Does your hair salon charge per service or per hour?

[happily single]

I recently saw a hairdresser who charges by the hour, and not by the service. Originally this concept was pretty interesting to me, as I've been to other salons where I'm shocked by the price at the end of the appointment. As someone in a particular age bracket I normally have to color my hair to cover silver highlights, so this seemed like a cost effective way. Plus, you always "knew" how much the appointment would be. I remember years ago going to a salon for a color correction when I attempted to go dark on my own. Both the stylist and I were shocked at the price when she finished adding in all of the costs.

Anyways, just today this hairdresser listed she had a one hour opening today, which would be a wash and cut. And I realized she is charging over $100 for a wash and cut. She is not a high-end hairdresser working for herself out of a Gallery Salons. If you are not familiar Gallery Salons are large buildings with a variety of independent salons with their own "room" with a sink normally. There is a shared bathroom down the hall.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My salon charges by service and also by age. I've never heard of a salon charging by the hour. Intriguing.

 

[dez1978]

Service and product used. The longer my hair is, the more color it takes to color it, so it costs more.

 

[superme80]

By the service. I would be suspicious of anyone charging by the hour.

 

[bcla]

I have never heard of any charging by the hour. It's all baked into the service cost - or at least should.

 

[Christine]

Mine charges by the service. I would never deal with an hourly cost. Over my lifetime, I've had stylists who are super slow. I mean, I've got short hair and I used to spend about 2.5 hours at a salon having my hair highlighted because a stylist was slow with doing foils, stopped all the time to chat, etc. My currente stylist is always on time, I am shampooed, cut, and dried in about 25 minutes, highlights in and out in 1 hour 10 minutes. She gets right down to business.

 

[mjkacmom]

By service, my colorist is great (been going to him for 35 years), I have thick longer hair, it takes a solid hour to put in my foils, so I guess he’s getting $230 an hour (his job is done at that point, he directs a hair washer to wash, mix my glaze, wash it out, and then I go to someone else to cut and dry, so that whole process is another hour not including wait time for chemicals to set, and another $90). Booth rentals are illegal here.

 

[mrodgers]

I don't charge myself anything

And I'd never heard of any place charging by the hour.

Was quite a while ago now but, my (ex)wife went to have her hair colored. She was deep auburn and very thick hair. It took them over 4 hours and it was $45. I was out in the car waiting when she came out when I asked, "and the tip?" She tipped $150 I think, so essentially paid the service charge per hour rather than just the session. I said, good girl.

Also remember that's how it works at your car mechanic shop too. They may get the car to you quicker than they thought, but they also don't charge you when they get paid for 2 hours of labor but it takes them 8 extra hours because of another problem that arises.

 

[ronandannette]

By the service; never heard of it by the hour, nor would I want to pay that way - some services can take a loooong time and that's all on the stylist.

Mine charges by the service. I would never deal with an hourly cost. Over my lifetime, I've had stylists who are super slow. I mean, I've got short hair and I used to spend about 2.5 hours at a salon having my hair highlighted because a stylist was slow with doing foils, stopped all the time to chat, etc. My currente stylist is always on time, I am shampooed, cut, and dried in about 25 minutes, highlights in and out in 1 hour 10 minutes. She gets right down to business.

Wow!! I'd almost be willing to go back to salon colouring if I could get anything even near that kind of service. I finally gave up about 8 years ago when I went in for colour and ended up spending over 3 hours because the stylist was working 3 or at some points 4, clients at once. Life's too short. I've box-coloured ever since.

 

[YoYoAurora]

My hair stylist charges by the service and has her pricelist posted at her station. She charges less for services at her current salon than she did when I first started going to her at a different salon. Her previous salon owner charged more in booth rental and other fees than her new salon owner does. We're both happier with her new salon.

 

[Disneylover99]

My hair stylist sometimes juggles 2 or 3 clients at a time, so sometimes you end up waiting a few minutes here and there. I’d never pay by the hour.

