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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Hair cut and colour now exceeds what I earn in a day. Absolutely fed up.

556 replies

Burntout01 · 12/12/2025 21:38

Obviously everything is going up and up. Just went to book hairdressers- I don’t go often , maybe every four months since I went grey ( used to box dye it for 30 years before that). Its my one bit of self care.
Cost has jumped from £120 to over £170 since I last had it done in September. For full head highlights for chin length bobbed hair plus wash and rough blow dry.
It’s not that I don’t believe its worth that price and I am not knocking my hairdresser, its not about that. But I am a senior NHS nurse with 30 years experience. My job has taken a lot from me and my family. I take home £150 a day. The hair appt is 2.5 hours.
I just cannot justify the expense for myself any more.

OP posts:
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7
Theonewhogotthecake · 13/12/2025 16:19

I got a half head foils with cut and blow dry last week. £208! I didn’t leave a tip

shuggles · 13/12/2025 16:11

My haircut costs £12. It takes 10 minutes.

Newyearawaits · 13/12/2025 16:08

Burntout01 · 12/12/2025 21:46

Sad think is I can’t use box dye anymore as it sensitised my scalp which is why I switched to the foils. So only choice now is to allow the horrible iron grey to take over.

Hi OP, I voted YABU because I think if you can afford to go to the salon, you should.
I am in a similar situation to you and my treat is my hairdresser appointments.
I spend a lot of money on others (as do alot of US) & my hairdresser appointment is for me.
I haven't always been able to afford it and I really appreciate that I can now.

Howdidlifegetsobusy · 13/12/2025 16:02

Shop around? That doesn’t sound unsurprising in terms of cost, but I am sure you can find different prices.

SazKaka · 13/12/2025 15:57

Whilst it does seem a lot of money in relation to your daily wage, you have to remember that a hairdressing salon has a lot of expensive overheads.
I was chatting to my hairdresser about the costs involved in running her business and keeping her head above water and they are huge.
Also, if you think that the haircut/colour lasts you 2-4 months then that’s not bad going really.

angelfacecuti75 · 13/12/2025 15:54

Try henna hair colour /one made for sensitive scalps ? There are some out there.

Branwells77 · 13/12/2025 15:52

Crankyaboutfood · 12/12/2025 21:40

It is all insane. I switched from salon color to at home color, because i can’t keep up with it since i have gone gray. I am in the U.S. and a cut and color with tax and tips is over $500. I am not doing that every 6 weeks.

😲🤯 That is ridiculous I’m UK and I pay £65 every 6 weeks for a full head colour trim and blow dry

Rosscameasdoody · 13/12/2025 15:43

Eudaimonia11 · 13/12/2025 13:12

I think the point of the thread is more about how the cost of living crisis is really shit for people on an individual level but also worrying for society.

The people who used to have enough disposable income to eat out, get their hair done, etc can now no longer do so at all or as often. Prices for everything have gone up.

It’s fine, hair cuts and meals out are luxuries we can do without. Yeah, but that’s eventually going to have repurcussions for society as eventually most salons and other businesses close. There aren’t enough wealthy people to keep them going. We need the people on national average salaries to spend their money in local businesses. If those people can no longer afford it, what’s going to happen?

We can say it’s fine now, people are still going but less often so salons will just increase their prices to cover their costs. But their costs are still going up so eventually those people who were still going less often, won’t be able to go at all.

This. Most sensible post on the thread.

Rosscameasdoody · 13/12/2025 15:42

Addictedtohotbaths · 13/12/2025 14:04

Healthcare isn’t free. That’s what taxes pay for.

Show quote history

It’s also contributed to via NI and not everyone pays that. MN is full of threads with ‘we pay your wages’ comments. Would you rather have private healthcare funded by insurance as in the USA ?

1HappyTraveller · 13/12/2025 15:35

TheTowerAtMidnight · 12/12/2025 21:57

No-one is forcing you to get your hair coloured. Embrace the grey, it's a very chic look these days.

Read the room!!!!

No one is forcing them to get it, no. But…

  1. this the only bit of self-care this person does.

  2. they should be on a better wage for the work they do given their experience

  3. things simply should not be this unaffordable for people!

Rituelec · 13/12/2025 15:20

justjuggling · 12/12/2025 22:19

I made the decision to embrace the grey. I just can’t justify salon colour costs. I’m actually quite liking it now although it looked a bit rubbish as the colour grew out. The shade of grey is very light and I get lots of nice compliments on it.

This

And hats

habin · 13/12/2025 15:19

i get a nice and easy box dye and my daughter (not a hairdresser) cuts it for me. My hairdresser was costing the same and I couldn’t justify the costs. I’ve had more compliments doing it myself too!

Nmeag · 13/12/2025 15:17

OhDear111 · 13/12/2025 09:21

Choice to have 4 dc @Nmeag. We all make choices and you have made an expensive one and you have had lots of maternity leave. That’s never great for the career ladder. There’s fewer and fewer jobs around and the nhs pensions are fantastic. Maybe NHs workers should go without the huge state input into their pensions? Theres never any recognition of that privileged position by nhs staff. Doctors get a whopping 24% from the state as a contribution. That’s obscene when compared to other jobs.

In my opinion, which is fair to differ from yours, doctors and nurses deserve their pay. I would do without a hairdresser when I need one before a doctor or nurse.
Additionally I'm not at all complaining about having 4 children, i am well aware how fortunte i am...my point was that I will be advising them not to work for the NHS. Thanks.

jeaux90 · 13/12/2025 15:08

OP I’m 54 and stopped the highlights and dye 5 years ago. I save so much money and it looks great.

