Is £40 a lot for cut and blow-dry at home?

[thatsgotit]

Hoping there are some mobile hairdressers out there, or clients of mobile hairdressers, who can advise as I'm really not sure what to think.

My elderly mother is more or less housebound and has a mobile hairdresser come to do her hair once a month. Her hair is very short. She has a wash/cut/blow dry, very simple, no styling products or anything. The hairdresser lives about 7 or 8 miles away I think, and I realise she has to factor petrol costs into her rates.

We're in the East Midlands.

She charges £40 for this and it just seems a bit steep to me considering she doesn't have the overheads of owning a salon. When I have my (long) hair cut and coloured at a salon it costs me in the region of £65, so £40 just for a cut and blow dry of very short hair seems a lot.

Am I out of touch? Perfectly happy to accept if I am, so hopefully no one will jump on me for asking this😄- I'm just asking because I'm wondering if we should shop around a bit or whether £40 is reasonable.

Thanks in advance.

I think that's quite steep. I paid £44 for a cut, blow dry, and curl at a salon with a long hair charge too.
Can't quite understand why you'd pay extra because "you're paying for the convenience" when you'd expect to pay extra in a salon because of overheads. So, no matter what, whether you're using a salon or a mobile hairdresser, you're paying extra.
Also can't understand the argument that short hair is less forgiving and more difficult to cut when long hair charges are a thing!

Sounds expensive to me.
I wash my hair before I go and just have a cut (because I HATE someone else washing my hair).
Don't bother with a blow dry, although sometimes she straightens it while while she is cutting.
Hairdresser has converted her garage to a salon (just her).
Recently put the cost upto £20.

My cut and colour cost £130 yesterday.

Don’t think of it as £40 for a cut but as £40 for an hour plus of wash, trim, blow dry and the cost to get to you.
If you think your hair isn’t worth it, don’t pay, but I think £40 for a couple of hours work by an actual expert is good value.

It is expensive.
I know people are saying you are paying for convenience but at the same time the hairdresser isn't paying rent, utility bills, business rates. and shes using your electricity.As shes mobile shes likely to be covering a certain local area and having regulat clients so not likely to have as many last minute cancellations or no shows.
Sure things have gone up except for most peoples wages.
As a side do you use your own products with a mobile or do they bring there own.

I pay £40 for a dye, cut and blow dry in my house. I think that my hairdresser charges too little and I'm always giving her more than that. But that includes getting my hair dyed too!

My Mother and I have a mobile hairdresser. For one wash cut and blow dry and a cut and rough dry I wash mine whilst my Mother has hers dried it is less than £50 London area good hairdresser.

What does your Mum think, Op?

For a mobile hairdresser I'd say it's on the steep side, but not excessively so.

I also don't buy the argument that you're paying for the convenience. Mobile hairdressers are cheaper because of the cheaper overheads.

I paid £60 for cut, colour, blow dry and straighten the other day.

I pay £29 for a cut and blow dry at a salon (not the cheapest one either) so I think it's very expensive. But I guess it is area dependent.

It sounds about right tbh.

What you are paying for is the convenience of having someone come to the house. Getting your mum out of the house, into a car, and in and out of a hairdressers is a LOT of stress/hassle, so think of the extra £5-10 you are paying for a mobile hairdressers as money you are paying to avoid all that extra hassle.

Does your mums hairdresser have a name beginning with T?

How many mobile hairdressers do you think there are in the East Midlands? How many Traceys, Tinas or Tricias? Why on earth would a random post on Mumsnet be talking about your ex's girlfriend?

Why is this any of your business? If your mum is happy with paying it, and with the service she gets, then it’s reasonable.

I pay £35

Nope, name doesn't begin with T.

I think it sounds expensive

I presume you don't have a condition that prevents you from reading the OP's entire post?

The OP states: 'I'm just asking because I'm wondering if we should shop around a bit or whether £40 is reasonable'

Hope that clears things up for you.

Because my mum has some difficulties with memory and cognition and as her carer I have to be involved in the logistics of this. By the same token, if she decides to switch hairdressers it will be me setting up the logistics. HTH.

It's not the cheapest but if your mum can afford it is leave things as they are. It's are 50 quid in the London suburb I live in.

Sounds reasonable.

Well, that's partly why I wanted to get some views as to whether she's getting good value. I kept this out of my initial post to avoid derailing, as it wasn't relevant to the question of whether £40 is expensive, but the hairdresser in question has become quite unreliable recently, running literally hours late on occasion and not bothering to let my mum know, and apparently the last time this happened my mum phoned to check if she was coming and she was very short with her. She was also very rude to me on one occasion when my mum was ill and I had to rebook an appointment.

We've put up with this until now because the hairdresser didn't used to be like this, she got along really well with my mum in the past (and I used to feel their chats did my mum good, so was reluctant to suggest a change) and my mum does like what she does with her hair. But she's less satisfied now the hairdresser's started acting like this, and she has asked me to help her look for a new one, and I suddenly realised I have no idea what's a reasonable rate. 😄

Way, way, way too much. Your mum's being ripped off. The hairdresser's using your mum's electricity to boot!

She has to pay for her time/ mileage too. My mobile hairdressers charges the same but she’ll do the kids cuts for a fiver as she is here already.

Sorry just read your update by all means find another if she is unpleasant to your mum. I’d expect to pay the same though.