About your hairdresser clients

About your hairdresser clients

Didn't find your answer?

I have taken on a new hairdressing client - predominantly a women's salon but some gents cuts done too.

In their single-entry bookkeeping system they omitted tips. Now they have given me a figure which looks to me on the low side, but I would be interested to hear of other's experiences to get a better feel for what might be 'normal' these days.

Thanks in advance 

Replies (36)

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By Lou Scannon
06th May 2015 15:06

Hairdressing tips

Apply olive oil to your scissors before cutting wet hair to prevent them rusting.

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By andy.partridge
06th May 2015 15:11

Thanks Lou

Just the job.

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By kealy
06th May 2015 15:38

Talking as a hairdresser's client, it is a long time since I tipped, the hair cut itself is extortionate.  Maybe the odd pound for the Saturday girl that gets to sweep up all day, but I suspect her wages are on a par to mine.

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By andy.partridge
06th May 2015 15:50

Other end of the spectrum

Believe it or not, I'm a hairdresser's customer too.

I suspect neither of us are in a position to judge objectively hence the request to accountants that have hairdressers as clients.

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By morgani
06th May 2015 16:04

Card

With more and more payment by card the tips that our hairdresser clients get are very minimal.

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By Bungo
06th May 2015 16:21

5-10%

No hairdresser clients, but client of a hairdresser.   In a women's hairdressers it would be normal to tip a good 5% - 10%.  It is also normal to pay by card and hand over a cash tip.  The stylist will  usually stand at the till casually shuffling papers waiting for it as the cashier takes payment.

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Replying to Sheepy306:
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By andy.partridge
06th May 2015 16:39

I realise that

Bungo wrote:

No hairdresser clients, but client of a hairdresser.   In a women's hairdressers it would be normal to tip a good 5% - 10%.  It is also normal to pay by card and hand over a cash tip.  The stylist will  usually stand at the till casually shuffling papers waiting for it as the cashier takes payment.

Those who tip may well tip 10%, those who don't tip 0%.

What I don't know is the proportion of tippers versus the proportion of tight   . non-tippers. Hence the question to accountants with hairdresser clients who, let's be fair, will be in a better position to give a reasoned estimate with caveats, assuming their clients are honest. 

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Replying to Wilson Philips:
By Bungo
06th May 2015 16:48

Apologies

andy.partridge wrote:

Bungo wrote:

No hairdresser clients, but client of a hairdresser.   In a women's hairdressers it would be normal to tip a good 5% - 10%.  It is also normal to pay by card and hand over a cash tip.  The stylist will  usually stand at the till casually shuffling papers waiting for it as the cashier takes payment.

Those who tip may well tip 10%, those who don't tip 0%.

What I don't know is the proportion of tippers versus the proportion of tight   . non-tippers. Hence the question to accountants with hairdresser clients who, let's be fair, will be in a better position to give a reasoned estimate with caveats, assuming their clients are honest. 

I was not speaking for myself.  In the absence of other responses yet, I was meaning to say that we ladies discuss these things and everyone I know and have known, will tip their hairdresser.  It is just one of them conventions. Sorry was just trying to be helpful.

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Replying to NicoleM:
By Craigie_Bhoy
06th May 2015 17:46

Well I never......

"I was not speaking for myself.  In the absence of other responses yet, I was meaning to say that we ladies discuss these things and everyone I know and have known, will tip their hairdresser.  It is just one of them conventions. Sorry was just trying to be helpful."

Not sure why but had always assumed Bungo was a man!!!

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Replying to 356B:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
06th May 2015 17:58

I would possibly make the same assumption

Craigie_Bhoy wrote:

"I was not speaking for myself.  In the absence of other responses yet, I was meaning to say that we ladies discuss these things and everyone I know and have known, will tip their hairdresser.  It is just one of them conventions. Sorry was just trying to be helpful."

Not sure why but had always assumed Bungo was a man!!!

I would probably make the same assumption, I think it is something to do with the name ending with an O. If  say Bunga I suspect I would be more open to the possibility it was a lady

Funny how word sounds possibly give an innate assumption re gender.

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Replying to michael1958:
RLI
By lionofludesch
09th May 2015 09:11

Italian

DJKL wrote:

Craigie_Bhoy wrote:

Not sure why but had always assumed Bungo was a man!!!

I would probably make the same assumption, I think it is something to do with the name ending with an O. If  say Bunga I suspect I would be more open to the possibility it was a lady

Funny how word sounds possibly give an innate assumption re gender.

