If a woman wants a similar cut, taking a similar five or ten minutes, at a woman's hairdresser, she'll be charged treble or quadruple the price. This is actually illegal but it's never been challenged in court so it continues. Many women are understandably annoyed at this sex-based difference.
If they do the obvious thing and ask a men's hairdresser to give them a short back and sides, they're usually told the business only caters for men. This is what actor Georgia Frost was told when she objected to paying the female rate.
"I pointed to the client [whose hair he was cutting] and said, I'm literally asking for this haircut you're doing now, and he just said No." She thinks the refusal is partly because a men's hairdresser is seen as a male sanctuary, and partly because of a belief about what a woman should look like. And maybe a touch of homophobia.
There are a few salons that offer sex-neutral pricing, such as Butchers and Cut UK, but they're still very rare.
What is urgently needed is a test case under the Equality Act to challenge the ongoing dual-pricing. It's not as if it's a negligible pound or two, it's a huge difference.
Of course if you're having colouring or highlights or extensions or some fancy hairdo, a high price reflects the work involved. But £30 or £40 for a few minutes' snipping and razoring? It's ridiculous.
PS: A female columnist on the Guardian says the cheapest price for a woman's haircut in her London neighbourhood is £53.
Pic: Georgia Frost
We here seem to be more sensitive. My daughter in love, my son and I go to the same hair cutting saloon just across the street and since she wears a short crop, my daughter in love is charged the same as her husband and I are charged. I know many other women who do this at the same saloon. I don't know what would happen if I ever went to a women's beauty parlour and asked for a hair trim.
ReplyDeleteRamana: That's excellent that you're all charged the same, and ditto other female customers. It seems India is ahead of the UK in this respect.
DeleteI agree that if a person goes to the same exact place and asks for the same exact haircut, there should be no difference in price.
ReplyDeleteIn general, women pay more at a salon because it takes longer and includes a shampoo and blow dry. Interestingly enough, I do see men getting their hair cut at my salon. I'm assuming they pay the same standard price for a cut that I pay, but I will have to ask my hairdresser.
Bijoux: Interesting that men get their hair cut at the same salon. And yes, do they pay the same as women? And what would they charge a woman who wanted a male-style short haircut?
DeleteYou shared some good insight regarding this. I agree with you that a test case is warranted. I don't think the unfairness is limited to hair. My chap can have a shirt cleaned for 3 dollars less than it costs me to clean a blouse.
ReplyDeleteLiberty: So there's a laundry differential as well - crazy. I'm not sure what the charges are here, as I never use a laundry.
DeleteMy hairdresser deals with both sexes at the same price if it is just a haircut...if you want colour or other stuff then she adds on the appropriate price.
ReplyDeleteHer salon is in the busy Mercado Borbon in the capital, a mix of wholesale and retail meat, fish and veg businesses and she has a regular trade from those working there.
She goves me a great cut - and is considerably cheaper than the London hairdresser I used to use when in the U.K....there is was thirty seven quid for a wash, cut and blow dry...she just cuts and the price is three quid - but the result is just as good.
Fly: Three quid for a haircut is amazing! And yes, £35 is roughly what the charge would be here. Again, Costa Rica sounds more enlightened than the UK.
DeleteThere are hairdressers here that charge the same for a simple cut for both men and women. Supercuts is one of those places. Ken goes to the ladies hair salon that is next door to us in the shopping mall and they only charge him $10 to cut his hair. I bought a pair of those electric hair trimmers a couple of Summers ago and watched a few Youtube videos on how to cut hair and now I cut Ken's hair myself most of the time. The first time he went to the salon and had them 'fix' my hair cut. lol It really wasn't that bad though.
ReplyDeleteMary: The UK is clearly out of step here with its dual-pricing. DIY haircuts are an obvious alternative, if you have the necessary skill and can produce a satisfactory result.
DeleteIt's a scandal I agree and I took up that blouse/shirt thing years ago when it was de rigeur to get such items picked up and delivered for business people like my former husband and me. My blouses (far less fabric) were double the price of his shirts. I didn't win - excuse being blouses were more "delicate" - i.e. women are stupid enough to pay this price differential when the blouses should have been cheaper.
ReplyDeleteHair cuts drive me nuts. I wear mine long and like a trim now and again but at $60.00 I balk.
Also my 10 minute podiatiary visit just went up 10% to $55.00 which is absolutely outrageous for a senior on a fixed income, so I made a scene at the front desk. A polite scene asking for a senior discount. I mean $385 an hour isn't charged by my lawyer. No luck.
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www: Blouses are more delicate? I think not. A $60 quick-trim haircut is outrageous. A nice little earner! I don't know the local podiatry charges as I never go to a podiatrist. But not giving you a senior discount is pretty mean.
