I once paid about $125 for a cut in a salon that specialized in curly hair. It was a great cut and a fun experience, but I wouldn’t do it again. The most I’ve paid on a regular basis was about $60, but only until I could find someone cheaper who I liked. I usually pay $35-40.
Somewhere’s around $60 for the cut, I don’t color my hair. It’d probalby be more if I lived in a big city but that’s close to the top here in Austin. I look at it this way: you live with your hair cut every single day. A bad hair cut can make you unhappy for months and, conversely, a good hair cut will lift make you happier (or at least not be something to be unhappy about) for the same period. I find it totally worth it to spend the extra and have a cut I’m happy about…
Before I started going gray, the most I ever spent was $40. The salon was in a fancy-schmancy mall across the street from the building I worked in. I hopped over during lunch. They gave me a wonderful scalp massage before the cut that was almost worth it. I had a sinus infection at the time and it made me feel loads better. The cut itself was so-so.
Lately, I spend about $80, including cut, color and style every 3 months or so. Every other cut I also get new highlights at about $15 more, just so the hair color isn’t uniform. It sucks to have pigment-free hairs.
Sounds like you’re a cool guy to want to do this for your wife.
I talked to her since starting this thread, and the price didn’t surprise her at all. She’s definitely going for it, so now it’s just a matter of making the appointment (and hoping his filming schedule doesn’t become a conflict).
Trust me, given that she makes 10x what I do, I’m in no position to “give her my blessing” about anything. 
But if I didn’t make it clear in the OP, I would never have reservations about her treating herself like this. There are some people who, once their income bracket jumps dramatically, feel obliged to “keep up with the Joneses” by buying clothes, cars, services that are much costlier simply because they can (or to show off their new tax bracket status). Her good fortune with her company has changed our lives, but not our relatively modest lifestyles.
Oh, believe me, she’s asked not only me but all our friends to do exactly that. The thing is, though, I’ve seen the show enough to observe that the people they often pick have a “hook”–stuck in the 80s wardrobe, not dressing their age, addicted to some horrendous fashion accessory, irregular body type that makes fitting or clothes selection hard, etc.
She doesn’t have any of these problems (in fact, she dresses quite well and usually walks out the door looking terrific). Her only problem is that she barely owns any clothes at all! I have more articles in my closet than she does in hers, and believe me, I don’t own that many. There may be an argument that her constant recycling and mixing-&-matching make her a good candidate (if I don’t do her laundry every weekend, she’s SOL for the next week), but I think she suspects that her “plight” isn’t a convincing enough one (I also suspect personal financial situations also play a part in the decision factor, which would preclude her, too).
Plus, it’s her birthday, so she wouldn’t want to wait who knows how long before realizing she got rejected because she’s only kinda-bad and not really bad. 
Inexplicably, she thinks I’m her hero anyway, so this won’t change that. I know the haircut better look good (no reason to think it won’t) simply because I’m still really bad about looking enthused about things that make me go “Meh”. :o But I know she’ll get a big kick out of the experience, and it’ll be a good pretense to take in NY in a way we couldn’t last time we were her (bitterly cold Xmas 2000).
Oh, and I shoud mention that I heard back from Carmindy (the WNTW makeup goddess) and she charges $1000 for a 90-minute consultation. :eek: Since ArchiveWife never really wears makeup in the first place (she’s foxy without it), I think it’s safe to say that’s a grand we’ll be saving for something else.
$65 at a swank salon for a bob.
My current stylist charges me… I think about $55 + tip. But I’ve found that it’s not that easy to find good stylists in my area that know how to handle Asian hair well, so off I go to her every couple months or so.
The most I can specifically recall spending* was about $30; my then-GF insisted I go try some salon place.
Not only did I not like the way my hair looked afterward, but the hairdresser lady, during the course of shampooing (which, I must admit, felt really nice), looked at the back of my head and tried to sell me some Rogaine. Yeah, thanks, lady. I’ll be back.
