In order to get the freedom to wash, cut and blow dry, young people force themselves to become "Tony"

Nowadays, haircuts and hairdressing are always daunting. There are more and more consumer items in barber shops, which makes people overwhelmed. Let's take a look at the current situation of haircuts and hairdressing introduced by the author~

Because of the traditional custom of "Dragon Raising its Head on the Second Day of the Second Month", barbershops have welcomed the first small peak of consumption after the beginning of the year in recent days. But since when, haircuts have suddenly become a complicated consumption.

In the past, you could get a haircut for 5 or 10 yuan, but now a simple set of washing, cutting and blow-drying has been divided into three separate items. Haircuts alone can be divided into different levels such as general cuts, fine cuts, designer packages, director packages, and store manager packages. Even trimming bangs costs 30 yuan, not to mention perming and dyeing, which can easily cost thousands of yuan.

Faced with the passive increase in haircut prices, young people who prefer cost-effectiveness have turned their attention to the inconspicuous old-fashioned barbershops on the roadside. There are no spacious and comfortable waiting areas, no overly complicated perm and hair dyeing packages, and no one will sell membership cards. The most important tools are scissors and hair dryers.

Because of the low price, the service level of roadside barbershops sometimes cannot fully satisfy young people. Therefore, some young people who do not want to be controlled by barbershops decide to buy their own haircutting, perming and dyeing tools, and become their own barbers by following online tutorials with the confidence that "seeing is learning".

Young people are becoming more and more serious about finding hairdressing substitutes.

1. Haircut routines have boosted the popularity of traditional barbershops

Compared with the past, the current barbershops have been fully upgraded in terms of quantity, decoration level and price. Even in other first-tier cities, it is difficult to find a store with a customer unit price of less than 30 yuan. Even barbershops outside the city center are mostly above this price.

According to a survey by the Beijing News, nearly a thousand barbershops in first-tier and new first-tier cities were randomly selected. The cheapest price for a haircut in any of them was 21 yuan, and the most expensive was over a thousand yuan. The average price of consumption in barbershops in various cities ranged from 200 to 600 yuan.

Jingzhe Research Institute also randomly opened a barbershop in Shanghai on Meituan and found that there were four types of simple haircut and blowdrying packages, and the prices were doubled. The lowest price for haircut and styling was 60 yuan, and the highest price was 253 yuan. The lowest price for perm and dyeing package was 289 yuan, and the highest price was the VIP special package, which was close to 5,000 yuan. In another shop, a bangs cutting package without haircut and blowdrying cost 33 yuan.

Many young people have wasted money on the high fees charged by barbershops. Xiao He, who works in Shanghai, shared his experience of being cheated in a barbershop with the Jingzhe Research Institute. "Some time ago, I went to get my hair permed with my colleagues. We had 1,000 yuan in our membership card. When we were introduced to the perm package, we calculated that the total cost for two people was less than 500 yuan. When it was time to check out, the clerk told us that the bangs and hair were charged separately, and the total cost was 1,400 yuan. In the end, we were told to either top up 2,000 yuan to upgrade the card, or use this card for combined consumption and give them an additional 400 yuan, and the card would be directly recycled and invalidated."

Coincidentally, many young people have shared their own stories of being “deceived” in related topics on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. In addition, on the Black Cat complaint platform, consumers often complain about card fraud, refusal to refund, and false discounts to induce renewal. For example, a merchant advertises a 40% discount for a top-up of 3,000 yuan, but when the balance on the card is 500 yuan, the clerk will ask for another 3,000 yuan to continue to enjoy the discounted haircut price.

According to netizens' summary: those barbershops that look high-end usually actively recommend membership discounts to customers, usually using the excuse that customers' frizzy hair needs long-term care. Even after being rejected, they will continue to bombard customers with Amway products for several rounds. People who are easily persuaded can easily spend thousands of yuan to get a VIP card. After becoming a member, the next time you shop, the clerk may further promote it to get customers to recharge and upgrade their membership, but you never know whether the shop will suddenly close down one day.

As haircut prices continue to rise and scams become more common, some young people who don't want to be taken advantage of have turned their attention to more cost-effective old-fashioned street barbershops. Faced with the return of young consumers, these barbershops have also achieved a new balance by relying on affordable prices and winning by volume.

Xiao He said: "I now only go to a fixed roadside barber shop to get my hair done. It's about 10 square meters. I heard from the boss that the monthly rent is about 4,000 yuan, and it can make a profit every month. There are only two seats in the shop. Most of the time, it's the elderly who come here to get their hair cut. The price is not expensive. A simple wash, cut and blow-dry is about 20 yuan, dyeing is 160 yuan, and perming is about 200 yuan. The boss won't ask you to apply for a card. This kind of atmosphere is really friendly to people who can't refuse."

Some young people also think that their hair can’t stand the hassle, so they just go to a small barber shop for a quick cut. But as the saying goes, “expensive barbers make you feel bad, cheap barbers make you feel bad.” After getting your hair done at a roadside shop, you may end up with a low-quality blind box hairstyle. “This kind of shop can only do some simple perming and dyeing. If it’s more complicated, it may damage your hair. This is also my experience.” Xiao He complained.