You speak too much Italian.

Or Spanish.

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Replying to Wilson Philips:
blue sheep
By NH
06th May 2015 16:50

honestly?

andy.partridge wrote:

, assuming their clients are honest. 

thats a big assumption, I suspect that most of our clients who get tips in cash are not 100% honest about them (I used to have this problem with milkmen clients).

Any answer you get from an accountant will surely be inaccurate, and would only be tested under enquiry, if then.

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Replying to MrDSGrace:
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By andy.partridge
06th May 2015 17:07

Thanks

NH wrote:

andy.partridge wrote:

, assuming their clients are honest. 

thats a big assumption


It's an assumption I am happy to work with.
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By Lou Scannon
06th May 2015 16:28

Almost forgot

Never run with scissors.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
06th May 2015 17:03

Well, no idea if this wrecks your calculation

My barber charges £7.00 for a cut and I add £1 on and pay £8, so a bit more than your 10%  Having said that when the price used to be £5 I still added a £1; the catch with low cost barbers and tipping ratios is anything less than a £1 seems/ appears mean, so there is 20%-14% over the years.

Having said that I am a very longstanding customer, I have been going there now for slightly over 40 years (since they opened) except for circa 3-4 haircuts as a student when I went elsewhere (and had a lot more hair) ,so maybe I am not a typical customer. (And I never gave a tip when I was much younger)

So maybe working out tipping percentage may be a function of price point and customer age demographic. 

 

 

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RedFive
By RedFive
06th May 2015 18:22

Me and my son pay £10 all in for our haircut every three weeks.

I tip a fiver on top.

She is rather nice though.

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By Matrix
06th May 2015 18:55

I do not tip hairdressers or taxi drivers, it is all a bit dated.

Why don't you just ask the client how she deals with tips?

 

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By Marion Hayes
06th May 2015 20:13

Relevance?

Sorry Andy but I am not sure what you want to do with the information should you get it?

In my experience over many, many, years of tipping you go to great lengths to make sure the tip goes to "your" hairdresser. It is not like restaurants where tips are pooled so I would expect that the tip is the income of the individual not the business.

If a tip is added to the card payment - very unusual - it would show as part of the business income anyway? Your client should tell you how they are distributed and that distribution would be part of the expenses of the business so I doubt he will be reticent on that front.

 

 

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By Moonbeam
06th May 2015 21:18

I never tip my hairdresser & I'm a female

I pay £45 for a cut and £70 for a cut and colour and every 6 weeks it's one of those. I understand I'm one of the few regulars they can rely on. Hairdresser's work is excellent. So is mine and I don't get a tip.

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By andy.partridge
06th May 2015 21:56

@ Marion
Most of the tips are earned and retained by the proprietor.

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By Cazzy
06th May 2015 22:58

Tips
I currently have a hairdresser for a client who some years ago had his tax return questioned by HMRC because all the clients of his then Accountant were investigated. Luckily he passed with flying colours apart from recording no tips. He was told to account for £500 per year. Not quite sure where this arbitrary figure came from but no problems since.

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Replying to jon dickinson:
blue sheep
By NH
07th May 2015 08:43

£500?

Cazzy wrote:
I currently have a hairdresser for a client who some years ago had his tax return questioned by HMRC because all the clients of his then Accountant were investigated. Luckily he passed with flying colours apart from recording no tips. He was told to account for £500 per year. Not quite sure where this arbitrary figure came from but no problems since.

I had an enquiry for a milkman client once, he agreed to around £900 a year, all at xmas time

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By chewmac
06th May 2015 23:01

9%
Very trustworthy client receives 9% on top of normal hair cut talking. These takings exclude chair rent and product sales. So hair cut price + 9%

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Replying to Duggimon:
By JCresswellTax
07th May 2015 08:37

Finally!

chewmac wrote:
Very trustworthy client receives 9% on top of normal hair cut talking. These takings exclude chair rent and product sales. So hair cut price + 9%

The man gets an answer.

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By edward33
07th May 2015 13:35

Depends
Just had hair cut so asked. Mixed sex salon. Men are charged £12 for straight forward cut. If they have 2£1 coins no tip. If give £15 half will give £3 tip the other half won't. He reckons ladies tip 10% up to £50 but don't tip above that as think it is expensive enough. Tips go into jar for stylist and he doesn't get involved. He has all employees sign a disclaimer that they will account for tax on their .
Card machine doesn't give option for adding tips so this is usually cash. Interestingly his customers don't give him a tip but give it to trainee who washes their hair. I have been going to him for 25 years and don't tip him.

