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?

I think they've screwed up with the extra full head colour.

I would agree with that, but I think it depends how far down the root colour comes. You can often have colour from root to jaw line and then balayage from jaw line down if the hair is long. In that case I think a full head colour is appropriate as it’s the same amount of colour as a full head if someone had a Bob really.

As I said upthread I pay £35 for roots and that’s about 1 inch of roots. I think if I wanted the colour to be pulled down a lot further they’d charge me for a whole head colour on top of the balayage. Which would make the cost similar to the ops.

It's the tip I'd be asking about. Did they ask if you'd like to give one ?
I always tip- to the hairdresser and to the junior who washed my hair. But I give it in cash. It's not added on to my bill. Like when some restaurants add it to the bill, the person serving you might not get it.

I'm sure they've lost a repeat customer by being so greedy.
But caveat emptor- buyer beware. You should have checked first.

Take a photo of your hair and you'll have it to show your future stylist in a cheaper salon how you want your hair.

I really want to see a £300 hair colour and cut. I spend £15 on a wet cut by the lady who comes to my house to do the kids . I have in the past had £120 hair bills with highlights and cuts but I can't afford the upkeep so have gone natural. Old age is adding its own free highlights

Thankyou @HaveringWavering !!
What people don’t realise is we have spent years and years it’s not easy if it was people could do their own hair !
Constant training courses new colour techniques new cutting courses it’s a never ending update with hair and where people pay cheap cheap prices their stylists obviously don’t know there worth x

Usually the best thing to do is only pay the part of the bill you agree with at the time and carry on the conversation later. It’s terrible you have been charged 2x colour and a default tip.

@thenerveofsome

Fucking hell, I got to your third paragraph and was going to jump to the comments and reccomend RUSH for next time as they were very reasonable then i saw that's where you went. I only had balayage and a toner though. I refused a hair cut as there's a place nearby who do a basic trim for £12.

I can't believe they did that, well I can...but still. I'm booked in to have my hair done by one of their salons again next month. I'll be making damn sure they don't try to pull this on me too.

£300 is insane.

I'm sorry that was sprung on you afterwards.

Please come back and let us know how you get on.

Why didn't you confirm before she started how much it was going to be?

@Vindicated2021

I think they've screwed up with the extra full head colour. I've just googled my local shop in Brighton. A mid range stylist for all your treatments bar the full head colour without tip is £205. £300 though..... I would have cried!!!!

They didn’t, a root regrowth colour is the same as full colour price wise and is full displayed on their website. The op paid the correct pricing, the op went into an expensive London salon and had a range of expensive treatments for which the price was clearly displayed on their website.

I’ve no idea what this thread is about because this is not she was erroneously charged, this was she didn’t bother to find out the price first and went and ordered the works.

@Bluntness100

Apologies, didn't see the root regrowth option on there....Makes me happy to go off to my hairdressers home salon today and pay my £95 for colour and cut!

I ticked urbu ,because,always always get your price upfront

Bluntness if you into a restaurant, are you given a priced menu prior to ordering?

If you need work done in your kitchen, do you like to receive a quote first?

Or do you wander in to a restaurant, with £20 in your pocket, order whatever you like on the menu and then find that you can't pay?

Would you let a builder into your house with a vague idea of how much he's going to charge and then discover that he has charged you for the shit he shit in your fine porcelain toilet?

People are funny about spending money on their hair. People who would happily spend £100+ on a dress or shoes for a special occasion but baulk at paying similar amounts for their hair, which they wear every day.

The really low figures that pp are gleefully quoting are meaningless if you aren’t prepared to say where you are, and even if you are it’s not much help to an OP in London if you can get a full head of balayage for £7.50 in Ripon / Machynlleth / Lichfield. Presumably these are the same people who turn up on London property threads and boggle at the prices because ‘that would buy a castle here’.

