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?

Rush is a franchise company and is the only hairdresser in my town that ever has posters etc advertising discounts . They are usually nearly empty. My stepdaughter fell victim to them in another town funnily enough with balayage as well and it ended up at 200 Pounds. We could all go to some cheap little old woman type shop in a precinct and get what you pay for 😬 or you pay and get what you want - great colour, a great cut , free prosecco 😀. However what you always do is look at the price list beforehand and ask what it is going to cost you . It's a given that someone in a small town will pay less than someone in a city . I pay 170 pounds every 8 weeks for a half head highlights and cut and finish with a colour lock in with a senior colourist and the top stylist . This is in an affluent town in the SE. All the salons of this type are about the same price.

And how much do men normally pay, who on average earn 20-25% more?

@peak2021

And how much do men normally pay, who on average earn 20-25% more?

I don't know - ask Eddie Izzard who has comparable hair ?

@peak2021

And how much do men normally pay, who on average earn 20-25% more?

But those haircuts are also available to women, anyone could get a mobile hairdresser to do a short back and sides for a tenner. If men were getting the same as the op I assume the price would be the same.

There are always so many people on threads like this who act shocked that anyone pays more than £30 for a haircut and insist that a mobile hairdresser colours just as well as a senior colourist at a top salon.
Yes, some salons do rip people off, but lots do have better stylists, and actually a lot of people are happy to pay for the whole experience of visiting a nice salon, rather than having someone cut their hair in their back garden.
Are these people also shocked that people buy clothes at different price points too?

@Isthereaduckinthehouse

I don't live in any of the areas you mentioned. It was not a 'stealth boast' - just took the time to google prices in my local area and report back

The price that OP paid is in line with what I get charged. I agree it's really expensive and would love to find a cheaper option that still does a good job.

I think the cost of the tint was cheeky - it was just roots not a whole head. That's the only thing I think she can challenge.

Rush has very clearly advertised prices. Maybe there was a mix up with the OP but you can’t fault them for clarity on their prices. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To those of you who buy and do Olaplex at home, what product do you get? I've just googled and there are lots of options: Number 3 etc? And how do you do it? Please and thank you.

Happened to me after the first lockdown. I was desperate to get my hair sorted so booked Rush. My cut and highlights came to £270 - like yours they added toner, treatment, Olaplex - none of which I asked for

Seems they have a reputation for adding extras to top up the bill and this is the time that they know clients are desperate to look good again

Thankfully, I've found a hairdresser who does a much better job at less than half the price from her own home

So sorry you are surprised - getting a shock at the till is always really difficult to deal with but I think the charges are in line with what i've been paying for complex colour in London.

I think you could feed back to Rush that the cost of your treatment wasn't made clear. Happy clients return again and again. People who feel like they have been ripped off don't!

My hairdresser is always really upfront but she is an independent stylist and her openness and passion for colour is one of the reasons that I've followed her all over London for years now.

If you want some recommendations for some good stylists in central London where you will get great personalised service and be able to build a long term rapport drop me a message I would suggest both my stylist and the salon she originally worked in (several friends still go there but I prefer to follow my stylist).

I realise this is starting to sound like an advert it isn't. I'm just a creature of habit who really appreciates a long term relationship with my hairdresser.

Its an insane price.

But why did you not confirm the price in advance - especially as you weren't sure what it was going to cost?

Even paying £180 for a haircut when you’re having to save up for an iPad seems over the top. It’s your priorities I guess, but £180 or £300 seems equally mental for a haircut

I've been to Rush before and wasn't impressed at all by the service (it was Christmas, my stylist was really hungover, the colour and cut both rubbish) so wouldn't go back.

But for a complex colour and cut in Central London this isn't completely outrageous, I've budgeted about that for a cut and colour - hoping its a touch less though!

I think your stylist should have been really upfront about the cost and next time you'll know to be direct and ask.

And I thought the £60 I paid for a cut and blow dry was a rip off. My hair was cut lopsided in length and only layered on one side plus I was sent home with wet hair as apparently my wavy (?) hair would go frizzy if they dried it anymore. Had to blow dry it at home and attack it with scissors to even it up.

I've spent the morning reading the trust pilot reviews and I'm suddenly no longer looking forward to my appointment next month. There have been multiple people saying they book under one price then get there and it's doubled +

Is there a fail safe way of ensuring they don't pull this crap on me? I've budgeted 150 for full head balayage and a toner and can't part with a penny more.

