Heard a stylist say she charges $25 extra for fine hair and it stuck with me

I was grabbing lunch near my salon in Portland last Tuesday and overheard a stylist from the next chair over say she adds a surcharge for fine hair because it takes more patience and product. I never thought about pricing based on hair type before, just length and time. Do you guys adjust your rates for different textures or am I overthinking this?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_reed625d agoTop Commenter

Tried something similar at my shop in Austin a few years back. Charged extra $20 for really thick coarse hair since it takes way more product and muscle to blow dry, and clients actually said it made sense when I explained the extra time involved. Worked well for about six months until a few regulars got weird about it, so I switched to just charging by the hour instead. End of the day, fine hair can be just as tricky if you're doing precision cuts where each strand matters.

dianaanderson5d ago

That's rough when regulars get weird about a fair pricing change. I've seen that happen in other service businesses too, @drew_reed62. People don't mind paying more at first but then it creeps into their head and they start comparing. Charging by the hour makes a lot of sense because it keeps things transparent and you don't have to argue about what counts as "extra work." It puts the control back in their hands too since they can see exactly where the time goes. Sounds like you found a solid solution even if the first idea didn't stick.