Now I go to a little barbershop where I’m in and out in ten minutes and it costs ten dollars.
*In high school, when I lived in Tokyo, I used to go to a place in Harajuku (or maybe Yoyogi?) that almost certainly cost more than $30, but I can’t remember how much it was. They would bring you coffee and a magazine while they cut your hair. None of them spoke English, and once they brought me a magazine in Italian; I guess they recognized the alphabet, so assumed it was English. They were so friendly and eager to please that I didn’t have the heart to embarrass them; I just stared at the pictures.
When I was in my twenties, and got a DJ job in the public eye, I went to a salon at random. There, I believe I paid about $40 for the best haircut of my life. This guy went right to town. He must have taken 45 minutes, and I don’t have a ginormous amount of hair to work with (not that I’m losing it - I’m not). He parted my hair in places I didn’t even know it would part, and made it absolutely even and perfect all over. I looked like a million bucks, for maybe the only time, ever. Then I slept on my perfect haircut, and the next day, it was back to the usual. The kicker is, when I went back to the salon, the stylist had left, and no one knew where he was. I’ve never had such artistry performed on my hair since.
$7. Not a whole lot of options in the Navy.
When I had a legitimate amount of hair, maybe $15-20 including a nice tip. Then in my late 20s genetics started to take over and I started thinning.
So I paid another $20 for a clipper set at CostCo and I’ve been using it ever since. Every 2 weeks I snap a 1/4" guide in and bzzt. Done in a couple of minutes and I think that overall I look closer to Bruce Willis than some guy who lost a bet.
So watch the first “Star Trek” movie and “GI Jane” with your wife. Mention how hot Persis Khambatta and Demi Moore look. See if she’ll go for it.
May I be the first to beg pictures when she goes?
(me, $55 w/tip three/four times a year. I have curly but healthy hair, and I’m trying to grow it out. Say a prayer for me, I’m getting a crown perm on friday because the top isn’t as curly as underneath. It’s the first time I’ve had any sort of chemical process done, so I’m a bit scared.)
I’ll definitely be taking Before & After photos, so I’ll see if she lets me post them…
I want to hear all about it. (Including price and tips). I think I might go in September.
There’s no point in me doing it in the summer. I have the sun, swimming and frizz factor to contend with. 
Yeah, the humidity is the one thing we’re worried about (though her hair usually doesn’t seem to be affected by it much, from what I recall).
I heard on CNN Radio News today that Dem. Prexy candidate John Edwards has been routinely paying $400 per haircut.
As for me, when my $8 barber retired from varicose backbone I went to a Cuts Above and paid $16, then I started cutting it myself.
To the OP: £6. Anything else is over the top.
To the OP: $35 was the most I ever spent. Normally it’s less than $20 or I do it myself (and have my SO cut the back.) I have no sympathy for anyone who charges me more for long hair. I mean it’s 2 feet long but if you cut off more than an inch or two I will probably kill you so what difference does it make how long it is?
I have been coloring it myself this summer, so add maybe $20 on top of that. But I don’t do that very often.
That’s what I was thinking. It makes a bit of sense to charge more for long hair if you’re doing color, or another chemical process, or I’ve heard of it if you’re doing an up-do, because of the extra work, but not for a cut- that’s crazy talk…
$125 once a year; I then keep it up with another stylist who is good, but less expensive.
VCNJ~
I think he’s like you to think it was for a haircut.
At least one of the bills were from the Pink Sapphire in Manchester, which does not offer haircuts as a regular part of their standard services, at least according to their website. They do, though, offer manicures, pedicures, facials, massage, and a wide array of other spa services.
Now, Edwards is trying to nail down labor support. These guys might be put off by a man paying $400 for a haircut. How would they feel about the same man paying that money for a mud mask and exfoliating scrub?
I’ll see what I can do about posting them (if she approves).
And we have a date! July 3 in NY, first with the colorist, and then with Nick himself.