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 it sounds absolutely fine. I'd be delighted if I could find a mobile hairdresser for £40 cut and blow dry.

Round my way they all charge £25 To blow dry on top of at least £50 for a cut. Colour starts at £100.

But with your update- your hairdressers sounds rude. Can you find someone else?

I went to a woman's house in the village to have my hair trimmed (she is mobile but lives in the same village as me).

It was a trim. I had about 1cm off the ends. I have straight, one length hair. No feathers, no layers - nothing. I washed it myself before arriving at her house.

She charged £40.

I won't be going back!

My mum will just run the scissors over the back of it and nip the ends off every six weeks.

I’m in the East Midlands and pay £40 for a wash, cut & blowdry in a salon which is cheap for a salon. Freelance £40 is on the more expensive side for the same service considering it’s your own utilities being used. Most are around £30.

I pay £35 for a cut and blow dry, I wash it myself just before she arrives.

I pay £20. North Staffordshire

My mum charges a £15 for people to come to hers for a cut and blow dry. Maybe she needs to up her prices!

It's over £50 in London. Plus she expects you to have hair washed and ready to go. Did it once but not worth it - I'd rather have salon experience (I know that's not possible for your mother).
Cut and colour for £65 is incredible- £180 here!

I am always amazed on MN at what some people pay to have their haircut.

I have a mobile hairdresser.
I don't have mine blow dried, just a cut, but that costs £10.
I am in the West Midlands so presume that ought to be on a par with the West Midlands.

Your Mum's mobile is taking the mick. I'd ask around for recommendations on local facebook sites if you don't know other people where she lives (though of course word of mouth from people you know would be better).

My hairdressers is £85
So £40 sounds good!

But in London.

I pay £32 for a cut and blow dry shoulder length thick hair. I can see £40 being reasonable given the cost of fuel etc but also she doesn’t have a salon to run? Maybe standard for your area? Ask about but given she would
only see around 4/5 people a day with travel time she has to recoup her wages

Out of that, all things considered - tax, NI, pension, petrol, appliances and her actual skills - she's probably taking home around £15 an hour. I think that's fair.

I pay £35 for both myself and DH to have our hair cut at home. If it were just one of us, we’d be charged £20.

I’m amazed so many of you think so little of hairdressers
Why do you think they should be happy earning 10 quid for a hair cut ? Or 50 / 60 quid for a colour and cut . A tube of hair colour costs about 12/13 pounds . After expenses there is a very small sum left
Im really shocked actually. These threads always bring out folk boasting about how little they pay for their hair
cutting off 1 cm is only is using the same technique and the same scissors as cutting off 4 inches , yet it appears certain posters think it should be cheaper

Can I ask a genuine question? Plumbers , mechanics , tradesmen ect, all charge a fortune and we all pay up and accept the high hourly rate.

Why do you think that hairdressers who have trained for years should be content earning so little?
Many salons are struggling , lots like me are starting to charge much higher prices so we can afford to pay our staff more
Luckily my clients are happy to pay my prices
Thankfully I don’t they they are on here …

Don’t think *
sorry , fast typing as I feel quite cross

Sounds reasonable to me

I’m amazed so many of you think so little of hairdressers
Why do you think they should be happy earning 10 quid for a hair cut ?

Because she is in and out of my house in less than 20mins., so her hourly rate is more than I earn.
She always fits me in on her way home, as she is passing, so technically isn't spending anything on me either - I am aware she will have bought her combs and scissors at some point in the past and will replace them some point in the future, but that is hardly high cost.
Yes, 'mobiles' have the cost of their cars - although many people would have a car whether they were a mobile hairdresser or not - but they don't have rent or mortgage on a premises, business rates, heating, lighting, fitting out the salon, things like towels, nor hot water, shampoo, washing the towels etc, when they do a perm or colour or something in people's homes.

However, I pay £10 for my trim because that is what she charges. She is a self-employed businesswoman who presumably has costed out what she spends and what she wants to earn.

I’m a
not sure anyone Charing £10 could be classes a business woman But you’re right. If that’s what she’s happy with …
Also scissors can cost hundreds of pounds so not low cost .

Never type in the dark , shocking errors above!

This. A cut and colour in a salon around her is £140ish.

I think £40 for very short hair is very steep. My mobile hairdresser who I'm quite sure isn't paying tax charges £25 for my cut and blow dry and I think that's steep as it takes her about 20 minutes. I did say I didn't want it dried but she said she had to to check it at the end. Junior doctors aren't even getting close to that hourly rate.

But she won't be getting that hourly rate overall. Factoring in travel time, gaps in between clients, overheads she does incur (insurance, tools, fuel etc) I very much doubt she's on a high hourly wage.

But mobile hairdressers have to travel and park ect, between clients , so wont be doing more than one an hour
The problem is that a lot of you seem to think you are somehow owed cheap hair cuts. I do not see people complaining about a high plumbers bill for a short visit, It is deemed acceptable that they are expensive . I find it really odd

After lockdown everyone was desperate for appointments so clearly important to a lot of clients

For me personally, rightly or wrongly, I don't see the hairdresser as an essential service for my safety/wellbeing so no, I don't value the hairdresser in the same way I would a mechanic or plumber. I'm not overly bothered about my hair and only get it done once a year to keep it in good condition. I completely understand others feel differently though, my DM would forfeit her car before her hair.

Depends where you live OP. That would be very expensive around here. I know a good hairdresser who'd do that for 15 pounds.