How Much Would You Pay For A Good Haircut?
Posted by: Zandile Blay
Filed in:
style
1:30PM, Tuesday August 25th 2009
Is $24,000 too much to pay for a haircut? The obvious answer is yes! But not when you are the Sultan of Brunei. The 61-year-old, who is said to be worth an estimated $24 billion, paid exactly that to have his hairstylist Ken Modestou cut his hair. The British barber has been cutting the Sultan’s hair for the past 16 years, and while he charges his regular clients about $60 per cut, it looks like the Sultan kicks him a little more change. (The $24,000 fee includes a luxury flight on a Singapore airline to the Sultan’s home in the Middle East, sumptuous hotel accommodations for a few nights and several thousand dollars as the actual fee of the haircut.) Not a bad gig if you can get it, right? [Allure]
But all this makes us consider how much we shell out for our own cuts. As anyone who’s suffered major post-snip trauma knows, sometimes it pays to spend a little extra. Then again, sometimes expensive isn’t always best. What’s the most you’ve spent on a hairdo?
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
Coral
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:36 pm: [report]
I just went to the salon last week to get a lot of things done, including my hair, and it totaled to over $400. I probably spent about $250 on my hair alone that day. But usually when I get my hair cut, just a cut, I pay about $80. Because I have been going to my salon for years, and I really trust them to do a good job. I have had other cheaper hair cuts over the years and they just don’t measure up.
powplz
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
My regular girl charges me $40, but I know she charges new clients $45 now. Before I found a job, I was paying $30 for a cut and that seemed like a raging treat since I had so little money. But now that I’m employed, it just seems reasonable for a cut from someone who actually knows what they’re doing and does effing fantastic work every time.
Coral
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:44 pm: [report]
@joyy: Wow, I have never even heard of such low prices for haircuts where I live. But I think I also get charged more because my hair is very long.
Keesh Mia
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:45 pm: [report]
I think his hair doesn’t look like it’s a several thousand dollar cut. It kind of looks bad. But I guess if he is happy, I am happy for him too! If he’d like to fly me down for $15K to massage his scalp before the cut, I am there!
powplz
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:47 pm: [report]
@Coral - you’re obviously in an area with a very, very high cost of living then. I actually think you’re nuts for paying $80 for just a cut (nevermind $400 for one day), but to each her own.
writergirl
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:47 pm: [report]
I pay $100 for cut and dye job (single process, whole head).
brandyalexander
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:50 pm: [report]
I used to pay Coral-level prices to get my hair done, but then again, I was crazy. Now I get the same exact color and cut at the local vo-tech where one of my best friends works. It looks awesome, and it’s never cost me more than $30.
Coral
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:55 pm: [report]
Good thing when I decide to dye my hair, I just buy a box at the store and do it myself because I don’t even want to know how much that costs at a salon. I get my hair cut in the suburbs, not even in downtown, but yeah, I guess I live in an area with a high cost of living. :( At least I trim my own hair all the time, because I can’t afford to get my hair cut severely too much.
LunaLena
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:58 pm: [report]
...
Man, I feel like a poor slob. :D
The most I’ve ever paid for my hair was $40 plus tip, for a cut and highlights. Normally I just go to a chains like Cost Cutters and get my hair done for around $15. Maybe I’ve just been lucky so far, but I’ve never had a really bad hair cut from those places. The worst I’ve ever gotten was decent but nothing special, but more often than not my hair looks really nice.
I think one time I got my hair cut much shorter than I intended, but even then, I didn’t really care. It’s just hair. I just kept it tied back until it grew out again.
powplz
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:02 pm: [report]
@Coral - if your salon doesn’t color your hair, how did you end up with a $250 hair bill?
skywalk
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:05 pm: [report]
$24K is just plain gross, pay $1000 or less if you must and give the rest to charity. I wouldn’t pay $24K if I had it, if I had that much money to waste I would help the less fortunate, maybe because I was growing up I was the less fortunate but still!
FYI I pay about $45 for a haircut and blow dry!
Goldfinch86
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:06 pm: [report]
Mine is usually 100$ or more. I live in NYC so thats actually cheap, but they do a good job and I have never had any problems with them. It doesn’t really matter right now though, I’m going to grow out my hair and then dye it dark again for fall.
Coral
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:08 pm: [report]
@joyy: Well, I get my hair relaxed every 3 months because I’m too scared to do it myself and that’s about $100 and usually it’s not that much but it had been many years so they needed to do my whole head of hair and my hair is colored so it took more care and time. They did a conditioning treatment on my hair because it’s a little damaged, and they always add extra for stuff like blow drying, flat iron, etc. Hopefully I won’t need anything done to my hair for awhile.
