How do haircutters get paid? (Also a tipping question)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I recently had an “off” experience at the hair cutter and felt like I was overcharged and did not leave a tip. This just left me wondering how hair cutters get paid. Do they rent a chair? Split the tickets? Something else? What is the tip % for a haircut? Same as a waiter?

2

Haircutters rent a chair, but the haircut rates are set by the business (at least at every haircutter I’ve ever seen). I don’t think there’s any standardized haircut tip, but I always leave $1 and they same happy.

3

I pay about $20 bucks for a cut and wash. I normally leave a $5 tip.

4

Oh dear - should we perhaps indicate whether we get our haircuts in a barber shop or salon?

I can’t help much with the tipping. The man who cuts my hair owns the salon and hold to the tradition that you don’t tip the owner. I take him a coffee or an iced tea or a pastry when I go.

I give the shampoo girl $10. (Haircut is $50)

My business shares a wall with a barber shop. They charge $13 for a haircut with (I understand) the expectation that most people will then leave a $2 tip.

5

I leave about the same as a meal, 15% - 20%. (20ish dollars with a 3 or four buck tip.)

6

There was a great “ask the” thread from a hair stylist a few years back. Here it is. Maybe there’s some pertinent info there. I also want thank Idle Thoughts for the awesome compilation of Ask The… threads. I’ve got some interesting reading to do.

Also, when I got my hair cut at Cost Cutters I think it was $13 and I tipped $2, sometimes $3. Now I go to a new place that includes a semi-private booth with TV, wash, and brief shoulder massage, all for $11. I was used to paying $15 including tip for a haircut so I still pay that much and I like that the stylist, the one doing the work, gets a bigger cut.

7

I once asked a stylist friend in a trendy DuPont Circle shop how much he made because he seemed to be doing quite well. He said the stylist gets half of the advertised price of whatever service the customer requests, plus of course he gets to keep 100% of whatever tip you give him.

So my $18 haircut plus $4 tip actually put $13 in his pocket. He finished me in about 20 minutes, so that works out to $39 per hour if all he does all day is a basic men’s haircut. Of course he does coloring and perms too, so I’m sure his hourly rate was closer to $60-$70.