Why do women pay so much for haircuts

I’m exactly the same as you, and feel very lucky I can do this. I’ve had no kind of training but I like cutting hair and do my parents’, partner’s, kids’, and have cut up to 12 inches off my own hair in the past. I also colour it blonde myself as paying £1-200 every few months for a cut and colour wasn’t going to happen. I can’t believe the mark up to get your hair toned when it’s so cheap to buy yourself!

I think a lot of ppl lack confidence and don’t want to muck it up just before they go back to work etc. which is fair enough and totally understandable. My attitude has always been - it’ll grow back, or I can amend it, or if it’s really bad, resort to going back to a salon to tidy it up for me.

I like changing the look of my hair but I get that some ppl like to stick to what they always have and wouldn’t feel brave enough to try it themselves, particularly a complex style. They would also probably not welcome any attention from a new look if it wasn’t exactly the same, as ppl tend to comment when someone’s hair looks different.

A friend asked if I’d cut her hair based on what she’d seen me do, so I’m glad it doesn’t look too DIY, but I’m reticent at doing it for someone else in case they were to hate it!

I am really glad I can do it myself though and would advise anyone to at least give it a try. 💸💸💸

Cutting your own hair works for some people, but double crowns, fine textures and layers can be complicated.

Laughing for what reason? It can’t be the grammar. “Pretty much unanimously” is grammatically correct, because the phrase “pretty much” correctly modifies the adjective “unique”. As in “nearly impossible”, “almost boiling” and so on. Perhaps what you meant was that the phrase is stylistically incorrect, which many people believe, or that it’s logically incorrect, which is true. From a grammar perspective however there’s nothing wrong with it.

Is it possible that one’s misplaced confidence in understanding grammar extends to a misplaced confidence in one’s ability to cut hair well…? ;)

👏!

If there are any hairdressers reading this thread I bet they are thanking their lucky stars that OP does cut her own hair as she sounds rather unpleasant. Also, in spite of the poll showing the majority of people have voted YABU she still insists that she is correct and seems incapable of understanding that not all the women on MN have the same views on paying to get their hair cut, that not all of us are sucked in by "marketing" and in fact some of us enjoy paying to have our hair cut.

Incidentally, I must remember to ask my exDH how much it costs to get his hair cut, I suspect he might actually pay more than I do. I also don't know a single woman who cuts her own hair.

Well it's impossible for me to do that, given that I don't have a ponytail as my hair isn't long enough. Shock, horror, not all women have the same sort of hair.

I live in London with a cockapoo, I get fleeced every 6 weeks paying £80 to get my dog groomed.
when my kids bleat on about no jobs because of AI I say, “learn to cut dogs’ fur”

There is no way I could cut my own hair. It’s really difficult to get all the same length. If you can OP fair play to you. Just because you can doesn’t mean everyone can. FIL cuts MILs hair to save money (not through necessity they have plenty). It looks OK. SIL got MILs hair cut by a hairdresser for her own wedding, it looked amazing. MIL wasn’t allowed to carryon with hairdresser. I pay £30 for my annual haircut.

I have fine hair that requires layering to look hall decent every 6 weeks. I pay £48 for the salon owner in Greater London area. Even though the salon is full it’s a small business that’s struggling in today’s environment.
Good if you can cut your own hair, but I can’t and I’d b lost without this vital small business

That method only works for one hairstyle (shoulder-length shag), and one type of hair (straight). I’m sure it looks lovely on her, but would not work at all on my hair (which is very curly and thick, and has a lot of blended layers at the back which my hairdresser spends 30 minutes finessing once she has trimmed the initial length and dried it off, to avoid choppiness and steps in the line of the bob. Physically impossible to do on your own, unless you are a contortionist.

Eh? How have 'marketing companies' done that? And who is paying them to?

I do think some hairdressers charge an extortionate amount and there’s no justification for it, regardless of skill. 12 years ago I stopped going to my usual salon because I was charged £85 for a full bleach, toner and trim - and that was with a slight discount! I dread to think how much it would be now. I did briefly go to another salon, which was slightly cheaper., but I gave up dyeing my hair and eventually started cutting it myself.

