Why are you charged so much more by stylists for long hair.....

[fancypants007]

Last Sunday I had an appointment to get my lacing braids put in. I was so excited. I have not had a relaxer for almost 9 months and was looking forward to a break in doing my own hair. I had a flexistrand weave before, but didn't want to get it again because it was just so hot; so I decided to get lacing braids. I called ahead of time and was told the money I would need to bring to get them done. Well when I got there, she told me she didn't realize that my hair was so long and she was going to charge me an extra $50.00. Why????? I told her that my hair is not long and her eyes got as big as saucers and she said, you got to be kidding me. I think about all the long beautiful heads of hair on this forum and my hair is no where near the length of Sylver2, Dlewis, Chicoro, Tracyee, etc. Anyhow, I refused to pay the extra money and got senegelese twists instead which I never had before. The girl did a good job and my hair is in a protective style which makes me happy, but this is not the style I really wanted. Also I bought human hair to get my lacing braids 18" in length and she told me that the hair I bought was not long enough to do my lacing braids. She said because my hair is long I need to buy 24" hair. So now I have this human hair that I can not return. Why?????

I will figure it out, but right now I just cannot understand.

 

[msa]

How long is your hair? If it's APL or longer I can understand why they would want to charge you extra, not saying that it's right, but it's probably just their policy.

I've learned that if I'm going to get my hair done and I call to make an appointment, I explicitly mention that I am natural with a certain hair type. I then ask if I'm going to be charged extra so that I can prepare to bring enough money. I let them know that once they give me the price, I won't be paying more once I get there.

If you have long hair you need to let them know over the phone so that they can give you an accurate price. It's best to give the person as much info about your hair as you can so that there aren't any surprises once you walk in the shop.

 

[Denise11]

How long is your hair?

I'm just curious.

 

[Optimus_Prime]

fiddy dollaz!!!!??

 

[dachsies_rule!]

Every stylist i've ever been to has charged me extra. The explanation given to me was that because of the length and thickness it takes them much longer to work on my hair than someone with short hair. So basically, you're being penalized for having nice hair erplexed!

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

This happened to my sister today. She wanted braids... they wanted to charge her an extra $20 to braid past her natural ends so her hair would be fully protected. She told them they gave her another price on the phone, and they said, "Your hair is long!" For the record, her hair is chin to APLish... so it's got length but it's only medium length, you know?

She told them she only had enough for the original quote and they said that's okay and started braiding her hair incompletely ... aka... leaving her hair exposed at a certain point and arguing it's because she has to pay the extra $20 to get it done properly.

She ended up having to have them remove the braids, and switched the unused hair at the beauty supply store for hair products and will forego protective styling.

 

[mariofmagdal]

I think it's a penalty too! They told me length and for being natural!

 

[cutiebe2]

They tried to do that too me too and my hair is NOT even long. At the time it was SL or an inch lower. The girl tried to act like it was going to take sooooo much longer to do my hair when it wasn't

IMO the girl who did that too me just wanted an excuse to charge me extra

 

[SweetSpirit86]

Every stylist i've ever been to has charged me extra. The explanation given to me was that because of the length and thickness it takes them much longer to work on my hair than someone with short hair. So basically, you're being penalized for having nice hair erplexed!

This used to happen to me when my hair was relaxed. I went to get micros once (I know I know...) and the girl on the phone told me 180...I get there and it's 200 once she touches my hair and sees it's thick and an inch below my shoulders. 20 isn't that much, but yeesh...it's still money I wasn't expecting to pay. I just took it as a lesson learned.

 

[Traycee]

I think it's a penalty too! They told me length and for being natural!

Wow I never heard anyone charge extra for being natural...But that doesn't mean their not doing it...Im just shocked..

But we have to be honest with ourselves...The longer or the thicker your hair is the more work and time has to go into it..So its only fair to charge more for doing more work...

 

[Jazzmommy]

Yes,
That happened to me as well about a year ago when my hair was SL and I didn't want any of my hair exposed at the ends.
The braid shop complained about how long my hair was and thick.
I couldn't believe they thought my hair was considered long at SL...

 

[Solitude]

I think it's a penalty too! They told me length and for being natural!

Not saying it's right, but sometimes ppl who are natural are asking for styles meant for relaxed hair, so it takes more work.

As for long hair, OP, time is money to a stylist & longer hair takes more time. While they are doing your one head, they could have done two and made more money. This "policy" is extremely common, so I don't really see why you were so surprised. BTW, how long is your hair for $50 extra....?

 

[Desarae]

But we have to be honest with ourselves...The longer or the thicker your hair is the more work and time has to go into it..So its only fair to charge more for doing more work...

