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

I don't agree with this. If you go grey prematurely maybe as society expects young women to not be grey so you stand out with grey. My friend has embraced the grey and it looks fantastic. I'm lucky as we go grey late in my family. I'll wait to see what it looks like before reaching for the hair dye. Older women I work with don't look younger with dyed hair, they just look like older women with obviously dyed hair. Also people with the three week ruler stripe of roots would be better not dying it at all. It looks terrible.

But as others have said, it's the consumables as well as heat, light etc.

Grey blending is very on trend these days.

You are paying £22K per head to staff on average if you are quoting £110K for 5 people.

That is appalling.

And stop inventing figures. On top of the inflated figures, you do not pay £52 VAT, as your profit would be much higher if you reported £52K VAT to HMRC

Seriously, you are full of crap.

The hairdresser doesn't earn the full 170 pounds from the service, though.

Could you look at some more natural dyes. I think they have some. They may not last as long. Also different brands may have a different reaction. Could be your scalp got dry and using a coconut based shampoo would help. Just make sure you patch test first.

Also depends on the person. Some people really suit grey, others not so much. People also tend to have different shades of Grey and going Grey young can be disheartening for some. I'm 60 and just starting to get Grey hairs at my crown which only needs a touch up, but some women iI know start going Grey in their late 20s.

It might be worth looking at a natural henna hair dye as it might be kinder to your scalp.

@Soddingcat I won't quote your first post as it was quite long, but I wanted to say that it was very interesting.

You say there are 6 people working there, including you, and the wages bill is 110,000. So that's an average is 18,600 per year, which seems very low. You also say My profit last year was £ 49.000 of which the corporation tax bill was just over £13 000 , my wages come out of this. So does this mean that you earned 36,000? Or are your wages included in the 110k bill and your profit is on top? How much do you actually take home, if you don't mind me asking? I think we see the prices and just assume the salon owner is raking it in!

Your list of expenses is very interesting; I didn't know there would be quite so many.

FWIW, it sounds like your business is very well-run, with the training you pay for and the fact that you are busy.

You could post anonymously on your local facebook group asking for any mobile hairdressers within x number of miles & see what feedback you get, then you can vet the replies & message them to see what they would charge & check them out/recommendations. Any change of hairdresser is a risk but sometimes it works out.

A lot of us are feeling the pinch & the unfairness of it all so don't feel like you have to justify yourself to anyone x

I moved to a much smaller salon and changed to a T-bar, with a full head once or twice a year. The costs in the salon I used to go to just went up exponentially and I just didn't want to pay it any more. Painful!

I pay £140 for a cut but only go every 9-12 months
joys of curly hair

It’s totally disheartening. I have a colour melt every second month and I’m £100 including a cut and blow dry and it’s not even an affluent area.

the whole situation is completely sickening. I’m a decent nhs banding who works full time but my colleague who is the same banding but works part time actually has more ‘income’ than me each month thanks to benefits topping her up. It’s her choice to work this because of the benefits top up and I’m seriously considering doing the same.

It depends on the company. In the company I work in even the men in their forties are using Grecian 2000 or similar products to look younger.
Redundancies happen every few years and it's the older crowd who are targetted as they are more expensive. One colleague I know knocks 5 years off his real age when anyone asks. Once you hit your fifties, it's like Logan's Run.

Whereabouts? It’s £165 in Altrincham. Admittedly a nice town centre salon, but it’s my main splurge and only go 2-3times a year. Work in NHS like OP so no regularly getting nails done etc possible.

I think you've got to do what feels right for you. Personally I hate my greys but neither can I justify spending that sort of money at the hairdressers when I've got so many other things I'd rather spend my hard earned cash on so I literally buy an inexpensive H&B box dye....job done

I go to a salon and it's £60 for hair dyed or £80 for cut and colour. She is incredible. I recently was living away and had to pay £130.00 in London and I was expecting it to be good bit she made a shit job of it. Could have cried. Stick only to the same hairdresser now. Shop around, there will be cheaper

I think you have to accept a full head of highlights and a cut is a lot to have done and maintain.
I'm a costume/ dressmaker with 30 years experience- it would take me closer to 2 days to earn £170.

@SpinningaCompass What a load of rubbish! Nothing worse than dyed hair with white roots showing! And they do. If you have good skin, a good haircut and wear clothes that suit you, you are sharp! Absolutely not shunned in the workplace. Chic hairdo with well cut hair is a great personal attribute and no one gives a stuff about it being grey. Other things such as intellect matter more anyway.

This ☝️ I chose to embrace the grey. It’s so liberating and our hair is then in better condition. I love mine. You could try it and if you really dislike it, you can try colour again.

It really isn't for most people. And in a brutally competitive job market, the last thing older women need to do, frankly, is look even 'older'.

Y'mean all those high street money-laundering outfits happy to have naff-all footfall? A rather different economic situation.
Round here, the proper barbers are often v old businesses in owned, not leased property, they dry cut & do it fast so their throughput knocks a salon into a cocked hat, as well as being lower cost - no shampoos, no conditioners, no treatments, no towels. Their premises can also have a much smaller footprint & consequently lower rateable value because they don't need a colour area, or space for infra-red dryers, or nearly as much storage space for towels, shampoo, chemicals etc, & when did you last see a barber's with a customer loo?

The nearest one to me is barely wider than its door, still has signed photos of 70s & 80s celebrities on the walls, has 3 barber chairs, one wash station that I've never seen used, no appointments, no waiting area, no reception desk & a door at the back that leads to the staff loo & a cupboard, even the staff brewing up equipment is in the shop & you definitely won't be offered a drink while you're in the chair.

Also, as someone who used barbers for years, I can promise you that they don't cut with anything like the same accuracy or consideration for how it will grow out as a hairdresser does, not least because the barbering market accepts a "need" for frequent visits - most of my male mates go at least once a month, some go weekly & nipping in for a "tidy up" before a big night out is unremarkable

I saw a TikTok the other day where someone from Boston has started driving 2 hours to a hair salon in Maine to get her hair done because instead of being $500 it’s $170. Turns out it’s the place I also go to.

I had no idea people paid so much elsewhere. I thought $170 was pushing the boat out!

I would try to find a mobile hairdresser who will charge less than renting a chair in a salon. Don't stop having highlights, just shop around for it. Try non-high street places too, they are paying a premium for location on their business rates.

My full head of highlights on bra strap length hair is £130. I am in Yorkshire and use a fantastic woman who has her own salon in her garden.

There is no way on earth I can weave my own highlights and put foils through my hair. I am not Mr Tickle. She is an incredible colourist, my hair has changed a lot over the last 10 years and colour too.

Recommend Madison Reed. They will mix a custom colour for you. I liked the brown they did for me, when I used to do my own hair. I would use them again.