Hairdresser prices

[Quornishpasty]

Before lockdown I had my hair regularly done. Full head of highlights, cut, blow dry and was charged £90 (she comes to my house). I had my first appointment after lockdown and instead of having the above I had a permanent colour just on the roots which took less than 10 minutes to paste on then a cut. She still charged me £90. I was quite surprised but didn’t say anything as she had just announced she was pregnant and how hard she had found it during lockdown as she got less than £1k from the government throughout lockdown. She now wants cash in hand because she said the government haven’t helped her so why should she give them anything. I don’t want any of the money back obviously, just don’t want her to take the piss and charge me the same next time (If indeed she is taking the piss!). I have had highlights for so many years I don’t know what a permanent colour would cost.

Always clarify the cost beforehand.

I don't know her circumstances, but if she only got £1000 from the govt because she has a limited company and was paying herself dividends instead of a proper salary in order to avoid tax then I don't think much of her now not declaring her earnings in order to evade paying tax.

Why didnt you query it?

@Molly500. Absolutely I should have done but she just had said she was pregnant and had found income so hard that I felt I couldn’t then query it.

@wowfudge, yes I’m not sure if her circumstances either. She was extremely upfront saying when the baby is born she will be back at work after 6 weeks and will claim benefits and not declare she is working so would like cash in hand going forward. Saying all this ‘out loud’ I’m thinking I need to find a new hairdresser, she is either just having a desperately hard time or is just completely out of order. She said it with such confidence I’m thinking the latter.

If she paid herself in dividends rather than wages she might not have qualified for furlough money.

But going from that to saying that the government does nothing for her is a huge leap. Taxes benefit the individual who pays them and society as a whole. Our taxes pay for the NHS, schools, nurseries, the police, fire brigades, libraries, state pensions, adult social care, overseas aid, the armed forces, youth services, roads, rail, street lighting, public housing and a host of other things.

I bloody hate tax dodgers.

If you just had bleach highlights a tub of professional bleach costs £7-10 developer £5
If you had bleach and another colour a tube of colour is max £10.
As a hairdresser her prices are way too high

It's possible she hadn't been self-employed for long enough to qualify for govt help. Who knows, but I have little sympathy for someone who is proposing to defraud the benefits system at a time when record numbers of people will legitimately need benefits as they have lost their jobs.

@dollface19. Thank you. I did think so. It wasn’t even bleach, she called it a permanent colour and it was a ‘smudge’ so it took longer for the root colour to grow back and it blend in with the existing highlights that were growing out.

@cariadlet 100% agree. It is very immoral.

It sounds to me as though she charged what she was expecting to get from you although you had a cheaper colour this time. She has a strong sense of entitlement by the sound of it.

I think I'd find a new hairdresser. She sounds like a CF.

The whole limited company and their tax affairs is a mystery to me , but LBC has a phone in about it and many are not ' tax dodgers ' and it's just an easier way of paying tax yearly : many do have a big bill to find and lots pay up.
Obviously there are always the ones that manage to wriggle out of it some of it , but the ones on the phone in were a bit put out that it's all seen as a way of not paying anything! 'Cash in hand ' has been going on for years and years and the government departments are well aware it happens. Hence trying to get us all to become a cashless society..
A mobile hairdresser might not have a machine to take cards?

I'm not condoning any of her actions and I hate People that don't pay their way in life but not all self employed people are dodgy either and if their are rules around limited companies then someone made those rules and maybe the government should change how they pay tax and themselves if it's so easy to abuse.
Many haven't received any help from the government at all the last few months , so no wonder they feel left out or why should I pay etc.
it's not how I would think , but I can see why people might , especially if they know other people have received thousands in grants and I have heard these stories from people too. Some are better off, but many are not.
If you don't feel comfortable paying cash then go to a salon where they only take cards.

@The80sweregreat

The whole limited company and their tax affairs is a mystery to me , but LBC has a phone in about it and many are not ' tax dodgers ' and it's just an easier way of paying tax yearly : many do have a big bill to find and lots pay up. Obviously there are always the ones that manage to wriggle out of it some of it , but the ones on the phone in were a bit put out that it's all seen as a way of not paying anything! 'Cash in hand ' has been going on for years and years and the government departments are well aware it happens. Hence trying to get us all to become a cashless society.. A mobile hairdresser might not have a machine to take cards?

I'm not condoning any of her actions and I hate People that don't pay their way in life but not all self employed people are dodgy either and if their are rules around limited companies then someone made those rules and maybe the government should change how they pay tax and themselves if it's so easy to abuse.
Many haven't received any help from the government at all the last few months , so no wonder they feel left out or why should I pay etc.
it's not how I would think , but I can see why people might , especially if they know other people have received thousands in grants and I have heard these stories from people too. Some are better off, but many are not.
If you don't feel comfortable paying cash then go to a salon where they only take cards.

Completely agree with you. DH was a limited company until May last year before going back to being self employed. He was no better off either way but he did it because it was an easier way to pay tax (which he did - and still does - and many others in his industry did too!)

However when COVID hit despite having been self employed for 11 months it wasn't enough to qualify for assistance and he received nothing despite being advised to shield due to health reasons.

Understandably he returned to work as soon as he could under close guidance from his consultant. However we know of people in a similar field who were self employed and took the whole time off (some still off now) and received thousands in a big chunk to enable them to do so.

So not everyone who is limited is a tax dodger I assure you!

However from another point of view, your hairdresser has clearly overcharged you. I also wondered whether she might be still claiming Jobseekers/ESA from the government if she's saying she's unable to work for whatever reason which could be another reason to insist on cash.

Either way; find a new hairdresser!

@The80sweregreat. . She has always taken bank transfer, I transfer the money across for her so in this case it’s nothing to do with her not being able to take card payments. I know that plenty of people do cash in hand and obviously do pay tax ok it too. She is definitely planning on not paying any tax, she said so. But yes, either way it’s time to find a new hairdresser.

The problem with any kind of tax dodging is it ruins it for the rest of us who all pay our way in life and that includes the self employed who do the right things and then discover they are one the 5 percent who cannot claim a penny while other people are getting loads of help! No wonder they are fed up and worried.
I'd forgotten that people can be paid by bank transfer : however, this is another way that things can be checked up on I suppose!
Cash will be king for many people from now on and it's up to people to say no to doing it even with a big reduction in VAT being offered up ! Hard to say no when it's thousands you could be saving on a building project or something similar .. it's a tough one to ' police' then. Becoming a cashless society is clever. It's all to stop fraud rather than being any real help to the public as a whole of course.
I guess I can see all sides, but when you've always paid your way and your taxes and bills it does make you think why do I bother which isn't good either. The virus and it's fallout will just make us even more divided.