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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Thread gallery
7
Owllie45 · 13/12/2025 05:48

I have a home hairdresser and its around 80 for colour and blow dry. I see them a lot less due to costs so use the sprays in between. Could you try that? Im in London

Bjorkdidit · 13/12/2025 05:44

Burntout01 · 13/12/2025 00:16

The car itself cists around £230, the remainder is insurance £70 and petrol!!! I live rurally and as stated need a car for work, it has to be new enough to be reliable.its not a luxury lifestyle choice!!

What would they do if you didn't have a car that's available for work?

Also they shouldn't be deducting commuting costs if its a shorter journey from home than your workplace. Otherwise you could go into the office first, start from there and claim more mileage and travel time, they can't have it both ways.

So you should be able to claim more mileage, get your union involved if necessary. Or ask to use a pool or hire car.

But I suspect you've fallen into the trap of thinking a salon colour is 'normal' as is an expensive car when it's not. I wonder what else you're spending 'treat' amounts on?

Most people don't earn at a level where they can afford an expensive car and expensive haircuts and other treats, they have to prioritise, I don’t see an issue with that.

I dye my hair at home but it would be about half what you pay in the salon so shop around or look for a hairdresser who visits your house so thry don't have the overheads of renting a chair. My car also costs under half what yours does and its perfectly safe and reliable.

Motheranddaughter · 13/12/2025 05:40

I think if you can afford it you just have to decide if you are prepared to pay it
Mine costs £145 and I get it done every 6 weeks
Got it done yesterday after a very hard week at work and it really cheered me up
Get a blow dry every Friday too
All so good for my MH

Yamamm · 13/12/2025 05:38

Agree with PP who broke down the cost into a likely hourly rate for the stylist. Likely in the £20-£25 range.
I use Headmasters chain. They have constant colour sales and a VIP free to join club. 25% off for weekdays I think.
Anyway it’s 165 ish for the same full head highlights and cut as OP gets including toner, professional blow dry. Great coffee. Massage chair and all that. In Surrey.
Bit odd to compare a one off service cost to a take home daily pay. It’s a bit like the complaints about trades costs. They may charge £80/hr for the time they’re in your house but their annual salaries for a skilled manual job are often not brilliant.

Misanthropologie · 13/12/2025 05:14

TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne · 12/12/2025 22:40

Oh it isn't.
Grey hair is very ageing.

What's wrong with looking your age?

suki1964 · 13/12/2025 05:13

I stopped getting my hair coloured 3 years ago and embraced the grey when it was costing me a days pay to get done

Luckily for me, my grey is a silver white and it suits me

There was a while while it was growing through that it looked a bit muddy , especially around the nape , there it was still brownish and slate grey - solved by getting an undercut

DeepRubySwan · 13/12/2025 04:21

This is a good one.

I also do my own gel nails, fake tan, pedicures and waxing. I use student clinics for facials and massages whenever I can. Saving me SO much money, $1000's a year.

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Onelifeonly · 13/12/2025 03:55

I now only go twice a year to get half a head - occasionally do whole head. My hair stylist recommended an interim semi permanent colour to use in between at home to cover the greys. It's not a box dye - I buy a large bottle of Colour Tonor which lasts years and a small tube of the colour my stylist recommended, which lasts for several applications to mix with it and use it to blend in the greys that show every few weeks. While the grey coverage isn't 100%, it works well enough. Much cheaper and very easy - just put on to dry hair with a brush, then wash out 20 minutes later.

Because the colour is lighter than most of my (artificially coloured) hair, it only covers the greys and doesn't lighten the other colours, so there's no obvious line between newer and older hair. Certainly better than going grey, though in my case it would be more badger, as I still have sections of natural dark hair.

Booboobagins · 13/12/2025 03:54

I Agree @Burntout01 costs have gone mad!

I stopped highlighting my hair - it was ruining my hair anyway. A chin length bob, going back to my original colour and just doing my roots and 12m later, my hair is thicker and feels more healthy. People tell me I look younger too!

I go to 2 places - vidal sassoon academy, London and my local salon. It costs c£7 every few months for an at home dye to cover any greys I have and c£35 for a cut and blow dry. Much more affordable.

