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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not tip my hairdresser?

255 replies

MrsSatsuma · 17/03/2011 19:49

Just wondered what everybody else thinks about this - as I always go to the hairdresser on my own, I've no idea what anybody else does! I occasionally tip my hairdresser (eg if it's £37 I'll round it up to £40) but not always - came to £75 last time as I had highlights too and I didn't know what to do so just left it.

I don't want to tip and risk offence, if it's against convention, but I don't want them to think I'm mean. On the other hand it's pretty expensive! As far as I know people don't tip for other luxuries, like massages or manicures (do they?) so I assumed hairdressing was no different. I don't tip taxi drivers as a taxi ride usually cleans me out anyway! and I do usually tip in restaurants provided I've had good service.

Would love to know what others do!

OP posts:

feeblephoebe · 19/03/2011 15:09

i pay over £120 for my highlights etc so I dont want to tip

I have sneaked around it by saying can you take a tip off my card and she always says no, for some reason I cant remember :) and I say oh sorry I dont have any cash on me

YusMilady · 19/03/2011 15:19

Well, I went and had my hair done and the experience was ruined, ruined I tell you, by the knowledge that all that friendly smiling service (coffee? 'complimentary' head massage? magazine?) was in pursuit of baksheesh. Stylist followed me to the till as usual, helped me on with my coat. She didn't exactly put her hand out but it wasn't far off. Soddit, I'm staying at home from now on, cutting my own hair.

microfight · 19/03/2011 15:39

I tip a fiver too!

microfight · 19/03/2011 15:46

"I don't really see why a tiny number of jobs deserve a tip whereas most don't."

because you do pay service in every industry but most have it within the price. If you get your car fixed you pay for parts and then labour (service).

tip=service

hence some bills say no service charge included. If you get good service you should tip simple as that. If you get poor service you shouldn't.

noodle69 · 19/03/2011 16:01

Yeah but what about other minimum wage jobs where you get no tips at all? I dont think its fair.

MrsGuyOfGisbourne · 19/03/2011 16:01

YANBU - I have stopped tipping, tho' occasionally will round up, but not on every occasion. With restaurants if there is a service charge I don't tip. If there isn't then I may add a bit on the credit card bill if there has been exceptional service - i expect good service to be included in the price I pay. Sometimes when I wnat to reward special service there is no way to do this, the amount is just there with no point to add on, so I can't. The employers should include the 'service charge' in the cost, like they do in garages etc.

frgr · 19/03/2011 16:08

microfight, are you saying that the one time i went and had a £100+ haircut, whilst i was a student, on minimum wage myself, as a birthday present from my family... service wasn't included? That your comparison between getting a car fixed is a valid one? I'm pretty sure the "parts" (i.e. non labour part) of my haircut don't come to the cost of the haircut. I'm pretty sure wages and overall service is factored into hair salon prices e.g. cost of wages, electricity, rent for the salon etc.

So I'm not buying that explanation at all.

If I were, why is this done for some minimum wage service industries and not others?

I maintain that it's shit salons, having poor reward structures. As per IMissSleep's experiences.

KangaRue · 19/03/2011 16:11

If I'm happy with the result, I usually tip £5 to the hairdresser & I always give the person that washes my hair £1-2

KangaRue · 19/03/2011 16:12

If I'm happy with the result, I usually tip £5 to the hairdresser & I always give the person that washes my hair £1-2

KangaRue · 19/03/2011 16:13

If I'm happy with the result, I usually tip £5 to the hairdresser and I always give the person that washes my hair £1-2 :)

1Catherine1 · 19/03/2011 16:18

because you do pay service in every industry but most have it within the price. If you get your car fixed you pay for parts and then labour (service).

Are you suggesting that within the £30 charge I paid for the last haircut I had which took a whole 20 minutes I did not pay for "service"? Lets see, she used a pair of scissors and washed my hair, now I know for sure I can buy a pair of scissors and cover the cost of the water and shampoo with less than £10 of that and although energy costs, rent and rates are going through the roof I doubt it exceeds the remaining £20. Of course some of the money I paid was for the service of getting my hair cut.

Socially it seems that anything that is considered a luxury is tip-able as where if it isn't then you don't. I wouldn't tip my local garage as I only went there because legally I'm obliged to have an MOT and I must do that every year. My hairdresser is another matter.

I went to a different hairdresser last time than my usual one as it was closer, it was more expensive and I didn't feel as if she had done what I'd asked her for, I was unhappy although polite and left no tip but felt I'd been judged for doing this. At my regular hairdressers (Which runs a walk and wait policy so its not a fancy one) I will usually leave a tip, the cut usually costs me £23 and I pay £25.

