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 ?!

@onlychildhamster so where do you think the money is comming from for that at the prices they are charging unless he is an owner? No way I could afford several flights to China a year and I charge more than that in a much cheaper area than London.

Somone is either being expolited as in staff or there are other revenue streams 😂😂 😂

The average hairdresser salary in the United Kingdom is £23,500 per year or £12.05 per hour. This is for an experienced stylist in London - most are on £10 hour

Entry level positions start at £13,525 per year while most experienced workers make up to £23,500

@Sportysporty he is a single guy, might share a room. But this is common in London.. it happens with eastern Europeans too but they came here legally due to free movement.You are probably a mum, probably have a mortgage and childcare expenses and run a car, so you probably have higher expenses than me. My childless friend in Yorkshire has the same expenses as me even though I am paying a mortgage on a London flat simply because she is renting a 3 bed house and has 2 cars;now that she is pregnant, her expenses would be higher than mine..

I mean, my DH once paid for my flight from my home country to Germany with student loan money so I could marry him so I don't think you need to earn lots for flights if you shop around. But you definitely need some disposable income. He has worked there over 3 years.

Some hairdressers do make more!! But on average its just above minimum wage even with experience

True he could live a minamalist life style - he could also be trafficked or expolited - you as a customer will not be able to tell

Yes hairdressers are a TOTAL rip-off but have you considered at-home?

Many great (usually women) hairdressers now do this as it works better for them. For a decade now we've used someone who spent years in a top London salon but now freelances in the South East.

She's charges £80 for highlights and a cut.

Cheaper in the long run to buy a high quality wig.

Just read your full OP - sorry I didn't realise you'd already considered at-home.

I would just do some more research until you find a decent at-home one:

https://www.wecasa.co.uk/mobile-hairdresser?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxt3--snO8gIVZGHmCh1YZwzSEAAYASABEgJtPDD_BwE

I had my boy-short hair cut after lockdown (so granted it was a little longer than normal) and to shave the sides and take the dead ends off cost me £45!!!!! Bloody outrageous!

Started going to the barbers instead, cost me a tenner to get the shaved bits done

Depends where you go. Which salon. Here in Surrey I pay £30 for a haircut and blow dry. £60 for highlights.

If you chose to pay more on a London salon, that's your choice.

It’s £50 plus just for a cut where I live.
£60 to £80 just for a cut if you want someone decent .
It’s daylight robbery.

'' It’s daylight robbery'' then don't have your hair cut

This thread is jsut going around and around in circles!

If you think you paying too much, daylight robbery, being conned etc JUST DONT GO! For the PP who says its £80 - well no one is forcing you to go there. I just dont understand why people are making such a big deal out of it.

Have your husband do your hair, leave it to grow, cut it yourself and pretend it looks fab and

@Franklin12 it is probably a shock to middle income women who are used to going to a salon that they probably can no longer afford it. It is no shock to me; when I came here 8 years ago, my seniors at university told me to time my haircuts with my trips back home or go to Chinatown (where they know how to cut Chinese hair properly and charge reasonable prices). Don't even look at white people salons, you will be charged an arm and leg. Many of the ladies on this thread probably grew up with mums who went to the salon regularly and they also did the same. Now they can no longer afford to. It's the same story with many 'middle class' creature comforts tbh.

But yeah I think London is one of the most expensive cities in the world for a haircut so there is probably a gap in the market for some English speaking salons to open up in cheaper popular British tourist destinations in Turkey, Spain, Czech Republic etc where labour costs are lower. So they can get some summer sunshine and a major haircut/colour while on holiday, leaving the smaller jobs to be done in the UK.

@Oblomov21

Depends where you go. Which salon. Here in Surrey I pay £30 for a haircut and blow dry. £60 for highlights.

If you chose to pay more on a London salon, that's your choice.

No really- I live in zone 4 london- hardly Mayfair

@Franklin12

This thread is jsut going around and around in circles!

