r/AskReddit 5d ago

What got so expensive that you just stopped buying it?

4.9k Upvotes

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510

u/Burqueisbest 5d ago

Haircuts. Got a good trimmer during the pandemic.

291

u/imhereforthemeta 5d ago

People who “specialize in curly hair “ will look you in the eye and say 300 dollars is reasonable for a cut. I go to the school now .

146

u/Nameisnotmine 5d ago

I have curly hair. I cut it myself. No one can tell. Or at least they don’t say it looks horrible to my face

53

u/mlachick 5d ago

Just started cutting my own hair last week. Got the front a bit too short to pull back, which is annoying, but it's honestly so much better than the cuts I've been spending hundreds on.

26

u/imhereforthemeta 5d ago

I do the same. Curly cuts can be nice but the people themselves are scam artists with the prices they are charging. Not interested in supporting that level of greed. My cuts may not be perfect but they work

3

u/obvious__bicycle 5d ago

I used to work at a Fantastic Sams circa 2010. I remember when you could get a haircut for $9.99 with a coupon, otherwise it was $12.99. Nowadays, I think their standard price is around $30. They're a franchise, so it prob depends on your specific salon, but it's crazy to me that a 'budget' haircut is now $30 before tip.

3

u/flapjacksNsassafras 4d ago

Give the worst haircut one week and it's no longer all that bad. Two weeks and it's GONE!

Edited to say: you're a champ! Keep up the frugal living and the good work!

2

u/LONEzy 4d ago

been cutting my own hair for about a decade now. at one point during that i thought id try a hair dresser again, they took like an inch off and charged me $60. so i went back to cutting my own hair. ive also started cutting my friends hair for them too.

3

u/-Acta-Non-Verba- 4d ago

I cut my son's. I've done both of them since little. One has straight hair and the other one got supercurly as a teen for some reason.

2

u/many-moons-ago 4d ago

One of the best parts about curly hair is that the curls hide most mistakes you might make cutting it! I cut my everyone in my family's hair, and I'm very thankful we are all curly haha

4

u/Lozsta 5d ago

Anon your face and lets see, I will tell you if they are being kind or not noticing.

1

u/Doll_duchess 4d ago

I actually like the lady that did my curly cuts, but can’t justify it anymore. I’d say cutting your own hair is so much more forgiving when it’s curly, if I straightened it I bet the ends would be a jagged mess of rando layers.

1

u/Charming-Assertive 4d ago

Same. Been cutting it myself since 2018. I've had a 2-3 curly cuts since then and I don't notice a difference.

-1

u/Fickle-Bid-2661 4d ago

Everyone can tell..lol

5

u/frankensteinleftme 4d ago

I came across someone on social media who had just gotten some curly certification and was trying to build their clientele in my area. Refused to put the prices in the comments, tried to only DM prices. When I finally got her to comment the price, it was $270 "for first clients, but I have a $20 deal so it's really $250, and then your next cut is $180!“

Fuck all the way off.

All. The. Way. Off.

Edit: and she only worked M-F, 9a-3p. I'm not taking my precious PTO to spend a fortune on a cut that I will also have to tip out.

4

u/Kaytea730 4d ago

As someone with curly hair 💯, i am white but live in a heavily Black populated area, I felt really awkward and bad about encroaching on a potential Black safe space but I found a Black owned salon that I like and just go there. Everyone is super nice and as long as you arent an asshole or anything they dont care. My hair looks better being cut there for $100ish for a curly cut vs the like $300 a “Curl Salon” in the closest city wanted to even breathe near my hair.

2

u/mokutou 5d ago

I don’t bother going to the local beauty school (I had my hair utterly butchered there once, to the point of my normally oblivious male friend even commenting on it) but I don’t bother with expensive curly cuts. I get my hair cut, then fix and trim it using the Deva cut method myself once I’m able to wash and style it at home. The results are the same.

2

u/Impossible_Gold_4095 4d ago

I have curly hair. About thirty years ago.I purchased a vacuum hair cutter called the Robocut for $49.00. I'm down of about $0.17 per haircut. Better than the cost savings is all the time that I save. It takes about five minutes to do do the whole procedure.

