To think hairdressers are CF?

[AuntyBess]

Passing on PPE charge to customers.

Have been going 30 years to this chain.

In the last 10 since going grey, I've visited every 17 days damn you fast growing hair currently £58 per visit. Then hair cut every 3 months at approx another £50.

AIBU to think they should absorb this cost?

Sharon osbourne used to go every week to get her roots done - god knows what that does to your hair . Apparently she’s given up and gone grey. -always an option.

My hairdresser is supplying everyone with a personal pep kit. Disposable towels, gloves, mask and small hand gel.

That's a colossal waste. Disposable towels? Small hand gel? Why? Either use a bug bottle of handle or everybody can use their own? Or maybe even wash their hands? Even though they also have gloves. This is madness.

I've got an appt for monday so have put a box dye on my hair today. I have a pixie cut so take 15 mins tops but have been told they're not doing dry cuts so will have to have it washed.
DHs new clippers come tomorrow with an 8 attachment so this may be my last cut. I've cut DHs hair for a while now.
My cut will be probably double the 12 quid it usually is and will be worth every penny.

Have i missed the part where OP said what their business is?
Just wondering how they can afford to buy extra PPE without putting their prices up
Also, hand gel... It is widely known that washing your hands is far more effective and hand gel is only until you can wash your hands. If you're in a salon can people not just wash their hands?

I think £5 is too much. My local hairdresser is charging 50p for customers and £1 for non-customers (not sure why they would be in there).

Depends on the salon. If the prices are kept low anyway then I don't think it's unreasonable to pass on these additional costs. If they are normally making a very healthy profit then it'd be cheeky to put these costs on top. My salon has already said they will not charge extra for their PPE. They also have ample space to more than respect the SD guidelines so whether the customer chooses to wear PPE (provided free of charge by the salon) or not is their choice.

How is it cheeky to charge? Why should they absorb the cost - if the cost of hair dye went up then the cost of my highlights would too ... We just don't usually see this because it's all built into one price.
@Mintychoc1 some of us did and sadly have an orange tint to their hair now that will cost 20 times as much to fix

Why the insistence on berating the OP for having her roots done so regularly? That is completely her choice how often she goes and how much she pays each time.
All this "oh, embrace the grey" as if she's vain or foolish for wanting to keep her roots fresh is so very irritating.
Perhaps she works in a role which requires her to look very groomed and 'presentable' at all times? I can think of several roles off the top of my head that would require women to look groomed at all times- air steward (obviously not at the moment!) working in the beauty industry, or a front facing media role would all require her to keep on top of her roots. There are i imagine, many may more.
Now while this is not a particularly feminist view point and it is very sad that some women are still required to do this, it is an unavoidable fact in some industries.

OR, there could be another very personal reason for her desire to keep on too of her grey. For me, I have vitiligo, extensively on my scalp and as a result have large patches of bright white hair in random places. This requires very regular visits to the salon. Some of you may think its vain or that I should just accept it. But my white patches developed at times of extreme stress and trauma and their presence brings up very painful memories for me, so I get my hair done regularly.

My point being - stop bleating at her about how often she gets her hair done. Its unnecessary and it's not actually what she asked.

BUT, she is BU for objecting to the increase due to PPE 😂. I think this will be the norm for some time now and we all just have to suck it up.

OP, I think you'll find it hard to find a salon with availability who are not doing this. HABIA (the hair and beauty council - kind of like a union for salon workers) have advised all salons to pass on the cost for PPE. They emailed me about it a few days ago. I'm p/t freelance with only a handful of clients due to other commitments and I've already had texts from 2 of them asking if they need to buy a mask before I arrive or I am going to have them available for sale.

My hairdresser is a small local chain in real danger of going under with the loss of 60 jobs, with the owners about to lose their homes, because their crooked insurance company won't honour the pandemic clause in their policy, and the landlords won't allow a rent holiday. I think I can stretch to the extra £3.

I am self employed as a Pilates instructor. When my 1/1s resume I will be increasing my costs to cover additional cleaning equipment/PPE and I will be reducing the time of sessions by 10 minutes to allow for the additional deep cleaning required between clients. Despite (very welcome) government support my income has dropped off a cliff. We will all be paying increased costs for many services, it’s just one of the long term consequences of the pandemic. I am having my hair cut and coloured on Wednesday, I am fully expecting an additional charge for PPE

I bet your hairdresser can't believe their luck having you as a client OP.

