To ask if you tip in a salon?

[Theonlywayisscotland]

I never tip a stylist in a salon or a beautician after a wax, etc. Am I wrong? DM recently told me I should be giving them at least a fiver on every visit, but I feel a bit uncomfortable doing that. I feel that the prices are quite high in salons these days anyway, but there’s always an awkward silence after I’ve paid as if they expect more. Should I be tipping?

feel that the prices are quite high in salons these days anyway

Yes the prices are high but the staff are generally on minimum wage (Ireland). My sister is a beautician and even after doing her diploma, numerous courses and having 10 years experience, all the salons she worked for paid absolute rubbish. In the end the only way she could ever earn a decent living was to go out on her own.

Do you tip in restaurants? Kind of the same IMO, it could be an expensive restaurant but the staff probably aren't being paid well.

I’d love to live in Japan where you pay for a service and tipping is considered rude. It’s a minefield here, so you tip restaurants but not bar people? Hairdressers and taxi drivers? But not sales assistants in a shop. Not the dry cleaner.

New York was ridiculous. I wouldn’t mind if the service was good but you were expected to pay 22% tip whatever the service (mostly crap). Round of drinks for $60 dollars? The bill has the suggested tip at 22% circled with a smiley face. For pouring wine! Cheeky. I factored it in but service was so bad in the end I tipped 10% and told them why.

I'm £120 for a cut and colour every six weeks plus a £5 tip.
Waxing/eyelashes are £90 every five weeks but only a £2 tip.
Nails are £30 every three weeks. Don't know why I don't tip her.

I give them all Christmas gifts too . Probably better paid than I am!

Nope. I'm forced to pay for extras I don't want when I get my hair done, so I'm not tipping. In general I dont think we should tip someone for doing their work. If they are self employed, they should charge the appropriate amount. If hired then the employer should pay fair wages.

I loathe tipping as an idea, but I do tip hairdressers as they have a tips box on the counter! (and I tip taxi drivers and waiters)

Not quite sure why these get tipped more than others.

I always give a fiver of £7 to the hairdresser and especially masseur (it's hard work pounding my bones). Mind you, I don't go to places which charge 60quid for just 'cut and finish". I always went to those with reasonable prices. (Tony Guy was a waste of time and money)

I always tip, especially for waxing! However I had a ridiculously expensive hair cut with an unfriendly hairdresser last week and absolutely did not tip!

Rezie
I'm forced to pay for extras I don't want when I get my hair done

like what? Can you not just say you don't want it and don't want to pay for it? I'm just curious what it can be. I only had to tell them once that I don't need toner as it washes out after 3rd wash and the £15 for it is not worth it, and they dropped it. (It was in London, I had my hair bleached).

Yes. About 20%

Yes every time. A fiver.

No !

Can't believe some of these prices

I tip a fiver or a cut and blow, or a tenner for a colour.

A couple of quid as a tip - not a fiver or tenner. However _ like a previous poster said, some of these salon prices are eye watering.

When my hairdresser was in a salon I did as I knew how much she had to pay for her chair in the salon
She now works from home and I pay her the rate she charges.

Depends how well they treat for me. Head massage when washing giving tips on styling etc. If none of this happens I don't tip. I pay enough for just a haircut. I'll tip for good service

@RoboticSealpup I just make sure I have about £30 in small bills with me when I go along, then when I get to the counter and pay and it's £100 I pay with a card and then I go find the girl who washed my hair and give her a fiver and the stylist and give her £15 (somewhat more if I was getting highlights or balayage or something more time consuming). I grew up in Asia and there the salons have a little board with loads of names of stylists and other employees where you can stuff the cash into a slot under their name, here in the UK I just hand it to them and say thank you very much, I really appreciate it.

I never questioned it really since DM drummed it into me!! Reading this thread has been eye opening!

Never. I pay enough thanks so I never have cash only card.

Only sometimes. I often have things done by the salon owner. Might do more often if it was someone young / not the salon owner. £60 quid for an hour of glueing on eyelashes - that's pretty good pay already if you ask me.
My mum brought us up to always tip hairdressers - but she was paying £10 for a cut and adding on an extra quid or so.
These days you can easily spend £100 on a haircut without going somewhere particularly fancy.

I pay £45.50 for a wash, cut and blow dry. This is the absolute maximum I can afford, and my hairdresser is self employed. I tip maybe once or twice a year, but just a couple of pounds.

Always.

I've worked in both a hair and a beauty salon and some staff are on such poor wages that it makes up their wage. In fact, when I was working in the hair salon I wasn't getting paid at all because I was an apprentice (even though I did everything but cut hair) so the only money I took home was what I had received in tips.

Yes if your haircut is £15/ £20 then giving a couple of quid on top of that seems fair.

When your haircut and colour is £130 it seems a bit trite handing over £2 yet at 10-20% the tip would be another £13-£26 quid on top. I often have the salon owner too.

I used to tip my hairdresser when she was charging £36 for hair cut as it was easy to round it up to £40. Then she became a manager and the price went up by £10. I haven’t tipped since.

Tbh, salons should offer something extra for us customers, if they want us to come back. Not the other way round.

Yes I always tip 10% or will round up. E.g. 55 becomes 60. Tip hairdresser and for a wax but I rarely get salon beauty treatments so it's not too expensive for me and I figure it gets me better service than I otherwise would because I'm not a regular customer.

No chance.

It’s really not expected or mandatory so those of you who are stretching yourselves to do it can stop.

They set a price, you agree to it or not. I don’t have unlimited money. My hair costs £60 every eight weeks, not as much as some sure but it’s still an amount I have to budget for. I also drive 10 miles each way and have to spend a fiver on parking.

I occasionally tip if I’m feeling flush and have a few quid spare kicking around in my bag but it’s very rare. I loathe the concept of tipping, and I loathed it even when I was working in jobs that took them. I hate the idea of someone who has budgeted for a meal out stretching themselves beyond what they can reasonably afford due to some bullshit idea about courtesy, it’s unnecessary in our country with a set minimum wage (and in America it’s a way for businesses to offload the cost of paying staff to their customers). It’s exploitative.

I tip when I want to and it’s not expected and the service is above and beyond as a way to say thank you, but I would never tip if it was expected and it’s plain wrong that somehow a US cultural norm of it being mandatory to tip has crept over here when our systems for paying staff are completely different.

Not to mention the inherent unfairness that so many other jobs who work damn hard don’t get tipped, so there’s no argument for why certain jobs should beyond ‘custom’.