If you think you paying too much, daylight robbery, being conned etc JUST DONT GO! For the PP who says its £80 - well no one is forcing you to go there. I just dont understand why people are making such a big deal out of it.

Have your husband do your hair, leave it to grow, cut it yourself and pretend it looks fab and

If you have long straight hair that might be an option. It isn’t for most people. There’s no way Incould cut my own hair.

@SwimmingUnderwaterand that youcann't afford it is the hairdressers problem? Not the Gov or Brexit or covid etc

We all have to live in oubudgets and save for what we want.

Yes it's expensive but I think it's like that everywhere. My 2 DDs and I had our hair done and it came to £35. Not massively expensive, but it was just a quick trim and they're only aged 4 and 8 and didn't really look any different as it was only a tiny but taken off. I have above shoulder length thin hair. I don't begrudge paying it because we obviously need it done and the hairdresser needs to make a living, but it wasn't really worth the money.

[quote Sportysporty]@SwimmingUnderwaterand that youcann't afford it is the hairdressers problem? Not the Gov or Brexit or covid etc

We all have to live in oubudgets and save for what we want.[/quote]
The point is that prices have become out of all relation to the service being provided. It used to cost
Me £80 to £100 for a cut and highlights and roots. Now it costs that just for a trim.

So glad I trained as a hairdresser and stayed friends with them even though I gave it up over a decade ago. Prices are crazy.

I'm not sure anyone can argue against highlights being luxury surely ??? Its hardly an essential purchase.. it costs what it costs and if you can't afford it then you cant . Same as high end shoes bags etc .. sainsburies ones are fine for most people. I get that a basic haircut should be affordable but colour and highlights, not really..

"@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'"

Do you know every hairdresser in England then? You seem to be taking this very personally. I think the price increase at my salon, from £120 to £180 is extortionate. I'm going to use that word because all of your justifications do not explain that level of increase. It is certainly a luxury and yes I can go elsewhere, but I am allowed to think and say that it feels like a rip off.

Try being a teacher on mn. Every second thread is complaining about a school or a teacher during term time. I don't get worked up about it because I know there are rubbish teachers and good ones.

I don't know what there even is for you to be ffs-ing about. You've explained your overheads and why you've had to put prices up - great, thanks. Maybe time to comprehend that there are other salons though that are not necessarily behaving as ethically.

I agree- I am in the south east, an expensive part and to the hairdressers in the Midlands where my Mum lives as even a higher end salon is more reasonable.

@Heliachi - exactly
@fourminuestosavetheworld - behaving ethically? I don't know every hairdresser in the UK but I know they are all businesses who are entiltled to charge what they want - it's not a ethics problem as we are not charities who have to charge what you see as 'ethical' - frankly it's a very bizarre argument

@fourminutestosavetheworld - just read the rest of your stupid entiltled rant 😂 - the irony that you don't get that it's mostly teachers like you who get people riled up on here is so funny.

You may 'think' that the price rise in 'your' salon is extortionate and that you will defiantly use the word - but in reality you have no idea what you hairdresser is facing or what thier personal or buisness challenges are do you?

You don't value their experience or skills or the reality of thier buisness situation. You just think you are entiltled to a service you want cheeper than the service provider wants to charge you. But like a parent wanting you to tutor thier child for free - you know just because they fell entitled to it.

Your ethics here are frankly fucked up. You started at me with a passive agressive post about 'perhaps you could explain' so I explained about expenses and how in general there has been a 25/30 % increase across the board.and you say thank you but still carry on with your entitled ramblings - still not getting the fact we are businesses. Still not understanding that you choose where you get your hair done so that's in your power NOT the prices we charge.

We are not emergency plumbers charging stealth £300 call out fees after doing the job - most hairdressers have thier fees on display or you can ask. I know some salons charge a surprise £10 for a toner or similar but they are the exception.

I just get the general feeling from you and a few other posters you really don't value our skills.