I finally gave in to pressure to get my grey sorted and went and asked for a colour on. My lovely hairdresser told me not to as it would cost me a fortune in maintaining (I have very quick growing hair too) but advised I had lowlights/highlights (not really sure what they are) but it's fantastic, really hidden the grey without any roots.

By the time I finally get mine done on the 22nd of July, it will be a grand total of 8.5 months since I last went. I am having the foils whatever they are but I am really going for the cut as what was an ear length bob is now flowing down my back!

My hairdresser is a great guy, much in demand and rips no one off.

a lot of the extra cost isn't just the mask and clothes , it is less appointments per day, not having assistant wash your hair while hairdresser is cutting someone else's same person will need to do wash and cut, no leaving person B to treat person C then checking B colour going back to C speaking to D about what they want getting assistant to rinse B's colour then wash D while they go back to blow dry C then finish B
so spaced out chairs, no overlap of appointments one person treating you from start to finish then cleaning everything completely before next client even in the shop no sharing equipment or borrowing stuff etc
it is the same at dentists etc it is not economically viable long term you can't see 33% of the people at old price when your costs are above what they were previously as even basic PPE like masks and gloves cost 5-10 times what they did before covid even buying at trade prices in huge quantities
so if the daily costs of running your salon were £300 and you saw 20 people paying £30 each you make £300 gross profit ( not real profit)
if because of coivd your costs go up to £325 a day but you can see only 10 people you are now making a net loss of £25 if you charge everyone an extra £5 for PPE you now have a gross profit of £25 per day it is not going to work, no one can live on £25 a day

@SimonJT £40 for a skin fade takes the mickey! Although, maybe you're in London, in which case fair dos. I'm £20 in Glasgow. Which is as much as I'll pay, especially as ideally it needs done every 3 weeks to keep it looking fresh.

[quote MaggieAndHopey]@SimonJT £40 for a skin fade takes the mickey! Although, maybe you're in London, in which case fair dos. I'm £20 in Glasgow. Which is as much as I'll pay, especially as ideally it needs done every 3 weeks to keep it looking fresh.[/quote]
Yep, central London!

My friend had a message from her dentist the other day- they're charging £40 PER PATIENT for PPE!!
They always wear gloves and masks as part of their job anyway so it's definitely a rip off! She told them to forget it and has gone elsewhere!

But... it's part of the cost of cutting or colouring your hair. It's a cost for providing the service you're paying for. Why should a hairdresser subsidise your cut/colour from his or her own pocket? Especially as they've been one of the hardest hit by lockdown.

I don't get why anyone would believe their hairdresser owes them. If we want a service, we pay for it, or we don't have it. Of course they have to adjust their rates, or they'll go out of business.

My hairdresser has just started back up and asked all of her clients to wear a mask when they come and she'll supply anti bac liquid for their hands on entry to her home and she won't be offering a drink so to bring our own. If we don't have a mask she will charge us £1 for one to cover the cost that she's paid for them. I think this is fair.

Also it's madness to me that you go to the hairdressers so often. I'm booked in every 14 weeks for a cut, colour and blow dry and that's more than enough for my bank balance lol

"It's not the actual cost , rather the principle.

I'm absorbing the extra costs that my business is facing."

^ This.

I think it would look more palatable to up prices by a few quid. The OP hasn't said it's an affordability factor, so I don't get why it matters how often she goes or what she spends! It's a principle thing and would piss me off too, but I would suck it up for now. I once went to a v posh restaurant and will never go back there again as there were so many cheeky additional charges...including a "seating" charge!

My dentist charged me £70 for PPE on Thursday, two back to back appointments at £35 extra for each one. That kind of increase is not sustainable to most customers.

The cost of ppe is huge so no wonder everything will be more expensive.
I am going to colour my own hair from now on and just go for a trim : it's not as good , but much cheaper. You could give this a go? As long as you follow the dye box rules and do a test first for any allergies, the rest is straight forwards enough.
I think many places will struggle and they will put the prices up and it's not their fault either!

I run a small local salon.
On my own, we now have to supply extra PPE plus the fact stock has still risen in price in lockdown & bills like everyone else has still had to be paid for salon
i.e rent, electricity, as not all company's have been accommodating throughout this.
Yet you expect us to absorb the cost 🤨 us smaller salons just can not do that.

£70???

I have been cutting everyone's hair in the house since lockdown and now know how easy it is and literally how anyone could do it. Hairdressers are seriously overrated.