Why do women pay so much for haircuts

[Moontan]

My colleague just came in complaining about how expensive it is to get her hair cut. She paid 100 pounds.

I was thinking - why don't more women cut their own hair

I think that advertising and marketing has convinced a lot of women - that they must pay someone else a huge amount of money to cut their hair for them.

When it is actually very easy to cut it ourselves.

My mum always cut her own hair.

i also always cut my own hair. Its really easy to cut it very straight at the back, and I also cut layers at the front of my hair

A surprising amount of real venom on this thread!

I also cut my own hair, and have since covid, because I cannot bring myself to pay over £50 a pop, but luckily for me I have a good natural colour, no greys and I don’t require layers or anything complicated. It’s long and has a natural wave so easy to trim.

I quite agree that not everyone is as lucky and many people enjoy a bit of ‘me time’ at the salon so that amount of money is worth it for them. You do you! And @twiddlingthumbs69 your hair looks lovely and i could never recreate this cut at home for myself so you have made the right decision!

....because we're worth it 😁
(When we can afford it)

£110 every 7-8 weeks for cut, colours etc. I've been with my hairdresser since she was a trainee in-house 20 years ago. She a high end skilled stylist and worth every penny.

Believe me she is one of the cheaper ones where I live in our city as she just on the edge of the city. Ger further in the centre and that price goes up significantly

I cried when I seen my hairdresser after lockdown restrictions were lifted. I had to do my own colouring which I hate. There was no way I was going months without my colours being done, having now got grey showing through if not regularly coloured.

I would not cut my own hair. No way. I'm a Leo, my hair is my pride, and joy so that wasn't touched in lockdown

I have a Bob, but my hair is not quite straight. Needs skilful cutting to ensure it looks good when I blow dry it.

I cut and dyed my own hair for years after a bad experience when I was young. Last year I went to a hairdresser who is a friend, as I wanted to go lighter because of the grey. Shes been amazing. It costs £70 each time around every 8 weeks. I've never had so many compliments. My hair has never been in such great condition. I actually love my hair now. Experts are experts for a reason.
I had to cancel in November as my son was in hospital. And I couldn't get back in because of Xmas. My hair now looks terrible, but im booked in for next wk and im so excited!

I have during covid. I have wavy hair and usually sport a dragged through the hedge backwards style which I managed to recreate almost perfectly.

I couldn’t do highlights myself. £100 (I get a discount as I am friends with my hairdresser) every 8 weeks or so feels like a bargain, I don’t have an amazing head of hair and he prevents me from looking scruffy.

I do think some hairdressers charge an extortionate amount and there’s no justification for it, regardless of skill. 12 years ago I stopped going to my usual salon because I was charged £85 for a full bleach, toner and trim - and that was with a slight discount! I dread to think how much it would be now. I did briefly go to another salon, which was slightly cheaper., but I gave up dyeing my hair and eventually started cutting it myself.

Eh? How have 'marketing companies' done that? And who is paying them to?

That method only works for one hairstyle (shoulder-length shag), and one type of hair (straight). I’m sure it looks lovely on her, but would not work at all on my hair (which is very curly and thick, and has a lot of blended layers at the back which my hairdresser spends 30 minutes finessing once she has trimmed the initial length and dried it off, to avoid choppiness and steps in the line of the bob. Physically impossible to do on your own, unless you are a contortionist.

I have fine hair that requires layering to look hall decent every 6 weeks. I pay £48 for the salon owner in Greater London area. Even though the salon is full it’s a small business that’s struggling in today’s environment.
Good if you can cut your own hair, but I can’t and I’d b lost without this vital small business

There is no way I could cut my own hair. It’s really difficult to get all the same length. If you can OP fair play to you. Just because you can doesn’t mean everyone can. FIL cuts MILs hair to save money (not through necessity they have plenty). It looks OK. SIL got MILs hair cut by a hairdresser for her own wedding, it looked amazing. MIL wasn’t allowed to carryon with hairdresser. I pay £30 for my annual haircut.

I live in London with a cockapoo, I get fleeced every 6 weeks paying £80 to get my dog groomed.
when my kids bleat on about no jobs because of AI I say, “learn to cut dogs’ fur”

Well it's impossible for me to do that, given that I don't have a ponytail as my hair isn't long enough. Shock, horror, not all women have the same sort of hair.

If there are any hairdressers reading this thread I bet they are thanking their lucky stars that OP does cut her own hair as she sounds rather unpleasant. Also, in spite of the poll showing the majority of people have voted YABU she still insists that she is correct and seems incapable of understanding that not all the women on MN have the same views on paying to get their hair cut, that not all of us are sucked in by "marketing" and in fact some of us enjoy paying to have our hair cut.

