Hey, give me a break. I’m a man, and I’m new to this.
I’ve been going to the same woman to get my hair cut at a national chain salon for about 6 months. She does a good job.
I got tired this last time of being like 30% gray (salt-and-pepper, mostly along the temples and side of the head) at age 30, so I told her - “Let’s go for it. Dye my hair back to its natural color.”
Well, it was done, and I was pleased.
The total bill was like $60 for the dye and cut, then another $20 for tax and a jar of styling product.
It was only then that I realized I had no idea what a proper tip was. Every previous simple cut was like $15, and I usually tipped $4 or $5.
In this case I just went 15% on the $80- so $12. What is the standard? I want to stay on friendly terms with the stylist, because she’s quality.
/and no, this is not the thread about whether you should tip at all.
I don’t know the “standard” but I generally tip 20% of the cost of the style — the salon I go to will calculate the tip and specifically does not include the products I’m purchasing into the amount that is tipped. If the stylist is doing me a huge favorite working me in at inconvenient time, I may tip 25%.
I think that was a just fine tip. Really, you only need to tip for the service rendered, not on products or tax, so your tip was actually 20%.
I give my stylist $30 for cuts that she charges $20 for, but her salon’s starting price is $30 and she gives me a discount since I was a customer before she opened this salon. If she charged me the $30, I would probably still tip $10, but that’s unnecessarily generous, and technically, 20% less.
If there’s a separate washing person, (which I hate) I give (usually her) a very reluctant $5, and $2 would probably be just fine for most people.
Also, as a woman going gray, be careful with dying your gray back to it’s natural color if you’re naturally dark haired. The appearance of the gray regrowth is quite jarring. This is why a lot of older women start going lighter, the upkeep is insane.
My dad (stereotypically Italian) has his gray died a nice light brown color, which just makes him look like he has lighter than black hair and the regrowth isn’t so noticeable. I don’t have enough gray for this yet, but I do have enough that I was getting dyed every 6 weeks because the gray roots were driving me crazy. Then I went with some lighter highlights in my dark hair and now I can go eight weeks w/o a touchup.
Depending on how often you get your hair cut, lightening up your coverage color can make the difference between dying every time, and every other time. Which could amount to some serious savings, FWIW.