Hair cut and colour now exceeds what I earn in a day. Absolutely fed up.

[Burntout01]

Obviously everything is going up and up. Just went to book hairdressers- I don’t go often , maybe every four months since I went grey ( used to box dye it for 30 years before that). Its my one bit of self care.
Cost has jumped from £120 to over £170 since I last had it done in September. For full head highlights for chin length bobbed hair plus wash and rough blow dry.
It’s not that I don’t believe its worth that price and I am not knocking my hairdresser, its not about that. But I am a senior NHS nurse with 30 years experience. My job has taken a lot from me and my family. I take home £150 a day. The hair appt is 2.5 hours.
I just cannot justify the expense for myself any more.

It's the difference between north and south.

A cut and blow dry where I go is £75.

A full head of colour and a cut would be more than the OP.

Mine charges £170 for half a head, plus cut etc.

If you live in the south, you have no choice if you want to go to a decent salon.
Yes there are cheaper ones but they aren't so good.

The costs are mainly the premises and other overheads.

Not everyone spends on 3 coffees a week. Coffees are now £4 plus That’s something else I have cut back on

Everyones costs have gone up so most people have to make choices.

I think that's obvious. It was to show a perspective between £10 a week for hair and what other people spend it on.

Look for a mobile hairdresser, I just trim because my hair is fair and blending into white, I’m low maintenance, but I get it trimmed at a friends, several people do whilst 3 of them get colour done, it’s very economical because the hairdresser firsts the trims around the colours and we all save, she apparently does a lot of whole families

I think the point of the thread is more about how the cost of living crisis is really shit for people on an individual level but also worrying for society.

The people who used to have enough disposable income to eat out, get their hair done, etc can now no longer do so at all or as often. Prices for everything have gone up.

It’s fine, hair cuts and meals out are luxuries we can do without. Yeah, but that’s eventually going to have repurcussions for society as eventually most salons and other businesses close. There aren’t enough wealthy people to keep them going. We need the people on national average salaries to spend their money in local businesses. If those people can no longer afford it, what’s going to happen?

We can say it’s fine now, people are still going but less often so salons will just increase their prices to cover their costs. But their costs are still going up so eventually those people who were still going less often, won’t be able to go at all.

It wouldn't be ageing if women weren't pressured into covering it for years after hair starts to naturally grey. The more women embrace their grey as it comes the less immediately ageing it will be.

It’s not worth that price. Mine costs £90 for full head, toner and cut. Hasn’t gone up in 5 years. I’m in the south east of England. You are being ripped off.

Try a home hairdresser OP - it will be less than £100.

I do agree it’s all mental though. The cost of living is wild.

Millions of people go grey naturally and it's not 'horrible'

Precisely @Eudaimonia11 a lot of people are now having to make choices about how they spend their money. A few years ago I was having hair, eye lash tint, facials, manicures etc on a pretty regular basis but not since Covid. I appreciate that everyone’s costs have gone up but my income hasn’t had the same boost and with Rachel from Accounts taking more then I have to cut back spending on life’s little luxuries.

You seem to think you only get a decent cut and colour if you pay a lot. This really isn’t the case. I bet you can find a cheaper salon if you look for one.

I personally find it horrible on me. I don’t look at others and think ‘horrible’, its just how I myself feel I look.

Grey isnt horrible and what's wrong with looking your actual age? Next time you go tell the hairdresser you are thinking of blending in the grey more and they may suggest ways of doing it that aren't cold turkey. This wont be cheap but in the long run it will save. Or as others suggest look for a good mobile hairdresser- much cheaper than salon prices.

Healthcare isn’t free. That’s what taxes pay for.

This is the strangest comment ever @OhNoMyLovely . Do you think I work 365 days per year????? No. I work three days a week. I would ideally like to work more now my kids are older but there are no available hours for me to fill. Its been like that for nearly 3 years. When we had a nine month waiting list the ‘answer’ was to just double our workload overnight. This was traumatic and meant people just had to work extra hours in their own time to allow us to see the ‘right’ number of patients and then do all the associated paperwork. I am not exaggerating when I saw its caused mental, physical, illness and in one case formally diagnosed PTSD. So no I dont feel fairly paid and Ive had to come out of the pension scheme now as it became totally unaffordable. I take home around £1850pm.

The cost of everything is now getting ridiculous and like others have mentioned, I'm shocked at your take home pay as a senior nurse @Burntout01 !

I used to go to a salon fairly regularly for a cut and blow dry, and balayage or highlights. I last went around 2 years ago and the cost was astronomical. So since then, my teenage daughter has been cutting my hair (it's long and just needs cutting straight across), and I've been using box dye to cover my greys.

But I feel the colour is now looking a bit too "blocky", so I recently bought some Sun in spray (90s throwback!). I know it's supposed to be bad for your hair but I just thought I might do a few very fine highlights to lift the colour a bit. Haven't done it yet though, I'm still thinking about whether I want to take the risk....! 🫣

It really is crazy that so many of us can't afford hairdressers now, let alone beauty treatments, and I buy all my clothes second hand.

YANBU!! My hairdresser has also just upped highlights and a cut by £20. It’s now £200. He was adamant that his clients can just buy a few less coffees a month to make up the extra but not so easy when you’ve already cut all those little luxuries out

Think I’ll be trying a box dye in the new year

OP I’m 54 and stopped the highlights and dye 5 years ago. I save so much money and it looks great.

In my opinion, which is fair to differ from yours, doctors and nurses deserve their pay. I would do without a hairdresser when I need one before a doctor or nurse.
Additionally I'm not at all complaining about having 4 children, i am well aware how fortunte i am...my point was that I will be advising them not to work for the NHS. Thanks.

i get a nice and easy box dye and my daughter (not a hairdresser) cuts it for me. My hairdresser was costing the same and I couldn’t justify the costs. I’ve had more compliments doing it myself too!

This

And hats

Read the room!!!!

No one is forcing them to get it, no. But…

1. this the only bit of self-care this person does.

2. they should be on a better wage for the work they do given their experience

3. things simply should not be this unaffordable for people!

It’s also contributed to via NI and not everyone pays that. MN is full of threads with ‘we pay your wages’ comments. Would you rather have private healthcare funded by insurance as in the USA ?

This. Most sensible post on the thread.

😲🤯 That is ridiculous I’m UK and I pay £65 every 6 weeks for a full head colour trim and blow dry