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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?

97 replies

Itsallaboutme3 · 27/12/2015 15:42

Had my hair cut and coloured recently. Really pleased with it and limed the lady who done it. Was i being unreasonable for not leaving a tip. I felt it was expensive enough (£85) but have been thinking since was i being mean?

So do you tip your dresser and if so, how much?

OP posts:

PrimalLass · 28/12/2015 16:00

But why should I show extra gratitude to my hairdresser than I do to the local shopkeeper? I already pay her twice what I earn in an hour.

kslatts · 28/12/2015 16:02

I always tip my hairdresser if I am happy with the result. Yes, he or she is providing a service, but Sibia a taxi driver and waitress and I would tip them so why not my hairdresser.

LynetteScavo · 28/12/2015 18:17

Well I guess I'm just not grateful enough for my cut/colour.

Yes, I know I should look elsewhere.....

On the other hand I do tip DSs barber. £8 for a perfect cut is well worth the £2 tip.

I have also been known to tip car wash people.

And waiters and taxi drivers. Maybe because it's easy to add another couple I pounds.
But adding another rennet after I've listened for half an hour about my hairdressers new house/holiday and them tipping £5 I can hardly afford every 3 weeks suggests I should find a cheeper salon. Maybe I'll ask her if I should

I maybe I correctly

NapoleonsNose · 28/12/2015 18:34

I have always tipped but seeing as a basic dry cut has crept up to £25 I'm thinking that I might stop. I've been seeing the same hairdresser for over 15 years and she is now co-owner. If I had my hair washed by one of the juniors on low wages, then I'd probably carry on tipping.

xmasseason · 28/12/2015 18:35

I have tipped a few times in the past as I thought it was the done thing, but don't tend to now. It's too confusing. Just set a price and be done with it.

Sallystyle · 28/12/2015 18:39

Yes, a fiver usually.

Owllady · 28/12/2015 18:44

Same as u2
My hairdresser and my daughter's hairdresser are both lovely though and its difficult to find a hairdresser you like imo so when you get one, I like to keep them the (or I end up not going at all!)
I don't either of them expect a tip though, so no one is being unreasonable !

Takeparacetamolandstopmoaning · 28/12/2015 22:26

I don't undertake the looking elsewhere. Any decent place in my small city charges similar- £100odd for all over colour and trim. I could pay less at granny places but it's going to be a fat worse experience. There isn't anywhere where i could pay more for better for less the same. It just is what it is, like most places.

I notice most people on those thread who tip and are happy pay very little for their cuts

PeasinPod1 · 29/12/2015 11:47

I always tip, around £10. Everyone I knoe tips and am stunned by the amount of people here who don't.
To those saying why is it different than a shop assistant etc. Does a shop assistant spend anything from 30 mins- 3 hours personally tending to you? Nope. Your wear your hair 24/7, if they do a good job and you are happy (and also want to ensure they are happy so do the same quality service next time) just leave a tip!!

KaraokeQueenOfTheNorth · 29/12/2015 11:49

Do people tip plumbers, electricians, the person who delivers and installs your washing machine etc? Should I have tipped the man who fixed my roof? Genuine question as I seem to not understand tipping at all!

PeasinPod1 · 29/12/2015 12:11

I generally tip anyone who gives a personal, dedicated service that involves time of more than say 1 hour and does a good job. So yes to the people you list (sometimes I hand them a few bottles of German beer instead, their delighted smiles say this also goes down a treat!) but if they haven't helped, I don't i.e. repair man came to fix oven, spent 45 mins looking at it, but left for another day as he had to order a part he didn't have, for that I didn't tip.

I also haven't tipped my hairdresser the times he was running 20-30 mins late.

BarbaraofSeville · 29/12/2015 12:36

DP used to work in a bike shop where they could spend up to an hour or more helping customers choose an appropriate, correctly fitting bike, clothing and accessories. They also serviced and repaired bikes. All for a few pence an hour over minimum wage.

Very very occasionally a customer would bring them a crate of beer as a token of appreciation, but cash tips were just about unheard of.

And what about carers who wash, dress and feed people day in day out, also for minimum wage - no-one tips them.

Those of you with your 3 hour, £100 haircuts are already paying for that service and the skills and experience of the stylist. No need for any extra.

hellsbellsmelons · 29/12/2015 14:29

I don't usually but like to at Christmas.
I wanted to leave £5 for hairdresser and £5 for colourist but they had not change and I only had a £20. So they didn't get one this year.
But then I pay over £100 for a colour and cut.
I don't have it cut often though.

blueribbons · 29/12/2015 17:02

I can't think why it's so amazing that people choose not to tip - there have been several mentions here of stylists and hairdressers on minimum wage, but plenty of people who use them are also on minimum wage, and haircuts are then simply a necessity from time to time, not a luxury. The prices have gone up so much that certainly where I live, it would be impossible to find a place doing a basic cut for less than £20 or £30, unless you went out of town to the kind of place that does pensioners.

I always have a dry cut to save costs (but even that is nearly £20), and I don't go often because of how much it costs, so when I do go, I simply can't afford to add a tip on top. I have taken home made goodies in from time to time, but there's no way I could afford to tip - that would be money I need to pay bills and buy food, so to me I'm afraid it sounds like nonsense to say people should always pay over and above the service cost, just because that's what some services have come to expect.

PrimalLass · 29/12/2015 17:14

Does a shop assistant spend anything from 30 mins- 3 hours personally tending to you? Nope.

Do they do it for free? Nope. I pay them.

unimaginativename13 · 29/12/2015 20:24

Your not paying them! Your paying the salon!

Why do so many people thing the whole amount goes to the stylist.

Your in the salon for 3 hours total cost is £150. 2 hours of that is labour / 1 hour development and washing. Total cost of wages would probably be about £14.

And also tips have nothing to do what a person earns.

unimaginativename13 · 29/12/2015 20:28

Blueribbons. When you say ' even that is nearly. £20'

Someone has been to college and trained to cut your hair is charging £20, which you clearly think is too much. How much do you think people should be charging for this sort of thing?

FarrowAndBallache · 29/12/2015 20:41

I tip the young lad who washes my hair.
The BEST head massage ever.

PrimalLass · 29/12/2015 21:51

unimaginativename13 As I have said, my stylist is part of a family business. They were always the village 'rich' family. She has a house that is much better than mine. She is brilliant, and well worth what I pay for my haircut, but it would feel very wrong to tip someone who is a) better off than me, b) a friend and c) a professional. I don't tip my dentist either.

jorahmormont · 29/12/2015 21:53

My hairdressers are really cheap and do a great job (they're usually a gents salon but cut my hair and a few other girls) so I do leave a tip, but my haircuts are only ever £12 or so.

merrymouse · 29/12/2015 22:02

I usually don't tip. I think the logic of tipping is to encourage better service, but I'd rather be told the price up front, receive a reliable service (rather than be compensated for bad service by having the option of not leaving a tip) and reward good service with repeat custom.

blueribbons · 30/12/2015 22:00

unimaginativename13 I do think £20 is expensive for a trim which takes around ten minutes, and I'm afraid the amount of time the hairdresser spent training doesn't change that. I find it expensive in terms of my monthly income, and that's my personal viewpoint.

Also, jobs like waitressing, juniors in salons etc can understandably benefit from tips because they are working in an unskilled job - if, as you seem to be implying, all those years of training end up with a hair stylist earning the same pittance and having to rely on tips, why do they do it?

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