quote:

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Originally posted by Sarasa:

My husband goes to the barber more or less next door. Last time it was so quick I thought he'd gone there, decided it was too busy and came home.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sarasa:
Oh and I found a hairdresser who wants to discuss books, what could be better.

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color me jealous!

 

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Posted by Porridge (# 15405) on :
 
Where I live, the price and gender differences are huge. The shop I go to must be prepared to do a number of things to women's hair that they rarely do with men's.

How many men v. women get permanents?

How many men v. women get their hair dyed in various colors (some of these never occurring in nature)?

How many men v. women get occasional drastic changes in style -- say, going from waist-length straight hair to short curls?

While I ask for none of these services, I go to the same person every time, and pay the premium prices for keeping the shop as a whole ready and able to accommodate all these potential demands, because my stylist does what I ask her to do, and pays attention to her tasks rather than discussing last weekend's social life with another stylist.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by cliffdweller:

quote:

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Originally posted by Sarasa:
Oh and I found a hairdresser who wants to discuss books, what could be better.

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color me jealous!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I don't agree with this difference, I just find it interesting that it persists.

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quote:

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Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
The place you're referring to has probably been in business for a very long time and is run by an ageing independent businessman rather than being part of a chain. The owner hasn't updated to a modern image because his old image appeals to his clientele, who are mostly men over a certain age. Or perhaps younger men who feel grateful to find a least one public space where there's less pressure to be cool and to 'perform' in front of their peers. Just a guess, anyway.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
What I always found odd about the barber my husband goes to is that they do not have appointments. You go in and wait your turn and, apparently, it can be done no other way. So if I ask 'when will you be back?' it's always 'I don't know - it depends'.

Is this general? And if so, why?

I go to a small salon where the staff are in the main not much younger than me. If I want a suitable style, I can just look at the person cutting my hair.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
My hairdresser and I have often lent each other books. She's become a friend over the 20+ years I've known her.

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She also fixes lunch for the two of us.

 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 

quote:

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SvitlanaV2: he owner hasn't updated to a modern image because his old image appeals to his clientele, who are mostly men over a certain age.

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To build your financial future based on the amount of hair of aging men doesn't seem a particularly smart business strategy to me
 

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Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :
 
I hate hair cut places. The cutter always wants to ask what I do for a living, and they want advice. I have tried deception, but Jesus punishes me for all little inaccuracies and I break out in a sweat, shake and nearly get my ears cut off. The two best haircuts ever were from a Russian immigrant who spoke no language I knew, and one where I was given the divine grace to say "not at all well" to the first question and launched into my sorrow about the end of the Xmas season.

I want the smart phone haircut app, and wonder why there isn't a vending machine I can put my head into, having pressed buttons for youth, beauty and economy.

[ 28. February 2015, 16:08: Message edited by: no prophet's flag is set so... ]
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Many years ago I complained to the trading standards people about being charged through the nose for a haircut when men paid altogether less. At the time I had a "boy's" cut, short and simple, but any boy in the next chair would have paid altogether less for the same haircut. I also usually had a standby rather than a booked appointment as they tended to be cheaper.

They told me that this had already been raised a while ago and the case had been lost as apparently women's hair requires more work done on it. And I was told that women tend to like the "pamper" element of going to the hairdresser, making it a nice, relaxed, leisurely, chatty experience with coffee and magazines. I hated that side of things - all I wanted was to get in, have a quick, efficient haircut and get out again asap as it was a Saturday morning and I didn't want to spend half of it in a hairdressers, but this is not how many salons operate.

I downgraded to an altogether cheaper unisex hairdressers after that and then stopped going entirely once I moved, and opted for doing my own instead. I haven't looked back.
 

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Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
What I always found odd about the barber my husband goes to is that they do not have appointments. You go in and wait your turn and, apparently, it can be done no other way. So if I ask 'when will you be back?' it's always 'I don't know - it depends'.

Is this general? And if so, why?

I go to a small salon where the staff are in the main not much younger than me. If I want a suitable style, I can just look at the person cutting my hair.

---

Oh yes. Because that is the "right" way to do it.

And the place I am talking about is not a "traditional" something-for-the-weekend place. It is quite a hip young place, with fairly young staff (younger than me), attracting a range of people, mostly younger.