Jessalyn
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:09 pm: [report]
I pay $42 plus tip (up from $38 last year) for a cut and blow-dry at a boutique salon attached to a spa and health club, but I know a lot of the older, independent salons in the area charge upwards of $75 minimum, regardless of what you’re having done. $42 is reasonable for where I live, so I’m happy to pay it, but before moving to an urban area I never paid more than $25 and was always 100% happy with my hair.
I think it actually has more to do with the person cutting your hair than where you go. The woman I went to from age 14-22 was great, and I found her completely by accident (at a place about half a step up from SuperCuts) when 14-year-old me wanted to get her hair chopped off without having to ask Mom for a ride. The woman I go to now is great, but it took a couple of cuts before I felt like she understood exactly what I wanted. After all, it’s a person cutting your hair, not a salon “brand.”
SEMI-girl
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:15 pm: [report]
I pay $65 and drive 45 minutes for my haircut, partially because I love my hair stylist and have been going to him off and on for 14 years and partially because I’m terrified that if I go to someone cheaper they’ll do something awful to my short, curly hair! I’d actually love to find someone cheaper to at least switch off with and go to “my” stylist on special occasions, but until I make the plunge I just make things more economical by waiting six months to schedule an appointment.
I Go To 11
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:18 pm: [report]
I pay all of $20, plus tip, to get my hair cut. I’ve been going to the same stylist ever since I discovered him at the local beauty college one day. He now has his own salon, and I don’t know if he charges more for new clients, but it’s always just been $20 for me. I also save money by dyeing my hair at home, so I pay maybe $10 for that.
The most I ever spent on just a shampoo, cut and style was about 4 years ago when I lived in Hawaii, and that was around $45. I think the most I’d spent in any salon was when I dyed my hair fuschia at home, which then didn’t want to completely come out of my naturally blonde hair, and it took about 3 trips (at $35-60 a pop, depending on how much was done each time) to the salon to try and get it out. (BLEACH wouldn’t even touch it.) I never dyed my hair a funky color again after that.
xifeng882
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 01:18 pm: [report]
mmm, if I pay more than $30 for a haircut I feel like I’m being ripped off…
Kiki T
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 02:17 pm: [report]
Dear Sultan of Brunei, if you need an astrological reading I happen to be available.
Love,
Kiki
Lynn
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 02:30 pm: [report]
I think my cut + color is about $100. I started that once I graduated college - until then, it was quarterly $20 cuts and drugstore dye!
I guess $100 for cut + color is about mid-range in my area, although amid my friends + family it’s astronomical. But when you think about it, hair is something you MUST wear EVERY second of every day (apart from shaving your head bald, of course) and it’s also around your face, which more people see or pay attention to than like, your shoes, so why not spend a lot to make sure it looks its best?
Honestly I am thinking of stepping it up though, now that I wear my hair wavy I’m not sure my regular girl knows what to do with it. I see a huge difference in my old $20 haircuts vs my current $45 cut, so I’m hoping that if I go up another $20 or $40 that it will be even better.
mountain_laurel1183
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 08:48 pm: [report]
I’m so lucky! One of my best friends went to beauty school and loves cutting hair, but hated doing it for a living. So she quit and now does it as a hobby. She likes to do her friends hair, so I get it free unless I want color or something else. Then I just have to pay for the supplies. But since she has a license, she gets it for really good prices. I paid less for her to highlight and lowlight my hair than I would have paid for Wal Mart quality dye that I would have botched trying to do on my own.
Before she came along, I usually paid $25-40 for a haircut. I do not live in a high cost area at all, so that is pretty moderate. I am with Lynn though: I, too, see a huge difference that about $20-30 makes in my hair. When I have to start paying again, I am going to aim for better than what I used to get.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 08:53 pm: [report]
15 to 20 tops. Lasts me a month. No highlights, no color, bleh.
I’d totally do dreads, piercings, and tattoos if I didn’t have to be professional.
Laurel
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 10:41 pm: [report]
The most I’ve spent at the salon was around $85 (with tip), but I also got a $17 bottle of hair spray stuff. I’ve also bought salon and boutique-ish (Lush brand) shampoo and conditioner. I agree with Lynn, having well cut and cared for hair is a huge asset, personally and publicly.
That said, I often cut my own hair, and my friends’ hair too. Depending on what kind of styles you want, hair cutting isn’t all that hard. Like Jessalyn said, it really comes down to the person cutting your hair (and how well you take care of it).