Incidentally, I must remember to ask my exDH how much it costs to get his hair cut, I suspect he might actually pay more than I do. I also don't know a single woman who cuts her own hair.

👏!

Laughing for what reason? It can’t be the grammar. “Pretty much unanimously” is grammatically correct, because the phrase “pretty much” correctly modifies the adjective “unique”. As in “nearly impossible”, “almost boiling” and so on. Perhaps what you meant was that the phrase is stylistically incorrect, which many people believe, or that it’s logically incorrect, which is true. From a grammar perspective however there’s nothing wrong with it.

Is it possible that one’s misplaced confidence in understanding grammar extends to a misplaced confidence in one’s ability to cut hair well…? ;)

Cutting your own hair works for some people, but double crowns, fine textures and layers can be complicated.

I’m exactly the same as you, and feel very lucky I can do this. I’ve had no kind of training but I like cutting hair and do my parents’, partner’s, kids’, and have cut up to 12 inches off my own hair in the past. I also colour it blonde myself as paying £1-200 every few months for a cut and colour wasn’t going to happen. I can’t believe the mark up to get your hair toned when it’s so cheap to buy yourself!

I think a lot of ppl lack confidence and don’t want to muck it up just before they go back to work etc. which is fair enough and totally understandable. My attitude has always been - it’ll grow back, or I can amend it, or if it’s really bad, resort to going back to a salon to tidy it up for me.

I like changing the look of my hair but I get that some ppl like to stick to what they always have and wouldn’t feel brave enough to try it themselves, particularly a complex style. They would also probably not welcome any attention from a new look if it wasn’t exactly the same, as ppl tend to comment when someone’s hair looks different.

A friend asked if I’d cut her hair based on what she’d seen me do, so I’m glad it doesn’t look too DIY, but I’m reticent at doing it for someone else in case they were to hate it!

I am really glad I can do it myself though and would advise anyone to at least give it a try. 💸💸💸

For the past year I've cut my own hair and it's fine for me. I've never really been too bothered about hair although would treat myself once a year for a good chop and a colour from a mobile hairdresser for about £70 as I can't stand going in a salon.
The last year or so I've left the colour grow out so it's now almost all natural colour and I've cut my own hair about 4 times.
Saying that it's always in a bobble but it looks ok down too.
Reasons for me was
1...not caring as much as before.
2...cost of haircut when the money would be better spent elsewhere
3...having the time off work to have it done
Just try it! Grab the scissors and have at it!

I can’t see the back of my head so no, I’m not cutting my own hair, or going to even bother trying

i hazard a guess that yours looks like you cut it yourself

my one friend who cuts it herself, you can see a mile off. Periodically she goes to a hairdresser to get it properly sorted then it’s ok for a while

I pay £100 also and I really begrudge it, yes in my town I can prob get it done for £45 to £60 tops but my hair is fine and I highlight it blonde and the hairdressers I have been to in my town just bleach it, leave it on too long, it looks peroxide coloured and then it snaps. I found a hairdresser in a more affluent town 45 mins away who makes it look natural and doesn’t snap my hair so I have no choice but to pay it but I think it’s extortionate. Yes my mam could trim my hair for me but I tried to highlight my own hair once with bottled dye and it went orange and grey! I feel I have no choice but to suck it up.

I cut my own, as does everyone in this family. We're too stingy to pay it. It just seems like such a huge amount of money.

We do go occasionally, but I can just think of so many better ways to spend the money.

And what's more, my hair has now grown really long, I'm 52, and it's okay. Like - I didn't realise it even could grow that long. 🤣 It looks great, really youthful.

It makes me think about how many things there are like that. For years I had a boring bob. 🤣

I mean do sometimes colour my own hair between sessions. Not sure about cutting. I could have a go.

But it would take me hours and not look great. I have a full on job and don’t want to lose that much of a weekend fannying around with my hair.

My hairdresser charges just over £120 for half head highlights and a cut. I go once every six weeks and she’s always done it fantastically well and we get on well.

Honestly a good haircut which makes me feel better plus the time more valuable to me than saving the cash.

I quite enjoyed doing the unicorn cut in lockdown. My dds also cut my hair into a bob once. It ended up shorter than planned but they did an OK job at it.

I use hairdressers outside lockdown though, although since the menopause my hair grows slower so I only go once every 4 months instead of 2. I dye my own hair every 2 months to cover grey with a semi permanent which is easy.