My brother (who has always been fussy with his hair) has a rule about tipping. He has a standard price he will pay to get his hair cut depending on what he wants doing. He sets the price and if it comes to less they get a tip if it matches it or exceeds it they don't get a tip. He obviously changes the price while in the hairdressers depending on how good of a job they do. My OH does the same and expects to pay £15 which is standard around here but when we visited my parents and he got his hair cut near them he surprised the man in the shop as the tip was £9 out of the £15.

quirrelquarrel · 19/03/2011 16:44

Hate going to the hairdressers, so hardly ever go, and when I do it's the one five mins away- about £20ish. Seems comparatively cheap, but considering I used to go to an independent one which charged £7 for a really good job, it's quite a step up!

The last time I went, about two years ago, I asked them to thin my hair out and redo the layers, because it was horrendously thick again (weep- damn you telogen effluvium! come back, horrendousness!), a simple enough task...she was chatting all the way through about having worked in Toni and Guy and 'having gone to the top" etc. When she'd finished it looked a bit weird, but I tipped her £3 or so. Went home and it was terrible! Completely wonky and up and down and all around...and the thing is, it always happens with that hairdresser. Grows out so quickly so it's not serious, but I can never get tips right. Tips are for good work, not experimental efforts

TeaOneSugar · 19/03/2011 16:48

I don't tip mine, she's a senior stylist so at £39 for a cut and blow dry, that's quite a bit of money compared to my available disposable income.

I buy her a nice box of chocolates or a bottle of wine when I go for my christmas cut & colour though as a token gesture of appreciation.

beautyspot · 19/03/2011 16:56

I don't tip hairdressers and find it absurd that some people do. I don't tip the bus driver either.

If I'm in a restaurant and the service has been bad I remove the "optional service charge" too. That's a horrible practice that has managed to creep in to some places. I object to being advised how much (if any) I should tip.

PS To those of you who think you are tipping by putting on your credit card - you're not. Well not until tax etc has been taken out of the amount and then it depends on how honest the manager is.

quirrelquarrel · 19/03/2011 17:05

No one tips the bus driver (£3.20 return, who would!), but taxis- yes, I do. They're usually so nice as a rule- maybe I want to go another way round but it's blocked by traffic, so they go another, longer way and then knock one or two pounds off at the end.

Oh and in restaurants, I don't really tip. If I have a few pounds left over I might leave them there. But I think it's awful cheek when there's a £5 or so service charge! Five pounds isn't a ruinous amount, but when they're already charging £3 for water and £4 for "locally sourced organic luxury bread" ("defrosted sainsburys basics")....

deliciousdevilwoman · 19/03/2011 17:12

I tip my hairdresser between £5-£10 depending on what I have had done. Before I started having my hair done by a freelance hairdresser, I used to tip the hairwasher £1-2. Many moons ago, I was a Saturday girl at a salon, and those £1 tips for hairwashing were really appreciated when I was earning less than a £1 per hour!

I don't tip following a manicure/facial though.

I tip at restaurants, cab drivers (only if I like the cut of their jib!)and take away delivery people

BelaLugosiinStripes · 19/03/2011 17:50

Given my salon has for the third time in under a year displayed their "annual price increase" sign on the counter, the rare occasion I did tip is now going to be never.

I now pay £60 for a colour and cut (the cut is £26) but my hair is fine and takes about 5 mins to trim so there's no way I'm going to add on 10% voluntarily!

FattyArbuckel · 19/03/2011 17:57

10 to 15% for me
our hairdressers treat me and my dd like royalty so it seems like a tip is the least I can do!

mamalovesmojitos · 19/03/2011 17:59

Always tip hairdresser 10%. Tip at restaurants unless the service is poor. Sometimes cab drivers if they are nice/clean car etc, but only a couple of quid. Don't tip anyone else.

FattyArbuckel · 19/03/2011 18:07

beautyspot you say you find it absurd that people tip - but it is customary in the UK.

I find it mean not to tip and would never eat in a restaurant with someone who refused to tip on principle. TBH I wouldn't even be friends with people who don't tip. My aunt's boyf picks up other peoples' tips from the table when we eat out and reduces the amount he contibutes accordingly. So if you think you have left a tip whilst eating out at a restaurant with him actually he has nicked it for himself and the poor waitress gets nothing. He is a wealthy man with a fab lifestyle but I would go out of my way not to eat out with him.

FattyArbuckel · 19/03/2011 18:09

OP I definitely tip for massages and manicures unless the business is owned by the person who does the massage/manicure. It is not usual to tip the owner of a business.

Takver · 19/03/2011 19:07

I don't tip as such as my hairdresser owns the business, so it would feel a bit odd. I do tip if their girl from college washes my hair, or leave a bit extra to go in the xmas party fund when I go in December.

exoticfruits · 19/03/2011 19:16

I never do-it costs £80 in the first place!

GnocchiGnocchiWhosThere · 19/03/2011 19:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JoBettany · 19/03/2011 19:19

I always tip my hairdresser 10%.

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