To not understand hairdresser prices

[SuperAunt08]

I don’t go to the hairdressers anywhere near as often as I should/would like but I tend to grow my hair to about boob length and then get sick of it and get it cut to just above shoulder length but it is very thick and needs thinning out too.

I usually book a cut & blowdry, mainly because I don’t know any better but I’m often caught out by the final price when instead of the advertised price they say ‘ it was a restyle so will be ££’ what constitutes a cut vs a restyle? How many inches cut off? Time taken?

I don’t begrudge them charging more for their time but I would like to have an idea of how much it’s going to cost me before I get to the till

@Bjorkdidit ‘no creepy head massages’: Yes! 👏
I used a local guy when my lovely hairdresser relocated. Went in person, agreed what I needed, and got a price for highlights and trim. I asked did the price vary by length, if he needed toner, treatments etc. would there be extra charges. No.

At the appointment (complete with massage CHAIR he didn’t warn me about, I mean really just stop this nonsense)all seemed fine. Other than another customer coming in to complain loudly, a second time apparently, about her colour.

He charged me £40 more than quoted. I said ‘oh we agreed £120 all in when we met last week’. He said he ‘must have accidentally quoted an old deal for new clients. We don’t do that one now’. Then asked when I wanted my next appointment.

I’m in London, and most hairdressers seem to charge separately for a cut and a blow dry. I never bother with the blow dry any more because it’s a waste of money and time, and only lasts till the next time you wash your hair anyway. Just gets them to do a rough dry with the dryer.

Some salons charge differently for short or long hair, but have never heard of a different charge for thick hair. I have thick hair and would be annoyed if that was the case.

Always confirm what they have booked you in for - if it’s a cut or a cut & blow dry, that’s what they should charge for. If it’s booked in as a re-style, fair enough. But they shouldn’t be booking you in for one service and then charging for another, unless there has been a conversation with the hairdresser during the appointment and you have agreed to do something else.

my friendly little hairdressers.... open Mondays, closed Tuesday! took me ages to get my head around that.... but £50 for a full colour or £60 for highlights and tge best cut and colour I've ever had! took my years ro hit the jackpot with hairdressers! these rescued me after a salon had left me with neon orange roots 3 days before my wedding 😂

Some stylists charge differently. I tend not to go to these stylists. A cut is a cut. It takes the same time no matter if it is a trim or restyle. My friends own a salon and they have set prices but have many clients asking if it can be done cheaper because "it is just a trim". There is no such thing as "just" a trim.

Ours local, highly recommend, offers a 'teen price'. We booked that online, DD at 15 went in after school in her uniform, chatted about school and then they charged her double, literally double.

Pulled the same trick again even after I double checked. So now I don't bother with them and worse I do a slightly sneery, well you'll get a good cut but ripped off recommendation. Now that has cost them some extremely regular clients. Far more than the £25 to £50 they made in the short term.

The hairdresser's I go to doesn't differentiate. It's one price for a cut and blow dry. When it comes down to it you're paying for the skill, time and any materials used. Some people will have very straightforward cuts that don't take long and then may have more elaborate blow dries, straightening or curling as part of that. Others' cuts will need more work and less drying. They take the approach that everyone pays the same and in terms of the work they're having to do, it evens out across the customers.

You all need new hairdressers, mine charges £30, anything extra she tells you exactly what it will be eg £5 for the treatment though this is booked in advance too (for timing reasons) anyway so I know! She's brilliant, works out of her home salon across the street from me.

Having finally realised that hairdressers mostly charge an arm and a leg to make my hair look and feel worse I've since learnt how to cut it myself.

Im a hairdresser,
firstly, trimming a tiny bit off the ends is exactly the same as cutting off more,
i follow the same process , and the same scissors, it takes the same time , its really not hard to understand …

I have a regular cut and blow dry 45 minute appointment £ 56
1hour option for very long or thick hair is £66
if it takes longer i charge accordingly as my prices are worked out on time

Also its sad to see the usual old tropes about dry cuts on thick hair, i would never cut thick hair dry, you have to wash it to cut it properly , also £30 for a colour would barely pay for the colour used or wages for the stylist

Would you all be happy to work for less than minimum wage ? Why do some of you think paying £12 for a cut is acceptable ?

