it off, the headrest is ideal when shaving or trimming the beard.
However, this chair might be foldable but it isn’t the lightest on our list. At 18lbs, it can be heavy for some users and this is the main reason it’s not higher up our list. Otherwise, it looks stylish and it feels great which always helps you appear more professional in front of your customers.
Pros
- It looks like a director’s chair
- It folds in seconds
- Based on durable aluminum construction
- It features a removable headrest as a true barber chair
Cons
- Not the lightest portable barber chair
6. CoVibrant Ergonomic Portable Barber Chair
CoVibrant offers one of the best portable barber chairs of the moment. This chair has been made for doctors and dentists but you can easily make it yours as a barber. Which is the main reason to get it? This chair comes with lockable casters which means you can’t push it around by accident. Even if you lean in too much, your client will still stay in place, which always helps.
Height-adjustable swivel portable barber chair
Apart from looking great, this portable barber chair is also height adjustable. With a seat height between 20 and 27 inches, it is a chair that sits high which can be important, especially if you’re already dealing with back pain.
This chair is also a wise choice for clients. Its 3.7” cushioning makes it highly comfortable. It allows your clients to sit on it better for up to an hour, which always helps them relax and feel at ease. We also like it comes with floor-friendly casters as some of the best office chairs for hardwood floors.
Pros
- Padded with molded foam
- Waxed PU leather finish
- A swivel chair that sits high
- Made with casters for hardwood floors
Cons
- Not available on white
What to look for in a portable barber chair
When it comes to choosing the ideal mobile barber chairs you have to know what to look for given many of them aren’t up for the task.
- Foldable sections
Foldable sections as in the portable barber chairs seen above are crucial. If you’re going for the full chair, you need one that features 3 foldable sections. The seatpan, the backrest, and the footrest need to be separate parts of the chair if you want it to fold properly. You only need angle adjustments in the backrest recline and for the footrest.
These mobile barber chairs are ideal as they can be comfortably used by clients of different heights. At the same time, you might style the hair and then move on to style the beard or shave your customer and this is where the backrest recline proves the most beneficial. Shaving might prove a bit more difficult on a portable barber stool.
- Maximum weight capacity (more than 300lbs)
The last thing you want is to deal with an accident as a barber. This is why you need to check the maximum weight capacity of your portable barber chair. The manufacturer should state this weight capacity in the product description as in the folding barber chairs above. Make sure you test them out yourself to get to learn how they work before heading out to your first customer.
- Warranty
Most portable barber chairs above come with a 1-year seller’s warranty. You can always ask the seller about the product warranty if you aren’t sure about how much the policy covers your purchase.
- Means of transport
Foldable portable barber chairs typically ship with a travel bag. Otherwise, you’ll have to get your travel bag. The biggest issue arrives with portable barber stools which don’t fold and which you simply have to carry from your car.
Final words
Some of the best portable barber chairs are made to last. You will use them daily or even multiple times per day and they need to be made with durable materials first. All barbers need to take their clients’ health seriously as well. This is why cleaning these chairs is also crucial. You can find portable barber chairs that are easy to clean section by section. You can start with the backrest moving down to the footrest when you clean your folding chair after each customer.
You should also clean your free carrying case as often as possible. Your clients notice when you keep all your mobile barber equipment clean and in good condition. It puts you in a better light. You want to present yourself professionally even if you’re using a mobile salon chair that might look different from the one your clients might have been used to up to a few years ago.