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Source: (consider it) Thread: What is it about hair cutting places?
Schroedinger's cat

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# 64

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Having just been for a cut at the barbers, which is adjacent to a ladies hairdressing salon, it struck me that these places - which do the same things - are so different.

The barbers is a very macho place - it has revamped since last time I went, and is now all rough wood, MTV on the telly, The Sun and Mirror while waiting. Previously it was sport on the telly and Car mags (with the same papers). Next door I could see a ladies desk to take bookings. I suspect that the rest of the place was rather different too.

TBH, I want someone to cut my hair, nothing else. Why are these places so distinctive?

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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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You could try a unisex place next time.
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Sarasa
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# 12271

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My hairdressers is unisex. I first went in there because they had a quote from Oscar Wilde on the board outside. Inside it's all second hand furniture and antique hairdressing items (which they don't actually use!). Oh and I found a hairdresser who wants to discuss books, what could be better.
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. Me I'm usually at mien for about two hours.

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Enoch
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# 14322

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Did you get asked 'Something for the weekend, Sir?'

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LeRoc

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# 3216

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I have a 'fixed' barber here in Brazil. There's nothing macho about him. In fact, he rather obviously plays for the other team.

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Sioni Sais
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# 5713

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I don't want to put people off Newport but I know at least three ladies hairdressing salons that are above fish and chip shops!

Youngest son, the stylish one, has his hair cut at the same salon Mrs Sioni uses (here in Newport, nowhere near any chip shop). Essentially it's a ladies salon, but they are happy to do men's hair.

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Leorning Cniht
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# 17564

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quote:
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.

Put me in your husband's camp. My requirements for a haircut are short hair and short duration. The cheapo unisex place down the street meets both my requirements admirably.
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Smudgie

Ship's Barnacle
# 2716

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What gets me is the difference in price if you're just after a cut. At one point the boy and I went for haircuts, him to a barber and me to a hairdresser - he was there an hour for a restyle which cost him £10, I was in an out in 20 minutes and it cost me £30. Half tempted to ask the barber to do mine too!

There again, I have to admit that I do like it when you get a good hairdresser who takes his/her time over doing your hair and actually listens to what you want. There's something quite self-indulgent about sitting there and letting someone else wash and dry your hair.

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Schroedinger's cat

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# 64

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I have been to unisex places and (in all honestly) I prefer them. I only go to this one because it is a few minutes away, and so is convenient - and they do a perfectly good job of shearing my (receding) locks.

I don't agree with this difference, I just find it interesting that it persists.

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cliffdweller
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# 13338

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

color me jealous!
[Axe murder]

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Porridge
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# 15405

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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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Pigwidgeon

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# 10192

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

color me jealous!
[Axe murder]

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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Siegfried
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# 29

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At the barber, one gets bay rum and hot lather. Not at a unisex place, alas.

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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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

What is there to 'agree' with? Isn't it just a question of taste? You're implying, I think, that the rough, old-fashioned look of a 'traditionally masculine' barber's shop is somehow morally unacceptable in a gender neutral age. But that's debatable....

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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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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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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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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quote:
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.

Where I live such barbershops are just as likely to have been recently opened by young men catering to their fellow young hipster men.
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JoannaP
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# 4493

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quote:
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.

It seems to be general, in the UK at least. Once at work I was sitting with a team of mostly young men (late 20s) and when one said he had to leave early to get his hair cut, his mates all took the piss out of him for having an appointment, instead of just turning up and waiting, like a "real man".

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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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RuthW

Yes, in general I think both unisex and male salons are usually going for a bright, modern look nowadays. Any new salon opened by hipsters will be designed to appeal to hipsters.

A traditional barber's shop will have a different clientele. Probably people trying to escape from hipsterdom.

Maybe women are more swayed by the look of the place, though. IOW - if they don't like the look of it, they won't go there. They won't go to a rough place and then complain it wasn't very nice!

[ 28. February 2015, 15:49: Message edited by: SvitlanaV2 ]

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Pigwidgeon

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# 10192

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quote:
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.

She also fixes lunch for the two of us.
[Smile]

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LeRoc

Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216

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

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no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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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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Ariel
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# 58

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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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Schroedinger's cat

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# 64

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quote:
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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Boogie

Boogie on down!
# 13538

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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.