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By Roland195
07th May 2015 13:43

Done thing?

I had understood that tipping was no longer regarded as appropriate for hair salons where the stylists are regarded as modern professionals.

It may be perfectly reasonable in this case that the low figure for tips relate solely to the gent's hair cuts. 

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By carnmores
08th May 2015 10:55

whats a bit low?

% how much 

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Replying to Teesside:
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By andy.partridge
08th May 2015 12:32

What's a bit low?

Nick Clegg's fanbase?

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By bluetone
08th May 2015 11:00

My limited experience

I have one client. I was told that a lot of customers no longer tip and received an estimate of £10 to £15 per week for a 4 day week shared between two. Seemed low but I worked with what I was given and got the accounts signed off by the client. I would also be interested to know if HMRC would query this - I put a note on the accounts to explain the level of tips. Not quite sure how they could argue the figure though, as presumably it depends on the client mix, location of salon etc.

I would be interested to hear other peoples estimates.

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By adder1
08th May 2015 13:25

Favourite charity tin
I have one client who is a hairdresser working from her home salon. She does not accept tips but asks any client wishing to tip to place it in the sealed charity tin near her card machine.

Her charity tin is the official donation tin of her chosen charity and is then returned to the charity. They count it and give her a receipt for the total donations. She keeps that receipt on file, so no tips to her. Admirable, I believe.

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By TONY.TONYPOMFRET.COM
08th May 2015 13:49

Hairdressing

I had a full Enquiry about 20 years ago, and the Inspector was astounded to be presented with job sheets for each customer clipped together each day, breaking down the various costs including tips. These were totalled and cash/cheques/CC banked intact. May I suggest that you instruct your client to do something similar, and over a period of a few weeks you will know what the percentage is for that particular salon in that particular area. The appropriate percentage can then be applied retrospectively in the knowledge that it is based on a sample period.

I might add that the Inspector, seeing that the records could not be broken so far as the takings were concerned, moved onto the "wholly inappropriate use of a vintage MGB" I asked why he thought that it was wholly inappropriate, when it was ideal for picking up hairdressing supplies. "Ah", he said, "we do things differently at the Hitchin Tax Office (when there was one). I stated that this was in breach of the taxpayer charter and concluded the meeting. I then complained to the District Inspector, and I know for a fact that this was discussed at a meeting of all of the local DI's. The result was that the Enquiry was dropped like hot cakes, without even a certificate of full disclosure being requested! 

 

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By johnporter
08th May 2015 15:30

Hairdressers

Why not just have them all locked up for Money Laundering.

Will solve Davey & Georgie boys problem with Benefits cuts as no longer 

need to pay them Tax credits

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Replying to ohorad44:
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By andy.partridge
08th May 2015 15:55

A bit late

johnporter wrote:

Why not just have them all locked up for Money Laundering.

Will solve Davey & Georgie boys problem with Benefits cuts as no longer 

need to pay them Tax credits


You are a little late for the hustings, but thanks anyway.
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By ver1tate
08th May 2015 20:55

Hairdressers
4. Fill in your return

Are you registered blind, or serverly sight impaired and your name is on a local authority or other register?          

Before talking about hairdressers, I wonder who is serverly illiterate at HMRC?   

I have two clients who are hairdressers. On my advice they both have put up notices that tipping is discouraged, and both have advised their staff not to accept tips. 

As for Tony, he was operating a tronc system and if he, as troncmaster, decides the breakdown between staff, the staff are liable not only for tax on the tips, as they always are no matter whether received directly or not, but also National Insurance. He has laid his staff open to having their code numbers adjusted by giving the inspector such full details. no doubt his staff will suffer in due course. 

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Replying to jvenegas16:
RLI
By lionofludesch
09th May 2015 09:12

PAYE

ver1tate wrote:

4. Fill in your return

Are you registered blind, or serverly sight impaired and your name is on a local authority or other register?          

Before talking about hairdressers, I wonder who is serverly illiterate

I keep getting letters from the "PAYE As You Earn" department.

It's a three letter word.

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By Tomazaan
11th May 2015 10:04

Tipping

I was told that if the owner of the salon cuts your hair, you don't tip but otherwise you should give 10%.  I hate tipping (I think that staff should be paid properly by their employer), so I always try to get the salon owner to cut my hair - it helps that he is brilliant and a nice guy.

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