Should home haircuts be cheaper than the salon?

The price point of mobile hairdressing is hotly debated within the hairdressing community

Most people assume that using a mobile hairdresser will be cheaper than going to a salon or barbershop. In many cases they're correct, with plenty of mobile hairdressers charging well below market rates for their services.

But visit any Facebook group or internet forum dedicated to the mobile trade and you'll find howls of protest from indignant hairdressers up and down the country. "Charge your worth!" they'll implore their peers, or angrily assert that "the customer is paying for your skill, not your surroundings".

Both of these statements have some truth to them. Hairdressing is a skilled trade which takes years to learn, and even longer to learn well. Skill and experience do make for a great hairdresser, but is that the only thing that counts when considering cost? And is a hairdresser undervaluing their talent by charging a lower rate?

My opinion (which is unpopular among some of my peers) is that surroundings do count, and that a mobile service should be more affordable than a full-on salon experience. After all, I am not pampering you with a luxurious shampoo and head massage, I'm not using luxury salon products on your hair, nor do I have the expensive overheads involved in salon work. In fact, most of the time I'm not even cleaning up after myself (I always offer, but I've yet to have someone take me up on this!)

All of these little extras add up to make your salon visit costlier for your stylist, and naturally that cost is passed on to their customers. You are paying for far more than the skill of your stylist; you're paying for the pampering we have come to associate with having your hair done. And if you enjoy those luxuries, then it's money well spent.

So how do 'cheapie' mobile hairdressers make any money? And what about the old adage "you get what you pay for"?

It's a simple business model.

Less 'faff' allows me to be far more efficient with my working day, and I can see a great many more customers in a day than I'd be able to in a full-service salon. For me, this negates any perceived loss in profit and makes my business sustainable.

As for quality, having worked in both the very highest-end salons and the cheapie 'chop-shops' throughout my career, I can hand-on-heart tell you that quality has very little to do with price when it comes to haircuts. The skill comes from experience and confidence, and quite frankly, a lot of what makes a 'good hairdresser' is communication. Talented hairdressers can be found in all spectrums of the market. As for me, I turn up, have a chat, give you a great quality haircut and then head off to see my next client. This allows me to offer very affordable haircuts for my customers and maintain a steady income for myself.

So yes, I'm of the view that you should expect to pay less for your haircut when using a mobile hairdresser. And there are a great many highly experienced stylists working mobile who would love to show you their skill at a sensible price; to me it's truly a win-win situation!

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