Cost of a cut ranges from $10 to $130

By ALEXIS GRANT


How much would you pay for a haircut?

"Lots of people don't know how much [a good haircut] means to them until they've had a bad one," says Cameron Grimshaw, hairdresser and co-owner of Toni & Guy Hairdressing in Auckland. "You get what you pay for."

A Weekend Herald survey found big variations in the cost of a cut.

At Toni & Guy, prices range from $80 to $110 for women's cuts and $60 to $80 for men's. Other services, such as a new treatment called the Japanese Hair Straightener, can cost up to $1000.

"If [hairdressers] have received good training and they're into their jobs and it's a career for them, they probably will charge more money," Mr Grimshaw says.

But how much is too much?

Marlene Versey, a 30-year-old from Papatoetoe, says she pays $170 every six months for a cut and colour at a Howick salon.

It's overpriced, she says, but she likes the service.

"If I could do it myself I would."

Some women do just that. Nicola Collingwood, 30-something with long blond hair, says she has a friend cut her hair, and then dyes it at home for $20.

Not only is it too expensive to go to a salon, but she doesn't like how it turns out, she says.

Haircut prices, which range from $10 to $130 in the Auckland area, depend largely on the experience of the stylist.

The hairdresser earns about 40 per cent of what the customer pays, two industry experts estimated.

The cost also varies according to how much time the client spends in the chair, which hair products are used and the reputation of the salon.

"It's about time and it's also about quality," said Jeff Barns, salon manager at Rodney Wayne Hairdressing in downtown Auckland.

His salon, which charges $55 for women and $40 for men for a half-hour haircut, aims at the middle of the market, he says.

That's peanuts compared with the $1000 that presidential contender John Kerry is said to have paid for a trim in the US.

And it pales compared with the reported $2500 that soccer star David Beckham pays weekly to keep up with fashion.


At Howick Mens Hairdressers, a haircut for "an old man is $12, a working man is $15 and a lady is $20", says Liz Elliot, who has been cutting hair for 18 years.

"If someone wants a nice massage for their head, they'll go to an expensive [salon].

"If they just want a good cut and a good conversation for 15 minutes, that's what they'll get here."

Regardless of how much you pay, the most important part is making sure the stylist understands what you want, says David Shields, president of the Association of Hairdressers and owner of Individual Hair & Body Studio in Auckland.

His advice? "Find somebody whose hair you like and find out who cuts it."