Tipping hairdresser after an expensive treatment.

[Bubblegum22]

I’m getting hair extensions which will cost £550, Aibu to not tip or should I be tipping 10%, which seems to be standard? Or whats an acceptable amount in your opinion?

Maintenance is circa £200 every 2 months so tips will add up over the year (if I decide to keep them in that is).

I’m not sure what the protocol is these days with more expensive treatments so would appreciate some info on other people’s tipping etiquette/or not at the hairdressers, particularly for more expensive services.
Would be great if any hairdressers here could offer some guidance on what they’d expect.

Thank you.

I’m in the south too and I have never tipped a hairdresser nor ever seen anyone tip a hairdresser. I go to a pricier than average place though.

I never see anyone tipping hotel staff, delivery men, bar staff (only learned that tipping at a bar happens in the UK from MN and even then most people on that thread also didn’t recognise this as a norm in the UK at all), and the only tipping in restaurants is the service charge that is automatically added - i.e. absolutely no one tips over and above the 12.5%, regardless of service.

I’ve never tipped a hairdresser. Only person I know who has is my 90 year old nana!! I think it’s an old fashioned thing now and not expected.

Just seen a waxer on a professional facebook group telling folk that waxing is great and a good earner as she is on £70 an hour with tiny expenses coming out of that. Not bad

I have never tipped a hairdresser, I have to save or budget the £50 cost so simply can't afford to tip.

Never tipped a hairdresser! I have always thought that they set their prices, according to to their own parameters, and I am obviously happy to pay them.

I don’t tip a hairdressers, it’s definitely not the done thing in the area I like in.

Exactly.

There is nothing different about hair, beauty or restaurant work that makes it worthy of a tip, compared with fast food service, care work or even retail work.

The wages are about the same, the type of work is about the same, in many cases, the 'personal service' aspect is about the same.

Yet there are people on here calling people nasty names for not tipping.

Someone on a similar thread posted an example where a customer in a restaurant didn't tip and the server called them out on it. The customer said. I work in a care home and care for your Grandmother. We both earn NMW, I wash and dress her, take her to the toilet, feed her, chat to her, bath her and put her to bed daily and you don't even recognise me or acknowledge me when you visit. Yet you expect me to throw you an extra couple of quid for carrying a plate of food across a room to me. Whether or not that is true, it illustrates how illogical tipping is in the UK.

Also, DP used to work in quite a high end bike shop. He would often spend up to an hour helping a customer choose the right bike, fit the seat, advise on clothes etc etc and the customer would often spend thousands. He was paid NMW, no commission, just a discount on goods he couldn't afford to buy. Very very occasionally, like twice a year, a customer would bring them a crate of beer to show their gratitude, but apart from that, not one penny of tips was ever offered.

I don’t tip. Cost has gone up to around £140! I manage to go every 12 weeks, otherwise I couldn’t afford it!

No I don’t think you should have to tip, especially at 10%. That’s another £55! I’m sure most hairdressers don’t expect that kind of money as a tip… or do they?

I must be a right stingy cow then. Because I’d pay “just” the £500 and leave.

I never get anything more than a basic cut and blow when I go to the hairdressers. And that’s about twice a year. It’s about £35. I still don’t tip, partly because I need all the money I can get and partly because I always leave feeling very meh about my hair. It’s literally just the ends I have cut off, so it’s nothing that really gives the wow factor. I already find the price very steep for what I have done, but I understand the reasons why it’s so costly.

That £3.50 she may be expecting in a tip from me might be money for tea tonight or my children’s bus fare to school or money on the electricity meter. Just because I’ve had my hair cut (1 of the 2 times a year), doesn’t mean I have money to throw around.

