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.

I just had a t-section highlights, cut and marvellous blow dry with expensive products. It was £70 and I tipped £10.

Worth every penny to me. Tbf, there must be plenty of people still paying these prices because they have a waiting list for new customers and their diary is full. It’s just an ordinary salon although they have won awards for their colouring.

Well it will seem expensive if you've been paying £3.59 for a box dye and getting free haircuts from your mates!
I was paying your figures of £85-£120 at least five or so years ago, for full/half head highlights on shoulder length hair so, to me, that doesn't seem all that expensive for your "gone up loads since lockdown" estimate.

I always remember one of my friends' mums, who was the most sensible woman in the world, saying "Never follow a hairdresser from one salon to another. They know they've got you over a barrel if you do, and they'll charge the earth".

Nearly 40 years on, I took her advice and went to my very local salon (London, but not posh London) rather than the smart place I had been going to. £35 for an excellent cut and blowdry. (Mind you, it did take chemotherapy and consequent total hair reset to get me to do this!)

After I had my DC I decided I didn't have enough money for hairdressers any more so I covered up my blonde highlights and trimmed my own hair. Now I use a box dye to cover grey and get a mobile hairdresser to cut. She does me, DH and two DC for £40. The cut is just as good as any I had at a salon and the colour is not different enough to justify the difference in price.

I think going to a salon is a nice experience if you have plenty of money but it's an area that's easy to cut back on if you need to save money.

Find a good mobile hair dresser. I'm in South London and mine is brilliant, used to charge £300+ in a salon with most of it going to the salon. She charges less than half that now and makes more.

It's very expensive but not unfairly so. I bought my own products for my hairdresser friend to do mine and it came to £58. Then you've got 3 hours of the hairdressers time, electricity (those tumble driers are on constantly) water, rent etc etc. I think they'd be hard pressed to get the cost down that much.

find a good mobile hairdresser

I see it completely differently. A decent haircut makes you look good every single day. I pay £36 for a cut and blow dry, I’m very lucky because that’s all my exceptionally talented hairdresser charges, I’d willingly pay her double. It’s less than £1 a day and far better value than most things I buy.

I bought a Creaclip in lockdown (well probably an Amazon cheap version) for home hair cutting. Loads of you tube videos to demonstrate. Haven't been to a hairdresser since. No it's not salon quality but after the first wash I could never recreate it anyway and it is at least neat and tidy.

Also bought one of those hair dryer and brush all in one things so a poor haircut styled better hides a lot of sins!

This is not aimed at those spending £180 a pop as you probably have great hair but those who said they couldn't afford to go at all

"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."

Quite right. How much do you think it costs to shoe a horse, even just remove, reshape the feet and put the old shoes back on? Horses' hooves grow at about the same rate as hair and they need reshod about as often as people need haircuts. Maintaining a horse is the definition of a luxury item in this country.

For the "oh but I just needed a trim" people- well, you still used up a slot. How much would it cost for a student vet nurse at your local practice to clip your dog's nails or squeeze its anal glands? Both are dead easy to learn. Glands take less than 30 seconds to do, nails about the same if the dog is quiet. Nails take a few minutes and an extra person if the dog is moderately wriggly or stressed and needs to get little breaks. We offer to teach owners how to do it but hardly anyone takes us up on the offer.

When they're working on you, they're not working on someone else not true, most salons once the foils are in your hairdresser runs to the next then runs back to you etc.

£55 for colour, cut and blow dry where I go. My stylist could earn shedloads more in a fancy pants city salon, but she prefers to work locally as has youngish kids. My hair is very thick and is difficult to cut well, and she's really got the knack with it.

We also have a lot of friends and acquaintances in common, so it's a great chance to catch up on all the gossip, and I like the fact that the rather shabby salon hasn't been redecorated in 20 years.

I never begrudge paying for a good haircut or colour. My daughter's best friend trained as a hairdresser and it took him four years of hard work and he is a bloody magician with hair.

I expect to pay for their skills the same way I would for any other skilled and trained professional. My haircut costs me £55 and half head of highlights about £70 and I'm happy to pay it. It's not the cost of the materials I'm paying for but their knowledge and expertise.

Just been to the college, wash/cut/blow dry £8! Highlights and tint £22
Lots of compliments

This is part of the reason I've stopped bothering with dyes. Too expensive! I have a few greys but oh well

For those that have friends or family doing their hair for free - are you sure they are happy with that arrangement?

I resented family asking me for my (work) service in my time off - I asked them to come to my workplace for a free service. My time off was precious.

Do you reciprocate the favour? I don't mean buy an odd pint - I mean mind their dog while they're on holiday or a FAIR exchange of labour

I cut and colour my own hair. I have done for over 10 years. I could afford to go to the hairdresser but I don't think I do a bad job and I hate the small talk. I wonder if many hairdressers lost more business over covid when people had a go at home cutting?

The salon I use is a 2 woman band and is very small. They do one client at a time each. I was in there 3 hours and had my stylist allllll to myself.

I don’t understand why balayage is more expert than foils. Foils take 3 hours on my head, balayage takes 1! 🤷🏼‍♀️

YANBU. I can only afford a cheaper salon now and I am a reasonably high wage earner.

Every job you pay for has a ceiling- would I pay a plumber £500 to fix a leaking tap- no, would I pay £150 for highlights and a cut, yes- I am not paying £250-£300 for highlights and a cut

I am going to seek out a good mobile service as salon prices are for Hollywood budgets now. I know some of you said a cut and colour price is for 3 hours but you usually find that the hairdresser is juggling two clients in tandem for some of that time which surely double counts the hourly rate. It's just when you average out the monthly cost, you have to trim the budget somewhere and I'm going to try mobile.

I have a dry cut which costs £21 and takes all of 10 minutes, it was £15 before the pandemic and £10 a couple of years before that.

"Every job you pay for has a ceiling- would I pay a plumber £500 to fix a leaking tap- no, would I pay £150 for highlights and a cut, yes- I am not paying £250-£300 for highlights and a cut"

Fine. So the market decides. Each salon has probably more or less optimised the price point for their own situation, as you would expect a business for a luxury item in a free market economy to do.

"For those that have friends or family doing their hair for free - are you sure they are happy with that arrangement?

I resented family asking me for my (work) service in my time off - I asked them to come to my workplace for a free service. My time off was precious.

Do you reciprocate the favour? I don't mean buy an odd pint - I mean mind their dog while they're on holiday or a FAIR exchange of labour"

Yes. I cut my husband's hair and he cuts mine.

My superb hairdresser used to be c.£200 in the (London) salon for highlights, cut & blow dry. Then she set up by herself and built a proper salon in her garden, so I still very much get the ‘salon’ experience, but at half the cost. To me, she’s worth every penny, but yes, it’s a lot of cash to hand over, there’s no denying it.