I'll not be happy if I go there, they swap the stylist or announce a steep increase and then charge my card if I refuse the inflated rate.

Those reviews are bloody depressing.

@thenerveofsome, I would make it very clear when you arrive for your appointment that you have a budget of £150 and will not be spending any more than that, and then ask them to explain exactly what you can have done for that price.

Or cancel and book in elsewhere!

Olaplex treatment isn’t cheap. London prices are crazy as it is. I can understand the price as it really doesn’t surprise me. I fully understand not wanting to say anything at the time. I’ve been in that situation before but didn’t want to look silly so I just paid it and took it on the chin. I really don’t think you’ll get any money back (if that’s the outcome you were hoping for from sending the email) as they will just say you should have queried it at the time. Take this on the chin and in future make sure you have the prices before they start! ☺️

I think that's expensive. I don't have balayage but either highlights or full roots and the toning treatment (which might be the same as yours), cut and mine came to £175 this time.

If you like the overall effect would it be worth pricing this at other salons to price check?

I’ll go against the grain here (I live in London and am used to the prices). You knew that the balayage was £130 and you presumably knew that the cut and blow dry is charged on top of the colour? Therefore budgeting £50 for the cut and blow dry was very conservative as I don’t think that £65 is particularly expensive for central London salon prices for a cut and blow dry. The root colour cost should have been explained to you and the “olaplex” does sound like a classic upsell, but then they told you the price in advance.

So you’re not U to be shocked at the overall price but breaking it down it is only the root colour that is the issue.

@waterlego Great advice, I'll do that. I went to them last March and did opt for the olaplex but received a new customer discount.

For all the good it did me, because the manager still tried to hard sell me some overpriced shampoo and conditioner afterwards because my hair was 'damaged'

I had to laugh.

Not everybody can afford to drop £300, I certainly can't. Salons aren't the only ones affected by covid so whilst I understand them wanting to recoup their losses they should be able to do that without ripping people off given how busy they are now.

Do let us know if you get a response from the salon OP, please do question the second head of dye (wtf!)

I'm sorry this happened to you and I really hope you haven't been left in financial hardship because of it.

Tbh, I am not surprised.. Central London salon and you had a lot done.
The cost for each individual thing they've done is what I've seen in many central London fancy salons.. but what is not ok is that they didn't talked to you about it before hand and how much it is going to be. For the oplex treatment for example.. did you know they are going to do it? It's not standard and always an extra. Still, the cost for it is insane but without agreeing this with you they can't just go ahead and do it.
Another odd one is the full head of colour and full balayage? Sounds excessive.. was that agreed with you? You must have spent hours in the salon...
You live and learn!

Jesus that's ridiculously expensive. God I love having friends who are stylists!

I don't understand the full head of tint? I definitely be querying it.

It doesn’t sound too far off to me because bayalage is expensive and the cut and blow dry would always be separate so I’d expect over 250£

I went to a similar place but in Sydney- had my hair done for a special event. Colour, cut the lot. I even had a separate consultation the day before to go through everything. Well long story short the bayalage was not golden and brown but turned out ginger. I had to go back to the basin where the stylist put a toner on for ages to try to get the colour more normal. I ended up with a block of brownish hair in a bowl cut. I still had to pay for the wonderful treatments I had been promised. It was a few hundred dollars. So less than yours but I know that feeling of just having to pay. And I looked awful. And it was for a wedding. So all photos show me looking like I’d made no effort.

I have been to Rush once a few years ago just for a cut and finish and wasn't impressed. It seemed like a fast food version of getting a haircut, just get clients in and out as quickly as possible and the stylists seemed uninterested and unhappy to be there. I think I may have gotten an offer at the time (in Manchester) which is why I went, but they offered an extra conditioning treatment which was over £10 extra and to my memory seemed to different than a regular conditioner. I expect your high price is the result of both being in London and after they reopened, I think they have probably stopped all their usual 'offers' to recuperate some costs.

My old hairdresser (not London) was expensive. Before the pandemic, I used to pay £186 for a full head of highlights (top colourist), toner, Olaplex and cut and blow dry. I was fine with that.

However, at my appointment last July when lockdown 1 ended, their prices had gone up to £309!!!! I’ve not been back. Absolutely ridiculous price hike!! They’ve gone from expensive to extortionate.

I now have a very good colourist come to my house on her day off (£130) and then have a separate cut/blow dry/treatment at another hairdresser’s home salon (£44)