By not agreeing, I mean that I am not saying that I like or want this difference. It just strikes me that this distinction seems unusual in todays world. I am surprised that this male/female division of hair tending has persisted. It is a heavenly discussion because "I am puzzled/intrigued" not hell where I would be "appalled at this sexist persistence"

And some men get perms and dyed hair. I presume they go to other places though. I am all for choice and options, I just find it fascinating that this variation has continued, and not been corporatised.
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
I have given up going too - and now my hair is getting longer and longer!

I shall go once more on the day of my son's wedding and have a posh 'updo', then that's it.


 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
My wife raised a scandal in our small town by getting her hair cut in a barber shop. For some reason the guys that sat around in the shop couldn't tell hunting and fishing stories while she was in there.

My new barber (a woman) will also cut my wife's hair, but insists she make an appointment for a day when there aren't a lot of men in the shop.
 

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Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
It just strikes me that this distinction seems unusual in todays world. I am surprised that this male/female division of hair tending has persisted.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
My new barber (a woman) will also cut my wife's hair, but insists she make an appointment for a day when there aren't a lot of men in the shop.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Carex:
My wife raised a scandal in our small town by getting her hair cut in a barber shop. For some reason the guys that sat around in the shop couldn't tell hunting and fishing stories while she was in there.

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quote:

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Originally posted by LeRoc:

quote:

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SvitlanaV2: he owner hasn't updated to a modern image because his old image appeals to his clientele, who are mostly men over a certain age.

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To build your financial future based on the amount of hair of aging men doesn't seem a particularly smart business strategy to me

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quote:

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Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Schroedinger's cat

Sorry I misunderstood you before, but I'm still not entirely clear. Are you merely asking why there are still male salons and female salons? Or are you asking why the male ones have different décor from the unisex ones?

In terms of the division into salons for men and salons for women, this isn't entirely unusual in our culture. We still have fashion boutiques that cater to either men or women rather than both. And there are other kinds of shops that appear to be more attractive to one sex rather than the other.

As for décor, men and women don't necessarily have the same tastes, although they make compromises when they live together. I suppose the advantage of having male salons and female salons is that there's less need for compromise; the hipster boy entrepreneur can do more of what he likes rather than trying to create a gender neutral look.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I suppose I am interested in both - why there are completely different places (I suppose the clothing thing is applicable, but it is often sections in the same shop), which is exacerbated by the different styles. They differing styling reflects the emphasis on being "male" or "female".

I suppose I wonder why there is not a chain that does "quick cuts" and "styling" and "pampering". In the end, they are all cutting and managing peoples hair. I just feel it should be divided on the basis of what people want, not a gender thing. ...

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In some parts of the world, barber and hairstylist are very different professions. Officially, hairstylists in my part of the world do "Bleaching, cleaning, curling, cutting, dressing, waving or permanently waving" and barbers do "Shaving the face, cutting, trimming or singeing of hair or beard, shampooing, and massaging the head or face." Although no official certification is required, they can get a Certificate of Proficiency by training or apprenticing and writing an exam. Hairstylists need to log 1,500 hours of training or 3,000 hours of apprenticeship; barbers only need 400 or 800 hours respectively. Those are huge differences, and it's not surprising to see it reflected in the pricing. As our gendered opinions on hair change, more men are going to hairstylists for services beyond what a barber can provide (and are going to pay hairstylist prices), but I suspect the number of women going to barbers for cheaper haircuts is a lot smaller.

As for why aren't there cheap unisex haircutting places, see above. Hairstylists are more expensive than barbers, regardless of whose hair they're cutting. If barbers want to make more money, maybe they should go back to doing surgery.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Be careful how you chat to your hairdresser. One asked me once what hair products I used, so I told her, and innocently said, "What do you think I should use?" (for a particular problem.)

She told me in detail and I thanked her for that. When I came to pay, I found I'd been charged "£1 for advice from a stylist".

I didn't quibble but it taught me to be more careful in future. This was central London, btw.

[ 28. February 2015, 20:13: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

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Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I went to a unisex place, with a very camp (but straight and married) hairdresser, that was great, and offered me a cup of tea when I arrived.

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A barber would have offered you a spittoon.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I have my hair cut at a place which has men and women customers. My hair is short and straight, and nothing elaborate is required.

Last winter I was paying twenty-six dollars for a shampoo and cut. Then the manager decided I only needed to pay the rate for a man's cut, which is eighteen dollars.