Stucknstoopit · 13/12/2025 03:35

NewNameforThisPost2025 · 13/12/2025 00:03

OP, there is a home hair dye company called Madison Reed who custom mix your colour, and they'll adjust it for the next time if you find it's not quite right. I've used them and found it very good.

Alternatively, these temporary toning masks are meant to be good:
Wella Color Fresh Mask

Loreal le color gloss

There are MANY hair tutorial videos online. I definitely recommend learning to do the colour yourself and getting professional cuts. Maybe you could just get the professional colour done once or twice a year.

Edited

I’m just quoting this so I can hopefully find it when I’m more awake and dye shopping. I desperately need gloss!

Stucknstoopit · 13/12/2025 03:23

My hairdresser costs the same. We are in the ‘poorer’ part of town too.
not only is the cost hugely prohibitive but the time it takes to do it too, I can’t afford the time almost as much as the money.

I’ve stopped going and my hair looks crappy as a consequence. It’s impacting my confidence too, it’s amazing how much can be tied up with hair and self image .

Going grey has completely changed the texture and it’s strawlike most of the time no matter what I do.

I have mixed Afro Caribbean hair and it is so hard to manage. I can’t afford the specialist salons which are much further away, so I migrated to the ’cheaper’ one where they don’t really understand my hair type so I’m not even overly happy with it even after spending almost half a day and the best part of two hundred big ones.

I top up my roots myself around once a month. I keep trying to out grow my grey but I can only get to an inch or two and I can’t abide the badger stripe.
i wish I’d grown it out in lockdown as I originally planned.

YANBU OP

WinterFaye2 · 13/12/2025 02:57

Pippa12 · 12/12/2025 22:27

Wowzers, that’s spenny! My cut and colour is around £80 in the NW. Really lovely and talented hairdressers in a nice salon just a little outside of our town centre. Maybe shop around? Ask for recommendations on social media for salons with more competitive prices

Where are all the people in the NW going? I’m south Manchester way and have just paid £120 for parting foils, cut and blow and a toner 🫠

SheSaidHummingbird · 13/12/2025 02:54

@Burntout01 I'm wincing at the box prices these days, but my head is still in 2019 prices.

InMyOodie · 13/12/2025 02:43

ViciousCurrentBun · 13/12/2025 01:28

It depends on the grey, my friends is a sort of sparkly silver it’s lovely, mine was a sort of streaky iron grey mixed in with black, I looked like a badger having a bad day. I truly hated it. Became allergic to hair dye, now after a few years I have found a dye I’m fine with and much prefer not being grey, it’s a very light brown and as my hair is streaky the dye take differently so looks like I have highlights.

Cut is £25 where I live. There is an express hairdressers and a dry cut which is all they offer is a tenner, mens is £8. Often a queue.

Would you mind sharing the brand of dye you're happy with? My scalp can react to some but for budget reasons I like to use one at home. Plus I hate sitting in a hairdressers for 3 hours.

Mummyoflittledragon · 13/12/2025 02:41

I pay £80 for a half head at a home salon, £90 for dd. Dd’s is for a full head and a lot of highlights as the hairdresser leaves only a small amount of natural hair to break it up and stop the colour from being flat. Maybe shop around?

SandwichShort · 13/12/2025 02:24

OhDear111 · 12/12/2025 23:43

@Burntout01 The fte job appears to be Band 6? So up to £46,500? Most people would take that in a cheaper area of the uk. Working part time impacts pension but everyone has that issue and the self employed hairdresser will not have an employer contributing to her pension. By comparison, yours is silver plated (maybe not gold) and I would advise you look around for another hairdresser but these staff deserve a decent wage too and a decent pension. We chip in a lot to yours so I’m afraid you’ll have to suck up the costs to keep other people employed. Maybe change jobs if you don’t like it? It depends how far you travel in your car doesn’t it? Not far for £27 I imagine.

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.

Youhaveyourhandsfull · 13/12/2025 02:22

There's a certain point where things aren't worth it. Coffee at 5 pounds... No. Beer at 8 pounds... No. Don't just suck it up.