Hideousfrump · 13/12/2025 15:03

YANBU!! My hairdresser has also just upped highlights and a cut by £20. It’s now £200. He was adamant that his clients can just buy a few less coffees a month to make up the extra but not so easy when you’ve already cut all those little luxuries out

Think I’ll be trying a box dye in the new year

Blueberrypickle · 13/12/2025 14:18

The cost of everything is now getting ridiculous and like others have mentioned, I'm shocked at your take home pay as a senior nurse @Burntout01 !

I used to go to a salon fairly regularly for a cut and blow dry, and balayage or highlights. I last went around 2 years ago and the cost was astronomical. So since then, my teenage daughter has been cutting my hair (it's long and just needs cutting straight across), and I've been using box dye to cover my greys.

But I feel the colour is now looking a bit too "blocky", so I recently bought some Sun in spray (90s throwback!). I know it's supposed to be bad for your hair but I just thought I might do a few very fine highlights to lift the colour a bit. Haven't done it yet though, I'm still thinking about whether I want to take the risk....! 🫣

It really is crazy that so many of us can't afford hairdressers now, let alone beauty treatments, and I buy all my clothes second hand.

Original poster
Burntout01 · 13/12/2025 14:11

OhNoMyLovely · 13/12/2025 12:49

So your take home pay is close to £55K pa - that's £150 x 365.

Not bad.

You're paying for the hairdresser, products, business rates, water rates, electric, premises rent or mortgage, cleaners, etc.

I pay around £170 for half a head of lowlights, cut and finish.

If you have you hair done every 16 weeks the £170 works out at close to £10 a week- 3 coffees or fewer.

Edited
Show quote history

This is the strangest comment ever @OhNoMyLovely . Do you think I work 365 days per year????? No. I work three days a week. I would ideally like to work more now my kids are older but there are no available hours for me to fill. Its been like that for nearly 3 years. When we had a nine month waiting list the ‘answer’ was to just double our workload overnight. This was traumatic and meant people just had to work extra hours in their own time to allow us to see the ‘right’ number of patients and then do all the associated paperwork. I am not exaggerating when I saw its caused mental, physical, illness and in one case formally diagnosed PTSD. So no I dont feel fairly paid and Ive had to come out of the pension scheme now as it became totally unaffordable. I take home around £1850pm.

OP posts:
Addictedtohotbaths · 13/12/2025 14:04

SandwichShort · 13/12/2025 02:24

You do not chip into people's wages...this person will pay you for a haircut. You get healthcare free when needed, due to living in a society that has this health care system. You do not 'chip in' to pay theory wages. You live in the UK. This person also has the same costs deducted from their wages, as you do. So, their health care is covered to the same extent as yours, gp appt, emergency a & e care...or more prolonged treatment for example cancer treatment, if needed. So ignorant to pretend you do not realise that.

Show quote history

Healthcare isn’t free. That’s what taxes pay for.

gerispringer · 13/12/2025 13:50

Grey isnt horrible and what's wrong with looking your actual age? Next time you go tell the hairdresser you are thinking of blending in the grey more and they may suggest ways of doing it that aren't cold turkey. This wont be cheap but in the long run it will save. Or as others suggest look for a good mobile hairdresser- much cheaper than salon prices.

Original poster
Burntout01 · 13/12/2025 13:50

Soduku1234 · 13/12/2025 13:35

Millions of people go grey naturally and it's not 'horrible'

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I personally find it horrible on me. I don’t look at others and think ‘horrible’, its just how I myself feel I look.

OP posts:
cramptramp · 13/12/2025 13:43

Burntout01 · 12/12/2025 23:59

Not sure why the undertone of hostility here. I didn’t go into nursing to get rich but I did expect to be able to afford a decent hair cut/ colour on occasion, especially after 30 years in a really responsible and emotionally challenging role. I can’t increase my hours as there is a recruitment freeze. As for the car, my car costs me around £500 a month all in, if I didn’t use it for work we could not offer a full service to patients. I received £27 as they ‘deduct’ my travel distance from home to work and back daily before starting to reimburse me/ us. So even if I don’t go into the office I still lose out on around 90 miles per week before I even start. Most of us don’t even bother to claim anymore!!

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You seem to think you only get a decent cut and colour if you pay a lot. This really isn’t the case. I bet you can find a cheaper salon if you look for one.

RetirementTimes · 13/12/2025 13:36

Precisely @Eudaimonia11 a lot of people are now having to make choices about how they spend their money. A few years ago I was having hair, eye lash tint, facials, manicures etc on a pretty regular basis but not since Covid. I appreciate that everyone’s costs have gone up but my income hasn’t had the same boost and with Rachel from Accounts taking more then I have to cut back spending on life’s little luxuries.

Soduku1234 · 13/12/2025 13:35

Burntout01 · 12/12/2025 21:46

Sad think is I can’t use box dye anymore as it sensitised my scalp which is why I switched to the foils. So only choice now is to allow the horrible iron grey to take over.

Millions of people go grey naturally and it's not 'horrible'

NotARealWookiie · 13/12/2025 13:32

Try a home hairdresser OP - it will be less than £100.

I do agree it’s all mental though. The cost of living is wild.

Edenmum2 · 13/12/2025 13:24

It’s not worth that price. Mine costs £90 for full head, toner and cut. Hasn’t gone up in 5 years. I’m in the south east of England. You are being ripped off.

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