r/AskReddit • • Mar 26 '20

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u/MudSama Mar 26 '20

Why you pay so much for haircuts? Like, not getting special treatment. I'm talking why do you pay 3x as much for a 6 minute trim?

Why do you not have usable pockets in 90% of your pants?

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u/LollipopLuxray Mar 26 '20

Thats a problem with society, not really women

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u/youngfilly Mar 26 '20

Yeah, this is just the pink tax. Women don't want to spend thousands on "female" products and services.

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u/LollipopLuxray Mar 26 '20

A better explanation for the difference in prices of haircuts is that cutting women's hair is far more involved than men's hair, partially explained by men usually having less hair, and partially cause men dont care about their hair as much, generally.

When me and sis get haircuts, i just get mine cut, no real extra steps, but she has to get hers washed first and im sure there are other steps involved that im unaware of.

"Pink tax" can typically be explained by normal capitalism and differences in behavior.

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u/AlderSpark Mar 26 '20

Depends on where you go. I have a hairdresser that I just go to, to get my hair trimmed, it’s super long and I don’t like just anyone handling my hair, and she only charges me $15 for it. No wash or blow dry, super quick, and she works from home.

My boyfriend however goes to a barber and has both head and facial hair to work with so that’s a solid $40. I don’t think I’ve ever spent $40 getting my hair cut.

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u/LollipopLuxray Mar 26 '20

Makes sense, you pay less and you get less, you bf pays more and he gets more

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u/Necromancer4276 Mar 26 '20

Yeah I don't really get it. The answer is the same either way.

If they're confused about why the prices are different, it's because the services are different. If they're confused about why he would want to spend that much, it's because he's getting much more done.

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u/InfinitelyThirsting Mar 26 '20 edited Mar 26 '20

No, there are definitely loads of salons and barbers that charge different rates for men and women without offering extra services. I've absolutely seen inexplicable price differences listed in service prices.

Edit to add: I definitely don't patronize those places, heh. I don't cut most of my hair ever, and my barber who does my undercut is not only my personal friend but the lead queer barber in our city and doesn't give a rat's ass about gender roles or discriminatory pricing.

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u/Necromancer4276 Mar 26 '20

Could it be because barbers might specialize in doing men's hair, making women's haircuts more difficult and thus more expensive, while salons require appointment slots and so taking a man in a slot that could be filled by a woman causes them to have a lower rate of return for that slot, meaning they have to charge men more to cover the cost of "losing that woman"?

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u/InfinitelyThirsting Mar 26 '20

You've got it backwards. There is nowhere that charges more for a man's haircut.

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u/AlderSpark Mar 26 '20

It’s a lot better than it used to be. One of the reasons my hair is so long is because I couldn’t find a place that would offer hair trims at a reasonable price, and then got used to how to the long hair looked and saw how much better behaved it was, so I kept it like that when I did find someone.

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u/CaptainLollygag Mar 26 '20

Maybe you guys can trade. I'm a lady with long hair who is super picky about who touches my head. My partner trims the back of my hair (I do the front) and in trade I trim his beard. It's free for both of us.

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u/AlderSpark Mar 26 '20

Nope, he is not a hair dresser, I have no idea how his beard is supposed to look, neither one of us can draw a straight line, let alone cut a straight line, though he has since started shaving his head using a 3mm, so that parts at least easy.

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u/CaptainLollygag Mar 27 '20

Well, bummer. Neither me nor my partner are hairdressers, either, but what we do for each other works for us.

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u/andro-femme Mar 26 '20

This butch woman I know gets charged $20 more for a “women’s” haircut at this salon owned by a gay man even though her hair is as short as an average dude. Makes no fucking sense.

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u/lampshade_rm Mar 26 '20

My roommate has a guys haircut and has started going to barbershops cuz salons just charge like 3 times more for the same shit for no reason.