To think having your hair done is now extortionate- rant

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

So after covid lockdowns I went back to my hairdressers, didn’t know my hair dresser had been promoted and so for a full head of highlights, cut and blow dry was over £200- I’m in a London zone 3 suburb not central London!
This is extortionate so I used a local girl who works from home £85- she’s now unavailable, so this morning I’ve been calling round other salons etc- it’s an absolute rip off everywhere I call!

Last one I rang:
Highlights £70 for one colour- +£15 for an additional colour
Toner £35-£40 depending on length of hair
Cut and blow dry £40-£50 depending on length of hair

Seriously?! The length of the hair subjectivity pisses me off because I cannot plan how much it will cost me (I assume people will call anything past the ears “long hair”).
A cut and blow dry costing nearly £50?!!!
And these aren’t high end branded salons, they’re run down salons on high streets, main roads etc.
I’m not struggling but have to think before dropping over £100 on my hair- surely this isn’t right or is cutting ones hair now a luxury ?!

An before anyone says I am happy to pay to ensure hairdresser gets a decent wage. However it seems to equate to more than I have ever earned for a hourly rate. Although I do realise that they have rent an insurance to pay too. Maybe a hairdresser could break that costings down for us? The costs of a haircut just seems to have doubled after covid. Maybe that's the reason less clients allowed in salon so we got to pay double?

YANBU. Hairdressers deserve to earn a very good salary and to get a boost post covid, but I’m looking for a new hairdressers now mine is charging the best part of £60 for just a wash, cut and blow dry!

I always ask for the most junior stylist and they still charge a fortune. I just can’t afford it, so go months and months between haircuts.

I do find the defensiveness a bit surprising. There are regularly threads on here discussing the cost of tradespeople, childcare, holidays and so on.

Childcare is a necessity for many people. Highlights are not a necessity for anyone.

This thread has given me a good idea actually. My ILs live in a part of N Wales where services are generally quite cheap; next time I’m there I’ll get my hair done there instead - thanks, OP!

I never understand why they charge more for long hair. There's no extra cutting involved. Or am I missing something?

@ponyexpress22

I never understand why they charge more for long hair. There's no extra cutting involved. Or am I missing something?

I know. I guess I can understand if it's highlights or colouring services as you need more product and it will take longer to apply. However, if it's just a cut, I don't understand why it costs more to cut long hair

Re the long hair - its the blow drying time - I can blow dry/starighten/curl most short cuts in 10 mins long thick hair can take 20 mins just to blow dry and another 20/40 to straighten or curl

I pay £45 for a wet cut and rough dry.

I can't remember what I paid last time for highlights - maybe about £80 for half head.

@Sportysporty

Re the long hair - its the blow drying time - I can blow dry/starighten/curl most short cuts in 10 mins long thick hair can take 20 mins just to blow dry and another 20/40 to straighten or curl

That makes sense

And I'll preempt the mens hair cut thing - most are dry cuts on short hair with little to no product except a bit of gell plus using clippers for most of the cut - I can do most traditional cuts in 20 mins - a fade which takes 45 min is charged at ladies rates.

Most barbers are cheaper because they don't wash hair and often are on illegally low wages

North wales. I paid £85 yesterday in a salon for 2 colour highlights, olaplex, toner and a cut and blow dry.

Very pleased to see I got a bargain.

@drmadelinemaxwell with olaplex and a toner that's a real bargain!

I'm in Bristol and get it done in a nice area. It's always £85 no matter what I get done. My hairs been past my boobs and a full head of blonde highlights and a toner was £85, it's now quite short and I had a full colour and cut the other day and it's still £85.
Don't understand their pricing but I'm happy!

"Childcare is a necessity for many people. Highlights are not a necessity for anyone."

Well you can still change providers can't you? There's a wide range of quality. But the other things I mentioned, including holidays, are not necessities. If the holiday cottage you booked every year suddenly went up by 50% you'd understand that that was the owner's right to do it and that you can go somewhere else but you'd still feel grumpy about it I expect. No end of threads on here about how uk holidays have gone up this year, despite knowing the reasons why.

It was really just an example of how people will be shocked, and want to chat to other people about it, if prices increase by an alarming % that is perceived as unfair.

@Sportysporty

Re the long hair - its the blow drying time - I can blow dry/starighten/curl most short cuts in 10 mins long thick hair can take 20 mins just to blow dry and another 20/40 to straighten or curl

Yes I understand that, but some also charge more for long hair even if you're getting a dry cut.

