How to Save Money at the Hair Salon

We all know that one trip to the hair salon can take a huge toll on our wallets. That’s why today, I have a salon expert sharing with you how to spend less at the salon and still pamper yourself!

You guys will LOVE today’s guest post by Annette, a fellow blogger, and hairstylist!

10 Ways to Save Money at the Hair Salon

We are all part of consumer society. We go to work in order to earn money, which is then spent to provide somewhat decent living conditions for ourselves and our family. Nowadays, everything has a cost.

Oftentimes, we don’t even think about the unnecessary goods and services we spend our hard earned money on. A huge market that has exploded in recent decades is the beauty industry. They have created this theory that beauty products and treatments can make us look better, younger and more worthy. Therefore people are rushing to buy all the latest product in order to achieve this.

One huge part of the beauty industry that has become extremely expensive is hair care. Hairdressers are providing services for ridiculous prices, and many of these services aren’t even that necessary for your hair to be healthy and look good.

I’ll tell you right now: hair salon visits don’t have to be expensive. There are things you can do to cut costs and make your next hair appointment less pricey. Here is a list of tips and trick which will help you save your money at the hair salon.

1. Don’t buy products from the hair salon

When you go in for a trim or color touch up, you may notice that the hair treatment products they use are extremely high quality and seem to do wonders for your hair. This is because they are expensive, professional products, which often cannot be bought in your local drug store.

If you want to save money, no matter how interested you are in having your hair smelling like a hair salon every day, don’t buy any add-on products from your hair salon.

If you’re really interested in a certain product, try to find it online or at a specialized beauty store – it will be much cheaper than your salon.

2. Try using a less experienced hair dresser

Oftentimes experienced hair dressers charge more money due to the experience and qualification they have, which is understandable. However, newer hair stylists aren’t unskilled; they can cut or color your hair just as well, and they will charge you a lot less money for it.

You can also try going to beauty schools to get your hair cut or colored. Beauty schools need people to practice on all the time so they usually won’t charge you anything at all for you letting them practice on your hair.

If you are nervous because you worry that the students there will mess up your hair, don’t be. These institutions always have specialized professionals keeping an eye on everything, which means that there won’t be any accidental shaving of your head or turning your hair green!

2. Touch-up roots at home

If you have changed the color of your hair completely then you know the struggle of maintaining your color. Our hair grows constantly which means that we need to deal with that re-growth every three to six weeks, depending on how fast your hair grows.

Unfortunately, it costs quite a lot of money to touch up your roots at the hair salon. Therefore, you might want to skip the trip to your hair salon and do the touch-ups at home instead. You can either do it yourself or ask your best friend, sister or mom for help.

Right now there are so many easy-to-use colors out there that don’t require you to be a hair professional to successfully use them. Although it might take time for you or the person coloring your hair to get the hang of it, usually by the time your hair is colored you will have the technique down and you will also have saved a pretty penny.

3. Trim your bangs

Don’t worry, you will not ruin your haircut by trimming the ends of your bangs (or your hair for that matter) yourself. If you have bangs that need a little bit of attention from time to time and you know how to use scissors, you can easily trim them yourself using either barber or hair thinning scissors.

Just hold your scissors vertically and cut only as little as half an inch at a time until you get the wanted result. It’s as easy as that and you will have saved money and time by not going to the hair salon.

4. Get the right haircut

The right haircut can be life-changing, but, in order to get it perfect, you need to consider some things:

• Your face shape/which style will look best on you
• Color; and
• Maintenance

If you have a high maintenance hairstyle, it’s going to require more trips to the salon which means more money. For example, bright and bold colors will require a lot of attention and effort.

The best advice I can give you is that you should consider your natural hair texture and cut your hair accordingly so that you can style it at home yourself. Even if you are not coloring your hair in bright colors, any color which is a few shades darker or lighter than your natural hair color will require more frequent attention.

Keep these things in mind the next time you decide to change up your hair.

5. Wash your hair before going to the hair salon

Quite often hair salons will charge you extra if you get your hair washed. Even though the products they use are great, and the washing of your hair in a hair salon feels great, it is quite an unnecessary waste of your money.

So show up with freshly washed hair, and in many cases, they will not wash it again. If they still want to wash it, ask them not to. It will save you money, making the trip to the hair salon a lot cheaper.

On top of that, they also won’t be able to intrigue you with the shampoos and conditioners and trick you into buying them, as none of them will be used on your hair.

6. Invest in your hair products at home

This does not mean that you should buy the highly overpriced products from your hair salon. It means that you should choose hair treatment and care products accordingly to your hair type and needs.

For example, if you have colored hair, choose products designed for colored hair. It’s as simple as that.

Additionally, purchase both shampoo and conditioner from the same brand and line, as they are supposed to be used together, and therefor you will achieve the best results using these products.

By taking care of your hair properly, you won’t have to go to the salon as much.

7. Skip the styling

After every trim or coloring, your hair stylist will ask if you want them to also style your hair. But, what they don’t mention is that there is an extra charge for this service. It is the same principle as if the waitress would offer you dessert in a restaurant.

So, before agreeing to having your hair also styled, remember that there is going to be an extra charge for it. If you are not getting ready for an event, politely decline the offer.

8. Reduce the usage of your heated tools

If you want to keep your hair healthy, you might want to reduce the usage of your hot tools. Even though everyone likes to have the perfect hair style every day, sometimes rocking your natural hair is refreshing and as presentable as curled or straightened locks.

If you have enough time, try to let your hair air dry. This will keep your hair healthier for longer, and will also reduce the need for a hair salon visit as often.

9. Visit a gender-neutral hair salon

There are many salons which bill you according to your gender. Since men haircuts are a lot cheaper, if you are a woman, you might be paying extra just because of it.

But, there are gender-neutral hair salons out there that offer prices according to the time spent cutting your hair and the length of the cut. So, if you just want to trim the ends, then you should find a salon that has this policy, because this way your visit to the hair salon will be much cheaper.

10. Choose the time of the visits wisely

The busiest hair seasons and months of the year will have higher prices and therefore you won’t be able to save any money. For example, in summer, when there are a lot of weddings happening, you can experience a slight increase in prices, as hair salons will be filled with brides and wedding guests needing to style their hair.

Also, the holiday season is another time of the year when the prices at the hair salon will increase, as there are different parties and balls for people to go to that all need people looking their best.

Therefore, if you are not going to be going to a wedding, or to a huge holiday party, you might want to get your hair cut well in advance or when all of the festivities have passed. This way the prices will have gone back to normal and you will not be overpaying for your new cut or color.

The Bottom Line

Even if you are on a budget you don’t have to say goodbye to hair salon visits for good. There are many different tricks on how you can save your money and get your hair styled on a budget.

What are you going to apply?

I have loved this guest post! Those are ideas that I have never even thought about, but seriously, why are we paying so much at the salon?! Let’s cut down costs where we can but still give ourselves the opportunity to feel pampered!

There is a way to go to the salon and afford it! Be sure to comment below and let us know which tip you cannot wait to apply!

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About the Writer

Annette Moore is a hair enthusiast with years of hairdressing experience. She also runs a blog called BoldBarber, where you will find information on everything hair from the hottest hairstyle trends to recommendations for the best hair styling tools.