Tipping in salons

[klmama]

Is it customary to tip the stylist if she is the owner and only employee of the salon?  

[Guest]

Yes. I have still tipped in this situation. 

[klmama]

Thanks.

[Bootsie]

I grew up being taught that you did not tip someone if they were the owner of the business.  I was taught, in fact, that it would be insulting, treating the owner of the business as a charity case who did not know how to price their services correctly.  

That said, I have tipped the owner.  I was in a situation where I had a stylist who worked in a salon and then opened her own salon.  It seemed as if it would be odd to have tipped her before and then stop tipping her when she was charging the same price as before 

[Alicia64]

Just my .02.

I've read over and over that owners of the salon are not tipped. So -- when we moved to Atlanta -- I started going to a stylist/owner (who gave phenomenal haircuts) so never tipped her.

But. . . over time I could tell it didn't sit well with her. I decided that since I thought she was one in a million, I'd better keep her happy. 🙂

I've tipped her ever since. We're going on six years and I made a great decision.

W.

[Arcadia]

The only time my family doesn’t tip the hair stylist is when it is a home industry, as in we go to her home for a hair cut and dyeing our hair while her children are playing in the same room. 

[SereneHome]

Can I just say how much I hate hate hate the whole tipping thing?

I hate that the appropriate % evidently went up.

I hate that pretty much everyone expects a tip.

I hate that quality of service seemingly doesn't have anything to do with amount of tipping.

I hate it all!!!!

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, SereneHome said:

Can I just say how much I hate hate hate the whole tipping thing?

I hate that the appropriate % evidently went up.

I hate that pretty much everyone expects a tip.

I hate that quality of service seemingly doesn't have anything to do with amount of tipping.

I hate it all!!!!

I do too and I think this is one of those “done much better in Europe” things; the price is the price, one never wonders. 

However! Since tipping currently IS a fundamentally important part of services in the US, I think it is best to ere on the side of tipping and tipping well. So, for me at least, it’s better to think in terms of a reframe and just “know” that if a haircut is $40, it’s really $47 (or whatever your tipping philosophy allows). 

 

[Tap]

I was told this and thought it was logical. So, for several years I didn't tip the owner of a salon who cut my hair. Honestly, I am a really simple cut though (no wash, just a trim and no blow out/color/conditioning etc).  After she sold her business, we ran into each other in a store. We were chatting and mentioned the custom, and she said that owners deserve a tip just like anyone else. Her thought was that you are tipping on the fact that they go above and beyond the basic services..... So I felt about this small.  

[J-rap]

6 hours ago, SereneHome said:

Can I just say how much I hate hate hate the whole tipping thing?

I hate that the appropriate % evidently went up.

I hate that pretty much everyone expects a tip.

I hate that quality of service seemingly doesn't have anything to do with amount of tipping.

I hate it all!!!!

One GOOD thing about this pandemic is that at least around here, a lot of places are now automatically adding a charge that takes the place of a tip plus the extra costs of Covid protections.  I love that I don't have to think about what to tip anymore at those places, and am happy to pay the extra charge.