The price of a haircut

I had a haircut last Thursday. It’s a pretty long process, but it’s a routine that I don’t think too much about because it’s one of those things that has always taken a long time, so I never really think it through too carefully.
Basically, I spend three hours sitting in a chair, during which my hair is fondled, coloured, foiled, washed, trimmed, dried, straightened, fondled some more and then trimmed again. For this amazing experience, I get to fork out around about $110. It’s a massive amount of money for a haircut. But I’ve had a lot of bad haircuts in my life, so now that I’ve found somewhere that leaves me walking out feeling like I’m starring in a Pantene ad every single time, I don’t question it.

But on Thursday, being that I was pretty bored and extremely tired from a very busy week, rather than reading to pass the time I stared blankly at my reflection in the mirror and pondered my hairdressing experiences.

I get my hair cut once every seven weeks. I know it’s always exactly seven weeks, because I’m lazy and useless at making appointments for things, so I always book my next appointment while I’m there. That means that I get approximately 7.5 haircuts per year. So on average, I’m spending about $825 a year just on my hair.

Kj, on the other hand, has his hair cut about once every 10 weeks. His haircut costs him about $18. That means he spends about $93 a year on his hair. That’s less than one trip to the hairdresser costs me. Granted, it takes him a hell of a lot less time than it takes me to have a haircut, but still! It would take him around 7 years of haircuts to work up to what it costs me for 1 year.

Truly unfair.


The other thing that I find weird about getting a haircut is that for three solid hours you stare at yourself in the mirror. It’s quite vain really. I never look at myself that much at any other time. Even when I do my own hair at home I probably don’t look at myself for more than a few fleeting seconds just to make sure everything is in place.

The other thing is that my hairdresser is a guy. He’s not one of those overly effeminate male hairdressers – he’s a kind of ¼ goth, ½ emo, ¼ nerd combination. Having a haircut is pretty much one of the few times that you can have a guy running his hands through your hair and have your husband be ok with that.


I’m not really sure what I’m getting at with all of this. I guess I’m just pointing out that it’s kind of crazy that I can spend $800 a year on haircuts when KJ can get away with a great haircut for about an eight of the price. And getting a haircut is actually an odd kind of experience, if you really think it though.