Tipping hairdressers

K-town

:DHi

What are peoples thoughts on tipping hairdressers. I was in the hairdressers yesterday, it was my second time there and i didnt leave a tip. After the guy cut my hair i thanked him and I sort of thought that he was maybe hanging around for a tip. The salon i use is one of the top in London (I am not boasting), i paid £88 for a relatively simple cut ( i am not complaining, i knew it was going to be that price) so i figured that i wouldnt have to tip at those prices!!

Does everyone else tip , no matter what the price is. As it was I didnt have any change anyway. But for future reference what does everyone think?

kate x

spinandscribble

if it was a stylist no, you tip the trainee who blew dried/washed your hair. they're the ones that need the tips. i plan to start to tip once im no longer a student. it wouldnt make sense to tip if im just a student.

Lola123

I usually tip if I'm happy with the haircut/colour/blowdry whatever. If I'm not happy, I don't tip.

vibrant

I tip because I have had the same hairdresser for years, and I appreciate what they're able to do! Don't get a reputation in the salon as someone who never tips. You won't get the same service.

LadyMayBelle

How much is enough tho? i usually go for ten percent,there was one time when i hadnt a cent on me after i paid for the cut as id been in a hurry (i usually have the tip prepared in a pocket before i go in to save any awkward unease as i do find the hairdressers kinda hang around)and i felt mortified just leaving. just imagined the hairdressers saying how mean i was! im sure they werent but still!

Electric

I only tip if I'm happy with the cut/colour I've been given.

The way I see it a tip is a gratuity that you give for good service so I apply this to every tip I give. People will probably think I'm mean but I don't care why should I reward someone for bad service?

fuzzywiggle

I never tip.

They're getting a wage like everyone else, why should they get more?

Creamy Goodness

fuzzywiggle wrote: »

I never tip.

They're getting a wage like everyone else, why should they get more?

this.

we don't live in america, these people aren't on $4 an hour.

claret

fuzzywiggle wrote: »

I never tip.

They're getting a wage like everyone else, why should they get more?

Would you tip after a meal in a restaurant?

I always tip my hairdresser. I usually give her a tenner or so. She always does a fantastic job though so she deserves it

mikemac

claret wrote: »

Would you tip after a meal in a restaurant?

I always tip my hairdresser. I usually give her a tenner or so. She always does a fantastic job though so she deserves it

Last time I was in a bank lodging a cheque, the cashier was friendly, quick and very efficent. But he didn't get a tip and you wouldn't tip a bank cashier either even though they are on fairly lowish wages.

But a hairdresser or a waiter is different?

themadchef

I tip, €5 for wash cut and blow dry, €10 if i'm having my hair dyed, or style changed.

Why do i not tip bank people, supermarket staff, post office lady? i dont generally spend that much time getting to know them. I find a hairdresser i like and i stick to that.

However at Christmas i do tip the guy who carries the shopping out to the in the local Super Valu. Not sure if it's the done thing all over the rural parts of Ireland but generally at Christmas we tip (€20 little brown envelope ), postmen, bin men....all the service people who call to our doors week in week out.

The tip is an extra thank you IMO, some do, some don't.

kizzyr

This is something I've always wondered about and was never sure what to do. I've found the best hairdresser I've ever had in the last year and have never not been happy with my colour, cut, or the service that I've received. So who do you tip? The girl who puts such a great colour into my hair and is really nice? The girl who washes my hair afterward and gives a great head massage?Or the girl who dries my hair? Or the guy who cuts it who also happens to own the salon?
Granted the guy who owns the place is already getting a lot of money from me so no tip necessary there but what about all of the others? €5 each or to one of them and if one which one?

Creamy Goodness

none of them, i seriously hate this tipping culture that's come into ireland.

tipping is for places in america where people are paid buttons as a minimum wage ($5.85 - €3.75) could you live on €3.75 an hour? thought not, so people tip in that sense. here in ireland it's so much different, people are at least getting double if not triple or quadruple that minimum wage and they can survive without tips.

if you've got money to burn give it to a charity or something and stop lining someones pockets who doesn't need it.

Nightwish

I go to the same hairdresser in a salon in my town and I always tip her. She usually only does colours but she cuts my hair as I'm a regular client for her. She's fantastic. Its €130 for cut and full head of highlights and I usually give her €15 tip.

gogo

themadchef wrote: »

Why do i not tip bank people, supermarket staff, post office lady? i dont generally spend that much time getting to know them.

