Hair has an annoying habit of growing relentlessly and costing us lots of money. If you find yourself tearing your hair out over the costs of hair care, then consider some of the tips below:
· Switch from a fancy / city salon with prices up to $80 for a cut and blow wave, to a suburban or cheaper salon, charging as little as $45.
· Forego your usual blow-dry, and shift to a “cutting only” salon such as Just Cuts or The Sharing Shed, charging from $27 per cut.
· Take your children to the same cutting only salon for as little as $16 per cut (midweek), or for boys, consider your local barber for as little as $10 per cut.
· Choose hairstyles that require minimal cutting – for example, growing your hair longer may give you a style that needs less frequent cutting, or going very short may mean you can spread your cuts out to 8 or 10 week intervals.
· Investigate your local hairdressing school or academy. Most towns boast one or more hairdressing schools, and they are usually on the lookout for models. The prices are a fraction of commercial rates, and whilst the students are somewhat slower than qualified hairdressers, they are closely supervised, so you should end up with an excellent result.
Whichever method you choose, bear in mind that frequency of cutting makes a huge difference to your annual costs – a $60 cut and blow-dry every 6 weeks will cost $520 per year. However, if you spread your bookings out to every 8 weeks, then the cost drops to $390.
If you’re feeling adventurous you might like to get stuck into hair cutting yourself. Here are some options to consider:
· Invest in a set of hair clippers and cut your partner’s and boys’ hair for “free” each month. Good quality clippers can be purchased from most department stores for as little as $29.99 and will last for years if well cared for.
· Learn how to cut hair properly with scissors – most community colleges run regular evening hairdressing courses; up-skilling will save you lots of money if you have a family to keep well groomed.
Our family of five has recently changed to using clippers on the boys, and Just Cuts for the girls, and estimate that we are saving over $700 per annum.
