Should I have left a small tip?

[ForgedInFire]

Please help me settle this debate with my family.
I went to get my hair cut and blow dried today, it's the first hair cut I've had in a couple of years. The price listed is £30, but there is a £3 surcharge for PPE which I knew about in advance. I came with £40 only and intended to leave a £5 tip. I got my hair cut by the owner of the salon and when I went to pay, I was charged £38. I kind of froze- I felt like it was rude to not tip (I was very happy with my hair) but I felt like tipping somebody £2 is insulting. When I was having my hair cut she offered to curl it and I said yes but she didn't say anything about it costing extra, it was only curled at the bottom not the whole head, I dont mind paying extra for that but if I had known I probably would have declined because I knew I only had a set amount of money. My family made me feel really bad for not tipping, I am generally a bit socially awkward.
Was I unreasonable?
YABU- you should have given her the £2
YANBU- it was OK not to tip

I'd have done a keep the change/round up.
I never calculate a %, they just get the small change.

A tip is nice but optional and no hair dresser expects it but we do appreciate it when we get it. Unless your hairdresser is self employed, then they usually make an hourly wage the same as everyone else except it’s usually minimum wage.

Charging extra to style someone’s hair or use product is absolutely atrocious! You need to use product to do your job properly, and part of ‘finishing’ your hair cut/colour is styling it. So I’m very shocked by this.

My salon has added a PPE charge. We ended up having to spend 13k after the first lockdown on PPE. Screens and air filtration systems are included in this, as well as blue light sterilisation boxes for all of our equipment after every client, it’s not just masks and hand san. We are a very busy and professional boutique salon in central London so the health of our staff and clients was very important to us hence why we went a little over board.

I always leave a tip for the young girl who washes my hair. Tou are lucky if they get paid minimum wage and at 16/18 it's only 4.62 or something

I dont understand how a 16 and 25 can do the same job yet the 25 year old gets paid nearly double than the 16 yr old. So always tip the person who washes my hair.

No need to tip the owner of a salon, surely that’s well known!

I'm surprised to read that some people don't tip! It's always been a fiver for the shampoo girl and ten for the stylist. In your position I would have said "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't bring any more cash--please keep the change."

The curling charge surprises me; if they're going to charge hidden extras maybe their tips will naturally decline...

@ForgedInFire YANBU. As a few posters have said, there is simply no need to tip anyone any longer. Many years ago - pre mid 1990s - it was acceptable and OK, as many waitresses and various service workers, trainee hairdressers, and taxi drivers etc, were on very low wages. Since the minimum pay act in the late 1990s, they earn as much as many other people. Sometimes more.

I don't tip the checkout operator in Tesco, or the bus driver, or the girl who serves me in Greggs or Costa, or the receptionist at the doctors, or the mechanic at the garage who changes our car tyres, so why on earth would I tip a hairdresser, waitress, or taxi driver? Also, no-one has ever tipped me!

And as has been said, hairdressers have been known to say 'do you want this doing, and do you want that adding?' And then you get charged for it. Very sly.

And as for charging £3 for PPE! Are they taking the piss?!

@2pinkginsplease

I don't understand how a 16 and 25 can do the same job yet the 25 year old gets paid nearly double than the 16 yr old. So always tip the person who washes my hair.

How on earth do you only manage to tip the girl who washes your hair? Do you slip her a fiver when you have your head backwards over the sink? Because unless it's always the 16 y.o. who takes the money, I can't see how you can just give a tip to her. (And in my experience, the novices/trainees, NEVER take the payment!)

Also, a 16 y.o. is on much less money yes, and there's a reason for that. They have much less experience of ANYthing, and no experience in the job, and they also have no outgoings, bills, rent, food to buy etc etc... As the vast majority of them will be living with their parents.

Whereas a 25 y.o. is much more likely to be independent and living away from home, with all the costs that entails. She will have more work experience and life experience too.

I’m in the US where everyone tips for everything, but even here salon owners would refuse a tip, so really don’t worry about it.

Bizarre. I don’t tip the hairdresser. He charged me £311 for highlights and a cut, seems quite enough.

@Queenoftheashes

Bizarre. I don’t tip the hairdresser. He charged me £311 for highlights and a cut, seems quite enough.

Jeezo, I pay £60 for my highlights and cut I wouldn't tip if I'd paid that amount either (although I wouldn't pay that in the first place!)

I wouldn't tip at all.
The business owner sets the prices to produce the profit the need / want for their profit.
If they are not making enough then they need to look at their pricing structure.

I am also shocked that you just accepted that is was okay to add £5 on to the advertised price, to add a curl to the bottom of your hair. Surely that is part of the style ?

