Tipping at the Hairdresser??

[Earlybird]

I went for highlights and a haircut on Friday. I always feel so awkward over the issue of tipping when it's "left to your discretion madame".

The highlights cost almost 2x the price of the cut, and took alot longer to do. Does that mean I should tip the highlight person 2x what I tipped the haircutter? Do you give a set amount, or a percentage of the cost? If so, what percentage? Should I have tipped the chap who washed/conditioned my hair?

It's always a dilemma, and I always go away feeling I've left too little or too much! I have mental images of the stylists muttering to themselves "cheapskate!" or "she must have money to burn!" (which I don't, by the way! )

Has anyone else got this sussed? Or are there any hairdressers who can give advice?

I only tip at Xmas, tight or not?!

I get a cut every 5 weeks and highlights every second or third cut and I don't tip. At Christmas I give the girl who cuts my hair a voucher for Space NK or similar and a box of chocolates for the other girls.

Still feel awkward about it though!

I hate tipping and really wish places whose staff may well "rely" on tips due to the poor wages would buck their ideas up and pay a better wage instead so us customers didn't have to go through the awkwardness of doing it - or not.

I have long hair and don't go to the hairdressers as much as I'd like as money is tight but if I do go and have a trim, blowdry and highlights you can be looking at £80 at a decent place. The prospect of adding another 10% on top of that is quite daunting if you don't have very much - but I often feel obliged to do so especially if I'm likely to go back, as I don't want the risk of poor service next time if I'm remembered as a tight-wad.

I just resent the way that the moral obligation of worrying about what the stylist/waitress/therapist/porter is paid is thrown back onto the customer. After all when you decide on a hair treatment, or pick a dish off a menu, you do so having accepted the price shown and good service should be an inclusive part of the quoted price - you shouldn't feel obliged to recognise "good" service with anything more than a hearfelt thanks and/or a promise to recommend the place to your friends. Yet I do .....

I don't tip my hairdresser. She has a bigger house and car than me

Message withdrawn

Tip every few cuts/highlights - no one ever gives tips for my public service job - a nurse, wouldn't be able to accept anyway due to our professional code!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking as a hairdresser,you should never feel like you have to tip,though in my own experiences its always nice to recieve one....
I feel that the assaisants apreciate the tips{be it 50p or 2 pounds}more as it shows they are good at there job..The same goes for a stylist but only if you believe that they have done a good job etc in the first place.....
Although saying all that Now i dont work in a salon,when I have my hair done by one of my mates,I really struggle to find the money just to get it done in the first place,let alone to say thanks xxx
Also Its the salons that make the money,not the people who work in it x

must admit it is always the hairdresser in the designer gear and I am in George from Asda!

I think 10% is normal & this is what I normally leave - normally a fiver & the cut costs £45. It is a lot of money when you have colour though!
I also leave £5 for dd although her cut is half the price of mine.

I have a lot less disposable income than my hairdresser but he does a good job and I think 10% is the fair and normal amount to leave. I would normally tip in restaurants too.

I used to leave £1 for the girl who washed my hair but don't usually tip the stylist.

Based on responses so far, it seems that the majority of you don't automatically tip hairdressers after each visit. I suppose I thought that the hairdressers/colourists expected a tip. Maybe that's not the case, and I can relax about my "tipping anxiety".

Just like to add - why are guy's haircuts sooooo much cheaper and they are in and out in 10 mins. I honestly do not want to sit in a hairdresser's for hours on end having several different people fiddling with my quiff and having the same conversation several times (holidays, nights out etc.) and then pay extortionate amounts for the privilige.

I now get someone coming to the house. I wash my own hair first, she cuts and dries it - £13. No need to find babysitters either. Last trip to the hairdressers set me back £70