Lol, nothing like a bank cashier slipping a fiver into her pocket to arouse suspicion.

Don't tip in general, maybe in a restaurant where I've got good service, as I know the waitress will get the tip. My hairdresser has a seperate cash area, with a girl on it so am not embarrsed at not leaving a tip, she generally dosen't know who you've been with, so doesn't care wither way.

I think that because hairdressers start off on such crap wages that they get into the habit of looking for a tip and it probably never leaves them.

Placebo

i didnt know, my gf told me youre suppose to.
I suppose its ethical but they do get paid.

i got charged 60+ for my cut, there wasnt much done so i didnt feel the need, but had i known, i would have in embaressment.

MizzLolly

Oppsie.... Is a fiver a scabby tip??? Coz that's usually what I give. To be honest though I really don't have the money. I'm a student so I couldn't give anymore than a fiver tip. Is that a bad tip???

roberta c

tiping is stupid. end of. i get tips when i'm working in a restaurant or bar and the truth is i dont really care if i get them or not. i'd be perfectly happy without. when i take a job i look at the wage on offer from the employer and if its enough for what job i'm expected to do i'l take it., i dont expect the customers to give me a bit extra, i'm already getting paid!

Miss Fluff

Always tip him a tenner for hightlights, fiver if getting just a cut

stovelid

roberta c wrote: »

i get tips when i'm working in a restaurant or bar and the truth is i dont really care if i get them or not. i'd be perfectly happy without.

If this is true - which I seriously doubt - then you may not need a waitressing job.

Some people like to have a personal relationship with their hairdresser, instead of treating them like 'staff'.

Also - getting your hair cut is a little more skilled/intimate than being handed a mug of coffee.

stovelid

stovelid wrote: »

Some people like to have a personal relationship with their hairdresser, instead of treating them like 'staff'.

Tipping puts a relationship into the personal zone for you?

Tips are nonsense.....but especially so when you are being fleeced in the first place.


Although I do tip my hairdresser, simply because they are charging me 1998 prices for good custom.

stovelid

Moonbaby wrote: »

Tipping puts a relationship into the personal zone for you?

I'm sure the tip doesn't mean they have to like you, no.

all the stars

um, so i feel slightly compelled to post here, i am a qualified stylist - retired from trade for a little to try something new. I have to say receiving a tip as a trainee or qualified person is greatly apreciated. As a trainee i received €25 per day, be it just regular 8.5 hour day or 12 hour day. and yes you do work both for the same price.

As a qualified stylist in Galway city centre (while i stayed there) i made about €270- €280 a week. No comission & as it was a very high class expensive salon, people were being charged a lot and few tipped ( which is understandable... but scraping by is an understatement,)

I left hairdressing for a while as i wanted to try something differant, the job i currently have is the only job where i have received more minimum wage. Never in any salon did i even receive min. wage. and was always stuck for cash.
It is a very badly regulated industry.

So, if concerned about which person to tip just leave a few bob & tell them to divide it between themselves. I would only get a tip for doing a good job. If you dont feel the need to tip dont. The waitress who posted earlier saying " im getting paid already" clearly has a well paying job, let me just make it clear most salons are crap paying to their staff - and yes i do know this as fact. Whatever about dublin (which is regulated fairly well) and limerick & cork.

And, while you do get charged a small fortune to have your hair done - rest assured, unless you run the place you dont see much of it.:o

StormWarrior

I personally never tip anyone. Firstly, because I'm a Capricorn tightarse. Secondly, because I'm a skint student. And thirdly, because I'm already paying for their services, why should I give them extra?

princess-lala

I am a hairdresser, all of my clients tip me. They also tip the staff who wash their hair but I always colour and blow-dry their hair myself and do the colour.

If a client tips any of the other girls they still put it into the jar and at the end of each day its shared out equally. No matter who got most of the tips!!

LivingDeadGirl

fuzzywiggle wrote: »

I never tip.

They're getting a wage like everyone else, why should they get more?

QFT

I am SICK of all this tipping rubbish, and everyone looking at me like I've got ten heads when I say I don't tip. :rolleyes:

all the stars

all the stars wrote: »

And, while you do get charged a small fortune to have your hair done - rest assured, unless you run the place you dont see much of it.:o

While I'm shocked at the standard of the wages and I sympathise with you. It makes me even less inclined to tip, because your example shows that it only benefits the overpaid salon owner.

all the stars

Moonbaby wrote: »

While I'm shocked at the standard of the wages and I sympathise with you. It makes me even less inclined to tip, because your example shows that it only benefits the overpaid salon owner.