Embrace your natural grey (which I bet will actually look fab) and spend the money on other more affordable self care. Or just save it!

EvieBB · 13/12/2025 02:16

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.

Have you tried a more gentle/less chemical Holland & Barrett type of hair dye? I use that and it seems to be less harsh for my sensitive skin. Good luck ;)

madaboutpurple · 13/12/2025 02:12

You can become a model for on of the companies that trains hair stylists. It is much cheaper and it gives me something to talk about when I say I am a part time model!

SandwichShort · 13/12/2025 02:11

CheeseIsMyIdol · 13/12/2025 02:04

Exactly.

She or he is entitled to charge what they see fit. Your wage is irrelevant.

Is that not a valid point though? If someone is earning g that much a day and cannot afford a hairdressers appy. Then there is an issue in the costs of running a business....because most earn alot less that that a day.

So, if the traction continues, then the outlook is more bleak for the hairdresser, than the person who cannot afford it. Custom will go down. So it would be just as bad for the business owner hairdresser, eventually?

SandwichShort · 13/12/2025 02:08

As a nurse, you are contributing just as much for the NHS business of staff costs, electricity and everything else a business needs, through your taxes and NI deductions.
But, if hairdressers are factoring all those business costs, it seems unfair to say nurses do not pay that. They absouloutly do, through their taxes and ni they get deducted from their pay.

It just comes across as bad business sense to argue, ohh well you get paid a wage but do not have to factor in those costs...if you are pricing out people who take home £150 a day, then you must work in a very elitist area of the country.

So unfair to say nurses for not pay that. If that hairdresser needed hospital treatment, they too are paying for the care provided through health care workers, the same as if that hairdresser needed hospital care. Its almost like saying a teacher doesn't pay for their child being educated in a state school..because they are a teacher.

The point is most people are just fed up of service costs going up and up...and a service that used to be affordable is now out of budget, even when you work to earn yoor money, as you did previously.

People arguing about costs etc, ridiculous, as the poster will still work her hours, just won't be able to afford to visit the hairdresser. And if there are no customers from the people that work 12 1/2 shifts, week in week out. The nurse will still be in employment. And the ones comlaining they have a business and over heads and have to charge so much to stay afloat, will not stay afloat, as it is not possible for customers to keep up with. That simple.

Then you would have to stop the explains to customers why uou have to charge so much to stay afloat, you would have to engage with the people that instigate such charges for a business to stay afloat.

JayJayj · 13/12/2025 02:05

A mobile hairdresser would probably be cheaper. I pay £80 for full highlights and a cut and blow dry plus curled. My hair is long.

CheeseIsMyIdol · 13/12/2025 02:04

OhDear111 · 12/12/2025 21:53

It’s a business. It has to make a profit and pay staff, electricity, NI contributions, rent, Council tax, products, and other overheads. Nurses don’t pay any of these. You could possibly find cheaper but the high street will go if we all bail out. Their costs aren’t their fault. £150 take home is decent. How many days do you work? What band are you on? I think your take home is decent and I bet your pension will be amazing in comparison to a hairdresser.

Exactly.

She or he is entitled to charge what they see fit. Your wage is irrelevant.

Rosealea · 13/12/2025 01:47

Wow. I'm £62 for an all over tint, foils, cut and rough blow dry and that's more than I'd like to be paying 😳

Jammin8 · 13/12/2025 01:42

QuirkyMoose · 13/12/2025 01:04

Honestly? I think it's time for us to start embracing our glorious silvers.
Hair dye is so expensive to get done professionally, so not good for your hair/scalp anyway, and grows out so darn quickly.
I've seen a number of women who have been dying their hair for decades who have suddenly just embraced allowing it to go completely gray/silver/white and my God doesn't it just look amazing on them!
I think you probably have to get one more color done, (professionally, for them to dye all of your hair white/silver so that when your roots grow in, they'll all match), but one more professional dye job beats going every 6 to 8 weeks forever, doesn't it.
We gotta stop doing this to ourselves.

Edited

Never! Grey ages me terribly. I colour mine myself with Clairol from the supermarket. Very easy and quick and a good result. My mum is 82 and still colours her hair and has no intention of ever stopping.

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