Even though women tend get their hair cut less frequently they still pay much more than men over the course of a year
With hairdressers and barbers due to reopen tomorrow after three long months, scruffy-looking Brits across the land will be beating a path to their door for a much needed chop. The results of a YouGov RealTime survey, conducted earlier in the year but rendered temporarily redundant by the coronavirus, uncovers quite how much more women will be having to pay to get their hair lopped off than men.
That women are paying more for their haircuts than men will not be a massive revelation to many, but a BBC article revealed that women who want their hair cut in the same style as men are being charged much more for the same service. Some who have attempted to make savings by going to male barbers have even been turned away.
Men are most likely to be paying between £10 and 14.99 for their hair cut, with 40% saying this was the case. A further 29% pay between £5 and £9.99 and another 15% spend from £15 to £19.99.
The amount women are paying is much more dispersed, as can be seen from the chart. The most common range is £20 to £24.99, but only 13% pay this much – similar proportions pay in each of the categories from £10 to £14.99 and between £30 and £34.99.
What is clear is that women tend to be paying more than men for their haircuts. While only 15% of men are paying £15 or more for their haircut, more than three quarters (78%) of women do so.
In fact, the average among men who pay for a haircut is £12.17, while for women it is £31.99.
It is clear that men wouldn’t stand for the prices women pay either. While 39% of men might be willing to push their haircut budget to £15 or above, just 21% would pay £20 or more and a mere would pay £25 or more.
Meanwhile, the majority of women (56%) would be willing to pay £30 or more at a maximum. In fact, a quarter (24%) would stretch to £50 or more for a chop.
In both cases it seems that the genders are paying close to what they are willing to pay. Looking at the average maximum figure for each group in both cases they are just a few pounds higher than what they are currently paying: £14.13 for men (£1.96 higher than the current average) and £37.49 for women (£5.50 higher).
While women tend to get their hair cut less frequently, this is still not enough to offset the difference in prices paid. Taking into account how often people go to the hairdressers, we calculated that on average women are paying £135 a year on haircuts – almost twice the £70 that men pay on average.
(Please note these figures are among those who pay to get their hair cut only – if it were expanded to include all men and women this would make the difference even more stark, as men are more likely to never pay to get their hair cut).