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

Ugh - thick and I mean thick - longish, curly-ish hair here and I hate getting done in a salon because most places underestimate how long it will take to do everything and have their next client coming in and so I get leave with half dried half curly half straight hair for an outrageous price. I try to tell them when I make the appointment I have A LOT of hair but the last 4 times it never fails and then I am salty and don't go back because I feel like they rushed and charged me same price for a "styled" haircut and color yet I am leaving looking and feeling like a wet dog - so maybe hourly would be better???

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I have fine straight hair. I’ve been told not to layer it and I don’t color it either. I go twice a year and get about 3” trimmed off the length each visit. I also wash my hair right before I go and there’s nothing to style either. They charge by the service and usually knock a couple dollars off the cost.

 

[bluecruiser]

My hair stylist sometimes juggles 2 or 3 clients at a time, so sometimes you end up waiting a few minutes here and there. I’d never pay by the hour.

My previous hair stylist was a client juggler like yours, and it was maddening. It took 3 hours or more for a perm. This was the first place I ever got a perm so I didn't know any better.

My current hair stylist does my perm in 90 minutes max. My time is worth more to me than to spend twice as much time as necessary.

I agree with you though - I would never pay by the hour.

 

[tvguy]

My wife says she has never heard of a salon charging by the hour. Always by the service. Hair salons and barber shops were ordered closed for 6 months here in California during the pandemic and since then our 31 year old daughter has been cutting my wife's hair which consists entirely of trimming off an inch or two. My wife loved her stylist, used the same woman for about 20 years, but feels now her services aren't worth the $35 she was being charged for 5 minutes work. It does cost us for lunch, but it is a nice mother-daughter activity.

 

[Disneylover99]

My previous hair stylist was a client juggler like yours, and it was maddening. It took 3 hours or more for a perm. This was the first place I ever got a perm so I didn't know any better.

My current hair stylist does my perm in 90 minutes max. My time is worth more to me than to spend twice as much time as necessary.

I agree with you though - I would never pay by the hour.

I have to admit, I am annoyed at times, but the price is right and she does a great job, so I keep going back.

 

[kanne323]

My salon charges by service, as did my last salon. Both had service prices listed on their websites, so I knew going in the first time what the cost would be. My currently stylist does not juggle clients at once, but my last one did. A typical appointment (single process color, cut, style, and blow dry) takes about... an hour and fifteen minutes, maybe? Less time than the old salon. It takes a bit longer depending on how she decides to style and blow dry... we have an agreement that she can pretty much try anything on me except blonde, bangs, or cutting more than 2 inches off.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Definitely by the service

 

[sam_gordon]

Also remember that's how it works at your car mechanic shop too. They may get the car to you quicker than they thought, but they also don't charge you when they get paid for 2 hours of labor but it takes them 8 extra hours because of another problem that arises.

What? I'm usually charged a labor charge. That labor charge is based on how long they expect a job to take. If they found and fixed another problem, I'd be charged extra labor. Unless that "other problem" is someone else's car, yes, I'm charged based on how long they work on mine.

 

[mrodgers]

What? I'm usually charged a labor charge. That labor charge is based on how long they expect a job to take. If they found and fixed another problem, I'd be charged extra labor. Unless that "other problem" is someone else's car, yes, I'm charged based on how long they work on mine.

Other problems such as the job took longer because they had to cut everything apart and such rather than simple unbolt. Or in the instance of my Ford Escape, took him over 4 hours to wrestle the 1.5 hour job of removing the halfshaft out. You still only pay the 1.5 hours and the tech doing the 4 hours of work only gets paid 1.5 hours.

And in the opposite, when there are shortcuts to take and they do a 2.5 hour job in half an hour like my ball joints in my old Toyota which the procedure is to disassemble all the suspension to remove the a-arm but the tech instead sticks a pry bar in and lifts the upper arm to remove the ball joint. Actually it took me longer to remove the wheel than it did to remove the ball joint. I got to use the dealer shop after hours with my brother-in-law who worked there. Took us literally 15 minutes and he looked it up and it was a 2.5 hour job on the book. Thus you pay 2.5 hours labor but they only do 15 minutes worth of work.

That's flat rate.