Should I be upset at paying £300 for haircut

[charlieginger1987]

Hi ladies,
Have waited 7 months to get my hair done and finally went today. I got a full head of balayage highlights, a root tint to cover my greys and a cut and blow dry. The website was really unclear and it said £130 for a full head of balayage. Knowing sometimes that hairdressers add optional extras I budgeted £180 just in case. I got to the till, the receptionist seemed awkward, didn't confirm the price straightaway, so I asked her what it was, and £300 appeared on the credit card machine. I can only guess that she didn't say the figure out loud because she was embarrassed to charge me that much. I didn't want to say too much in front of a full salon full of people but I simply said "wow that's expensive?" She shrugged and didn't say anything but "your e-receipt will be sent directly to you". I thought I'd best pay and then query the receipt later as I already felt so embarrassed and caught off guard.

Looking at the receipt they have charged me for:
£130 full head of balayage
£65 full head of permanent colour
£65 ladies cut and finish
£35 olaplex
£5 tip
Total: £300

Am I right to be completely shocked at the price of this?? It did take 4 hours and I have long thick hair but really? Have you ever heard of a haircut this expensive and fellow hair stylists, does this price sound reasonable to you?

Needless to say I have sent Rush an email but am I being unreasonable questioning the price of this haircut?

some hair dressers are like going to a private members club - you find yourself adding charges by saying yes to stuff without realising what you are agreeing to. I think you might find you have requested what you paid for but you should raise it as a complaint so that they make it clear in future that as they are offering stuff to customers they also let them know the costs. Use this to help with your fear of confrontation - in future if anyone asks you do you want extras say so can you just tell me what it would cost if you give me all these services as I got massively ripped off by a chain store who just kept offering me stuff and I didnt understand what the final price would be.

Rude! They should refund you the £5 tip you didn't add on yourself, and most of the £65 for the "full head" which was a root smudge. Bollocks!

Wow!! £35 for olaplex is mad.. can’t see how they can charge you for all the colour services separately.. isit a really posh salon?

I pay £92.50 for pretty much exactly what you had done, £300 is extortionate and ridiculous. I really hope you get some money back!

Sounds like the salon I used to go to near my former work place. They were a chain and the prices seemed to increase significantly every couple of months. However they gave you a printed breakdown of what you were having done before you started.

Those Trustpilot reviews! I’m amazed anyone goes there at all with reviews like that - it would hugely put me off.

We gave a Rush in town, noticed they've increased their prices, used to be 45 for cut and blowdry before lockdown now its 65. I've got a voucher to use that was a present, now I'm wishing I could refund it

My once a year treat is a colour, highlights, cut and blow dry at a posh salon. It costs £100 including the tip. There must be a mistake surely? Go back to the salon and talk to the manager.

Sounds like a lot to me. A few questions (I don’t dye my hair yet).

If you wanted, say, just a balayage but nothing else, would they let you book that or would you have to pay for other services too? That seems disingenuous to me. Surely there’s some economy of scale having lots of things done at once so there should be a package price.

Do chain salons charge loads in other places or do they charge more in London for the same thing?

Incidentally, my high street in outer London suburbs is chock a block with hairdressers so prices tend to be fairly low here. That said, I don’t think I’m their favourite customer because I just go for a cut and blow dry and not the whole works like the OP. It has definitely become more of an industry with all the different types of treatments so if you just want a basic cut you might end up feeling like a second class citizen. But I guess I can always go somewhere else as there’s plenty of choice, especially after the rush on bookings has settled down.

I think we all need to be aware of businesses trying to recoup revenue from several months of closure. I hope you OP get a refund for atleast the hairdye part of your treatment.

I think it's worth reporting Rush to the local council's trading standards because by law their prices should be on display.

Did you ask at the start of the appointment a cost?

The final cost seems fair for what was done.

Why charge for 2 colour services beats me. Also why the f would they charge for blowdry? It should be included in the price of colour. And a freaking tip?!?! I do hope they reply, OP!