I can definitely understand the point made that people don't tip care workers, and I wonder if that's maybe because you would would generally pay their agency on a monthly basis. We've always given our mothers' main carers a present at Christmas, but I don't think they would be allowed to accept a tip as such. I don't think hairdressers are any different to the other people where a tip is expected, such as taxi drivers and waiting staff in restaurants. I don't tip extra if a service charge is included in a restaurant bill, but would always leave at least 10% if not, unless the service was awful. If im asked whether I want to add 10% for service when I'm paying by card, I always say no and leave cash for the waiter/waitress instead so that I know they actually get it rather than it being swallowed up in the bill. We also always leave a tip for the cleaners when we're on holiday, and for bar staff etc.

You're right. I work as support and we shouldn't accept gifts. Christmas is ok.

My dh is a hairdresser and has recently gone self employed after 15+ years being employed by salons. His pay was absolutely dreadful for that entire 15 years - there were times when we would have to sit down and calculate whether he was actually being paid minimum wage for the hours he worked. I don't know where the idea that hairdressers are all on way more than minimum wage comes from! He would never expect a tip and certainly not a % of the service, but the odd £2/£5/£10 tip actually made a difference financially. Way more importantly than that though, if a customer gives him a tip, it gives him a boost of confidence because for him, it shows he's done a great job. Now he's self employed, tips are certainly more about that than the financial element.
Even self employed, he's by no means rich. Yes, he sets his own prices so has a lot more control but he still has to pay chair rent and products, and keep his prices competitive enough to maintain a loyal client base. His annual salary has only just started to slightly exceed mine and I'm a middle management civil servant (so also not rolling in it 🤣)

In this case, if the hairdresser does a good job, I think a £10 tip or a bottle of wine or something like that would be a nice gesture with it being such a big appointment. Presumably the extensions themselves are included in that cost which are expensive in themselves so I don't think the hairdresser will be keeping as much money for themselves as everyone seems to think...

This isn't really comparable. Amazon delivery driver just about remembers to ring my doorbell; hairdressers take the time to understand what I want and actually use a decent set of skills to make my hair look the way I want it to. I would ask a random friend to deliver a parcel to me or to scan my groceries for me if I had to; I wouldn't ask a random friend with no hairdressing experience to cut my hair.

That said, if I went into Starbucks to place a massive complicated order that took them a long time to sort, I would probably tip them. Our boss used to put an order for around 50 of us into Greggs on payday Friday and would tip them for it!

I thought everyone tipped as standard 🙈

Always always tip, tbf I don't do it by percentage, but my cut and colour is 135,so I always pay 150, then I usually give £3 to the junior who washes out my colour or gets me a coffee

So you would tip your dentist then, they use a decent set of skills

i don’t think the 10% applies in this case! i’d personally tip £10 whatever the treatment is

I don't tip any more. I used to give 10% but once my dry cut went up to £38, when I was paying £21 the year before, I stopped. Even factoring in that my hairdresser may pay 50% for her chair, my hair takes less than half an hour so she's still on £25+ an hour.

Never tip.

Sorry forgot the - I

Fascinating thread.

Any hair dressers here? Do you expect a tip? What % of people tip? Obviously it's nice to get a tip - is the trend changing? Do you remember who always gives tips or who doesn't? Do you think about it if someone changes from tipping to not tipping / vice versa?

My mum always taught me to tip but I know friends don't so I sort of feel like a wally as I am earning well below national average wage.

I'm in Ireland too and have never tipped or know anyone who tips their hairdresser

Took pre-teen DD for a cut and finish last week. Straightforward stuff, in my amateur opinion; bit of a trim and a few long layers. Last time we went it was £25, which seemed pretty steep. This time it was forty quid. FORTY QUID!!!

I most definitely did not tip. I'm booked in for later in the month and don't plan to tip then, either. I have always tipped but hairdressers aren't the only ones who need money - I do, too!

I usually tip my hairdresser £10, and I tip the person who washes my hair and sweeps the floor £5.

I budget £100 for a trip to the hairdresser, and treatments and cut etc usually cones to £70-£85 depending, so I'm comfortable with it.

I deal with a hairdresser's payroll in an affluent part of London and the highest paid stylist is on 25k a year. I was shocked when I first saw their salaries but nobody was on anything near 30 quid an hour