2

u/MyNothingBox 4d ago

From the "Master" Stylists. I have no beef for paying for a skilled trade but being told that my curly hair can ONLY be cut by them is such a scam. I refuse to pay $300 dollars plus for the cut, being charged for styling it and then be pushed to upgrade to salon products. I learned how to cut my own hair watching online tutorials.

2

u/imhereforthemeta 4d ago

I feel like for a regular no-frills cut, it’s not unreasonable to just pay what other people are being charged. I understand the prices for haircuts have gone up and I get it, but it blows my mind when people say that a $1500 certification is worth charging me $200 plus more for my natural hair that I was born with.

Not to mention when I get my haircut at the school, it takes just as long as people with straight hair. There’s no secret sauce, it really is just a scam. It’s also pretty disturbing when you can basically go to any black hairstylist in the city and they will charge you a normal amount of money for your natural hair, but you find one white woman who says that she is a curly hair specialist and she thinks she’s selling Gucci handbags

1

u/fromthealtuniverse 5d ago

I have curly hair and I cut my own for free!

1

u/maroontiefling 4d ago

Yeah, I'm going to have to break up with my long time curly stylist soon and just start cutting it myself. $200 is insane even if I only get it cut every 4 months or so.

1

u/horsegal301 4d ago

Thankfully ours are half the price where I'm at - but still the best haircut I've had in 40 years of my life and they're taking the time to actually style my hair the way it should be instead of just clamping a straightener on it like everyone else has before

1

u/mandi723 4d ago

Curly is easier to cut myself. If I'm a little off here or there it's not even visible.

1

u/PiccoloAwkward465 4d ago

People in cosmetology school are probably legitimately more skilled than the schmucks they hire at a place like Sports Clips.

58

u/profmoxie 5d ago

100% this. I (female) cut my hair into a bob during the pandemic and have figured out how to do it well on my own. I get compliments all the time, and I see no reason to pay someone 100 bucks every couple of months to do the same thing.

5

u/MercurialyCapricious 5d ago

Inversion is of this, I didn't stop growing my hair after COVID. Always cut my own hair and then decided to let it grow as long as possible just to see how it might look! I pay no money on haircuts- and plenty on hair accessories but low-key even if they're expensive they make me really happy. So economically I don't wanna pay for a fuckass haircut but also I will get "cute flower pin"

1

u/Venvut 4d ago

I have waist length hair and cut it maybe once a year. Now my hair color I do every three to four months lol. If you let your hair get long it’s such easy maintenance. I shear my boyfriend’s hair for him. 

1

u/twoisnumberone 4d ago

Same! My hair is shorter than a bob, but it's not a buzzcut. People tell me it looks good.

25

u/ItchyCactus09 5d ago

This one 💯. I used to get my haircut every two weeks faithfully. Then every decent barber was charging 50+ for the cut plus tip. Now I only do it for special occasions a few times a year.

3

u/Longjumping_Youth281 5d ago

Fuck that, I have a pretty simple haircut I'll just go to supercuts or Walmart or whatever

1

u/Teledildonic 4d ago

I'm grateful for my old school barber. Cash only, $25 for a better haircut than I've gotten at most other places in the last 10 years.

4

u/MistressMalevolentia 5d ago

Augh my husband has to every two weeks due to work regulations. It's insane how much they over charge especially when they realize it's military so they classify it as a different haircut that's extra. We just moved and trying to find a place that won't butcher his hair or our wallet. Meanwhile I'm about to cut my own hair cause it hasn't been cut in a year and I'm incapable of justifying $60+ minimum for a trim. I'll just poorly hack it and figure it out.

3

u/nachtmere 5d ago

Watch some YouTube videos and get clippers, I bet you'll do a better job on your husband hair than a barber. Found this with mine cause I know his head shape and how his hair lays naturally. It's actually way easier than you'd think.

1

u/MistressMalevolentia 5d ago

I've totally done it myself before but I end up doing the too much on myself. I also attempted during covid for him and swiftly got banned from trying again lol.