The OP thought that she would be paying for a balayage treatment. Some places include cut and blowdry in that price. To be charged for Balayage, colour, £65???? for a cut, hell no. Just no. Not what I signed up for. I asked for a Balayage. If you do additional work which is not part of the treatment I requested, I ain't paying.

This really is the average ‘top end’ hairdressing price. It’s shocking I know!

A full head of colour is really expensive. I always go for part head, and only have it coloured once every six months. It costs 100 each time. I have it cut at 60 every six months. I just tell the hairdresser that and they cut and colour in a way that means that it doesn’t look terrible in between.

The two payments which I would be happy to pay for would be the balayage fee and the olaplex. I would query the additional fee for the cut (extortionate) and the additional fee for a full colour. These places rely on people having more money than sense. They don't give a shit. People mistake them as being superior due to their prices. It's location that is dictating the price.

@Rejoiningperson

This really is the average ‘top end’ hairdressing price. It’s shocking I know!

A full head of colour is really expensive. I always go for part head, and only have it coloured once every six months. It costs 100 each time. I have it cut at 60 every six months. I just tell the hairdresser that and they cut and colour in a way that means that it doesn’t look terrible in between.

At £60 a go, I'm not surprised you only have it trimmed twice a year!

@Isthereaduckinthehouse

The OP thought that she would be paying for a balayage treatment. Some places include cut and blowdry in that price. To be charged for Balayage, colour, £65???? for a cut, hell no. Just no. Not what I signed up for. I asked for a Balayage. If you do additional work which is not part of the treatment I requested, I ain't paying.

The time to say that is when they a start doing the cut that you know you didn’t request, not afterwards!

@MrsMaizel
My hairdressers skills are far from shit!
Who is the one being rude???
My hair is amazing.... and I'm more than happy with it.... it's complimented on many times......Even by stupid, naive people who pay 5 times that price!
It's not about her not being able to be employed by salons. She loves being mobile and doing things her way..... she's extremely popular and good at what she does!

@Isthereaduckinthehouse

The OP thought that she would be paying for a balayage treatment. Some places include cut and blowdry in that price. To be charged for Balayage, colour, £65???? for a cut, hell no. Just no. Not what I signed up for. I asked for a Balayage. If you do additional work which is not part of the treatment I requested, I ain't paying.

I’ve had many a balayage and never had a cut included in the price. The op says i got a full head of balayage highlights, a root tint to cover my greys and a cut and blow dry. so she didn’t just ask for a balayage and sit there while they cut her hair thinking it was included. She knew all the different aspects she wanted.

I think you misunderstood what Bluntness was saying too. She’s said the pricing is clearly on the price list so just like looking at a menu could have been easily worked out before the visit.

To assume all the other treatments are included in a balayage would be quite bizarre and naive.

Wow that does seem a lot! I would be tempted to contact their HO ,and say you were not made aware of such a price beforehand .Even if they dont give you a slice off the bill, at least you will have put your thoughts across .Maybe time to look for a new HD pronto!

hamandcgeese Well I cut my own hair with very sharp HD scissors, and colour it myself with that well known product Loreal Age Perfect! (2 for £12 ) Superdrug . Dont like going to HD anyway(bit of a phobia) Like it even less at that price!

To be honest it depends where you go and what they usually charge. I know some people pay that sort of money, especially in and around London and home counties at expensive salons. Personally I paid £67 for a wash, cut and finish this morning (but no colouring and I don't know what balayage is so it is comparable).

I think the moral of story is to check price before having a treatment

Seems insane price to me

Let alone two colours and don’t know what the olaplex is .

I had hair wash, cut blow dry fior £20 yesterday in a saloon

I am based in London and pay far less to another very well known chain to get my hair cut, balayage, roots AND reapplication of hair extensions which takes ages. I think it’s worth paying for good hair but £300 is beyond excessive.

My local hairdressers ask you to pay upfront when you make the appointment. £32 for a cut and blow dry. £300 is absolutely insane even for having a lot done.