To think £17 is too much...

[EasterEggBelly]

... to charge to cut a 3yr old boy’s hair?

I try to support small, local business. I understand why sometimes this means paying more. But this is a trim/tidy up for a child with short hair.

I went to a chain of barbers instead. Paid £7 and it took no longer then 10 minutes. As it happens I have 2 DC so the saving was actually £20.

What do others think?

YABU - pay more to support local if you can afford it.
YANBU - not many people would pay that.

[Nighthogs]

Surely going to the barbers is supporting local too?

[Ivy48]

Wow! My partners fade and beard tidy up is £13 at a local barbers. That’s ridiculous for a little boys cut. I think our barbers charge around £7 too! No way would I pay that either

[Chickenlickeninthepot]

It's £7-8 for a child round here. I round up to £10 because my kid is a terror for hating getting his hair cut.

[halcyondays]

Daylight robbery, DH doesn’t pay anything like that much at the barbers.

[RightOnTheEdge]

YANBU it's a big saving. £17 is very expensive.
We have two barbers opposite each other near me. Both independent, one charges £13 for a haircut and one charges £7 they both do an excellent job.
I go to the cheaper one. They are both popular and busy though.

I would love to support local businesses more and I do try my best to but its hard on a low income when Tesco or Lidl for example is so much cheaper than local milkmen or butchers.

[EasterEggBelly]

@Nighthogs the barbers is a chain and I have to get the bus to go there. I wanted to support the local hairdressing business, which is vocal on social media but I think the price for a small child is too much.

[Isaidnope]

It’s £7 for a child here at the barbers. £17 is daylight robbery.

[halcyondays]

Isn’t there a barbers closer to you?

[RandomMess]

That would really annoy me too. I have long straight hair, takes the hairdresser 20 mins to trim mine get spends 40 mins on the DDs hair yet we all have to pay the same rate!!

It took me ages to find a hairdresser that actually cut my hair properly so I just crack on and pay it.

[Angrypregnantlady]

Our local barbers is a fiver and she's brill

[frogsbreath]

That's ridiculous for a boy's cut. I've never seen more than £9 at even the most trendy barbers. As it happens I pay £7 and just tip to make it up to a tenner, but I wouldn't go somewhere that charged a tenner 😄

You don't need to support local businesses , of course they may struggle more than chains and franchises for customers but if they are twice the price they obviously feel they want to limit their clientele.

[TeeniefaeTroon]

I was £8.50 for my son to get his hair cut at a local barber yesterday. Last year he had a trim with a pattern shaved into the back of his hair and that cost £15.

[EasterEggBelly]

@halcyondays no, this is the only hairdresser that is local to us. I had to get the bus to go to the barbers. I would rather have stayed local but I think £17 is a lot.

As it happened, it was the first time my DC have been on the bus this year and were actually super excited by the trip so it worked out well. I just wonder how the business will survive when they charge so much.

[BrilliantBetty]

£15 her

[Triffid1]

That's insanely expensive but if they're the only ones around, I guess they can get away with it.

I am all for supporting local businesses but a pet peeve of mine is that to support local shouldn't mean you pay ridiculously over the odds without suitably good service. We have quite a few independent shops in our village - some are excellent and the slight increase in cost for better/more tailored/more convenient service is worth it while for others, I'm not interested or willing to pay the extra.

[Piglet89]

I just use long set clippers on my boy’s hair and will do that for as long as I can!

[wesowereonabreak]

You pay more for a hairdresser than a barber, that's absolutely normal.
Children or men. Up to you which one you chose.

£10is if fine for a barber for a child cut, £17 is ok for a hairdresser salon.

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

£15-20 is standard near me (not a well-off area) and it would be very expensive and time-consuming to travel somewhere cheaper if it existed.

[ohidoliketobe]

Wow, yes expensive. The barbers we use does a 'dad and lad' gents and junior cut for £15 after school until closing Weds - Fri.

[Arbadacarba]

Can't you use clippers? I bought some in 2011 to do my husband's hair and they've paid for themselves many times over - and no need to worry about lockdown closing the barbers.

[poppycat10]

£17 is a lot. Our local barber charges £10 I think and about £13 on a Saturday.

I am also wondering why the barber isn't local but the hairdresser is? A bus ride is still local (unless it was a two hour bus ride but I am assuming it was 20-30 minutes at most).

Anyway it's all very well people preaching about supporting local independent businesses, the chains still employ people and the independents often have rubbish service, unreliable opening hours or don't sell what I want, so why would I use them? You use the businesses that serve your needs and who you want to support.

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

That's a lot. We pay £10 at a local chain. That's plenty.

My wash, cut and blow dry is £25 so wouldn't pay that much.

[Curiosity101]

I wonder if they're trying to recoup losses from the past year? Or if this was always what they charged?

It does seem quite a lot for that type of haircut though. Maybe they're not a trained barber but are trained on longer hairstyles so perhaps it takes them a long time for what would be 'cheap' barber hairstyles? Either way, I wouldn't have paid that much, I'd have gone to the £7 barber like you did.

[AnnaSW1]

It's £30 here

[goldhoops]

Well I paid £22 yesterday and got my dc's hair 1/3 done where he kicked off screaming and crying and didn't want to be anywhere near and we still paid the whole damn thing with third of his cut. Yes I do think it's daylight robbery, we were in there for 5 mins. Everywhere is fully booked for 3 weeks and they charge similar prices.