My root tint and cut is £99
20 % VAT
22 % tax , 15 % employer NAT INS soon
£ 17 ph to the stylist , price of colour and about a million other overheads
£40 every week on flowers

I get really narked on here of people thinking we are trying to rip them off , we all deserve a decent wage , Im pretty sure most of mumsnet users earn more than minimum wage

If you want decent hair you have to pay for it , otherwise its easy and cheap to home colour .
Hair salons are a luxury.
We also have massage chairs, £5000 ,each and my clients love them
we serve posh drinks ,hot choc, g and t, beer and snacks.
Im booked out 6 months ahead and not one of my clients complain about the price
I pay my staff well as they work hard and i have to charge more

I have a lady come to my house to cut and colour my hair. She's great, much cheaper than salons as she doesn't have their overheads.

I like that what I pay her she gets to keep too, it's helping another mum rather than big organisation.

This is exactly what mine is like. 😆A couple of years ago, the price of a cut went up from £12 to £13.50. 😆

Thankyou @Soddingcat for the breakdown
I do now travel further and pay more with two teenage girls. It was never about the amount, it was about the social embarrassment of asking young teenagers more than the price advertised because they had blonde/red/curly/straight /you name it hair. And when the price doubled there were no extra time or services in fact they finished early and DD was hanging around.
Have got all cross again thinking about it!

Technically your hair doesn’t require anything, it’s personal preference how someone likes their hair to sit and look.

If it's all straight forward cut it yourself then have it shaped/trimmed at the salon

I used to go to a hairdressers and she was very good but it was different prices each time. It would be like £132, then £116, then £148 and I never knew why.

I know obviously she must have done different treatments. When I go in and they say what they are going to do I tend to not understand and just say yes.

I think a restyle would include a discussion about the style, together with some advice about the cut and then how to style it at home. For example going from long hair to a graduated bob.

if you just want an inch or two inches taken off and that’s it, that’s not a restyle.

I go to a hairdresser who works from a building in their garden and it’s £40, whatever cut you have (that’s the wet cut and blow dry price). They are always honest with how it will style at home, and I appreciate that. Happy with the service, and the results, and it’s very close too!

edited to add I am in SE England for context for prices

Well having checked the website I have the option of paying for a cut and blow-dry- no restyling options available. Just +£13 for extra time so I'm optimistic I won't end up with a huge bill.

My mobile lady is only £20 for a wet cut, I wash it before she comes and it only takes about 5 minutes! I wouldn’t want to pay more than that tbh.

I remember the days when a toner was included as part of the colour as otherwise it wouldn’t look so good. Next thing they’ll be charging you separately for the dye!!

Why do o many charge extra for long hair?
Surel it's the same cuts just with longer bits of hair falling on the floor!

We charge more for long / thick hair because of blow dry time , not cut
it usually takes me much longer to blow dry hair than to to cut it , smooth blow dry , then often waved with the GHD irons , so I need an hour

I have thick hair OP, getting thinner with age as expected, but a word of advice: if they come at you with the thinning scissors say, "Absolutely not!" A skilled stylist can do your hair without resorting to those implements of the devil! Also there's nothing wrong with having big hair!

I agree with having to pay a fortune for a decent cut nowadays. On another thread a hairdresser said that standards in modern hair dressing training have decreased significantly, so finding a decent stylist now is difficult. Older more experienced stylists cost more!

If you want a lot off the length but don't want to pay for a restyle, just cut most of it off at home and then go in to have it 'tidied up'.

I go to a 2 person salon and another for beauty treatments.
Closed on a Monday. No fancy coffee machines.
No massage chairs. But gives a very good cut.
Cut and blow dry is £30, full highlights £65. On my short hair.

I moved hairdressers as mine was getting so expensive.

It used to be about £120 for balyage on shoulder length hair, then it crept up to £130, then £150, now its about £180. They added extra for toner, for conditioner, for a restyle vs cut, if you have a fringe they charge for trims, and they;ve now announced different price brackets for short / medium / above shoulder / below shoulder / long hair

They've announced a third price rise in 2 years - at that point I went 'nah you're ok'

They wanted to charge £27 for a 15 minute appointment for a girls dry trim (5-15 years) - I moved my daughter elsewhere where we pay £12.

This particular hairdresser employs all its staff, which is great, but if they promote someone, obviously the customer pays more. They also enter every award possible and shout about their success - but the local business awards cost £450 to enter, so that cost for multiple categories is passed onto the customer.

I used to have my hair done with them every 8 weeeks - i had to start stretching it out to 12-13 weeks because the cost was so much, so they started upping the price cos everyone did the same.

Now I go elsewhere and pay £90 every 8 weeks, and my new hairdresser (who used to work for this company and set up on her own) said shes inundated with people coming to her now because they got fed up with the fact that their haircut was costing a different amount every single visit.