# Cutting Off A Girl's Hair: Is This Ever OK? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859 "2010-06-20T08:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/161 "2010-06-22T17:01:40Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Things must have changed a lot. Back when I was a bartender we didn’t keep scissors behind the bar. I know of very few drink recipes which require them. An authentic Bloody Mary, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/162 "2010-06-22T17:17:44Z")
Sorry I’m late but A Absolutely not allowed. B Susan needs therapy perhaps court ordered therapy C It’s a good thing that Jen tits aren’t better than Susan’s D Susan’s real name wouldn’t by chance be Amy? The first x-Mrs.Z would do this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/163 "2010-06-22T17:41:41Z")
Really? Nobody is with me on the “a $300 hair cut is ridiculous” thing? Any men still reading? If I scratch your car and offer to repair it, I assume you are not going to repair it by going to Tiffany and having it gold plated. Hand me a bill for that I’m just gonna laugh and walk away. No doubt you could find a $300.00 haircut if you worked at it, but outside of Manhattan you’d have to go pretty far out of your way to find one. Can you guys honestly say you even know where in your town you could get such a haircut? Have any of you ever paid remotely anywhere near this price for a straight haircut? And do you honestly believe that she’s going to get a haircut that doesn’t basically amount to “even it up?” Of course she’ll want a good stylist, but there just aren’t that many complicated things that you can do to very long hair. It’s not like she’s gonna use that length to get it cut into thousands of tiny layers. Anyway, the argument here is about Jen purposefully finding an extremely expensive solution just to stick it to Susan. Sorry, that’s just a tacky act of petty revenge that puts Jen right on the level of Susan. That’s the sort of behavior I expect to see on Judge Judy. If she learned that Jen was racking up a huge bill on purpose just to make it hurt more, I wouldn’t blame Susan at all for telling Jen where she could stuff it. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/164 "2010-06-22T17:43:54Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Anyway, the argument here is about Jen purposefully finding an extremely expensive solution just to stick it to Susan. Sorry, that’s just a tacky act of petty revenge that puts Jen right on the level of Susan. No, sneaking into Susan’s house in the middle of the night and burning all her clothes would be a tacky act of petty revenge that puts Jen at the level of Susan. A $300 haircut is punitive damages, and Susan richly deserves to pay them. You don’t think hair is a big deal. We get it. But you don’t get to decide for other people what should be a big deal to them. For instance, you apparently DO think money is a big deal, and who would I be to tell you otherwise, if I stole your full wallet and thought you should be satisfied with my offer to buy you an empty one. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/165 "2010-06-22T17:48:44Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Really? Nobody is with me on the “a $300 hair cut is ridiculous” thing? Any men still reading? > > If I scratch your car and offer to repair it, I assume you are not going to repair it by going to Tiffany and having it gold plated. Hand me a bill for that I’m just gonna laugh and walk away. Well, I’m pretty sure **Stranger** is male. Honestly, I don’t think this is a “frivolous female hair” thing. Just think of it as something important to someone. It’s not like replacing a destroyed shirt or jewelry or anything with a set value because hair cuts can vary so much. But I don’t think the car thing is at all comparable–if it’s an accidental scratch. If you accidentally scratch someone’s car, they’re being lame by doing the Tiffany’s thing. If you think your friend is bragging about their wonderful car and you think it would be funny to take them down a peg by scratching the car, then I’d have no sympathy if you complained that they ratcheted up the price. It’s not about what they destroyed. It’s about the fact that it was a willful, senseless destruction. Do I personally think $300 is a lot to pay for a cut? Yes, absolutely. I’m getting my hair cut at a salon this weekend and I’m going to pay $30 for it, not including tips. But if I go around purposefully cutting someone else’s hair, then I pretty much don’t get to dictate what they want to pay for it. If I do this and then text them saying, “I’ll pay,” I don’t get to tell them where or how they cut it. I’m not the wronged party. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/166 "2010-06-22T18:12:50Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Really? Nobody is with me on the “a $300 hair cut is ridiculous” thing? Any men still reading? Still reading. I’ve never understood why women’s haircuts are so expensive, but I accept that they are. And a $300 cut doesn’t seem that impossible to me. I know of places just a few blocks from here where you could go to get one. I don’t think that Jen is entitled to a $300 cut in this case. She’s entitled to be made whole again, and if she normally goes to Supercuts, then that’s what she gets. If it’s going to require a lot more than that to make things right, then she’s entitled to it. But I also believe that she’s entitled to something for punitive damages and pain and suffering. And a couple hundred for that is not at all unreasonable. How that could happen without a lawsuit is beyond me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/167 "2010-06-22T18:36:39Z")
