How do barbers make a decent living?

[minor7flat5]

I just went to the barber shop for the first time in months and the whole process took about 45 minutes and cost $15 + tip. This seems to be the going rate in central Jersey.

Since the barber who cut my hair is not the owner, I imagine she is lucky if she gets $10 of the original $15.
That means that she might earn $15 per hour if she is able to cut hair non-stop, possibly $20 per hour max. And I see them sitting around quite often between customers. I imagine that they are earning $30K/year + tips, which is difficult to live on in New Jersey. And that's pretty low for skilled labor.

Considering the amount of training needed and considering that barbers seem to stay at the same shop forever, it seems like the only hope of making a decent living would be to own your own shop.

Am I missing something here? Faulty assumptions? Do tips really make a diff? Am I wrong about the house percentage?
(There's a fuzzy GQ here, I think)

[hogarth]

Originally Posted by minor7flat5

Am I missing something here? Faulty assumptions? Do tips really make a diff? Am I wrong about the house percentage?
(There's a fuzzy GQ here, I think)

While I doubt that most hairdressers are raking in the dough, $15 for a 45 minute haircut is probably a worst-case scenario. For instance, you have your old farts who come in for a quick trim paying the same $15. And of course women's hairstyling costs more (even if it doesn't necessarily take more effort).

[Duckster]

Median annual earnings in May 2004 for salaried hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists, including tips and commission, were $19,800. The middle 50 percent earned between $ 15,480 and $26,600. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $12,920, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $35,990.

Median annual earnings in May 2004 for salaried barbers, including tips, were $21,200. The middle 50 percent earned between $15,380 and $30,390. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $12,950, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $43,170.

Among skin care specialists, median annual earnings, including tips, were $ 24,010, for manicurists and pedicurists $18,500, and for shampooers $14,610.

http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/servi14.shtml

I ran a simple search on Salary Wizard, using Trenton, NJ as the location. Average salary is about US$30K.

[Candyman74]

I would hazard a guess, also, that a lot of hairdressers don't do it full time.

[Gary T]

Since it's a virtually all-cash business with no paper trail, the total income for some may be more than what's reflected in official figures.

[Harmonious Discord]

Originally Posted by minor7flat5

I just went to the barber shop for the first time in months and the whole process took about 45 minutes and cost $15 + tip. This seems to be the going rate in central Jersey.

Since the barber who cut my hair is not the owner, I imagine she is lucky if she gets $10 of the original $15.
That means that she might earn $15 per hour if she is able to cut hair non-stop, possibly $20 per hour max. And I see them sitting around quite often between customers. I imagine that they are earning $30K/year + tips, which is difficult to live on in New Jersey. And that's pretty low for skilled labor.

Considering the amount of training needed and considering that barbers seem to stay at the same shop forever, it seems like the only hope of making a decent living would be to own your own shop.

Am I missing something here? Faulty assumptions? Do tips really make a diff? Am I wrong about the house percentage?
(There's a fuzzy GQ here, I think)

That's way above minimum wage. $7.25 an hour

[NOLA Cajun]

Consider also that in a lot of shops the barber/stylist rents the chair they use for a flat daily rate, say $50. That's what my brother in law charged the people that worked in his shop.

[The Second Stone]

I had a haircut yesterday. I go to the same barber shop since 1998. DiMaggio's in Walnut Creek (yes, he knew his cousin Joe the ballplayer and his brothers.) Sal owns the shop and employs two or more other barbers at any one time. It was slow, and the new guy took a full half hour to cut my hair. $20. They are quicker when there are people waiting. One guy came in and Sal shaved his head in 5 to 10 minutes. I left a $5 tip. When there is a line, I know that they can and do go faster.

Sal does not rent stations, he employs barbers. That said, the real estate lease cannot be cheap. Sal is very friendly and people come from all over to his shop. He knows all the locals.

[pullin]

Originally Posted by hogarth

...a 45 minute haircut is probably a worst-case scenario. For instance, you have your old farts who come in for a quick trim paying the same $15.

Bingo. Old fart here. I'm pretty easy to please, and my haircut takes 10 minutes tops. Add a good tip to that, and I can see a little more favorable earnings. Maybe $70-$80 income in an hour, assuming a string of folks like me. I don't know how much the stylist gets to keep, though.

