I’m beginning to question the value in a $40 haircut.
I used to pay at least that, plus tip, to have my hair cut. I am by no means a frugal person, but I do have trouble spending money on myself. Forking over the $40 for a haircut that I always, always hated until it grew in a few weeks later, plus the added bonus/horror of being attacked by a hot, loud, annoying hair dryer for half an hour, was always very, very painful.
Luckily I only get my hair cut about once every 8 months or so, so it wasn’t a very big annual expense, know what I mean? I get the haircut, I hate it for three weeks, I love it for six weeks, then I wear my hair in a ponytail for six months until I talk myself into giving up the $40 again.
My real problem with haircutters who charge $40 is that they only will do what I ask them to do. I have had the same haircut for twenty years. I am not a hair visionary. What I want, for my money, is creativity. I want someone like Nick on What Not To Wear (I realize he charges slightly more than $40) to look at my face, understand my lifestyle (no! more! hair! drying! ever!), put that together with today’s trends and styles, and create for me a look.
Hairstylists from my past haven’t done that. They all just sit me in the chair and ask me what I want. What I want, I guess, is to look like Katie Holmes at a movie premiere. What I will ask for, on the other hand, is “just take two or three inches off the back, layered all over, no bangs.” Same old, same old…that’ll be $40 please!
I understand that they probably do not often get someone in the chair who will give them carte blanche with their hair. Usually, I’m sure, they get people who have a very specific idea of what they want their hair to look like, and if it doesn’t look exactly like that at the end, they get pissed off and yell at their stylist and make said stylist feel really, really crappy.
But I am not that person. You have an idea of what would look good on me? ANY idea? I’ll take it!
Sadly it seems, $40 can’t buy you an idea. It can only buy you a servant.
So the other day, I was talking to MyFriendJen and she had a cute new haircut, so I asked her where she had it done. I’m currently in the market for a stylist because it’s been more than 8 months, so I’m entering Wild Woman Of The Amazon territory, and my old stylist is currently recovering from having both his legs broken in a car accident in Lebanon (and of course, it’s ALL ABOUT ME).
Anyway, so MyFriendJen told me she just had it done at First Choice. She said, “I got tired of paying $40 to have the same cut over and over. The First Choice people aren’t creative geniuses but they can give me a serviceable cut when I tell them what to do, and it costs like, $14.”
$14!!!! For basically the same service — I instruct, they cut. It’s genius!
So I think I’m sold. I could never bring myself to pay more than $100 for a cut, which is what I think it would take to have someone who would actually design a new look for me. So I may as well just pay $14, instead of $40. Hell, at that price I might endeavour to have my hair cut every six months.
But let’s not get too crazy, now.
TurtleHead 
Yup, that’s basically how the hair industry works.
$10 – $20: the person will do what you want or do what she thinks is fine, but beware: style isn’t a concern
$20 – $40: the person will do what you tell them and will do it very well
$50+: the person will do what you want, possibly improving on the idea or they’ll come up with a new style for you, and it’s usually good.
I pay $60 for my cut, and I love my stylist. I didn’t love the last cut, but it wasn’t terrible and I wanted to veer a bit from the usual. 4 of my girl friends go to the same girl. She’s got great references!
What fame throwa said. It’s totally worth it to pay $60+ for a kick-ass haircut. Your hair is usually the first thing people notice about you. It says so much about you. It’s your shining glory. If you have a great haircut and great shoes, you can get away with almost anything else in between. Seriously. Don’t fall into the First Choice trap. It’s fine for kids, but you don’t want to look like everyone else — you want The haircut. Try it once and see.
I’m the same; I can, and do, go at least a year without a haircut, and 90% percent of the time my hair is pulled back in a ponytail. It’s been like this for years now, despite several attempts at hair cuts (usually chin length or so).
I have yet to find a lovely, flattering cut that accomodates my hair texture (very, very thick, wavy-ish and slightly dry/damaged) and does not require much product or ANY styling tools. I’ve been told to just suck it up and get a hair dryer, but I’d rather just keep my hair pulled back.
I’ve tried the First Choice salons with photos, and they rarely work because of the texture of my hair. I’ve tried $150 hair cuts (ah, back when I had extra income), and found that they required the arms of an eastern deity in order to make it look the same at home.
Seriously, I just trim it in my bathroom and am done with it at this point.
If you ever find the person capable of creating The Haircut, let me know…;) I’m willing to play 2nd guinea pig.
I get my hair cut every four weeks so I am very envious that you can get away with every eight months!
I am one of those people who says ‘do what you want, do what you think is best for me’. Occassionally I might ask my stylist ‘so what are you doing?’ as she’s colouring or cutting my hair but most of the time I wait and see. She knows that I don’t like to fuss too much, that my hair is really really fine, that I don’t like red on me even though everyone else does, and that I like to change it up often. I’ve been with the same stylist for seven years, plus I used to go to her all through high school.
She charges me too much money, $57 before tax/tip and I go to her every four weeks. I have complained and told her that I can’t keep coming to her if she keeps increasing her prices so she hasn’t in about a year.
Hmmmm. Well, I still don’t see myself ever paying a lot for a haircut on a regular basis — I had enough trouble at the $40 level. But you all have me thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would be worth it to try one of the expensive people just one time, just to see what happens. I’ll think it over.
In the meantime — ponytail!