I couldn’t do highlights myself. £100 (I get a discount as I am friends with my hairdresser) every 8 weeks or so feels like a bargain, I don’t have an amazing head of hair and he prevents me from looking scruffy.

I have during covid. I have wavy hair and usually sport a dragged through the hedge backwards style which I managed to recreate almost perfectly.

I cut and dyed my own hair for years after a bad experience when I was young. Last year I went to a hairdresser who is a friend, as I wanted to go lighter because of the grey. Shes been amazing. It costs £70 each time around every 8 weeks. I've never had so many compliments. My hair has never been in such great condition. I actually love my hair now. Experts are experts for a reason.
I had to cancel in November as my son was in hospital. And I couldn't get back in because of Xmas. My hair now looks terrible, but im booked in for next wk and im so excited!

I have a Bob, but my hair is not quite straight. Needs skilful cutting to ensure it looks good when I blow dry it.

£110 every 7-8 weeks for cut, colours etc. I've been with my hairdresser since she was a trainee in-house 20 years ago. She a high end skilled stylist and worth every penny.

Believe me she is one of the cheaper ones where I live in our city as she just on the edge of the city. Ger further in the centre and that price goes up significantly

I cried when I seen my hairdresser after lockdown restrictions were lifted. I had to do my own colouring which I hate. There was no way I was going months without my colours being done, having now got grey showing through if not regularly coloured.

I would not cut my own hair. No way. I'm a Leo, my hair is my pride, and joy so that wasn't touched in lockdown

....because we're worth it 😁
(When we can afford it)

A surprising amount of real venom on this thread!

I also cut my own hair, and have since covid, because I cannot bring myself to pay over £50 a pop, but luckily for me I have a good natural colour, no greys and I don’t require layers or anything complicated. It’s long and has a natural wave so easy to trim.

I quite agree that not everyone is as lucky and many people enjoy a bit of ‘me time’ at the salon so that amount of money is worth it for them. You do you! And @twiddlingthumbs69 your hair looks lovely and i could never recreate this cut at home for myself so you have made the right decision!

Why do women pay so much for haircuts? The same reason they might "pay so much" for nails handbags, clothes, meals out, cosmetic procedures.... Etc. Because they want to. Because they can. Because they deserve it. Because it's nobody's business but theirs. You go on thinking your hair game is as good as a professional's. I used to meet women like you when I was a nail tech. Their nails were usually horrendous but that's their perogative. It's called free will and we all have it. Also many of us are too busy living full lives to GAF about petty shit like this.

It is easy to cut hair🤭🤭 you do you darling. I’d love to see the state of your hair. It might be easy to cut random bits off but it is not easy to cut hair properly.
Nothing to do with marketing, most women are intelligent enough to know that it is a job much better trusted to a paid professional. All about finding one you like.

I pay $63 plus a tip every 5 or 6 weeks to a lovely guy who does a wonderful job on my hair and chats to me about books we both like and movies, and asks after my children and grandchildren. He's about fifteen years younger than me and I've asked him never to retire until I shuffle off this mortal coil!

To be honest, I don’t think it’s that easy to cut your own hair into a nice style. Yes, I could probably trim the front of my hair if it was really necessary to do so, but I wouldn’t want to wield scissors to the back of my hair, it would probably look horrendous after I’d finished. No, I’ll leave it to the professionals. Yes, I know that we women tend to pay a lot more to have our hair cut and styled generally speaking, but what is the alternative if we don’t want our hair to look as if it’s been done by an amateur? ( I know I would look as if I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards if I cut it myself 😂).

I paid £150 for a cut and colour today and loved every minute. No way would I give that up to butcher my own hair.

I dye and cut my own hair, it's just a plain Bob and a bit shaped at the front. It's also wavy, so looks fine even if not done perfectly. I have cut my DH hair and youngest DS hair since covid. My eldest has layers on top and a fade, so he goes to barbers for that as bit beyond me. I've saved thousands over the years.