Why should we tip the hairdresser?

My son is a hairdresser, or was a hairdresser, should I say. Fully qualified. A cut, full highlights and blow dry which took 2/3 hrs, would cost on average £70/£75 as he was not a senior stylist. The owner would take 50% of that and then what’s left, an additional 20% to cover his VAT bill. So for 3 hrs work, my son would earn just over £9 an hour. Bearing in mind too, that he and others aren’t always fully booked, he was very lucky to earn £200 a week. I’m not saying anyone should subsidise a stylists pay with tips, us please think again about how well paid they are, because they’re not, I assure you. The money is in owning a salon or shops that sell supplies.

I'm amazed longpinknails and wow well done Hilmix wish i had lots of hair to practise on.

My hairdresser used to have her own small salon but refused to pay the rent increase demanded by the owner. She now rents a chair in a salon near to the old one and says that she much prefers it. She has the company of the other women and no worries about bills and upkeep of the premises.

I go every 6 weeks, £47 for roots, highlights, cut and blow dry. I've never tipped her. She gave me a little present at Christmas

My last hairdresser wouldnt take payment by card and the price of the cut and blow dry was £37. Clearly he expected a £3 tip which I gave to him. Then I changed to a different salon who are happy for card payments and stopped tipping. I rarely last more than a couple of years with hairdressers. They do something I dont like a couple times and I am off to pastures new.

My Fabulous Hairdresser changed my life.
She has made such a difference to my confidence over the years. I trust her completely. Thanks to her, I discovered that short hair suited me, and that I was a dark blond waiting to happen after years of dyeing my hair myself a mid brown.
I have never looked back. I have had so many compliments since my transitions.
She is well worth tipping + a Xmas present, and if I ever win the National Lottery, believe me, she will get the motorbike of her dreams! She is so worth it.
I look at it this way.
You can put your make-up on, wear your most fabulous dress, heels etc but honestly Gransnetters,if your hair does not look right, then how do you feel?
I have been there and done that.
No more.

I have always loathed going to the hairdressers. I haven't been for years and just cut my hair myself!

I agree 1974cookie but sadly my search has resulted in mediocre cuts or disastrous experiences. So back i went to one who doesn't really notice me apart from my arrival and departure, so that helped me to stop tipping too.

Surely the question is ‘why not tip the hairdresser?’. Do you tip a waitress or a taxi driver? Why not the hairdresser? If you don’t like tipping , don’t go to USA where it is expected that you will tip 25% in a restaurant and we were shouted at by the driver of an airport bus when we didn’t tip him after he helped us get our cases off his vehicle.

I had a home hairdresser for over 30 years- every 5/6 weeks.
I then went to my SiL hairdresser for a cut n blow dry --she lives in a mid size village, as opposed to our town. The cost was cheaper, considering for my home hairdresser I had supplied the dye, the shampoo, the conditioner, the electricity, the towel, and the clear up! And as someone mentioned the wet neck n backache!

I don't think it would have ever changed but I decided to grow out my colour so it was just a cut n blow dry, she was chatting about where she bought her clothes!!, but mainly because she couldn't maintain the new hairstyle! I have always tipped 10%. I just realised that what you do not consider with a home hairdresser is how pampered you feel by going to a hairdresser! So when I go to visit my Si! I have my hair done. Super --- I still tip!

I always add £5 to the cost of my cut (no longer colour). I just ask the stylist (also the salon owner) to put it in the coffee tin - it's up to her whether she does that or puts it in her holiday tin. She does a great job and as others have said, a good stylist is someone to hang on to.

I've had the same hair stylist for about 20 years now, I would hate to start looking for another. The cost for cut and colour is £63 so I top it up to £70, £2 for girl who put the colour on and £5 for stylist. I just think of that £70 being the cost, I don't think I would like to stop tipping her now.

Where I am unsure is when I have my toenails cut (I can't reach the little ones anymore!!). I'm not sure if they expect a tip or not, I used to put a £20 shop voucher in a Christmas card but last year it was a different person each visit so I didn't bother.