DeleteThe price difference is also true for toiletries - women's body wash, for instance, costs more than then men's. For what - a pink bottle instead of black? It's all because women are willing to pay more, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI have been cutting my own hair for years. I always kept it long and trimmed it straight across the bottom and saw no sense in paying someone else to do that. (Similarly, when I was wearing nail polish I did that myself instead of paying for a manicure). My hair is approaching a length now that it's come back where I need to do somethgn about it, but I still can't quite bring myself to go to a salon.
Agent: Yes, I've read a lot about the price differential on toiletries. There was a campaign against dual-pricing in Boots, the big UK chemist, but I don't know if it succeeded.
DeletePerhaps your husband can cut your hair for you?
I wash my own clothes and cut my own hair --- it saves a lot of time. I'm still agile enough to do my own toes, but over at the Senior Center they have regular toenail clipping sessions. The suggested donation is $15, I think.
ReplyDeleteJean: I can still cut my toenails, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to! I've never heard of toenail clipping sessions over here - it's a good idea.
DeleteMy hair is washed and the cut is layered and dried in sections and it takes three-quarters of an hour. I'd expect it to cost a lot more than a ten minute dry cut. Men do go to my hairdresser, but I don't know what they are charged. A woman friend in Devon with a short back and sides cut is furious that men's barbers refuse to serve her.
ReplyDeleteBoth my sons cut their own hair with clippers, so avoid the whole thing.
Z: It seems to be very common that men's hairdressers flatly refuse to cut a woman's hair. Your sons have got the right idea, cutting their own hair and avoiding the whole issue.
DeleteThis price differential barely exists over here. Most salons have set prices posted. I get a $19 basic cut, and so does any fellow who comes in. Various "styling" prices are posted, and I assume a man pays those prices for "styling", if he wears hair that needs "styled".
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Over here men's hairdressers tend to publicise their prices but women's hairdressers don't. A system of styling prices sounds like a sensible idea.
Deleteit seems everything having to do with women costs more!
ReplyDeleteat least in the clothes and self care products and services. traditional? or they just know they can get it and it's expected? who knows! I've cut my own hair for years. and I even learned how to cut Bob's too. so we didn't add to their coffers! standing on their feet all day can't be very enjoyable though. so I do see their side a little bit. (even if it's lopsided as to gender!)
Tammy: Absolutely, so many female products seem to cost more than men's - because they think they can get away with it (and they do).
DeleteYes, standing on your feet all day can't be much fun. Also, hairdressers are liable to RSI and skin conditions caused by all those chemicals.
It would be good to see a test case through the courts, but I doubt it will happen. My daughter gets her hair cut at the same barber shop as my grandson and son-in-law. My hairdresser friend cuts mine at home for £10.
ReplyDeletePolly: Good to know there's a barber that caters for women as well as men. We could do with a few more of them.
DeleteApparently my hair is scary to cut [so I've been told by an experienced hairdresser] - it is fine but there is an awful lot of it, and it takes a lot of cutting to make it sit right - I've always been terrified that I'll be charged even more!!
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Ms Scarlet: Even with the extra attention your particular hair needs, I would have thought the standard price (£30-ish?) would still amply cover it.
DeleteThe price differences between male and female are ridiculous I’ve thought for years. Years ago before I wed I lived in a small town, was referred to a local barber by a new friend there when I complained about the cut from a beautician. I hesitated to go to the barber lest he not welcome a female, but I went. It was the best cut I’ve ever had for my naturally wavy hair and he welcomed my business even though I was usually the only female there. Don’t know if he took any flack from the guys. I did have to remind him each time that I didn’t want what I thought of as a male cut — as in your photo here — with the side hair and back shingled up the sides.
ReplyDeleteJoared: Glad to hear the men's hairdresser welcomed your business (and gave you such a good cut) and didn't shoo you away. Yes, that dual-length male cut is quite popular here but I don't fancy it myself.
DeleteI am not sure of the price difference here...but where I get mine cut, she charges me 10, but I always give her 15...she is always on time...and back when I broke my leg year before last, after I got till I could get around, I called and ask if she could cut my hair and then wash it for me...not expecting her to stay late to do it, but she told me to come in then and she stayed late to do it and did not want to take extra for washing it...it would have been worth triple the price because I could not get in the tub.
ReplyDeleteRoger's just has peach fuzz mainly and I buzz it as close as I can with the clippers...looks like it has been shaved. And I 'trim' his beard. That is a different story...LOL
Rose: $15 is very reasonable. And how nice of her to stay late to cut your hair. Not sure that any of my local hairdressers would be so accommodating!
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