Hair salon question

[anniemae]

Does your hair salon have "levels" of stylists? The salon I go to has levels and my stylist was a level 3. She completed training and became level 4 and now her services are more expensive, I guess because of her increased knowledge. I was just wondering if this was common at other salons or if everyone pays the same price for the same service regardless of what stylist you go to.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Yes, mine does. I think my stylist is the top level so all of her services cost a bit more. That's okay by me, she does a great job with my blonde skunk hair-do.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I go to an old-fashioned barber shop run by a Vietnam vet who got his start there. Cash only.

Two barbers, same posted prices. The only extra cost for a basic cut is an appointment. $5 extra; otherwise it's first come first serve.

My wife says her salon has independent stylist who rent the chair and charge their own prices for level of service and/or expertise.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Yes, which implies the people on the bottom are drunken Edward Scissorhands so I have never been to one... which is sort of unfair I guess if you happen to be a 1 because your only job is to make the 2s-4s look better.

 

[brittlh]

Yep, my salon has levels too.

 

[Christine]

Yes, mine has levels. From trainee/student up to master. Probably about 4 levels. Pricing is established based on that experience.

 

[anniemae]

Thanks everyone I guess it is common practice!

 

[mjkacmom]

Mine definitely has levels, and they go for extra training as well. It costs a fortune, but I only go 3 - 4 times a year. Chair rentals are illegal in my state.

 

[kymom99]

My niece started at a salon as a “rising star” or something like that making peanuts. Her haircuts were $16 dollars at a nice salon. She had to hit a certain productivity to get to move up levels. As her services costed more, her income increased.

 

[DLgal]

Yep. The salon I go to is small, privately owned. I have my hair cut by the owner, who is a Master Stylist. He used to employ 3 others, now it's just down to one after the pandemic. She is a level 3 stylist, but a Master Colorist. So, her haircuts are $25 less than my guy's, but she charges a lot for color services.

 

[tvguy]

I go to an old-fashioned barber shop run by a Vietnam vet who got his start there. Cash only.

Two barbers, same posted prices. The only extra cost for a basic cut is an appointment. $5 extra; otherwise it's first come first serve.

My wife says her salon has independent stylist who rent the chair and charge their own prices for level of service and/or expertise.

I've been going to the same barber shop for 60 years. 4th owner, but same shop. Hair cut is $15.......went up from $12 2 years ago, they are appointment only now because of the pandemic to keep the number of people in the shop waiting down. No charge for an appointment, but a beard trim is $5 extra.

My wife stopped going to a "Beauty Parlor" about 35 years ago when the stylist charged over $100. The shops she has gone to since are all set up as independent contractors renting a work station. Her last trim was $40. Yup, what she paid $100 for in 1987, is now $40.

 

[DisneyHardin]

The fancy salon I used to go to had the stylists level posted on their stations and charged accordingly. The guy who does my hair changed salons and now has a booth rental in a less fancy salon, and no one's levels are posted. He still charges about what I was paying at the old place.

 

[nene0182]

Mine rents out a booth (it’s actually an individual room) so she sets her own pricing. She’s pretty high priced for around here which I found out after my first haircut (I stupidly didn’t ask up front for pricing) but I really like her and she does a great job so it’s one of my splurge items.

 

[Alicefan]

I've been a stylist for 30 years but I've never heard of "levels". Around here, you get out of Cosmetology school and you go to work at either a commission based salon and charge the set prices for the salon, or you rent a booth and charge whatever you think your time is worth. I have rented a booth for about 20 years out of the 30.

 

[SC Minnie]

The 'high end' salons here don't do booth rent and have levels for stylists and the higher the level the higher the cost. You're paying for the experience of the person. They would also do more difficult cuts and/or colors.

The person I go to owns the shop with one other person. I've followed her from place to place over the past 20 years. She does a great job and charges for accordingly. Wash/Cut/Blowdry/Root touchup runs me about $95 which is a 'friends/family' rate. Her regular rate is $125.

 

[RedAngie]

My stylist retired when salons were forced to close. She rented the chair and I assume she set her own prices. I wasn’t aware of levels of certification. She increased her prices once or twice so maybe she did achieve a higher status.

Upon reopening, the salon had remodeled and the owner recommended a different stylist. She’s a bit lower priced, but not by much, and much younger, maybe early 30s, compared to the mid 50s of my old stylist.

 

[kymom99]

My niece went to additional training to be certified to the aveda products. That’s one of the things that can move them up the levels.

 

[DeeBee3]

Never heard of this, but I do go to an independently owned salon and the owner is currently only one there. Over last 10 years, she has had 1 or 2 other people but they rented chairs. Now, my stylist does have certain certificates up like the Deva curl style, but I have never heard of levels.

 

[Alicefan]

My niece went to additional training to be certified to the aveda products. That’s one of the things that can move them up the levels.

Interesting. We're required to attend continuing education classes here in order to renew our license. It's an 8 hours class from hell every single year. When you are at least 50 years old and have held a license for 30 years, you are finally exempt from these classes. This year is MY year! Woooooo!!!! I can't explain to you how glad I am to not have to drag my butt to that boring class ever again! Classes like an Aveda class are open to anyone who wants to pay to attend them, but they don't mean anything here. It's just something that you do if you're interested in knowing more about a certain product line or technique. We have a big hair show every year where you can choose which classes you want to attend. They have runway shows and business classes and hair product classes. The business classes were always really good and we learned so much more than the more fun runway classes where you watch someone else do someone's hair. It's funny to me that a salon would think that a stylist was worth more money because they learned about one product line out of thousands. Technique classes I can understand, but products are ever changing and knowing about what shampoo is best for what type of hair is the last thing to make someone a better stylist and designed to make the salon more money, not so much the stylist themselves. It sucks that salons take sooo much of the stylists money. They offer these product knowledge classes so you can sell more for them. Commission based salons always made us take those, on our day off no less.

 

[kymom99]

Interesting. We're required to attend continuing education classes here in order to renew our license. It's an 8 hours class from hell every single year. When you are at least 50 years old and have held a license for 30 years, you are finally exempt from these classes. This year is MY year! Woooooo!!!! I can't explain to you how glad I am to not have to drag my butt to that boring class ever again! Classes like an Aveda class are open to anyone who wants to pay to attend them, but they don't mean anything here. It's just something that you do if you're interested in knowing more about a certain product line or technique. We have a big hair show every year where you can choose which classes you want to attend. They have runway shows and business classes and hair product classes. The business classes were always really good and we learned so much more than the more fun runway classes where you watch someone else do someone's hair. It's funny to me that a salon would think that a stylist was worth more money because they learned about one product line out of thousands. Technique classes I can understand, but products are ever changing and knowing about what shampoo is best for what type of hair is the last thing to make someone a better stylist and designed to make the salon more money, not so much the stylist themselves. It sucks that salons take sooo much of the stylists money. They offer these product knowledge classes so you can sell more for them. Commission based salons always made us take those, on our day off no less.

In her salon they specialize in aveda. They paid for her to attend and she had to commit up working there a certain amount of time. I will say some of the salons like these are somewhat predatory. They won’t give you enough hours to earn benefits for example. Also they would give vouchers for services to employees and it came out of her commission if she had to do their hair. She stayed over 10 years but is happy to be working elsewhere now.