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Original poster

Hairdressers over charging

109 replies

OneAmberHedgehog · 06/12/2025 09:28

Hi Ladies
I went to the hairdressers yesterday and had a full head of highlights, wash cut and blow dry with the same stylist I had previously. Last time I was charged £234 and this time she said that will be £262. I just paid and left. I decided to go back and out later to query the price as I felt ripped off. I was told the price increase was due to added time it took her. I then stated that I had the exact same last time and on the website it's £234 for what I had done so it doesn't make any sense. After going back and forth they spoke to the manager and refunded me £40. Its put me off going back now. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had these sneaky added charges? I just hate going to the hairdressers as its expensive enough now and they don't seem to be transparent with the prices.

OP posts:
Leopardsandcheetahsarefast · 06/12/2025 09:31

My hairdresser I go to her house and she is always clear about what she charges!

I went to a big salon once and was quoted £80 for a trim before I went (popped in to make an appointment so they saw my hair which was just over shoulder length) when I went I was charged £130 after the appointment as she said my hair was long …. Still a trim. I didn’t argue but I didn’t go back I was younger then though - I wouldn’t say nothing now

Original poster
OneAmberHedgehog · 06/12/2025 09:46

That's outrageous. Hairdressers are so expensive and I know everything as gone up but I find a lot of them really sneaky with hidden costs when the prices are extortionate to begin with.

OP posts:
FunnyOrca · 06/12/2025 10:05

Yes, they are outrageously expensive! I last went in 2022 for a length cut, not a trim, and they took so little off that I had to cut it again at home. It was over £100 for an unfinished job! Now I cut at home myself (skill learned in Covid) and I’ll go to a hair dresser for a blow out when they have an offer.

mydogisanidiott · 06/12/2025 11:08

Yes! They seem to decide on the day how much to charge and there is no transparency. My hair dresses didn’t even have price list now. Like many she is freelance and rents a salon chair.

I have roots a trim and a blast off and can be £60 or £80. My hair is thin and fine and menopausal. Takes about 2 mins to dry and I now always ask for a price before I book the next appointment

in another chair there was a man having a perm and it was £95 and he didn’t have enough money for it. He said he brought £80 and thought it would not be more than that and she said she charges by time.

this is not a fancy salon.

Julen7 · 06/12/2025 15:41

Yes they can be really sneaky. Sometimes I find I’m being charged different prices with different people at the same hairdressers (and nothing to do with seniority).

Have stopped having blow dry at the end now, sod that. Usually walk out into hailstorm anyway.

Jugendstiel · 06/12/2025 15:54

mydogisanidiott · 06/12/2025 11:08

Yes! They seem to decide on the day how much to charge and there is no transparency. My hair dresses didn’t even have price list now. Like many she is freelance and rents a salon chair.

I have roots a trim and a blast off and can be £60 or £80. My hair is thin and fine and menopausal. Takes about 2 mins to dry and I now always ask for a price before I book the next appointment

in another chair there was a man having a perm and it was £95 and he didn’t have enough money for it. He said he brought £80 and thought it would not be more than that and she said she charges by time.

this is not a fancy salon.

The 'deciding on the day' thing is weird. I have finally found a hairdresser who cuts my hair the way I like it done. the first time, it was £50, which is very cheap for this area. (No colour, just wash and cut.) Second time was £80. Third time, back down to £55.

Smoggy1 · 07/12/2025 19:39

I see posts like this and I'm just confused at prices. I had a full head of highlights fairly recently and paid £65 for that, a wash and blowdry in a salon (they were good too - I paid more in my uni city and it was worse). I pay £50 for cut and colour from a mobile hairdresser.

Lamentingalways · 07/12/2025 19:47

Literally don’t go to the hairdressers anymore because of this. They make you an appt with someone and you’ve no idea if it’s a junior or senior stylist (price difference) and then they add a surcharge if you’ve got long or thick hair and then any treatment they give you (sometimes without asking) is added, it’s more if it takes longer but what if they’re just a bit slow? How can anyone budget to go somewhere for a service when they don’t know how know it will cost? It seems to me like a luxury that a lot of people can’t afford anymore. It’s so embarrassing querying an overcharge as well. I was checking the prices online before I went and adding it up in my head (worst case scenario) and it was still coming up more expensive 😂 it was the last straw for me when I went about 3 Christmas’ ago when she asked me to buy a £5 raffle ticket after I had just paid a fortune. I do look like a scarecrow though but I’ve saved at least £1,800 😂

FloridaCheese · 07/12/2025 19:48

ive had this too yes. At my hairdressers down a little street in Oxford

bodyofproof · 07/12/2025 19:49

Mine has a really transparent price list. He’s not cheap but v good, a curly cut costs me about £140

Sclarke22 · 07/12/2025 19:50

Out of interest @Smoggy1, how long did your appointment take if you don’t mind me asking? I’m a hairdresser and although prices vary so much, I find it absolutely baffling that a salon/stylist can offer a service like highlights for £65, they must not be making a wage at all

Smoggy1 · 07/12/2025 20:04

3 hours I think, but they did other cuts while I had my foils on. I think I paid £80 on my uni city. Definitely won't have been more than that - student maintenance did not stretch that far.

OneGreySeal · 07/12/2025 20:08

Get a dry trim every couple of months and then re layered once a year to keep costs down. There’s no reason to get a wash and blow dry for a dry trim because the blow dries aren’t very good anyway in the U.K.