I’ve watched some Judge Judy, and I can totally see Judge Judy going for making Susan pay for whatever haircut Jen decided to get to mitigate the damage Susan inflicted on her. My take on Judge Judy’s\* take - “Well, if you didn’t want to pay $300, you shouldn’t have cut her hair. You don’t get to tell her where she has to go to fix the damage YOU did. Don’t be so stupid next time.” I can totally see getting a very expensive haircut to fix the damage - a very good haircutter should be able to shape and somewhat disguise the butchery. The cheap haircutters I go to would be likely to make it worse. \*I typed that as Judge Judgy at first. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/168 "2010-06-22T18:40:34Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Really? Nobody is with me on the “a $300 hair cut is ridiculous” thing? Any men still reading? Guy. $300, for a woman with long hair? Reasonable; cheap if she’s got highlights that need to match the new length. Money means different things to different people. $300 as a once a quarter expense doesn’t phase me that much, just going off of how often my wife gets her hair done. > [@](#): > > If I scratch your car and offer to repair it, I assume you are not going to repair it by going to Tiffany and having it gold plated. Hand me a bill for that I’m just gonna laugh and walk away. > > No doubt you could find a $300.00 haircut if you worked at it, but outside of Manhattan you’d have to go pretty far out of your way to find one. Can you guys honestly say you even know where in your town you could get such a haircut? Have any of you ever paid remotely anywhere near this price for a straight haircut? And do you honestly believe that she’s going to get a haircut that doesn’t basically amount to “even it up?” Of course she’ll want a good stylist, but there just aren’t that many complicated things that you can do to very long hair. It’s not like she’s gonna use that length to get it cut into thousands of tiny layers. > > Anyway, the argument here is about Jen purposefully finding an extremely expensive solution just to stick it to Susan. Sorry, that’s just a tacky act of petty revenge that puts Jen right on the level of Susan. That’s the sort of behavior I expect to see on Judge Judy. If she learned that Jen was racking up a huge bill on purpose just to make it hurt more, I wouldn’t blame Susan at all for telling Jen where she could stuff it. If you key my car, the stock Honda paint job will be trivial to fix. You key my buddy’s car, his relatively rare Mystic paint job will be very expensive to fix. And, tbqh, keying a car is a violation of _stuff]_, cutting someone’s hair is a violation of _self_. The first you fix with cash, the second, well, I don’t know that those can be fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/169 "2010-06-22T18:51:14Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > I could see Susan sucking it up, since she’s the one who did the stupid, mean, and ohbythewaybatshitcrazy haircut. I agree. If you do something wrong, you **HAVE** no right to dictate how mild or severe the consequences are. If she were not willing to deal with consequences, she was perfectly capable of choosing not to hack the hair off in the first place. No one would be expecting her to fork over $300 then. Win-win! I don’t think it’s even relevant if Jen normally pays $15 at SuperCuts. This is not going to be a “take half an inch off the ends” trim; this is a _major repair job._ Given that I couldn’t get SuperCuts-style haircutters to get a simple trim right (I said “follow the cut, just take a quarter inch off,” she asked if I wanted layers, I said “NO LAYERS” and got layers anyway), I would not go to someone who wasn’t at least several steps above that. And frankly, after the emotional upset of seeing her hair hacked up all to hell, I think Jen deserves the extra pampering and peace-of-mind that comes from an expensive salon. Jen lost _nine inches_ of hair. That will take at least a year and a half to grow back (probably longer). In the meantime, it might be nice if she can get it styled in a way that makes her feel good about herself, her hair, and her appearance again. She’s stuck with her new look, like it or not, for quite some time. Jen deserves to like it, rather than looking in the mirror every day for the next 18 months hating her hair. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/170 "2010-06-22T18:57:33Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > \*I typed that as Judge Judgy at first. 🙂 I would totally watch that. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/171 "2010-06-22T19:09:13Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Haircuts don’t cost $300 Hair _cuts_ don’t, but hair _extensions_ can be quite pricey, as I understand it. I went to a wedding where the bride had her formerly long locks restored for the wedding. I’d only known her with fairly short hair, so I thought she looked weird. I mean the hair was gorgeous and all, but she looked really different to me. Anyway, to make her short hair long again apparently cost a small fortune. IIRC, she auctioned off her firstborn and took out a mortgage on the groom’s soul to pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/172 "2010-06-22T19:11:17Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > \IIRC, she auctioned off her firstborn and took out a mortgage on the groom’s soul to pay for it. From the bridal shows I’ve seen, that seems to be the usual method. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/173 "2010-06-22T19:19:22Z")
300 would be on the high end, I know it can go much higher, but for a salon appointment 300 is on the high end but not impossible high. I’m a guy but I do live in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/174 "2010-06-22T19:56:44Z")
