01 May 2008

Tipping at hair salons: Talk amongst yourselves.

Hi, TUR.

I was wondering, do you tip at hair salons/barbers/hair cutteries? I always have, but what's the metric? If the stylist was rude or made you look like our pal Limahl, perhaps you'd reconsider the extra cash. But given all is well, how much? Is there a secret underground standard I've not been made aware of? Is 10% too little? Too much? I mean, it's not as though their wages are made of these tips as is the case for wait-staff. Is there a standard increment like a 5 or 10-spot? I just have no idea.

The related story is my neighbor just opened up a salon in our neighborhood and she cut my hair this morning: the cut is great and I had a nice time -- she was personable, professional and I would recommend other folks to go there. She caught me off guard when it came time to pay, however; she only accepts checks and I had no cash (whoops!). I asked her if it was okay to write a check for more and she was cool with it, but as I was leaving the shop I had the sinking feeling I had under-tipped. I added $5. I'm not sure why as I have tipped $10 at other places in the past. Now I'm worried she'll think I'm an ass-hat.

Anyhow, I'm just wondering if you all have any advice for me and the rest of our readership.

You're the best,
m.

4 comments:

Pepper said...

I'm going to defer to Becca on this important question, but I think it definitely depends on the base amount of the cut. I think 25% is not out of the question, though, for a cut you're pleased with.

The Becca said...

It depends. If you think you're going to frequent an establishment, I often tip heavily the first time.

In this case, I might have tipped more considering you will most likely return. It's also important to establish a relationship (and tipping always helps) so that if you ever need to call in a favor, they will grant said favor.

Make sense?

mandy said...

Yeah, definitely. It's certainly a common-sense type thing, but it made me curious if there was maybe a secret code amongst hairstylists.

Given our physical proximity, I'm hoping return visits might smooth over any weirdness at my lame skimp-out this morning. I feel like I'm in an episode of Seinfeld...

And nice work, team; good deferral to Becca, Pep!

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