It is a lot to spend on a haircut/ colour, but tbh you should always ask for the full price before you have anything done.

Standard practice in my experience is that you pay for the cut separately to the colour, and if you needed a tint before the balayage you would have probably had to pay for that too.

You went to an expensive salon in central London.

I would never pay that much for my hair, but you had an involved colour treatment and a high end salon. Tbh you should have checked the pricing beforehand.

I pay £5 extra for the full Olaplex, treatment, I haven’t been since last October and paid £71 for full roots, full head of highlights and lowlights, Olaplex, cut and finish.

@TheGoogleMum

I've stopped bothering with hair colour becuase I resent paying so much on my hair. I guess fancy hair is just for rich people now!

I buy wella koleston and either 6 or 9% off ebay and do my own blonde roots every 2 months. Costs me around £25 and at least I know the colour will look right and I wind waste half a day in a salon!?Use a proper hairdresser every 5 months for a trim.

I paid £185 this week for full head highlights, tint, cut and blow dry. That was with 25% off and at a Headmasters in south west London which is a similar chain to Rush so is probably a good comparison. Price does depend on the stylist and mine isn’t the most expensive in the salon. I expected to pay that much and whilst I know it is very expensive, I’m happy with my hair. But £300....

I once got all the suggested add ons (toner/olaplex etc) and the full cost would have been $450 so I said: just the colour please for $300 and the blow dry. She replied dramatically: ok so just the BARE MINIMUM?

The cheek of them! Hundreds of dollars to be looked at like I'm a cheapskate and then call it a bare minimum.
It really annoys me how hairdressers add so much on and we feel almost intimidated to say 'no, this is too expensive'.
Btw I just buy my own olaplex and do it.

To make it "funnier", I got charged $450 at the till and was too embarrassed to say anything. Came home and called them - turns out they charged me for all the extras without actually giving me those extras as I said I didn't want them 😂

They said they can refund or give me $ credit to use in the salon. You can guess which option I chose....

When I reads Rush, it made sense. I had similar but it was not balayage. I was having root tint to blend grey roots and if lights s plan was gradually going from dark dyed hair to grey. Got talked into “cleanse” during my evening appointment. Left that evening after their treatments with orange fried hair and had the pleasure to pay £375. When I went to have it “fixed” a conditioner and they out on BROWN hair dye, and CHARGE me again, I try to warn people. I think this is a common tactic at this chain or at least in my local rush

People seem to be suggesting Rush are some fancy “high end” salon. Are they not just a bog standard chain like Toni and Guy? They have salons all over the country. I used to have Balayage (including root cover up), cut and blow dry done in one of their salons regularly and it definitely did not cost me £300! I

@Mousetown

People seem to be suggesting Rush are some fancy “high end” salon. Are they not just a bog standard chain like Toni and Guy? They have salons all over the country. I used to have Balayage (including root cover up), cut and blow dry done in one of their salons regularly and it definitely did not cost me £300! I

I should add I ended up changing salons because they were a bit average and boring.

It sounds like other posters are saying the price is right for the area and the brand of salon but I can start to see why some posters on higher incomes are struggling if a hair appointment is coming to £300+ and is standard for where they live.

My highlights cost me £80 and I have to save like mad to afford to afford the appointment

Restyle, balyage and blow dry is £110 here.

My hairdresser is in SW London (not a chain - owner owned small salon). She puts two colours of highlights through and a light brown tint between them to cover the greys. With a cut and blow dry that used to cost £145 pre pandemic; it has gone up to £160.

I think you were fleeced op but also that you should have been clear in advance with a chain. I think the stand outs for me are the tip and the Olaplex. But I always give my hairdresser a tenner - because she's brilliant, I've gone to her for more than 20 years and I think my colour is better than that of friends who go into London to swanky salons and pay twice as much. My apt was at 10.30 on Monday and in an emergency she'll always fit me in.