Completely separately, I don't get this idea that it is "insulting" to leave a small tip. (Came up on a thread the other day, and loads of people were saying it was).
My dd is currently working in a bar one night a week. When I was a student, I too worked in a bar. She isn't very happy that she gets £6.56 ph, and some people she works alongside, doing exactly the same jobs as het get about £2ph more, just because they are older (Over 21s - NMW is higher). However, we were talking about bar work and comparing with say supermarket work and saying that traditionally when you are serving people in pubs, you tend to get tips, but, because it is all table service and cashless, the staff are no longer getting tips in the same way I used to. It led to a conversation about tips and how, if everyone she served over an evening left a 50p tip, that would add up quite nicely over a shift.

I can't understand people on here saying that it is "insulting" or "rude" to leave a small tip, and therefore would leave nothing rather than a small amount (the other thread was about a £1coin). Trust me. If you are on NMW, you'd rather be "insulted" than impoverished.

I personally don't tip hairdressers. I do tip restaurant staff, delivery drivers and taxi drivers but not hairdressers, I don't know why. I don't go very often and don't have a regular one.

I tip £3 regularly for my hairdresser. I don’t think any hairdresser would be insulted by a £2 tip! A lot of the time I just tip what I have in my purse. I also don’t think they expect the tip so don’t be worried about that either :)

I tip at the hairdressers, usually £5 and they always ask me who washed my hair when I leave a tip so I think it must get divvied out in the salon I use? But I go in infrequently, they're lovely and I get a nice cup of proper coffee. It's a treat for me, they treat me well and that's why I tip.

I did the opposite the other day!! Over tipped! My hair was £90, gave the girl a £10 tip and £5 for the junior that washed my hair!! I felt embarrassed but I just panicked.

Nope, lovely my hairdresser but I'm not tipping. Last visit was £115 , full head highlights, blow dry , and ends shaved off so not a real cut (took all but 2 mins), I'm home counties 30 mins to central London if that makes a difference.

I'm surprised to read that some people don't tip! It's always been a fiver for the shampoo girl and ten for the stylist.

It really hasn't in most people's worlds.
I have a mobile hairdresser come to my house, so, if I'm having something done that involves hair washing she'd do it herself anyway, but your tip would be more than her total bill for a cut.

How on earth do you only manage to tip the girl who washes your hair? confused Do you slip her a fiver when you have your head backwards over the sink? Because unless it's always the 16 y.o. who takes the money, I can't see how you can just give a tip to her. (And in my experience, the novices/trainees, NEVER take the payment!)

When I used to go to a salon, people would either slip her a coin or two when she'd washed your hair, or, after paying, walk across the room and give her a coin or two then.

He charged me £311 for highlights and a cut, seems quite enough.

Think he saw you coming there.....

You have to make your money back in the free cocktails

Always tip both stylists and hair washer. Get appointments at very short notice. Worth it to me.

I would never tip the owner of a hair salon. I might tip the Saturday girl/boy who washed my hair but never the owner.

@BackforGood

I wouldn't tip at all. The business owner sets the prices to produce the profit the need / want for their profit. If they are not making enough then they need to look at their pricing structure.

I am also shocked that you just accepted that is was okay to add £5 on to the advertised price, to add a curl to the bottom of your hair. Surely that is part of the style ?

Completely separately, I don't get this idea that it is "insulting" to leave a small tip. (Came up on a thread the other day, and loads of people were saying it was).
My dd is currently working in a bar one night a week. When I was a student, I too worked in a bar. She isn't very happy that she gets £6.56 ph, and some people she works alongside, doing exactly the same jobs as het get about £2ph more, just because they are older (Over 21s - NMW is higher). However, we were talking about bar work and comparing with say supermarket work and saying that traditionally when you are serving people in pubs, you tend to get tips, but, because it is all table service and cashless, the staff are no longer getting tips in the same way I used to. It led to a conversation about tips and how, if everyone she served over an evening left a 50p tip, that would add up quite nicely over a shift.

I can't understand people on here saying that it is "insulting" or "rude" to leave a small tip, and therefore would leave nothing rather than a small amount (the other thread was about a £1coin). Trust me. If you are on NMW, you'd rather be "insulted" than impoverished.

I do agree with you, I used to work in a betting shop and we would frequently get small tips of £1, £2 and I was very grateful for them. They all added up and would mean a free lunch. And I've done retail jobs at the same wage since without the tips. I think I felt awkward because this woman felt quite senior to me- a similar age to my mother, a business owner. I felt like I might be patronising her a bit by offering a small tip. Also being a bit socially inept, I had actually practised in my head giving her the £5 tip and I got a bit flustered when it wasn't the price I expected

@Queenoftheashes

You have to make your money back in the free cocktails

You must go to nicer salons then me- I didnt even get a biscuit with my tea

I tip the junior who washes my hair. But it's the salon owner who does my cut and blow dry and you don't tip the salon owner.

I do tip my hairdresser I went today and gave £3 - all the change I had. Think it’s bad they charged you for curling I had mine curled today was no extra.

If you pay by card it feels easy not tipping.