[needscoffee]

Salons usually push beauty products on you to increase their profit. I've had to switch places because the haircutter wouldn't shut up about what hair products I needed to buy if I was ever to have presentable hair.

[jackelope]

Forty-five minutes does seem like a LONG time for a haircut. I go into my barbershop, hop in the chair and say, "Give me a medium, please." Ten minutes later--at most--my hair's been cut, my neck's been shaved with hot lather and a straight razor, I've had a brief shoulder-rub, and I smell good.

Cost: $12 plus tip.

[RickJay]

45 minutes for a haircut? Wow. If my barber's slow, she takes 20 minutes.

[minor7flat5]

Thanks for the responses folks.

On reflection, perhaps 45min was what it seemed like. I imagine that it was at least 35min from sitting in the chair to paying the bill, though. I imagine if they kick it in high gear they might do three or four customers in a busy hour, so that might help.

A $50 daily rate would equate to around $6 per hour of an 8 hour day to pay for the chair, so that matches up with my thought that she got 2/3 of the $15.

And Harmonious Discord, yes indeed this is above minimum wage, but I can't imagine living on minimum wage in NJ. Some must, but that's far from a decent living.

Like others here, I prefer faster barbers, but not at the expense of quality. Sucks to have a lopsided haircut from a barber who took ten minutes to cut it.

[california jobcase]

I remember $15 haircuts that took an hour. They included shampooing, razor cutting and blow drying and styling. I had hair then (1978). Now it's twelve bucks and ten minutes for a 1/4 inch buzzcut.

[Bryan Ekers]

Low overhead.


bDOOM *kssh*

[Amblydoper]

There is almost no "cost of goods" for a haircut. The entire business is run on labor costs and fixed costs. 20 years ago, my mother took me and my sibblings to a barbershop in a run down abandoned shopping mall for a $6 haircut. The Old man who owned the shop knew everyone in town, and knew all their kids too! he was a great barber, and I remember him fondly. The place was packed, and his 2 or 3 employees kept busy all day long. I bet the rent, water and electricity for that place was all less than $1000 a month, so each barber could do 2 hair cuts a day to pay the bills, 15-20 more to pay for their wages, and the rest of the day's take would be profit.

[Superhal]

My guess would be tips. I used to deliver pizza, and the pizza + tip would be comparable to a haircut + tip. Industry average was 3 pizzas delivered per hour, average $3 per run ($2 tip + $1 reimbursement for using my car,) and I would make around $12 an hour ($9 in tips + $4 minimum wage = $13/hour, after tax.) At a 30% income tax rate, I made the equivalent of $19/hour. I made as much as nurses, after tax.

[sharding]

There are different levels involved here too. Not every place is doing it for $15. I pay more than twice that, every three weeks (and yes, I think it's worth it). Then there are the people getting color, perm, etc. which I'm sure costs a lot more than a hair cut. At the bottom level places where you are going in for a basic cut for $15, obviously they aren't making a whole lot (including the owners). Higher up the range, they do better. I'm sure this is true in many professions. If you want to make more, you need to provide a higher end service that justifies a higher price.

[longhair75]

My daughter is a hair stylist. She has a chair in a smallish shop and works on commission. She has a pretty good client base and makes a pretty good living.

[Audrey Levins]

As a bartender I'd imagine it's not that different from my own wages...I get paid 2 bucks an hour and I have customers who either tip poorly or not at all, but I also regularly receive excellent tips (20% up to 100%) and over my shift it evens out to an excellent per-hour wage. I have slow hours, slow days, and slow weeks, but I also have shifts where I make absurd money. At the end of the month it all balances out to more money than people generally think. (Which is probably why it happens.)

Which is why I tip my hairdresser very well!

[Cicero]

I thought they all ran SP betting shops.

[Cunctator]

45 minutes seems way over the top. Mine churns them through in around 15.

[lazybratsche]

Originally Posted by minor7flat5

And Harmonious Discord, yes indeed this is above minimum wage, but I can't imagine living on minimum wage in NJ. Some must, but that's far from a decent living.

Really? I know NJ isn't cheap, but I know that $30k is a perfectly liveable income for a single person in Boston, which I imagine has a similarly high cost of living. Supporting a spouse or child on that would be painful though...