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Ladies: Tipping at Hair Salons
Let me start by saying I paid my way through college by waitressing tables. I understand this job and I tip waitstaff very well. I also tip waitstaff based on the quality of the service I receive. If it’s really exceptional, an exceptional tip is given. If service is just okay, I’ll still tip, but there’s a quality scale. Many in modern society feel TIPS are meant “to insure prompt service”, after all. If that’s not what I got, then I’m not paying as much.
Do I resent tipping at restaurants? No.
This is in part because I know that waitstaff would not even make minimum wage without tips because compensation is driven by gratuity. (I think I made $2.01 per hour for years, which created a check from which the government could easily deduct taxes for my tip income.)
I also understand why waitstaff get a lot more per a large check in a fine dining establishment. That’s because their tables don’t roll quickly like they do in a diner. (I’ve worked in both sorts of restaurants so I am super familiar with the different workloads.) Also, the waitstaff at a fine dining place will tip out bartenders and busboys to ensure they get the help they need to fill the drinks of those twenty business people at one table who are all on expense accounts while attending a convention.
It’s a whole system, and I know how it works, so I don’t mind the system.
But now there are many other places that “require” tipping that I’m going to admit are making me resentful, and I don’t even know the logic as every coffee joint and sandwich place seems to have a tip jar by the cash register.
Call me cheap, but I think the “service” is baked into the $7 latte, right? If I order at a counter and have to go back to a soda fountain to fill my own drink, why should I give a tip? Because someone gave me the food that was being sold like they do every day at McDonald’s?
Those sorts of employees make a regular wage, unlike waitstaff, so the tips don’t serve the same purpose.
But here’s the kicker, and I think this one impacts women more than men. (This is not because men don’t go to salons, but women are often charged more at salons because we have more hair and more complicated services.)
How much do you tip at a salon?
Per an article I just read for guidance, the tip should always be %20 on the service.
Okay.
Well, I just got my hair colored and cut last night. This was $255 plus an additional $20 for more hair dye because, apparently, my hair is “thirsty” and absorbed the color quickly. That left me with a tab of $275.
The service took about 2 1/2 hours with thirty minutes of that involving me sitting there with the dye on my hair.
Many stylists at upscale salons are paid half the ticket, so that means my stylist theoretically made $137.50 before tip.
I am not going to count the thirty minutes I sat in a chair because someone could give someone else a haircut in that timeframe, so the stylist was working for me for two hours. She, therefore, theoretically made $68.75 per hour before tip.
Now I add $55 to the tab per the %20 rule. The stylist then made $96.25 per hour.
I understand being a good hairstylist requires skill, but I have two masters degrees, and I do not make anywhere near that kind of cash.
You may say, “Go to a cheaper salon!” But I live in a city in which this is what it costs to have one’s hair colored, and that’s really not the point.
If I paid $100 for the service, I’d probably feel a lot better about the %20, but it takes the same amount of time to color my hair in an upscale salon or a place in the mall, so why is this tip based on a percentage? (As I said, there really is a difference in fine dining versus greasy spoon.)
Am I being ridiculous here?
I do understand that some stylists do not get half of their tickets. They work for a base salary and then get tips, but I am still paying a pretty hefty fee for the time in the salon, whoever gets the cash-ola.
I also know the margins on food in restaurants is very small, so that’s why the compensation structure for waitstaff is set up the way that it is set up.
Is that really the case in a salon when I used to dye my own hair for $20 per the box I got from the grocery store?
What do you all think is actually reasonable to pay at a salon apart from what “etiquette experts” say. (Apparently, you should tip more than 20% at Christmas!!!)
Does anyone know how this industry works that would make me feel less like I’m just getting ripped off?
Currently, I let my roots often grow out to the point that I sometimes look like a secretary in a house of ill repute mostly because I dread standing at a cash register doing mental math and feeling resentful because it seems I’ve already paid a lot for what I’ve gotten, and they always want more.
Kinda like the government.
Published in Culture
Yes, but that was for having it done on Air force 1 while sitting on the tarmac of LAX.
Secret Service shuts down ALL aircraft movement (including takeoffs and landings) whenever the President is onboard Air Force 1.
So, for the time he was waiting for his haircut, getting his haircut, thanking the guy… no one was allowed to land, taxi or takeoff.
That is why it created the stir.
Haha Should we both go long in the haircut market?
But maybe the answer is yes. Prices tend to go up for services like this, where productivity improvements are limited. Doctors, teachers, pastors, drivers, soldiers…
It’s called the Baumal Effect.
When I was deployed to the desert (in the 2000’s) the haircut guys would give a shoulder rub (ok) and then massage your eyebrows.
That was odd.
I have. It’s been at least two years for me.
You know the old saying, “A bad haircut is like wearing an ugly dress…every day.”
Absolutely! My hair appointments took priority over everything else and I’d change my doctor before I’d change my hairdresser.
The below are observations, and are not meant to be taken as argumentative.
Tips probably began as alms/appreciation, graduated to niceness, and ultimately calcified into expected. Our addiction to ‘progress’ is such that this can happen almost instantaneously – as you point out in your Uber example.
With coffee, tipping appeared along with the imported coffee model – though I don’t know that Italians throw extra money at their sullen college-going baristas (although I think I’ll apply for a research grant after I post this).
Waitresses earn their tips fair and square. They take (usually) two rounds of orders, bring food in a timely manner, and fetch extra request things on the fly. They help with children, the old, and the pissy. They are expert ‘flirters’ who make men feel looked after and women feel respected (waiters walk a similar tightrope).
It is estimated that some 20% of women who transition to males do so because they can no longer afford salon rates.
Good luck with that.
This is one of the very funniest comments. And probably an easier study to get funded than the question about Italian baristas. Europeans definitely don’t throw as much money at anyone for gratuity, and waitstaff doesn’t get 20%.
I wear mine really, really short. You can see my scalp no problem.
My wife has been cutting my hair for 57 years. She’s not very good at it, but I’m not very fussy about it either. Now that I’m almost bald, I care even less.
As long as the dog don’t bark, you are doing ok.
You should definitely tip your wife. I’m not sure if that’s in cash, but you’ve probably been good at dishing out some gratitude since she’s kept you around for more than five decades. :)
Ha ha.
Lois, she married above her station, so she’s always been grateful to me for lifting her up. Thus, she doesn’t expect a tip because she’s been given so much already.
I kid. A little.
Oh, Kent, Kent, Kent…. This just shows the skill of your brilliant wife that she’s allowed you to feel that good. Man. Give that lady whatever she wants. She’s a goddess.
OK, Lois Lane, now the real question that everyone has been reluctant to ask: What’s it like sleeping with Superman? I mean, he’s the man of steel and all. People have been wondering about this for decades.
You may yet have occasion to regret giving them this idea.
Well, Kent, it’s not disappointing. I’ll say that much. Superman is quite a dream when you’re sleeping, let me tell you. And he’s got good hair, too. ;)
Very circumspect, Ms. Lane. All you can say about sleeping with Superman is that it’s “not disappointing” — and that you love that coal black hair of his, with its little curl on his forehead.
I was hoping you were a kiss-and-tell kind of girl.
Never, Kent! Never!
But remember that wonderful super hero can fly, right? Recall that Superman often goes all around the world with his beloved in his arms. So… I will also say this… When I’m awake, I certainly enjoy the ride. ;)
Plus he must use good products because that coal black hair of his stays perfectly in place.
Enough with this talk, Joker!
My actual husband goes to Super Clips. He is baffled by my hair care bills. But he really IS a super man.