Cariad10 · 07/12/2025 20:09

Sclarke22 · 07/12/2025 19:50

Out of interest @Smoggy1, how long did your appointment take if you don’t mind me asking? I’m a hairdresser and although prices vary so much, I find it absolutely baffling that a salon/stylist can offer a service like highlights for £65, they must not be making a wage at all

My hairdresser does highlights in 3 different colour and an all over colour in between and charges £65. That includes the cut as well usually takes about 2 hours from start to finish when I used to have just blond highlights she charged £55. she says she charges £25 am hour and the cost of the product used on top.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/12/2025 20:11

I pay £50 for a cut and blow dry, outer Sw London. It’s a chain, so I book and pay online, but do tip the hairdresser. He’s Brazilian, and always does it very nicely.

OSTMusTisNT · 07/12/2025 20:16

I had my regular 2 month appointment last week.

Lowlights (highlights next time), wash, trim, blowdry with the fancy products, straightened then she decided to curl it. £78.50.

Some crazy prices on here.

ReadingSoManyThreads · 07/12/2025 20:34

I haven't been to a salon in about 15 years. Mainly due to the cost, also due to them rarely doing what I actually want, then feeling socially awkward being left/abandoned for ages during the process.

I then had a mobile hairdresser who became a very good friend, her prices were amazing and never went up in all that time. Sadly due to moving away, I looked at salon prices and nearly choked, so had nothing done to my hair for a year, then found another mobile hairdresser through a mutual activity, so am now just having her trim it every now and then.

I find with a salon, it's so expensive now, that I would want it to be a real 'treat', but it rarely ends up that way as they're so busy you just constantly get abandoned in the chair for ages not knowing when they're coming back to finish you off etc. I also found that sometimes I'd be in the salon for 3 fucking hours, when the same thing with my mobile hairdresser took less than 2. I would hate that uncertainty of never knowing what time I'd be out of the salon by, then it was usually rare to actually get started on time, I've been left sitting there waiting an hour just to get started on my hair. I can't see me ever going back to a salon to be honest.

RosesAndHellebores · 07/12/2025 20:39

Cariad10 · 07/12/2025 20:09

My hairdresser does highlights in 3 different colour and an all over colour in between and charges £65. That includes the cut as well usually takes about 2 hours from start to finish when I used to have just blond highlights she charged £55. she says she charges £25 am hour and the cost of the product used on top.

Show quote history

I have exactly that plus a cut and blowdry. It's £190 in SW London - mates rates and a steal.

VixF10 · 07/12/2025 20:48

Cariad10 · 07/12/2025 20:09

My hairdresser does highlights in 3 different colour and an all over colour in between and charges £65. That includes the cut as well usually takes about 2 hours from start to finish when I used to have just blond highlights she charged £55. she says she charges £25 am hour and the cost of the product used on top.

Show quote history

Wow. That's really cheap. She can't be making much money for herself after all the costs are taken out. A lot of hairdressers don't realise this.
I'm a hairdresser myself and I did a pricing course in lockdown and it was a real eye opener.

cramptramp · 07/12/2025 20:50

I’ve just changed hairdressers and it now costs me £32 for a cut and blow dry. It’s such a good cut I hardly need to blow dry it at home, I can let it dry naturally. I’d be really annoyed OP if I was overcharged for no reason. Well done you for getting your money back.

MoominMai · 07/12/2025 20:50

ReadingSoManyThreads · 07/12/2025 20:34

I haven't been to a salon in about 15 years. Mainly due to the cost, also due to them rarely doing what I actually want, then feeling socially awkward being left/abandoned for ages during the process.

I then had a mobile hairdresser who became a very good friend, her prices were amazing and never went up in all that time. Sadly due to moving away, I looked at salon prices and nearly choked, so had nothing done to my hair for a year, then found another mobile hairdresser through a mutual activity, so am now just having her trim it every now and then.

I find with a salon, it's so expensive now, that I would want it to be a real 'treat', but it rarely ends up that way as they're so busy you just constantly get abandoned in the chair for ages not knowing when they're coming back to finish you off etc. I also found that sometimes I'd be in the salon for 3 fucking hours, when the same thing with my mobile hairdresser took less than 2. I would hate that uncertainty of never knowing what time I'd be out of the salon by, then it was usually rare to actually get started on time, I've been left sitting there waiting an hour just to get started on my hair. I can't see me ever going back to a salon to be honest.

Same, I think I’d only go to a salon now if I were getting married (unlikely!), it seems anytime I went for an actual cut/treatment there’d always be anomalies with the pricing and no clue when you’d see daylight again.

My worst experience was booking an experienced hairdresser I’d seen previously months in advance, giving away comedy tickets as the date clashed but that was her only availability that worked for me also and (long story but it was a very long motorway drive 3 hrs to get there also as I have thinning hair and they were cutting/putting specialist extensions in) only to be told ill be there hours if I ‘insisted’ on waiting to see my preferred hairdresser. I felt bullied into seeing the apprentice who cut my side fringe awfully short and it was a mess, got overcharged a tenner and after about 3 hours there I was dying inside and quite upset when I tried to say about the fringe, I just got talked over that I probably didn’t communicate properly! Worst thing is the extension section was the fringe so it’s not like it would grow either.

That experience still lives rent free in my head.

BeNoisyFish · 07/12/2025 20:52

This is a universal experience with hairdresses, suddenly there are extras.

Northernladdette · 07/12/2025 20:57

Will you be going back? Might be a tad awkward now 😣

ReadingSoManyThreads · 07/12/2025 20:58

@MoominMai that sounds awful! I'd have been livid Flowers

smallsilvercloud · 07/12/2025 21:00

Some of these prices are eye watering, I thought £34 for my dry trim was expensive it was £10 more than they charged me before, I never pay more than £120 for highlights inc cut and blow dry.