No offense, but it's like trying to compare a Mercedes to a Hundai and wondering if the cars are really that different. If a stylist is able to charge $200, it's because they are at the top of their field.
No one is forcing you to go to that level of stylist. If doing your hair at home works for you, great! I really mean that.
I go to one of the top stylists in NYC. She does such a fabulous job on my hair that I only have to get it cut like about 3 times a year. She knows how to cut according to the texture of my hair and the way my hair grows and naturally lays. Every time I've skimped and gone to someone cheaper, I live to regret it - almost right away. My hair never lays right.
Depending on how old you are, you may remember commercials back in the late 80's - 90's for Vidal Sassoon hair cuts & products. A model would turn her head back and forth and you'd see her hair swing back & forth around her head. Then she'd stop and you'd see the back of her head as the hair would magically fall
naturally into place beautifully, without any stiff product to keep it in place or to helmet it in place. It was cut to the way the hair would naturally fall.
That is Vidal Sassoon's signature hair cuts. Stylists come all over the world to study at his salon schools. Even seasoned cutters who've studied elsewhere. The cuts are worth every penny. My hairdresser is one of the top stylists at Vidal Sassoon. (It's one of my few splurges.)
Most stylists learned to cut on a mannequin's hair, where the synthetic hair is uniformly & symetrically sewn into the head. They also learn to cut according to generic techniques. That's why most people need so many styling products after their cut. To try to get the hair to look the way the hair was cut at the salon, rather than a cut that works with the hair you've got and the way it grows.
There are some haircuts that just will not work with my hair. I can't bring in a picture of someone with baby fine hair and can expect the same cut or style because my hair is not baby fine. My hairdresser will let me know that and will work with me to get a similar idea that I want, that will work with my hair, or will just tell me, that style is
not going to work on me.
A $20 hairdresser will cut the style in the picture and then will use product to style the heck out of it to get that look in the chair. as soon as I wash it, it will never look that good again.
Instead, my hair goes out beautifully. So I end up getting two styles out of it. Shorter, right after she's cut it. And then I can let it grow out a couple inches and it still looks fabulous. Other people end up getting their hair cut sooner as it grows in shabbily. And they spend a lot on styling products. So money-wise, it probably works out the same.
I don't think of my stylist as being overpaid. She's experienced and has earned her level of pay. She fits me in at the last minute when shoe doesn't have to. I'm not one of her celebrity clients. But she treats me like one. I wouldn't think to tip her $10 because that's like putting cheap hub caps on a Mercedes.
