Blonde hair costing ‘double and a bit’ more than brunettes as cost of Australian hair services soars

BLONDES claim they are paying at least $600 to get their hair done at Australia’s best salons, with “ridiculous” costs exceeding some of the best in New York.

THEY say blondes have more fun but it’s coming at a cost, with trips to the hair salon slugging golden-haired girls more than double what brunettes pay.

It comes as fair-haired customers claim they are paying as much as $600 or more to get their hair done at Australia’s best salons, with “ridiculous” costs in beauty capitals of Sydney and Melbourne exceeding some of the best salons in New York.

“Blondes are paying more than double and a bit, because it’s far more time-consuming and there’s more work that goes into it,” Hairdressing and Beauty Industry Association (HBIA) CEO Sandra Campitelli said.

Fair-haired customers claim they are paying as much as $600 or more to get their hair done at Australia’s best salons.

“Yes, $600 is a lot, but often you are paying for the expertise of the stylist, and if salons are running a good business their prices should absolutely be going up every year.

“If electricity does, and wages do, then why shouldn’t the cost of getting your hair done go up?

“If you’re only paying $150 for a cut, colour, toner and blow-dry, there’s something wrong.”

Hairdressing prices rose 2.1 per cent in Australia in the year ending June 2017, with Sydney leaping 2.5 per cent and Melbourne 1.2 per cent. Brisbane prices soared a whopping 3.1 per cent on the previous year.

Going to the salon can hurt the hip pocket, especially if you’re a blonde.

These figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal the costs of hairdressing services have rocketed past the official inflation rate.

Michelle Garwood, an Australian hair stylist who worked at New York’s Ruggeri, the top blonde salon in the city, said the average cost to get your hair done at the luxury salon was about $A540.

The costs of hairdressing services have rocketed past the official inflation rate.

“The costs of these services wasn’t too extreme, when the quality of work was so high,” Ms Garwood said.

“New York tends to have high prices with ‘celebrity hairstylists’ who have clients who pay anything for the name sake.

“But I do think it’s all relevant to where you live and the cost of living.

“People in Australia make much more money than in London, but things cost more being the remoteness or lack of other choices.”

She also said blondes were more expensive because of the extra effort and required technique.

Blonde hair takes more effort to maintain so costs soon add up.

“Generally speaking, unless you are naturally quite light, the ease of being a blonde is more difficult,” she said. “When you’re medium to dark naturally, one needs to mix a stronger peroxide to get you hair lighter and you will have underlying warmth that will come through, therefore you may need a toner on top of your highlight service.

“Then there’s technique, which was once purely foiling or a scalp bleach, but nowadays it also includes balayage techniques which can be a lot harder to do well.”

Consumer behaviour expert Marylouise Caldwell said customers were mostly to blame for the creeping costs, saying the booming beauty industry was capitalising on extreme demand thanks to the wildly popular “perfection” trend.

“We are seeing great demand among young women, especially in urban hubs like Sydney and Melbourne, for grooming and hairdressing, because the whole thing is driven by celebrities who always seem to look perfect,” the associate professor at the University of Sydney business school said.

The drive for perfection is to blame for soaring grooming costs.

“Instagram has had a big impact on hairdressers, particularly thanks to reality stars, there’s this move towards the ‘beach girl meets glamour’ and an effortless sort of done-up style.

“Young women are going to the hairdresser more often to achieve this ‘my hair hasn’t been done, but it has’ look, and it costs a lot of money.

“The Kardashians are largely responsible for this consciousness to look perfect everyday and hairdressers are simply capitalising on that huge demand.

“It is hyper inflation and it’s ridiculous, but we are obviously willing to pay.”

Ms Campitelli, who is pushing for the government to regulate the beauty industry to avoid “butchers opening hair salons”, said the HBIA does not record average prices because of such varying costs.

“It all depends on their expenses, the expertise of who is doing your hair and where the salon is located,” Ms Campitelli said.

“At the end of the day I do believe you get what you pay for to go to a trained professional. You are paying for their time and labour.

“We’ve all seen the horror stories.”

Originally published as Blonde hair costing ‘double and a bit’ more than brunettes as cost of Australian hair services soars