To be slightly cross at my hairdresser

[Lieveke77]

So i had the full works done at a new hairdresser £60, and i bought some products. Total was £95. I paid with a card and gave him £10 cash as a tip as he had done a splendid head massage while washing. He wasn't pleased... Am i out the loop here because it wasn't enough or should you not tip a hairdresser anymore???

Where's the OP?

Huh? She posted this at 1:25 ish perhaps she's doing something

My hairdresser rather classily says goodbye leaving you with the receptionist before you've started to pay, but I usually tip £5 or £10 depending on whether it's just a cut or a colour as well. Some of the more junior stylists hang round the till while clients are paying which I think is a bit off really.

I don't tip my nail lady, don't know why really. I just didn't know/think to the first time so I never have. I do buy her a nice Christmas present though, and a wedding present recently also. Plus I see her every fortnight so it's pretty expensive as it is.

Salon prices are so extortionate I think it's mad to tip on top. If I had my hair cut and coloured in a salon it would be over £100 (three colours and a cut). Does the average person have so much spare cash that they can afford to bung 20% on top of £100? If so I think that's brilliant and they should also be tipping everyone in the service industry that they deal with and bung charities a nice wad too.

Another one who doesn't tip - my hair costs bloody minimum of 80 a pop! That includes service charge in my opinion!

This is a joke right?

Seeing as the OP hasn't been back

Flowery my hairdresser does the same. I see her about every 4-5 weeks and she is lovely and does a good job. She really cares and takes her time. She charges £37 for a cut and I always leave a fiver on top.

But then, we have chatted to one another on a monthly basis for a couple of years now. I know she is super careful with money and saving for her own house with her boyfriend. I like to think I am helping a tiny little bit!

I didn't tip the last time I went.

The reason being, they changed the price because they said my hair was longer than they thought (despite me actually walking in to to make the appointment with my hair down).

But I'd taken the day off work to get that done (amongst other things) and had driven an paid parking so I just got on with it.

The card machine was broken so they advised before the appointment they could only accept cash ad told me the price. So I'd included the tip when taking the money out. With charging me extra I had no money left for a tip .... and she seemed pretty pissed off.

I don't tip at all.
Most hairdressers rent a chair. So as I understand it it means the money you pay goes to them anyway, they don't just get a basic wage.

looplou9, I think in some places they might rent a chair but most are employed by the salon.

How did you know he wasn't pleased? My haircuts are $35, and I tip $10, $20 if it's Christmas time.

Thanks for the many messages and povs. I handed him the £10 over the till after giving him my card for the total payment not too much in view and told him that that was his too. He non verbally pulled up his nose so to say! He is the salon owner together with another guy. I thought I might have done or said something wrong but reading all your messages I think it was rude of him now. Not sure what I'll do next time he did a good job so would like to go back. Hmmm maybe not tip him and see how he responds then?

I never tip the salon owner.

The girl who was he's my hair yes bit not the owner who has cut my hair.

I can't figure out why he screwed his nose up unless he had a sudden itch!

Anyone who thought £10 wasn't enough for a tip would never get another tip from me, if I even saw them again which is doubtful.

Salon owners earn enough. That same ten pounds would have been much appreciated by the lower paid hair washers.

I used to go to a cheaper local place where it was £18.50 for a cut and blow dry so I would just hand over £20 but I now go to a 'trendy' place where it's £40 on the nose for the same service. It's a better cut but I'm not on a huge salary so a £40 haircut every six weeks totally wipes me out. I give a couple of quid when I can and I'll leave £10 or so at Christmas.

The girl.who washes my hair fgs!

AFAIK you don't tip the salon owner, so maybe that's why he seemed offended?

My salon has a jar under the counter for tips which are then shared amongst the staff, so I hand over about 10% in cash & ask for it to be put in there.

loopylou I wish that was the case with renting a chair, when I was hairdressing left due to crap pay you was lucky if you got 40%.

The most the last place I worked offerd 35% of ypjr weeks earning.

its a bad industry for long hours and bad pay and dodgy dealings

I think that's your answer, it wasn't too small he just thought it was beneath him to get a tip. I've often seen people say they won't tip the owner.
My hairdresser is the owner but there's just her, so not sure where that falls in etiquette! I spend half the cut worrying about the paying. She has a top of the range car outside and much better holidays than I do, so it does seem a bit odd if she needs tips.

You're not meant to tip the owner but it was incredibly rude of him to turn his nose up at it. I once inadvertently tipped an owner because I didn't realise she was the owner, but she accepted it with good grace.

He sounds rude. Part of his job is customer service and he should maintain a polite attitude regardless of what he might think privately. If he didn´t want the tip he could give it to a younger member of staff such as a hairwasher or sweeper-up who would certainly be grateful.

I´ve never heard about not tipping an owner, although I suppose it makes sense.

I love my hairdresser and tip her 20 to 25 € for a €75 - €90 service when I go every 6 to 8 weeks. I love going and I think it´s money well spent. But if I couldn´t afford to tip her much, or at all, I wouldn´t expect a lesser service. The tip is just my way of saying thank you.

I think it's mad to tip when the cost is so high in the first place. I just think that there's no way the materials they use justify what they charge, so they've got a bloody nerve expecting a tip on top of the huge mark up they've already applied.

I don't go to the salon as often as I probably would do if it was just a set price. The whole tipping malarkey puts me off and they always hang around the till when paying the receptionist, they remind me of homeless people begging. Ridiculous when they are senior stylists at Toni and guy! ??

Captain Ankles, there are more costs to hairdressing than just product costs!! Rent, liability insurance, advertising, on-going training. If they're self-employed they get no sick pay, no holiday pay. If they're mobile they have their travelling costs and down-time to take into account.

A decent pair of hairdressing scissors will cost over £200.....

It's not an overhead-free business.

AFAIK you don't tip the salon owner, so maybe that's why he seemed offended?

He took it though, didn't he, so I don't thing that's why he was rude. Once I handed a tip to a hairdresser, who replied politely, "Thank you so much, but I am the owner so I don't accept tips."

I do tip my hairdresser (in the States) who is the owner, but he has been cutting my hair for over 20 years and he has not raised his prices in a long time so I like giving him a bit extra.

Ten pounds for a 60 pound service is fine, even by US standards.

Wow - he was being rude.

I have never tipped at the hairdressers because it's just not the done thing around here I suppose?? Tip at restaurants, cafes etc but never the hairdressers. Bit paranoid that I should tip now though...