Moo
 

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Posted by Polly Plummer (# 13354) on :
 
Talking of receding hair, my dear nearly-bald Dad always used to say the barber charged him a search fee
 

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Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :
 
I think the hairdresser killed my mother. Not on purpose and it's just a theory, but I sort of believe it. She was a perfectly healthy 72 year-old from a family where her parents and siblings lived well into their nineties. She was just back from vacation, went to the hair dressers in the afternoon and had a major, fatal stroke the next morning.

I've since read that quite a few women have strokes after a trip to the hair dressers. It's suspected that the pressure on the back of the neck from the shampoo sink might cause a chunk of plaque to break off and cause a brain aneurism.

So I cut and color my own hair and it looks about the same as when I was paying $80 plus tip to have it done.
 

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Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :
 
My friend moved to Newfoundland a year ago, and one of the factors that (he says) convinced him to stay was that the price of a haircut includes a beer.

I haven't been in a barber's shop for longer than I can remember - decades. During the 70s I favoured the William Shakespeare look that my Dear Wife could handle easily with a pair of scissors. Later she found a ladies' hairdresser in the village who was happy to take it on, and I've only trusted women to cut it ever since. These days it isn't a very challenging task for the $7 it costs. There are two styles: hot weather trim and cold weather trim.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
There is an old sketch by, I think, Victoria Wood where discussing going to the hairdresser, she says something like, 'Oh, it'll be alright once I've got home and put it under the cold tap'

And that's how I feel after every visit to the hairdresser. Whatever hairdresser I've ever been to.

M.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
My husband's barbering is more complicated than my hairdressing because he gets an open-razor shave at the same time. This involves hot towels beforehand and something stingy splashed on afterwards. Plus he gets his eyebrows trimmed and a flame blown into his ears to burn off ear-hairs.

If you add up his annual barber's bill and my annual hairdressing bill, his would be a lot more than mine.
 

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Posted by Meerkat (# 16117) on :
 
My haircutting and beardcutting bill is zilch. I bought some good quality clippers with guides 10 years ago and 'sort myself out' about every ten days. I am rather balding, so I think that keeping it short looks better than a 'comb-over'
 

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Posted by BessLane (# 15176) on :
 
Before both of us stopped getting hair cuts, hubby would go to a salon in town catering primarily to ladies of a certain age. The salon owner had been cutting his hair since he was 12 and he wasn't letting anyone else do it. I used to go to a local barber shop becasue I really don't like the chatty chatty aspect of most female hair dressers. My barber didn't try to make small talk, he just cut my hair and took my money.

I started growing out my hair about 5 years ago and so now, I just trim my ends my self. Hubby stopped getting his hair cut almost 3 years ago and now sports an impressive "mountain man" beard and mane, which I
 

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Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
There is an old sketch by, I think, Victoria Wood where discussing going to the hairdresser, she says something like, 'Oh, it'll be alright once I've got home and put it under the cold tap'

And that's how I feel after every visit to the hairdresser. Whatever hairdresser I've ever been to.

M.

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That's been my experience about 80% of the time with the other 20% me saying it will be alright after I've had a year or two to grow it out.

Once, when my hair was very long, all one length, I asked the hairdresser to cut me a little fringe of bangs. She then proceeded to cut a Mohawk strip, two inches long right down the top of my head. I have the disadvantage of not being able to see what they're up to with my glasses off.

These days, before starting to do my own, I had to wash it as so as I got home to get out the pounds of product they put on my hair to get it as sleek as they think it should be. I tell them that, at home, I get the same smoothness by stretching it over jumbo rollers for a short while but they don't have rollers like that in any beauty shop in this town. They have thousands of dollars worth of fancy chairs and killer shampoo sinks, but a ten dollar set of rollers is too much. I guess they're hoping to sell me the scented Crisco they put on my hair for thirty bucks a jar, but my dog hates that stuff.
 

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Posted by mdijon (# 8520) on :
 
I am balding, but not quite so balding as to not need a haircut. My last trip was particularly cruel.

My son went first, and as the barber sweated his way through my son's thicket of hair he commented that the hair genes were clearly maternal in this case. I mentioned that actually my hair was like that a few years ago. "Sure, sure" he said, enthusiastically nodding to emphasize belief in the plausibility of this statement.

