To think hair salons are extortionate?

[chatterbug22]

I haven’t been to the hairdressers since the last lockdown, instead using box dyes. We have a hairdresser in the family so they don’t mind giving the occasional trim every six months.

I’d love to go back to a really nice hair salon, but a basic colour and cut starts from £85-£120, and balayage would be anywhere from £110-170!

AIBU to think this is really extortionate? Theoretically I have the money and could pay but wow, I just think it’s excessive and so so much. I want to treat myself and feel good about my hair. I know costs of everything have gone up and that a good stylist deserves paying well for their time and effort, I would never want to underpay someone. I just can’t believe it’s so much! Up north and not looking at city centre salons either.

Yep - I started a thread on this once- I’m not struggling but paying over £250 (last time I went to the salon for highlights and a cut) is just not possible. I know lots of people pipe up and say overheads and living wage- and I agree but it’s just depressing that a haircut in a salon is now only for the rich.

Yes really extortionate. I get my hair balayaged now though and find I really don't have to go very often as the regrown isn't very obvious unlike when I used to get it highlighted.

Blimey. It's £15 for a cut and blow dry in my local hairdressers.

I don't know what it is for a colour.

Yes, they are expensive but when you find a good one they make all the difference

I suppose it depends how much you think someone with years of experience should get paid. If I had a plumber here for several hours, I’d expect to pay around £120 plus parts, and I’d have to make them tea. A colour appointment takes hours, and you need to pay for the person as well as the salon and the products that they use.

Yes, it's pricey. I pay £170 every six weeks for full-head highlights.

I think it’s extortionate as well. I could afford it but I’m absolutely not spending £££ on what I can do myself. I just dye my roots my natural colour though, so nothing extravagant needed.

Bizarre comparison- you don’t have a plumber round every 5 weeks.
like comparing the cost of a car to the cost of bread.

I do t mean this horribly but in a world where people can’t pay their heating bills and buy food you can’t expect a lovely hair do to be cheap 🤷‍♀️

Mine is £50 for the cut and I used to get it cut between every 6-8 weeks but when I got married I treated myself to getting it coloured instead of boxed colour. Now I seem to have started getting it coloured there and when I said it was a bit expensive to keep it up she just said to have my appointments less often so now haircut every 10 weeks but I'm not sure it looks that good.

Yes it’s so expensive. I don’t go often as I can’t justify it to spend that much every two months. I’d rather spend my money on holidays and days out.

It's so expensive, I can't justify the cost anymore. I dropped down to just a dry trim but even that was £30 and she literally just snipped the ends off. My hair is a very simple style, just straight across, shoulder length. DH does it now. Hopefully it won't be forever but I'm on a savings mission for the next few years and it's just not essential.

I don't know. I pay 85 for foils and a cut. It takes 3 hours. So assuming my hairdresser did two in one day, and a few cut and blow dries in between she might take in 250 - 300 in a day. Then take out her costs for the salon and all other associated SE expenses (holiday, insurance etc) I wouldn't say she's raking it in.

Depends where you go. I pay about £65 for a full head of highlights plus cut and blow dry

It is expensive but its worth the price imo. It always looks nicer than box dye. It takes them ages. They have overheads and have had training.

It is expensive. It does however make a difference to how I feel about myself. I pay about 70 pounds for a cut and colour to a lady who works out of her own home. I enjoy a chat and get a good service which takes about two hours.

I was paying £65 for a balayage and cut every 6 months but the last 2 trips have left me with really bad stripes in my hair! I've since went elsewhere and yes it cost me £110, but it was absolutely worth it in my opinion and I'll be going back!

I pay £55 for a curly cut which I think is reasonable
She cuts it dry, washes it and adds product, styles and then cuts it again if needed. Takes about 2.5hrs

It's not bizarre at all. It's irrelevant how often you need someone to provide a service for you, they need paying for their time to do it, whether you use them once a year or once a month. When they're working on you, they're not working on someone else.

It was £45 just for a cut and blow dry last time I went. I'd like to go more often and get it coloured but I can't justify the cost of that.

I had my hair cut at a local college for £10. Highlights/colour/balayage was £30 including cut. Maybe look at colleges?

There was a bit of a furor a few years back about the cost of female politician’s hairstyles. I found it very disturbing. Hair cutting and coloring can be done with very little skill, but done well, they are highly skilled jobs. The job is also physically demanding and exposes the worker to all sorts of chemicals. It is also a job primarily done by women.

When we say that the prices are too high, what we are really saying is that those women do not deserve to be compensated at that rate for their training, skill, physical effort, and time for often lengthy procedures.

cut and blow dry £70 for good city hairdressers. Village hairdresser(s) (front room type place) £55. Both appointments are about 45 mins. I have been hard pressed to find anything much cheaper. I just go every 10-12 weeks.

I pay £120 when I have a full balyage cut and style but I always come out loving my hair and it being exactly what I want (usually around 3/3.5 hours I
Work). I've paid less before and been unhappy with it 75% of the time. I only have this around 2-3 a year though the rest of the time I just get roots/cut and that around £65

Hairdressers have always been very expensive and even more so since Covid.

You could also say in a world where people can't pay their heating bills and buy food, hairdressers can't expect people to continue paying their prices. Same with restaurants and holiday rentals... It's hard for most people. They want the business to pay their own bills but customers are also squeezed. Something has to give.