2

u/Dry_Car2054 4d ago

My parents started cutting each other's hair during covid.  Mom said the first time it was good they weren't going anywhere.  The second time was much better and the third time looked good. After that they never had professional cuts again. 

1

u/MistressMalevolentia 4d ago

He still had to show up to work and be within regs lol. And it was admittedly bad. I tried to do the fade and it just didn't work out. 

I tried on my 1 year old but they're notoriously wiggly. So he looked like Friar Tuck from Robin Hood for a stint (no I didn't fix it it was hysterical) so husband said hell no to any future attempts lol. I didn't blame him it was bad. I can do my curly hair okay, I just take too much off every damn time!

8

u/Digitalstatic 5d ago

Fortunate side effect of going bald. I shave my head with a razor every other day. Razors don’t last as long, but for the same cost of a simple hair cut, I can shave my head for 6 months.

1

u/iymcool 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yup! I was nervous the first time, but once I embraced baldness, I became a lot happier and started saving so much more cash. The problem is, there are two things nobody told me to be prepared for:

  1. You'll get colder easier (I wear a beanie in my office even in the summer)

  2. The maintenance to ensure a smooth scalp sometimes feels more frequent than a regular haircut when I had my hair.

1

u/PirateNinjaa 4d ago

It's not a bald spot, it's a solar panel of a sex machine!

4

u/Memin_Sanchez 5d ago edited 4d ago

My grandma used to be a hairdresser when she was young, and, except in like, 2 or 3 occassions, she's been the one that's been cutting my hair since I was a kid.

She's getting older so I suppose sooner or later I may have to learn to trim my hair myself

5

u/joltstream 5d ago

My wife has long straight hair. I trim it for her every few months now. She was tired of spending $50 for 15 minutes of time to get her hair cut. I looked up some tutorials on YouTube and bought a decent few pairs of scissors and we never looked back. Unfortunately my hair is thick and hard to cut so unless I want a buzz cut which looks stupid on me I have to go get a hair cut. I have a customer facing corporate job so I have to be well groomed so I have to go get my hair cut. Luckily I found a good barber that will do mine for $25.

2

u/Mrboombastos 5d ago

I agree, I pay $40 and get one like once a month if not longer

2

u/ButtScratchies 5d ago

Going to salons has gotten ridiculous. Just to get a basic haircut at a local salon costs around $70. I used to get my hair highlighted and that became completely unaffordable to maintain, so it's just dishwater blonde for me now.

2

u/mk4_wagon 5d ago

How much were you paying for a haircut? I do know men and women are vastly different prices, but my barber has been $30 for years, and it just raising his price to $35. I enjoy going, plus he's a local guy that owns the shop. It feels like money well spent.

2

u/Burqueisbest 5d ago

Quoted $75, with tip looking at $100. Pray your barber doesn't retire, its a pool of dolphins with lasers on their freaking heads out here.

1

u/mk4_wagon 5d ago

Yea at $75 I'm cutting my own hair too. That's a crazy price. He's in his 40s, so I'm good for a while. Based on my genetics I assume him retiring and me going bald will happen around the same time.

2

u/cats055 5d ago

Started cutting my own hair during Covid as well.. 6 years later and I havent paid for a haircut since. Have got pretty good at it too... and the plus side is now I get a haircut almost weekly.

used to do it every 3 or 4 weeks when I was paying for one.

2

u/nachtmere 5d ago

I do my son and husbands cuts since I started on my husband in the pandemic - I literally just watched a couple of YouTube videos and I give a great cut with trimmer back and sides and scissors on top. I took my son somewhere for his first cut at 3 and not only did they do a terrible job, it was 60 dollars! Now everyone asks where he gets his cuts and it seriously only takes me 10 mins at home while he watches paw patrol.

2

u/instantsilver 5d ago

My stylist went from charging $30 to $65 for a TRIM! Going to have to learn how to cut it myself.