After he finished cutting my son's hair I observed it was close to closing time, and commented that I didn't wish to inconvenience the poor chap.

"Oh, it won't take a moment sir" he said, brushing my son's matted tresses from the chair and gesturing for me to sit.

[ 01. March 2015, 18:56: Message edited by: mdijon ]
 

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Posted by marzipan (# 9442) on :
 
Every so often I think I should get a haircut... And then I see the different prices for men and women and decide not to go!
I did eventually get my hair cut at Christmas time (just over a year since it had last been cut, so it had lots of split ends etc and really needed a cut). I had a lovely chat with the stylist and she blow dried my very wavy hair straight in a way only a proper stylist could... But it was about €50. So it'll be at least a year before I go back! (Or back to my sister cutting my hair when she comes for a visit)
My husband spends more on haircuts than I do, as he needs his short hair cutting more often than my long hair
 

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Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
Here long hair is more expensive to cut than short. This annoys me very much. The short cut I used to have (angle-cut bob) is one of the most difficult styles to cut because it requires so much more precision than the long layered cut I have now. I rather resent paying more for them to do something faster and simpler.

I don’t like chatty hairdressers. In particular the one I went to a while back. I explained that I needed her to leave the layers long because my wedding is coming up and it would be easier to pin up. Her very next question: “Oh, you’re getting married - are you pregnant?” I found this rather, ahem rude™. She was also obviously fishing for the bridal hair gig and was visibly disappointed when I said that the wedding’s not happening in Paris. I haven’t been back.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
Her very next question: “Oh, you’re getting married - are you pregnant?”

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quote:

---

Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
Here long hair is more expensive to cut than short. This annoys me very much.

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Same here. The whole thing is a rip-off. As a woman you can expect to pay anything they fancy charging you. The cheapest price in one of the places I've now stopped going to for obvious reasons is £56 for a cut and blow dry.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Man on a bicycle. I pay £16 for a cut (which is all I ever have).
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I've had the same hairdresser for 25+ years, she does men, women and children's hair, including cutting my children's hair and now has cut my granddaughter's hair when she came to visit. The advantage is that she knows exactly how I like it done, so no awkward discussions, she just gets on with it.

She has charged the same price for years, so fairly recently I decided to give her extra because she is so reliable. That's a much better way around than being charged an exorbitant rate up front. Now she is getting older, she has gone part-time and mobile, which means she comes to my home to cut my hair. Same reliable service, but I don't have to go out in the wind and the rain. Win win all round.

What fascinates me is some of the clever names that hairdressers call themselves - mine is entirely descriptive, but other Creamtealand businesses have names like 'Herr Kutz' and 'Bent Straight and Twisted'.
 

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Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :
 
What is this thing called 'hair' of which you speak?

Ahem.

I used to go to an enterprising local lass, who only catered for men......she was gay, which might (?) explain why. A Number 0 head-shave with the clippers, eyebrow trimming, and burning-off of the fuzz around me lugholes, cost just £5, with some sparky and interesting conversation thrown in for free.

Alas, the bloody local Council, in their infinite wisdom, not only hiked up her business rates, but also at the same time killed off local trade in her street by closing the road as a through route (Chatham must be one of the few towns in the UK with signs saying 'No access to Town Centre via High Street'!).

So, off to Argos to buy a set of clippers. I miss the conversation and the ear-flaming, though.

Ian J.
 

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Posted by Snags (# 15351) on :
 
SC, if you want to do a comprehensive survey, pop down the road a few miles; my home town is rapidly turning into 50% hairdressers/barber shops, it's ridiculous.

As to the difference, I think it's just a culture thing. Hair is very personal, and (generally) male cuts are different to female, particularly when it comes to fashion cuts. So I guess folk like to go somewhere that chimes with their personal image, and that is hopefully well-versed in the kind of cut they want.

Me, I've historically ranked getting my haircut one lower than going to the dentist, and as a child I was so scared of needles that I didn't have anesthetic, so that should give you a clue as to my opinion on haircuts

When I was in the short hair phase I got a friend who was a hairdresser to sort me out some clippers, and DIY (well, until Mrs Snags screamed and took over).

After the annus horribilis 10 years ago, when I decided to say "Sod it, I'm having long hair again" I was briefly taken care of by said friend, then ended up where Mrs Snags goes. Predominantly a ladies' place, it was a revelation. Once I got over feeling like a dirty old man when some young woman washed my hair, I finally realised that a) it was pleasant and b) I'd finally found someone who could cope with me whole "My hair doesn't do style, it does short or long" approach, and produce something that was halfway passable.

