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've PM'd you 👍

@Eaumyword this is crazynel, sorry, can you send the pm to me again as I somehow logged out in the process of trying to get your PM and when I logged back in it took me to a previous username

Where I live its 26 to 29 for a cut in a salon and 20 per hour for a mobile hairdresser.
In the nearest city its much much more .
it depends on the area .. ask around ..?

Mine charges £30 for a cut and blow dry and £15 for a wet cut. My dd and I both have below shoulder length hair.

To be fair I would say it depends on the hairdressers outgoings. Car, their own insurance, their tools, their own experience and education, any further training, their time. £40 is reasonable if not cheap in some areas

North west here - £125 for cut and colour in local salon. Who said the north was cheap!!

I’m south not far from London and have long hair. My mobile hairdresser is £25 for cut and blow dry and £10 (but I give her£15) for children

I'm in East Midlands and pay £25 at a salon for cut and blow dry. £40 seems a lot for round here

I pay £50 for my mobile hairdresser but that included a balayage and a style, so I'd consider £40 to be expensive for just a cut

WibblyWobbly £50 for balayage Abd cut 😳
The products alone will cost minimum £ 20 ,probably more . She’s working for literally pennies
Im shocked !

I pay £35 for cut/blow dry (I wash before she gets here) I was paying £45 at my hairdressers - so for the convenience of being in my own home and her coming to me I’m happy with that, saves the stress of parking in town sitting in salon etc - I would say if it goes up in price shop around but if your mum likes the way her hair is done and shes comfortable at home and can afford the £40 leave it be x

Find another one... but bear in mind that a mobile hairdresser doesn't have the luxury of passing trade and advertising due to location and she cannot see as many clients in a day as she has to allow for travel time and buffer between clients as well as having to do it all herself rather than sharing hair washing, clearing up and receptionist duties, plus it saves you having to get your Mum there and back.

But as I said.. if she is rude and unreliable... find another one.

Gosh that does sound expensive. I pay £45 for me and my daughter wash cut and blow and my 4 year old a cut. We are in Yorkshire.

I paid £98 for a cut, colour and blow dry on Friday and I'm in the East Midlands. Many parts of the East Mids are not as cheap as people always make out.

Don’t forget she has to pay self-employed NI rates too.

My cut and colour (in a salon) is £63. Every 8 weeks.

Occasionally I have a (different) mobile hairdresser in and she charges me £8 for a dry cut. Or £28 for myself and 4 children to have a cut - which I think is amazing.

Obviously we don't have a blow dry though so it may not be a reasonable comparison - and she only lives 2 miles away.

Being self employed, she also has to absorb losses from any unbooked hours during her week (she is not guaranteed any hours any week of the year). She will also need to structure in travel time (unpaid) with a buffer to ensure she’s not late.

Plus many non-billable hours for admin, enquiries (many of which won’t result in an actual booking), correspondence/questions, accounting, maintaining a social media presence (or whatever other marketing she does to get customers). Plus no sick pay, redundancy (if work dries up), employer pension contributions or other employment benefits.

A SE hourly rate is not in any way comparable with an employed hourly wage. It’s like comparing bananas with pork chops.

A SE hourly rate is not in any way comparable with an employed hourly wage. It’s like comparing bananas with pork chops.
👏👏
I wish more people understood this, especially when they talk about all tradespeople.

Hottottotter
28 pounds for 5 haircuts may be incredible to you
But dear me , £5 .50 each for a haircut
I hope you give her extra . That price is embarrassing cheap

I’d be concerned she is a modern day slave at those prices. No one can live independently on that and it has to be below NMW.

It doesn’t matter whether hair is short or long a haircut is still a haircut, you don’t not cut some because it’s short hair, it’s really annoying when people think they should pay less because they have less hair 🤔

Makes sense but saying that I’ve definitely seen hairdressers charge more for cutting longer hair! I’d imagine shorter styles require more skill and attention.

East Midlands too - mobile hairdresser cut and blow dry is £30! I think that's quite steep for you OP

@thatsgotit sorry but your mum is being ripped off. Especially with the poor service.
My mobile hairdresser charges £15, but I wash it myself before she arrives.
If she cuts my kids hair it's usually £30 for all 3 of us.
For context, I live just outside the M25 on the London/Essex border.

How long does it take her to do?