To refuse to go to a hairdresser

[Suffolkmum81]

I know everything has gone up significantly but £150 for a cut and colour? How do people even keep this up every 6 weeks? I think it’s extortionate. I realise you have to cover over heads but still feel like people ar evening massively exploited

I just go every 3 months instead now

So don't go. I pay £35 for a cut about 3 times a year.

Why is that OPs problem? It’s not her responsibility to keep her hairdresser in business.

i agree. My fab hairdresser was charging £180 for colour and cut. I tried box dye and looked crap.

jumped in with 3 friends and now have a Mobioe hairdresser and she is great. It’s £50 every 7/8 weeks. Vanity it was needed as not ready to embrace my greys yet

This is what ive done too. Just get the colour done twice a year now. I actually love the look with the darker roots and lighter ends. For cuts I get it done at a local drop-in unisex salon which is v cheap (no blow dry).

Dry cuts and being best mates with our hair guy. OH & I went last week and paid £40 for the 2 of us. He can afford to be a bit less than some places as his "shop" is in his house and a couple of times when work was a bit slow he was happy to have me there for a couple of hours and do a full dye for me for free.

fyi - he used to have a proper shop in a large city in the south. It was off the main street and the size of a shoe box and he admitted that he was leaving that locale as the rent was going up to £4k a month. Bills on top of that. And he still had to pay himself a wage too. That's nearly £30 an hour he has to get in just for the rent. I'm not surprised that a shop on the high street charges huge amounts. But I'm not about to pay that in any case even if I didn't have my hair guy around!

But this being Mumsnet no doubt there will be lots of people who will either claim to cut and dye their entire extended family's hair for tuppence each or express dismay at how one might get a quality look for a mere £150 and insist that one must pay £300 every other week.

I’ve dropped to going twice a year for the full cut and colour. In between, I buy a tube of the same dye from Sallys and top up my roots at home.

hairdresser showed me how to do it and got a bowl and brush kit from her too. Sometimes I’ll pop in for a quick toner to freshen up the blonde (£10)

Gosh I must have saved a fortune over the last 20 years! I pay £27 for a haircut, and am perfectly happy with my uncoloured silver hair. It’s more attractive, with natural shine, than the dull matt brown I used to have.

Me too. I love my grey hair and the money I save is a bonus.

This is where I'm thanking god for my Yorkshire village hairdresser!

So don't go.

It isn't compulsory like council tax.

You might find a mobile hairdresser cheaper or do your hair yourself at home.

I have been to a hairdresser about three times in my life. You wouldn't know, one length long hair is easy to trim at home. I don't colour mine but millions of people colour their own hair at home.

YANBU
I am visiting my home country at the moment and just had a lovely young hairdresser come to my place. I bought my own dye from the store and she charged me 30 euros for cut colour and blow-dry. And I was in my slippers! I wept with joy, I think I'm not ever going back to a salon in the UK. It's sad for small businesses but so unaffordable.

Don't pay that and do go every 6 weeks? Who says you need to go every 6 weeks?

It's perfectly ok not to go to the hairdresser's, but 'refuse' is putting it a bit strongly. Is someone threatening to frogmarch you down to DandiLocks for a compulsory perm and blue rinse?

I don't understand the 'small business' aspect though - surely if you charged a little more competitively, you'd actually increase your turnover?

Mine has just gone up to £120 from £80. That's it I"m done. So they've lost £120 x6 times a year. If they'd have upped it to £90 I would still be going every 8 weeks.

A lot of hairdressers are causing their own income problems!

You as a consumer have a choice to spend your money on whet ever you want, no one is forcing you to go to a hairdressers. No one is being massively exploited. Costs have gone up everywhere and they have to be paid regardless of what business it it. I personally love my hairdresser, lockdown showed me how good she was. There is no box dye out there that covers my grey , nor can i put it on without making a mess. My hairdresser does a lovely blend for me that covers my grey up and it doesn't show too bad when my roots need to be done. No i will not be embracing my grey, its wiry witches hair that grows in different directions. I also have a scar on my head that has a nice little grey patch now. She also does a nice cut and blow drys it well that don't have to wash for a week. I love the fact aswell that i have three hours just to sit there with my book or magazines, with endless cups and tea ( sometimes a processco) and cake being brought to me. Getting my hair done makes me feel very good about myself and to me that is worth every penny, if could afford it would get my hair washed and blow dried every week

@Comedycook I know right! It was just the convenience of location and I have a small baby which I wasn't comfortable leaving for such a long time as the appointment took almost 4 hours!

I am sure can reduce that cost. I do 30 pounds every 8 weeks a box dye of about a fiver. Often get compliments on my hair so it can't be that bad.

I'm jealous of everyone using box dyes! I tried during lockdown and it looked bloody awful. It was so dark as nothing ended up looking like it did on the box. I refuse to go grey so am resigned to spending a fortune at the hairdressers!

if you think about what you’re paying for it isn’t about profiteering from the salons but the costs of goods has gone up for everything from tomatoes to peroxide, the cost of water, gas, electric for a home, a supermarket and a salon to run has gone up, the cost the stylists pay from their own purse to get educated on new colouring styles, cutting styles etc, plus insurance they need to have, and then a small margin to make it viable for them to earn enough to live means that the cost has gone up…. And will differ by area but in East London a standard cut and blow dry is around £70 (even for just a trim) so when the time and effort and products cost for colouring is added that can easily be £300 (and the stylist is making about £20 from that)

Yes I tried one in lockdown as well and it looked crap compared to the salon job.

Mine doesn’t look great either , but no choice! And I am not embracing the grey for anyone, I’d look like a witch.

I always check out wowcher and groupon for deals

I pay £70 I go 3x a year.

So would I! From what I've seen when it needs colouring there's a variety of different greys so I wouldn't even look presentable. I'd rather have the colour than the cut done to be honest.

If I could find a colour that didn't come out dark on me I'd try a box dye again but for some reason my hair just grabs colour, as my poor hairdresser will testify after pale lilac highlights came out dark violet!