I hate tipping of any sort. However, I tip my hairdresser as I have a short style and he could make me look like Methusela's mother if I cheesed him off. It's a bit like paying 'protection' money!

My hair costs over £100 and it needs doing at least 8 weekly sometimes less. I don't tip. I'm there 3 hours and I don't feel that tipping should be the norm. I'm not being mean I just don't see why hairdressers are tipped and others are not. Plus my hair is the only treat that I allow myself and I can only just afford to do it so tipping on top would be stretching things. Ive used lots of different salons over the years and this is the first place I have found which does exactly what I like.

Lilyflower .... yes, agree, it can’t hurt to have them on our side, can it?

It would seem that hairdressers have a hold over their customers then. No tip and a bad service ensues ?

I don't tip every time but give a good one at Christmas.

I tip well and give a nice pressie at Christmas. My hairdresser accomplishes miracles every month.

I d rather put the money in a charity box My hairdresser who I ve had for 20 years and is a very nice person and does a good cut she has a huge house a husband who works in the oil industry a personisled BMW and takes long haul holidays regularly why the goodness should an OAP give her a tip I keep going back that’s my tip
If a tip is for good service why not give to everyone who gives you good service including the shop assistant who trots around the shop to find you the right size If a tip is a bribe to make sure they do a good job next time how awful is that or is it because you don’t want to be thought of as mean or is it because you ve always done it ?
Can anyone tell me why hairdressers ? But not doctors dentists.chiropodists
Why a taxi driver but not a bus or train driver
Why a waitress but not a cook or the washer up ?

I have been going to the same hairdresser for about 9 years. I always had the owner until he cut a lump of my hair and said I had a small area of alopecia. I never tipped him as it was his business. I then had his senior stylist cut my hair and always tipped her. However, she now owns the business and I feel guilty if I don’t tip her. She always takes my money at the till so I feel obliged to tip her. She charges £38 for a cut and blow dry and £60 for a colour at the same time however a colourist does the colour not the owner. I always tip the girl who colours it. My husband goes to the same salon as does my daughter, her husband and 2 sons. She charges my husband £12 and he gives her £14.

I tip my hairdresser between £15-£20, and the person who washes my hair £5. I take this in to account, and basically say that’s what my hair costs for me to have done, when budgeting. But I do this because I can afford to and because I know hairdresser don’t earn a great deal. When times were harder for me they got a £5 and £1. People shouldn’t feel pressured to pay a tip if they can’t afford to but, they certainly should if they can afford it.

Update. My hairdresser has gone from salon owner to employee now that she's hit 60. She's only working a few days a week, I can never get an appointment without booking weeks in advance and to be honest, the standard of her work has gone downhill recently. Think she can no longer be bothered really but still needs the wages and last week I came home & re trimmed some bits because the cut was so poor ?. Shan't be going back again & thinking of going to the local Aurora centre where the profits from hairdressing to go the cancer charity. Happy to pay more to them if required but I still won't tip apart from a pressie at Xmas & birthday time.

sodapop Maybe no tipping is why my hairdresser has made a mess of mine this time? No longer the owner but I still didn't tip?

I can’t believe how much some of you spend on your hair! I have someone who comes to the house every 6 to 8 weeks and cuts it damp. I pay £18, and I don’t tip. Then I wash it myself.

I hate going to the hairdresser. My usual lady has taken over ownership of the business. I used to have her to do my colours, cut and blow dry. Now I seem to get the trainee 'du jour' with hit and miss results that my old hairdresser sometimes has to sort out. All this for the same price as previously! It all takes ages in such a noisy place. It's a long time to make small talk and some of the trainees are pretty tough going. Pampering? I think not. I get a cup of tea while the foils 'take'. £90 for that too.

I have been paying £12 for a dry cut + £21 to have half a dozen woven foils put in on top every 5 weeks . My hair grows really fast and I have very visible roots after 3 wks but can't afford to go that often! . I never have the hairdresser do a blow dry unless it's a very special occasion as for me it's a waste of money. I go home with it damp and blow dry it myself. I dread the time I can no longer lift the hairdryer,; maybe I'll go really short and just towel dry it lol!