Well, any tips i received i kept or divided with the trainee who maybe rinsed your hair... generally the boss didnt take our tips & left it to our own discretion to keep or divide with trainee -(which i always did).

In a differant salon i worked in, that started as the case, til the boss seen it all added up after a week & decided she wanted in on the action! Which was unfair - coz i was a much better colourist & always got more tips..

stovelid

Moonbaby wrote: »

It makes me even less inclined to tip, because your example shows that it only benefits the overpaid salon owner.

But not less inclined to frequent the salon and overpay for a haircut?

I meant that it is benefited the owner by subsiding their wage costs and lowering their tax bill, after you've already paid plenty for the service.

Stovelid I personally wouldn't frequent a ridculiously expensive salon, but if nobody tipped they wouldn't be able to paying staff peanuts.

stovelid

Moonbaby wrote: »

Stovelid I personally wouldn't frequent a ridculiously expensive salon, but if nobody tipped they wouldn't be able to paying staff peanuts.

I never thought of it like that.

Stop tipping service staff, and their bosses have a Damascus like conversion and up their wages to compensate.

I've plainly had the wrong end of the stick all this time.

tallulah_crack

generally the way i see it some sevices are tipped and some are'nt. the amount of work that a stylist puts into ones hair could be huge (was sat in hairdresser for 3 hours getting full head mesh ant cut recently). if your happy tip, if your not or cant afford to the dont
!

stovelid

stovelid wrote: »

I never thought of it like that.

Stop tipping service staff, and their bosses have a Damascus like conversion and up their wages to compensate.

I've plainly had the wrong end of the stick all this time.

I'm not suggesting a new end of the stick for you, I'm just expressing my own opinion.
But do you honestly think Salon owners could get anyone to cut hair for 280 euro a week, if tips weren't sudsiding the wages?

Your a guy right, I bet you've never had to pay 200 euro for a hairstyle in your life.
Why is that? Because no man would ever get his hair cut again.

stovelid

Moonbaby wrote: »

But do you honestly think Salon owners could get anyone to cut hair for 280 euro a week, if tips weren't sudsiding the wages?

My gut feeling is that a lot of people are desperate enough to work for crap wages.

Tips are not obligatory so there is no guarantee that they actually do subsidize wages.

If all salon owners decided to charge more (to pay better wages to some of their staff) nearly all customers would pay. But by giving customers an opt-out clause re: tips, you get a nice haircut; the salon rakes it in; the employee gets shat on.

I'm not having a go. Tips are an entirely personal matter. For me, if I went to the same person week in, week out and they were spending a lot of time making me feel good about myself, then I would find it hard to acquiesce in their screwing over. I'm pretty much pro-tipping in general, but that's just me.

I should be honest here too: I know for a fact that not all hairdressers are badly paid. I personally know a head stylist in a expensive salon, with a good commission deal, and she makes decent money. Obviously, that's not the case for a lot of hairdressers, I guess.

Moonbaby wrote: »

Your a guy right, I bet you've never had to pay 200 euro for a hairstyle in your life.
Why is that? Because no man would ever get his hair cut again.

Nobody 'has' to pay anything though. It's all personal choice.

You're right though. I get mine cut free, but even when I paid, it was never over 15 quid. Women's haircuts are so expensive.

all the stars

ok... so, as regards the pay issue - The industry needs to have 1 regulator for every single salon in ireland. As it stands, you dont need to have done a single exam to call tyourself a stylist. Lots of places just do in house training - which is fine, except if your boss is badly trained, you receive the bad training also. The industry needs to be more like, strict. This will look after standards, pay & competence.

Tipping, should be just a nice thought - completly personall to everyone. Do as you feel. No one is obligated to part with anything they do not want.

Demonique

claret wrote: »

Would you tip after a meal in a restaurant?

Not in Ireland, because Ireland isn't America where waiters are on $2 an hour

all the stars

Demonique wrote: »

Not in Ireland, because Ireland isn't America where waiters are on $2 an hour

worth mentioning... i did a very brief stint as a waitress few years ago. i did friday night 7pm til close (about half 1) Saturday night (7.30 til 2 ish) and sunday lunch (half 12 - 4pm)
I received a cheque from the boss for 17 pounds for whole weekend... and this is still a 5 star restaurant.