> [@astro](#): > > It really depnds. My 20 year old daughter screwed up her hair color with a home dye job a few years ago and I told her she could get it fixed on my credit card. the total “fix” was $ 225.00 at [a local salon.](http://www.desalonandspa.com/) as it went through a few dye stages to get it back to where she was. Re pricing I’m in tertiary demographic area. In the big city a “fix it” cut might cost a chunk of change. Not really the same thing, but I get your point. A corrective color can cost a _lot_ of money. $225 isn’t that bad, really. There is no corrective issue for a bad haircut except another cut OR extensions which are going to cost far, far more than $300 if they are done at a salon. I realize that we’re all stuck on the $300 figure, but nowhere did the OP say that Jen was considering this. Someone else here threw out $300 so this argument seems to be just for the sake of arguing. An odd thing here, I know. \<— sarcasm IF Jen were to choose an expensive salon I think the right thing would be to pay for it even if it did cost $300 because as the person who did the wrong, you effed up. As it has been mentioned before, it’s much cheaper than a lawyer, court costs, etc. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/175 "2010-06-22T20:02:28Z")
> [@](#): > > # A full head of hair extensions for fullness and added length typically costs $600 to $1500 and up, plus the cost of the hair. Total cost ranges from $1,600 to $4,000. > > # High-quality human hair that is cut – not brushed – off usually costs from $250 to $500 for a partial head and $1,000 to $2,500 for a full head, depending on length and origin. Synthetic hair and low-quality human hair, which are not recommended, cost much less. > **[How Much Do Hair Extensions Cost? - CostHelper](https://health.costhelper.com/hair-extensions.html)** > > How much you can expect to pay out of pocket for hair extensions, including what people paid. A partial head of hair extensions typically costs between $150 and $300, plus the cost of the hair. Total cost ranges from $400 to $800. If Susan were to pay to restore Jen’s hair as nearly as possible\* to the condition it was before she cut it\*, it would cost way, \*way \*more than the hypothetical “punitive” $300. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/176 "2010-06-22T20:04:32Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Really? Nobody is with me on the “a $300 hair cut is ridiculous” thing? Any men still reading? I read recently where a NY salon was offering its haircuts, value $300, to women who were unemployed and job-hunting. There was sort of a lottery involved, they wouldn’t cut just anybody who walked in. In a more normal place, at least 10 years ago when I was a paralegal I went into a salon to get some papers signed by the owner. Of course I had to wait. While I was waiting, I watched a stylist working with a guy who had hair maybe half an inch long–of course I mean hairs, plural–at least 200 of them. In other words, the stylist was working away on a guy who was, essentially, bald. Using product, blowdrying, the works. So at the end the guy comes up to pay (I’m still waiting), and his hair looks about as good as if he gave it a good thorough toweling after his shower. I mean, there’s only so much you can do, right? The tab came to $105, and he added a tip, and that was a guy haircut, at least 10 years ago. So YMMV. My haircuts don’t cost that much, but I spent several years spending $200 4x a year for a cut and color, and the color wasn’t even permanent (semipermanent, meaning half of it washed out the first time I shampooed). Great cut, though. So, yeah, you can get up there. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/177 "2010-06-22T20:20:01Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > IF Jen were to choose an expensive salon I think the right thing would be to pay for it even if it did cost $300 because as the person who did the wrong, you effed up. Exactly. The cost of the haircut is a non-issue, really. That said, I may never stop marveling that a person could be more outraged at the idea of a $300 haircut than at the idea of doing something so rotten to a friend. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/178 "2010-06-22T20:26:30Z")
Another thing to consider when Jen is choosing her stylist: does her job require a professional look? With my job, a $40 cut at my salon works. If I were still in sales, where I had to wear professional dress and make-up, I would be getting a cut that cost at least twice that because my appearance would have a direct impact on my income. Whatever level of cut it takes to repair the butchery and maintain professional appearances appropriate to Jen’s position should be what Susan pays, should the offer be accepted. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/179 "2010-06-22T21:09:16Z")
The price shouldn’t be the issue; it’s the principle of the thing. Yes, I think $300 for merely a haircut is a bit over the top (the most I’ve paid is $70) but if you get treatments or get it colored or whatever else it can easily get to $300 even if you aren’t being particularly extravagant. If I had done something like Susan in a fit of stupid drunkenness, you bet that I’d pay whatever the bill said - assuming I am sincerely sorry and want to continue my friendship with the other person. That’s the LEAST the guilty party should do. I’d probably buy her a really nice dinner to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859/180 "2010-06-22T21:26:12Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > That said, I may never stop marveling that a person could be more outraged at the idea of a $300 haircut than at the idea of doing something so rotten to a friend. This, more than anything, shows me how…odd…some members of the Dope are. A person who deliberately cuts off four inches of another person’s hair, without the second person’s permission or knowledge while it was happening? Response: “Eh, no biggie, it’s hair, it’ll grow back.” The mere thought of the possibility that a haircut might somewhere cost something like $300? Response: “\ How dare she? That’s unbelievable, and I wouldn’t pay that much no matter what I did!!!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-off-a-girls-hair-is-this-ever-ok/543859.md?page=10)