How Much is Your Hair Worth?



Photo by Sarah G





My hair hasn’t been looking so hot lately.  A key warning sign that something needs to be done about my hair is when the majority of time it is relegated to a pony tail.  I admit that I am not the greatest at regular hair maintenance but have been making more of a concerted effort to keep my hair conditioned and healthy. I use a spray in conditioner and only use a comb when it is wet.

My hair is really dry and washed out. I have a lot of grey in my hair that I have been trying hard to disguise that fact with regular highlighting for the last decade. I have used two different stylists during that time, both of whom used similar procedures to create the look. Part of me wondered if the condition of my hair may have more to do with what was being done to it and how, rather than the fact that I am getting older.

I used to have soft, straight hair. My current hair is rough and frizzy. Was I destined to have old lady hair from now on? The only way I could ever make my hair look even remotely shiny was to straighten it or blow dry it with great care. I even desperately purchased some spray-in-shine, hair varnish if you will, to see if that might bring it back to life. Even then it looked like hair that had been overworked, and I think you could guess my age from behind simply by the condition of my hair. If I were to describe my hair color it would be beige…not quite blond and not quite brunette.

Women develop strong loyalties to their hair care providers and are reluctant to change for fear of offending them. They may have tried a different stylist now and then who butchered their hair causing them to run back to their original hair stylists, their proverbial pony tails between their legs. I am kind of the same way. But lately when I leave the usual salon and drop my $145.00 (including tip), I feel as if my stylist is just repeating the same thing over and over and my hair feels fried and she never offers new ideas or solutions to remedy the deteriorating condition of my hair. As an expert in her field, she should know the latest and greatest techniques. She spends a lot of time on her cell phone, answering calls during the appointment, or chatting about life with the other stylists in the salon. That camaraderie is great, but I felt at times it came at the expense of making the client feel as if she were fully paying attention. It also left very little time for offering her professional advice or coming up with new ideas or techniques.

One hair salon patron shared a story of a hairstylist actually skyping with her son while she cut hair. Her clients were very uncomfortable with this as her subject matter was quite personal and not something appropriate to be broadcasted in the busy shop. Another customer described her stylist chatting with the other stylists in the salon about their concerns their receptionist was skimming off the till. She said that the woman who was cutting her hair was so worked up about the issue, she ended up hacking her hair to pieces.

As I explore the world of the high maintenance girly girl, I began to wonder if it really matters where you get your hair done? Is there a big difference in the quality of hair styling services? To answer this question I experimented with a few options. Using my last 6 years with the mid range salon as a comparison, I had my haircut at a mall based chain and then went to the highest end salon I could think of in my area.

The mall based chain hair cut was pretty uneventful. I paid my $18.00 for a basic spray and cut. No hair wash or styling. When I left, I still had to put my hair in a pony tail because I couldn’t do anything with it. I had had a bad spiral perm experience in the mid 80’s at a cheap hair cutting establishment and was unwilling to let them dabble with color. I may be wrong, but I think this environment hires a lot of new graduates, and because there is not really any great mentoring, their skills don’t develop much. I think these places are great for kids, or guys who get their hair buzzed based upon a number. I don’t think these places are great for women who really want their hair to look great and can afford other options.

Yesterday I went to a higher end establishment. I was a little nervous as I really had no idea how much it was going to cost me and whether I was wasting my money. I have a couple of friends who get there hair done here who had recommended one particular stylist to me. I didn’t tell her the purpose of my visit, just to make sure I got the honest to goodness treatment.

The salon was small but clean and nicely decorated. That alone goes a long way into making you feel pampered and as if you are somewhere that is a good bet. I knew going in I wanted something different and tried to articulate this to her when we met. I told her my concerns over my dying hair and that I was hoping to return to my more natural darker color. I had decided to chose sides, blond or brunette, I couldn’t be both. She said, “You want something sexy!” I said that “Yes, sexy would be good, I’m not old enough to not be sexy anymore!” We talked for a while about my options and her opinions. She taught me about what was going wrong with my hair, and how we could go about resuscitating it. To double check her thoughts she consulted with another experienced stylist, perhaps the owner of the shop, before proceeding.

She dashed off to mix the color. What I noticed then and throughout the appointment was that no cell phones were going off, the stylists weren’t gossiping with each other, they were taking care of their clients…and that’s what she did with me, for the 2 hour appointment for the color and cut. After she confidently applied the color and put me under the dryer, she brought me a tea. As I sat there and cooked, she came back to check in on me a couple of times. I never saw her filing her nails or eating her lunch. Man, this place was professional!

When she revealed the color I was excited. It was a rich, vibrant chestnut brown! She expertly cut my hair, something we hadn’t even discussed, with scissors so sharp I couldn’t hear them! She proceeded to blow dry my hair with a really cool 5 brush technique. When she was done, I quite honestly was shocked, and I think she was too. I looked good! My hair looked great! It was shiny! It had depth, and the cut balanced the weight of my hair back towards the top of my head, undoing the bell shaped style I had been sporting. She tinted my eyebrows ever so slightly to make the look even more natural.

The moment of truth came at the cash register. How much coin was this going to set me back? The answer: $215.00. That is only moderately more than I pay at my usual salon.

Perhaps it is already evident by the tone in this post what my final verdict is. In my opinion, it does matter where you get your hair cut. My recommendation is for the higher end salons. It will cost me about $600.00 more per year to get my hair done at this salon, compared to the one I had been going to. For me, that is worth it. My hair has life again, and I can’t tell you how many compliments I have received in just two short days of this transformation! One friend even told me it makes my butt look smaller! As a side benefit, my husband has new fantasy fodder as he can pretend he is with another woman! If you want your hair to look great, you need someone great to cut it.