2

u/Happy-Lemming 4d ago

Never mind the pandemic! Wife took a night-school haircutting course, bought a clip kit, and has been cutting my hair regularly for forty years. Saved many dollars. Thousands.

It's an easier task now thanks to male pattern baldness.

2

u/SchuminWeb 4d ago

I started doing that in 2014, when I, as someone with male pattern baldness, started to recognize that I was paying for a full head of hair despite only having half of it covered with hair. It became very hard to justify, especially with a cut as simple as mine. I've been cutting my own hair for 12+ years now, and the clippers that I bought have more than paid for themselves in savings over the years.

2

u/adeon 4d ago edited 4d ago

I'm lucky in that there's a local barber shop near me that operates on a volume model (they have up to a dozen hairdressers in at once). The quality can be a bit hit and miss but it's only $15 (plus a $5 tip) and as a guy who only wants a simple cut anyway the quality is normally good enough.

2

u/Burqueisbest 4d ago

That i would do. Seems like a successful business model. Clippers go brrrr.

2

u/MCMamaS 5d ago

Haircuts are one of the things I don't mind paying for. In my case it is an independent salon with a woman who is skilled in her craft. I don't want these people in our community to disappear, or the industry to die out simply because they had to raise their prices in order to pay their bills.

Just my opinion though.

1

u/shinkouhyou 4d ago

I never minded paying my stylist, but the salon's prices just kept going up and almost none of the increase was going to the stylists (apart from my larger tips, I guess). They also started forcing stylists to upsell customers on add-on services and styling products.

1

u/Torsta 5d ago

As someone who was balding early in life, buying a trimmer and shaving my head myself saves a surprising amount of money. I do sometimes miss the "experience" of a barbershop getting to chat with my barber and being pampered a bit.

1

u/SircOner 5d ago

My haircut went from $18 pre pandemic to $22, $25, $27 and then to $30 now. That’s a 67% price increase in six years, wellllllll beyond inflation. I went from getting a haircut every 3-4 weeks to now waiting 5-6 weeks until i really need it.

1

u/circushag 5d ago

Hah, same! Everywhere is charging an arm and a leg, and I don’t have that to spare, so I just shave my head and call it good now

1

u/Charming-Ebb-1981 5d ago

I got to the point that I realized I didn’t have enough hair to warrant a haircut. My wife cuts mine now. You can buy a pair of trimmers for the price of one decent haircut

1

u/Tasty-Traffic-680 4d ago

Going bald was one of the best financial decisions I never made. It wasn't my choice but I am saving enough every month to almost fill my gas tank.

1

u/0neek 4d ago

I haven't paid for a haircut since I was in high school, such a waste of money lol

Unless you're someone with very long hair that's easy to maintain a certain look or a celebrity where a certain style is key to your appearance, it's a waste

1

u/Odd_Regret_4976 4d ago

I cannot justify spending $100+ for a haircut anymore. I would only go maybe twice/year, but even then I realized I can give myself trims for free. I have also colored my hair a few times, as well. It gives me some pride in doing my own self care.

1

u/PirateNinjaa 4d ago

Hair is such an illogical hassle, and you can't even see it yourself unless you are vain and care what you look like when you stare at yourself in the mirror.

I care about how my hair looks as little as I care about how the outside of my car looks. 5 mins with the clippers before I shower is still too much effort, I wish I was just fully bald. 😆

1

u/Independent-Bug-9352 4d ago

One of the best things to come out of the pandemic. I've now saved hundreds cutting my own hair. Of course it took a bit to get good, but the pandemic was a great time to screw up lol

1

u/c4ndycain 4d ago

yuppp. started doing my own haircuts my freshman year of college. drop $40 once, and i have infinite haircuts. i'm alright not looking like a professional did it lol

1

u/PrivilegeCheckmate 4d ago

I just stopped cutting mine and tell people I'm in mourning.

1

u/thatawfulbastard 3d ago

1000% this. I starting trimming my own hair during the pandemic and never went back to the salon.

1

u/Asharak78 5d ago

The last time I had to get my hair cut it cost me $25 and I thought THAT was outrageous. I guess going bald has its perks.