How much do you tip your hair stylist?

[Tammyh]

Originally Posted by greyacresmom

I understand your situatiion...but she still has a nut to pay...not everyone will tip...it should be a min of 15% I don't care if they are owners, operators, waiters/waitresses...dealers, valet...
Just a case in point..my DD is a waitress. She is taxed 10% of the food / drinks served. NO MATTER WHAT. She is also only getting $2.35 an hour.
She served 9 older ladies for a lunch and was left .75 cents by 2 of them...she is in the hole for the day $9 for the taxes on that table. Go figure....

Every situation is different. We have a family business, we sell business phone systems. Our labor rate is $89.00/hr for our serivce. We have to pay rent, all utilities, taxes, insurance, employee salaries, healthcare benefits for all employees and the list goes on. I guarantee our expenses are much higher than my stylists' who works out of her home and charges me $70.00/hr. Her situation is different from someone who runs a salon outside of the home, pays rent, has employees, etc. I do not feel that in my situation I need to add 20% tip to the $140.00 I pay her for 2 hours work.

As far as waitress'/waiters go I ALWAYS tip 20% unless the service was bad, and it has to be REALLY bad for me not to tip. If the service is exceptional, goes above and beyond I'll tip even more. Waitress'/Waiters work very hard for little money and rely on their tips as part of their income.

[Tammyh]

Originally Posted by Smarty Bones

At my old salon, there are levels of stylists and the owner fees for a cut was 2.5 times the first-level stylist. In that case I can understand why people might tip differentially, but if the cuts are all the same price regardless of who does it, I tip 20%.

I agree, if all fees are the same I would tip them all. I think the reason the owners don't get tips is because they usually charge so much more than the rest of the stylists. They've built it in. (again, going off what I heard on Oprah)