[Smile]

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Carex
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# 9643

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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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Leorning Cniht
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# 17564

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quote:
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.

Generally speaking, men and women are catered for by different clothing stores, or by different departments in the same store. I'm not sure why I should expect anything different for hair.

As I said, I'm happy with my quick, cheap unisex place, but I wouldn't go in there and ask for a shave. I'd want to go to a real barber for that.

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Ariel
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# 58

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quote:
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.

Yes, I can remember being taken into the downstairs part (not visible from the street) in case I put male clients off.

I used to quite like standbys, just pop in, if there was a slot you'd be led to a vacant chair, have a "wet cut" and be out again in 10-15 minutes. Suited me perfectly.

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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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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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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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quote:
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.

The problem was that they saw the barber's as a woman-free zone - one of the few left in western society! I suppose that kind of environment is liberating for some men.

As for your wife, why did she want to go there? Was it a case of claiming equality for women?

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Albertus
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# 13356

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quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
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.
To build your financial future based on the amount of hair of aging men doesn't seem a particularly smart business strategy to me [Smile]
Oh no, not at all. While they still have hair it will need cutting but the amount of work he'll need to do for the price of each haircut will be constantly decreasing. Provided his clientele will see him out uintil he requires, it sounds like a very smart strategy to me!

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jedijudy

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# 333

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The last time I had my very long hair cut at a salon, the woman botched it badly. The angle of the cut was about 35 degrees from one side to the other.

Daughter-Unit does my hair cutting now. The decor of the place is best described as "early dowdy", and the equipment is bare minimum...one pair of scissors and a comb. Hair cutting occurs in the kitchen where I wear an old striped tee shirt. I point to a stripe, and D-U cuts along that line. Works fine for me.

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Schroedinger's cat

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# 64

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quote:
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.

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.

A long time ago, when I had hair, I did used to go to a pampering male place (called "Grays for Men" - so it was gender divided) that was lovely to visit. When I moved, 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. It was semi-pampering (and that was where I first decided to get a shorter cut).

I suppose my needs change, in terms of how long I need to spend getting a cut (these days it is "#2 all over please"), but in terms of the environment, I am not sure why it needed to change.

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Deputy Verger
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# 15876

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I get irritated with the so-called “pampering” (head massage? £12 extra) and the attempts at up-selling me all kinds of products I don’t want, and the time wasted on an elaborate hair-straightening blow-dry. I ask them not to be perfectionists about it, tell them that I don’t have a hot date… but I think it’s how they attempt to justify the exorbitant central London prices. It probably works out at about £1 a day, but I am not going to risk taking chances with my hair, so I endure it once every few months.
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Jane R
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# 331

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<tangent> For some reason this thread reminded me of Shaun the Sheep... <\tangent>
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Soror Magna
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# 9881

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quote:
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. ...

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. [Big Grin]

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Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
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# 58

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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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Amanda B. Reckondwythe

Dressed for Church
# 5521

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quote:
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.

A barber would have offered you a spittoon.

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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.

Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
Moo

Ship's tough old bird
# 107

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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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Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Polly Plummer
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# 13354

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Talking of receding hair, my dear nearly-bald Dad always used to say the barber charged him a search fee [Smile]
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Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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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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Stercus Tauri
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# 16668

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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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Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011  |  IP: Logged
M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291

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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.

Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
North East Quine

Curious beastie
# 13049

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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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Meerkat

Suricata suricatta
# 16117

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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. [Smile] I am rather balding, so I think that keeping it short looks better than a 'comb-over' [Big Grin]

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Simples!

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BessLane
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# 15176

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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 [Axe murder]

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formerly BessHiggs

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Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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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.

[Killing me]
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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mdijon
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# 8520

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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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mdijon nojidm uoɿıqɯ ɯqıɿou
ɯqıɿou uoɿıqɯ nojidm mdijon

Posts: 12277 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2004  |  IP: Logged
marzipan
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# 9442

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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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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese

Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688

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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?” [Eek!] 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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Rent my holiday home in the South of France

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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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

"No."

"There's posh!"

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