Yep, that's why I gave up highlights a couple of years ago and went back to my natural brown colour. Hoping to get a few years out it still before there are too many greys and I'll have to start dying again. I also just go for a wet cut now (walk in with hair already washed) to keep the cost down. I pay £20 for the hairdresser to spend 15 minutes on me. It takes them longer to cut my son's hair, which needs blending in; his is £8!

ponyexpress22 - Not many experienced (good) people would dry cut long hair

@10:29fourminutestosavetheworld ffs its not people discussing a price rise that's fucking irratating its the word extortionate as if we are ripping people off by trying to earn a living wage, and the fact that even when expenses etc are explained there's still people like you banging on about it and the op with her stupid entiltled 'rant'

Yes it's expensive but it's expensive to run a buisness, it's not forced on you.

Discuss it but lay off the ripped off vibe if you don't expect to be clapped back at. I hate the notion of 'Karen' but fuck me I can see why my young trainees use it

@Sportysporty I can understand the prices being the way there are at many salons as the majority of salons seem quite 'upmarket'. Like @Valerievalerie and her 10k wash basins, i highly doubt the no frills Chinese salon above a Chinese restaurant in Leicester Square that I go to has 10k wash basins. Also the hairdressers speak limited English (which I am fine with as I speak Mandarin to them) and their non Chinese clients do manage but I can imagine that puts people off which means their prices are lower. I pay around £30-35 for a cut, and £90 for cut colour and blowdry, which i think is a good price for London Zone 1.

if a hair salon feels upmarket, then you should absolutely charge more because hair is really important for many women and some women might even refuse to go to a salon if the price is too cheap cos the implicit assumption is that you pay for what you get. And that a hairdresser's skill is tied to what she charges, and the more training she has, the more she would charge. You would never be able to cover the higher overheads of nice surroundings/better train staff by attracting bargain-seeking woman (like myself) so its better to exclusively attract women who are willing to shill out hundreds for hair and have fewer clients. The woman on the street who wants a bargain would DIY, go to cheaper areas, use mobile hairdressers, use Supercuts, go overseas (I do this) or seek out hair salons that are not attractive to the mainstream audience due to language barrier (ditto). I think the problem that OP had was that the hair salon she was seeking out did not feel luxurious or special or upmarket but was charging over £200. Yes costs have increased but OP is more 'woman on the street' than' 'luxury hair consumer' and there is a wealth of affordable options. And logically to her, £200 would not feel sensible even if it feels justifiable to the hair salon owner.

@onlychildhamster if you are happy to go somewhere where they possibly exploit the staff that's fine.
The op just thinks it should be cheaper because she is entitled to highlights and a cut for £115 not £150 - the very title is 'extortionate' and much of the rhetoric on this thread has been from some that they think they are being ripped off. Very few hairdressers make even average wage let alone the same as a private Dr that the op said!!

There is a huge difference between saying 'wow getting highlights is really expensive now' and 'having your hair done is extortionate'

And yes there is real issue in hairdressing with human trafficking and money laundering in a similar way to nail salons. It's a growth area as people wanting services like this nails, hair and beauty for knockdown prices. Mostly achieved by crap wages and increasingly human tafficking/exploited immigrants.

@Sportysporty what's the evidence that they exploit staff in cheaper salons? When I do a haircut in my salon, it's £35 but it lasts 20 mins. There are just no frills involved. A lot of British women need the frills, I don't need it.
The colour job takes more than 2 hours but it's also £90. I don't think those are exploitation wages. I spoke to the hairdresser and we spoke at length about his family in China, his life in the UK...

@Sportysporty I would agree with you for some Chinese salons but obviously not all. The ones I go to are very established. And those dodgy hair salons charge much lesser, like £10 for a haircut, not £35.

@onlychildhamster - I said possibly but as I have said lots of very cheap salons use expolited staff - sone don't but lots do.
If you think him chatting about his family is prooff he's being paid at least minimum wage with statutory benefits means hes6not being expolited - I have a bridge I want to sell you.

@Sportysporty he goes back to China to see them, that's not cheap at all. In fact its more expensive than me going home to see mine due to the city not being a major hub. I myself probably couldn't afford to go more than twice a year as it's about a thousand quid each time for me and DH.