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

It wouldn't be ageing if women weren't pressured into covering it for years after hair starts to naturally grey. The more women embrace their grey as it comes the less immediately ageing it will be.

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.

Look for a mobile hairdresser, I just trim because my hair is fair and blending into white, I’m low maintenance, but I get it trimmed at a friends, several people do whilst 3 of them get colour done, it’s very economical because the hairdresser firsts the trims around the colours and we all save, she apparently does a lot of whole families

I think that's obvious. It was to show a perspective between £10 a week for hair and what other people spend it on.

Not everyone spends on 3 coffees a week. Coffees are now £4 plus That’s something else I have cut back on

Everyones costs have gone up so most people have to make choices.

It's the difference between north and south.

A cut and blow dry where I go is £75.

A full head of colour and a cut would be more than the OP.

Mine charges £170 for half a head, plus cut etc.

If you live in the south, you have no choice if you want to go to a decent salon.
Yes there are cheaper ones but they aren't so good.

The costs are mainly the premises and other overheads.

As for the car, my car costs me around £500 a month all in

The way you described this was as if you used £500 of fuel a month to get to work.

Obviously you must get mileage at the going rate, and your other expenses are fixed costs you would have anyway.

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.

I think it is right this is one of those areas where expectations have changed. When I was a child in the late 80s, a local mum who had had hairdressing training would come round and give the whole family a trim for a bit of pin money.

I’m 70 and have never coloured my hair. Perhaps I am lucky as I only have some white bits at the side. I was naturally blonde when young and regular swimming has died it to quite a nice colour! My home hairdresser gives me a trim every couple of months for £40. All the salons I asked were astronomical just for a trim ! (London)

That’s a crazy amount of money. I used to colour my hair at home for many years then switched to salon but after the cost kept rising I decided to make peace with my greys. I did have some blonde highlights put in and they’re still good after two years so I might do that again when it’s back to mainly grey😊

I'm always flabbergasted at the prices people pay for their hair on here.

I live in a small town with quite a few hair salons and it's about £70 for a cut, colour and blow dry.

That's a lot for me to afford so I get it done very rarely.

Just shop around different salons OP and see if anywhere is cheaper.

I don't bother now. Colour it at home and DH cuts the ends for me. It's one length long anyway so hard to get wrong.
I can afford to get it done, I just don't think for what I want it's worth it. I can't be bothered with the travel to my nearest place (tricky parking) and forced chat every six weeks either.

If you cant justify the cost then just don't book it.

I do my hair at home as i cant afford it to be done by a hairdresser.

The OP like so many others complaining about service prices on MN is comparing the price of a service (out of which all those business costs are yet to come) to her take home pay. That is the point people are making.

The reality is that very few hairdressers would match a band six salary, nor would they have the gold plated NHS pension (or half of one) or all the paid holidays, sick pay etc. I’m bemused at the “need" to run a new lease hire car - carers and community nurses I know run much older vehicles from reliable makes which are cheaper to run. The expenses policy for petrol sounds like the standard HMRC rules for claiming car expenses.

The OP is reasonable to make the point “prices have gone up, I’m having to cut back” - five minutes on MN will find a dozen similar threads discussing where and how posters are having to cut costs. They are not reasonable to imply that due to their job they are entitled to keep luxuries any more than anyone else.

Regrettably hair, beauty treatments, meals out, cinema trips etc are exactly the luxuries pretty much every family is cutting back on and its all a bit shit but its not that many years ago that these were luxuries most people saved for anyway. We miss them when we have become used to them and its disappointing but its completely unreasonable to complain about the overall cost of a private business service by comparing it to take home pay from a job with significant public sector benefits.

Last thing we need is for NHS nurses to leave the NHS.

My post was in response to someone saying that they charge these rates as they have to run a business, pay staff, NI etc.
All I did was to point out that many hairdressers are self employed, they rent the space. So no, the business owner doesn't pay staff ( you might some who do have a few) but many no, and no NI etc. That was all !
Product costs I expect are paid through the rental cost. And you are right they will include costs for holidays or absences into their overall charges.

The cost of living in the US is completely and utterly insane...
It's bad in the UK too but I sincerely hope we're not headed the same way.

@crossedlines I agree but it is matter of scale. You can ditch the beautician and hairdresser first, then the hygienist, then the six monthly dental check up (or you go less frequently), the same with the opticians. Not great as you cause problems later but it means you can pay for one of those sudden emergencies.

The OP has to make a decision and it is a decision that millions of other people are obviously making. It won’t kill her not to have her hair done but it is a sorry state of affairs that she can’t afford it. She gets a decent (ish) wage but it no longer covers all it used to cover. It seems like the groups being priced out now are nurses, social workers, teachers, police officers and the like. That’s a huge market and it is a gamble on the part of those in the service industry to keep raising prices. They must think it will work. I have doubts.

I stopped coloring (and if I do, I go for the box) and get a cut twice a year. The cut is £30 (ends of long hair). My hairdresser also offers "quick curls" for £20 so might do rhat few times a year before a party since I'm no longer spending tons for cut and color.

It’s about 2 or 3 days pay for me. That’s why I only get it done once or twice a year.

She can afford a cut and colour, just not where she goes now. I earn more than the OP and cannot afford a cut and colur at a lot of London salons. The hairdressing market is pretty competitive, there will be cheaper alternatives.

’We need to put up prices as we aren’t making enough money.”
”We can’t afford your prices as our wages haven’t gone up to cover them.”

Options: go less often or not at all, try to find somewhere cheaper (good luck), hair dye at home.

Likely consequences: many hairdressers close (if other people’s wages don’t go up), they are unemployed and have less money to spend, other businesses suffer, recession.

I’m not a nurse but I feel a nurse’s salary should cover a hair cut and colour occasionally and that they shouldn’t need to do additional jobs to afford it. It would be great if we could get a handle on rent prices and utility costs as they are really fuelling a lot of this.

@BustopherPonsonbyJonesi don’t think needing essential dental work or the correct prescription glasses are comparable with getting your hair done.
Wanting cosmetic dental stuff to have ‘perfect’ glowing white teeth, or wanting expensive designer glasses frames would be better comparisons.

I think some people are just jumping on the idea that the OP is a nurse and does an important job (true) and therefore it’s disgraceful that she can’t afford a full head of highlights at an expensive salon. It’s not a right!

and I repeat: her take home pay is 3k a month if she works full time. Thats not the breadline. And if she only works part time, that’s a luxury!

You are on a good salary. You can no longer afford this particular hairdresser. Find a cheaper one.