Personally I hate the male-only places because I feel so utterly out of my comfort zone.
 

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Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
I tried, for a while, going to the place Mrs A goes to, when they introduced men's cuts. As an experience it was very pleasant: nice coffee while waiting, and having your hair washed for you by a young woman can be rather luxurious (like Snags, once I'd got over any slight dirty old man feeling, which didn't take long). But (i) it seemed to take forever- about 45 minutes (ii) I couldn't really get into the making-an-appointment-to-have-your-hair-cut mindset (iii) there are few places other than the barbers where I get a chance for aa bit of blokey chat- nothing off colour, just trivialities about rugby, old jokes, and so on. So i went back to my usual Greek chap, who I'd always felt slightly guilty about deserting.
BTW does anybody know why so many barbers, in England and Wales at least, seem to be of Greek/ Greek Cypriot extraction?

[ 02. March 2015, 16:08: Message edited by: Albertus ]
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
My other half does his own and our 14 year old's with clippers. I have not had my hair cut since my father's funeral 16 years ago (I can sit on my hair now). The only one of us to visit a hair dressers in the past decade was my 10 year old boy a few months ago who went from long hair to a trendy floppy fringe style at the village hairdressers (and my husband will do his next cut). It was amazingly cheap, less than a tenner, and took 40 minutes - he loved the pampering hair wash though!
 

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Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :
 
I miss the old barbers shop. I have wiry curly hair so I usually try to find an Afro-Caribbean place for a haircut. The old place I used to frequent in Sheffield was straight out of Desmond's, an old Jamaican barber in a proper shopcoat, a game of dominoes if it was quiet and somewhere to sit and chew the fat for an afternoon once a month.

Since Charlie retired I have often had to visit "hair salons". They leave me looking like a badly clipped hedge and charge me an arm and a leg for a very unpleasant experience. It just isn't the same.
 

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Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :
 
Buy some clippers, Bob, and DIY with a Number 0 or 1. No looking like a hedge, no hassle (and, admittedly, not much hair - but grass doesn't grow on a busy street!).

Ian J.
 

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Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :
 
I tried clippers, I had a nice Wahl set which gave up the ghost after about three trims. I also have a lumpy head* which makes clipping the back a nightmare. On the whole it is worth getting an expert to do it.

*I am so glad phrenology didn't take off, I would probably be locked up in Broadmoor for the public safety.
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
What is this "hair cut" of which you speak?
 

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Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :
 
Regimental Sergeant-Major (to new soldier):

'Am I 'urtin' you, lad?'

Soldier:

'Nossir!'

RSM:

'I SHOULD BE! I AM STANDIN' ON YOUR 'AIR!'

I'll get me coat.....

Ian J.
 

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Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :
 
I have always gone to the local barber - was there early this morning in fact. The present barber has run the shop for about 15 years or so. His father had bought the shop and business 25 or more years before that, and had run it until his early death from cancer. Greg was then too young to take it over and did not have his certificate. The family kept the business with employees until Greg was old enough to take over.

I get an appointment early on Saturdays. A couple of years ago, Greg was cutting the hair of a very young boy. The father said it was the boy's first haircut, and that he had had his first cut from Greg's father.

Men's cutting only, with one and only one exception - a substantial woman, a local identity who dresses from neck to ankles and wears a head scarf all year round.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
Yesterday the hairdresser I've gone to for over 20 years told me she's retiring next month. I think I knew this was coming (she's over 70), and I haven't always been happy with her work recently, but she's become a good friend over the years.

How the heck do I find someone new? I've mentally gone through female acquaintances seeing if there's someone whose hair I like enough to ask for a recommendation, but I'm not coming up with much.



 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Ask her (the one you've gone to for so long). I expect she knows who her rivals are, and which are likely to be the best.
 

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Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Ask her (the one you've gone to for so long). I expect she knows who her rivals are, and which are likely to be the best.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:

quote:

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Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
Here long hair is more expensive to cut than short. This annoys me very much.

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Same here. The whole thing is a rip-off. As a woman you can expect to pay anything they fancy charging you. The cheapest price in one of the places I've now stopped going to for obvious reasons is £56 for a cut and blow dry.

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