Is it normal to pay for trainee to cut your hair?

Nicky_Noo_Na

My hairdresser has put her prices up again and now charges £42 for a cut&blow which I think is a bit steep. I saw a board outside a different local hairdressers looking for models so I've just booked an appointment thinking it would be free but they charge £20 (half price as regular price is £40 apparently)

Is this normal? I thought it would be free or a token fiver towards shampoo maybe. Am I really tight? Is £40 reasonable for a trained stylist?

Proxima_Centauri

In my experience the salon trainees charge less, but are not free of charge. I personally wouldn't pay £40 for a haircut, but I just have a wet cut, not a blow-dry, and it's about £15 where I go.

Februarycat

Last time I went to a local hairdressers in town I got a free cut, wash and blowdry with a trainee, she did a great job and cost me nothing.

theoretica

I think it depends how trained the trainee is - if you are expecting a cut which is pretty much as good as normal, but just takes a bit longer then charging half seems very reasonable. If you are expecting a cut as competent as you would get if you invited a friend round and handed them the scissors than don't pay.

gettingtheresometime

I know it's MSE to go to training colleges but after my last experience, many moons ago, I thought no more.

The poor girl had no confidence at all and every 10 minutes she was wanting the tutor to check what she was doing was right. In the end she took so long they had to re dampen my hair and the tutor finished the cut off.

abbe89

I've had my hair done by trainees twice - once it took almost 3 hours, and the 2nd time she mixed the wrong colour dye and my hair was black rather than chestnut brown! The first one I paid £10 for, and the 2nd one was supposed to be £30 (because of the dye etc) but due to the situation I didn't have to pay - and got a free follow up appointment with the salon manager to try and sort it out!
I think there is normally a charge - covering product costs, electricity, water, but also the time of the qualified stylist who would be supervising them!

Normally I pay about £40 for a cut and blow dry, but I've now been with the same hairdresser for almost 10 years and she does such a fab job I wouldn't go anywhere else, even to save some money. It's my one real treat to myself!

PasturesNew

Years ago, in the late 1970s I saw a sign for "models wanted" - and had my hair done completely free. With that one, there was little choice over what you had done as they wanted people to do a "hair fashion show". Once done the bosses would then choose whose hair cut was good enough to be in the show; I was lucky and wasn't chosen .... but I did have to go to school with flicked up hair dyed aubergine

I've always gone for "models wanted" signs, looking for cheap deals. These days they're increasingly expensive though. Often wanting £20-30.

The local college where I live, for highlights and a trim costs £70!

I've now found a college 30 miles away that does it for about £30, so I'll book in there and have a whole day out and my hair done for less.

McKneff

The trainee still has to be paid, college fees, insurance. Uniform etc etc

borkid

Nicky_Noo_Na wrote: »

My hairdresser has put her prices up again and now charges £42 for a cut&blow which I think is a bit steep. I saw a board outside a different local hairdressers looking for models so I've just booked an appointment thinking it would be free but they charge £20 (half price as regular price is £40 apparently)

Is this normal? I thought it would be free or a token fiver towards shampoo maybe. Am I really tight? Is £40 reasonable for a trained stylist?

If you are then cut your own if male ( OH has been doing this ever since our wedding day) or if female just let it grow and trima s and when. 7 years since I went to a hairdresser.

Living_proof

Even at an Aveeda salon I only pay £61 for roots, highlights and a cut and blow-dry. The local college is really cheap but you have to be patient, need your hair doing in the right sort of way for the part of the curriculum they are at, and you need plenty of time.

donnac2558

Okay I think there is confusion here.

Hairdresser I used to go to had a school, so what happened is looking for models this only opened certain days sometimes only two days a week(the other days they went to college). You walked in and just sat in the queue waiting to get done. Very very very cheap like a few pounds. But you had to be there for the dot of 9am or could be waiting for hours. These had supervisors watch every step each trainee did and take over if not going well.

Then they had the juniors who had passed this stage of training but still had a supervisor check their work as they went or even just at the end. This you did book and pay half price for. The OP has booked and got a junior which usually is half price, not the actual school bit which you find the opening times for and walk in and wait. The later is the one they look for models as sometimes you might not get the colour and cut you expect.

Or you go to the beauty college and get it done there very cheaply.