Thank you Traycee.

Coming from someone who does hair, someone getting braids with long and/or thick hair does take substantially more time and more work.. In the hair industry time is money and trust braiding/styling hair all day is not as easy as it may seem.

 

[Missigirl]

Paying more makes sense to me, if the stylist is going to take special care with my hair.

I would rather pay more than to have someone tear through my hair to beat a clock for a few dollars. I would offer to pay more to get my hair done with the same care I take with it, my hair is spoiled and use to kind treatment.

If I was a stylist I would charge a lot to do hair, but each customer would be treated very well and would have long hair.

 

[sylver2]

yikes $50???
Ive always been charged xtra from $5-$15 ...but $50!!? no way.

 

[Starian]

Seeing that outside of LHCF long hair on Black women is an anomaly of some sort, I started getting charged extra at around shoulder to APL-ish.

That isn't long to me, so I learned to do my own hair.

I get why people charge extra for length but it seems some stylists don't know what long is or have a skewed view of long hair. It's relative, I guess.

I miss the days I could pay $40 for a relaxer. Now I'm looking at $95+ if I want it done right.

 

[pisceschica]

Wow I never heard anyone charge extra for being natural...But that doesn't mean their not doing it...Im just shocked..

But we have to be honest with ourselves...The longer or the thicker your hair is the more work and time has to go into it..So its only fair to charge more for doing more work...

And thats the truth. It takes longer to style longer hair than shorter hair.

I think as long as they CLEARLY define what is considered long (like some places say 2" past shoulder) then its ok. And as long as they quote you before the service begins.

 

[blue_flower]

Seeing that outside of LHCF long hair on Black women is an anomaly of some sort, I started getting charged extra at around shoulder to APL-ish.

That isn't long to me, so I learned to do my own hair.

I get why people charge extra for length but it seems some stylists don't know what long is or have a skewed view of long hair. It's relative, I guess.

I miss the days I could pay $40 for a relaxer. Now I'm looking at $95+ if I want it done right.

When I used to to go to hair salons, I would be charged for having long hair too. Not only did these stylist not know how to manage long thick hair, they had very bad technique as well (using small skinny combs to detangle, digging their nails into my scalp while washing my hair, putting relaxer on already relaxed hair, letting my scalp burn so the relaxer could "take", not knowing what a roller set is, etc.) and they never did a good job. As old as I am, I have never seen many long haired clients at Black hair salons.

 

[fancypants007]

yikes $50???
Ive always been charged xtra from $5-$15 ...but $50!!? no way.

Yes, and this is my point! I know that it will take longer for the stylist to do your hair if your hair is long and they usually charge extra, but $50 extra, that was too much. This shop that I go to is interested in hair style, not hair health. For instance, the girl that was braiding my hair had a rubber band on my hair to hold it out of way. Now there are all kinds of clips, gadgets that are hair friendly, and she uses a rubber band. I was so upset. When it fell from my hair, I saw how much of my hair was wrapped around that thing and I threw it away so she would not be putting it in my hair again. Also, I went there with my hair prepared; it was already washed, deep conditioned and blow dried. I found out the hard way that if you let them blow dry your hair, they use this high power blow dryer and they rake that thing through your hair with so much force. All I could see was damage to my newgrowth that I worked so hard to achieve and I wasn't having it. I told her, do not blow dry my hair, because I have already did it. Well she listened and did not use the blow dryer on my hair.
I only go to them once in awhile; I just couldn't understand why they wanted to charge me so much.

 

[fancypants007]

When I used to to go to hair salons, I would be charged for having long hair too. Not only did these stylist not know how to manage long thick hair, they had very bad technique as well (using small skinny combs to detangle, digging their nails into my scalp while washing my hair, putting relaxer on already relaxed hair, letting my scalp burn so the relaxer could "take", not knowing what a roller set is, etc.) and they never did a good job. As old as I am, I have never seen many long haired clients at Black hair salons.

You are exactly right. That's why I'm going to start doing my own hair, braids and all. Thanks for understanding.

 

[Demi27]

Wow I never heard anyone charge extra for being natural...But that doesn't mean their not doing it...Im just shocked..

But we have to be honest with ourselves...The longer or the thicker your hair is the more work and time has to go into it..So its only fair to charge more for doing more work...

That's kind of the same way I look at it. If it takes you more time to do your hair now that it's longer and thicker, then it's more effort. IMO, a stylist has to put more time and effort into it as well. I almost think it's like having to buy larger clothes. You can get the same outfit, but it will cost more if it's in a larger size. That's my thinking anyway.

 

[glamazon386]

Because it requires more time, effort and uses more product. Makes sense to me.