2. The demand for haircuts remains high, can hairdressing stores be replaced at a lower price?

The old-fashioned barbershops on the street can break even, so why do other barbershops charge so much? Behind the high consumption, do barbershops really make money? Behind this series of questions, in fact, are the differences in business methods.

Generally speaking, old-fashioned barbershops are small, with simpler staffing and lower labor costs, so most old barbershops can break even. In contrast, high-end barbershops are usually located in commercial centers or areas with higher rents. They are not only luxuriously decorated and well-equipped, but also have more professional teams. Their business models are more flexible and diversified, involving hairdressing, care, SPA and other services. Therefore, wages, products and rent account for a large part of the cost.

According to data from the Beijing News, in the cost structure of a hairdressing company, rent and hairdresser wages account for 36% and 30% respectively. When water, electricity, rent and labor costs are getting more and more expensive, the simplest solution is to charge more, and through service differentiation, let consumers unconsciously choose higher-priced services.

For example, a common haircut package often has different prices for assistants, chiefs, directors, and store managers, but it is difficult to say whether the quality of service is caused by differences in technical capabilities or human subjective factors. The over-allocation of human resources itself brings more labor costs to barbershops.

Xiao Meng, a barber working in Wenzhou, introduced to the Jingzhe Research Institute: "We are a comprehensive store (hair and beauty salon in one). The rent is the biggest cost, which is about 400,000 yuan a year. In addition, the biggest expense is the salary of the barbers. Barbers are divided into chief, director, and supervisor. There are about 30 staff members in the store, including barbers, beauticians, assistants, cashiers, receptionists, etc. The monthly salary alone is more than 200,000 yuan. If the membership card is successfully sold that month, a commission of 20%-30% will be calculated. The basic salary and commission of barbers at different levels are also different."

In the same shop, for the same haircut needs, different barbers may charge different fees. For example, if the chief haircut is priced at 100 yuan, then the general haircut may cost 150 yuan, and the supervisor may cost 250 yuan. Some netizens even said that they hadn't come to get a haircut for a while, but the barber they usually used had increased the price. After understanding, they realized that it was because the barber's status had increased. Therefore, the upgrading of barbers' qualifications can be said to be one of the reasons for the price increase in the hairdressing industry.

Training is also a considerable expense. "For training, we will organize independent learning in the store (for example, go to some well-known learning institutions in Shanghai and Beijing). This type of training is cheaper, and the normal tuition fee is around 2,500. The scope is also very wide. In addition to some basic commercial cutting, perming and dyeing hair design and other practical courses, you will also learn some thinking logic, such as how to understand customer needs and how to master the underlying logic of high repurchase. In addition to the training organized by the company, if you want to be promoted faster, you also need to sign up for training courses at your own expense." Xiao Meng revealed.

Jingzhe Research Institute observed on platforms such as Meituan and Xiaohongshu that the fees for hairdressing training courses enrolled at one's own expense are generally higher, ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. Xiao Meng also shared with Jingzhe Research Institute that he had enrolled in a course at his own expense for 8,000 yuan, which added up to about 40 class hours. The courses included professional qualities, hairdressing skills, design concepts, aesthetic training, business processes and other aspects.

Xiao Meng said: "If a barber does not participate in training, his promotion will be very slow, and there may be no progress for several years. It's like playing a game, you have to spend money or grind. But in fact, as long as the skills are strong, the money spent in the training period will be recovered through customers later."

When asked by Jingzhe Research Institute whether the cost of the products in the store accounts for a large proportion, Xiao Meng revealed: "The difference between the perm and dye tools worth hundreds of yuan and those sold on Taobao for tens of yuan is not particularly large. The smoothness and effect after dyeing mainly depends on the skills of the barber."

3. Can you perm or dye your hair yourself if you have the skills?

The prices at high-end barbershops are “unaffordable”, and the quality of old-fashioned barbershops is “unstable”. Some young people with strong execution ability have turned to doing it themselves, buying hair dyes, curling rods, and haircutting kits online, and designing their own hairstyles. However, just like there are different levels of hands-on ability, there are also great individual differences in cutting one’s own hair.

For boys, electric clippers are the most convenient and cost-effective haircutting tools. The price on Taobao is around 100 yuan. If a boy needs a haircut twice a month, based on the price of 50 yuan per time in first-tier cities, the cost of a haircut in a year will be more than 1,000 yuan.

In contrast, if most girls want to cut, perm or dye their hair by themselves, the tools they need are more complicated. Take hair cutting as an example. If you want to avoid mistakes, you can't just buy a pair of scissors. You need a pair of flat scissors, a pair of tooth scissors and a fine-tooth comb. Although the tools have become professional, they are not difficult to operate. After a few practices, you can trim the bangs and hair ends very well without worrying about cutting them badly. You can save hundreds of dollars a year.

If you want to dye your hair, you need to prepare a few more tools. But today's hair dye products are quite convenient. The best-selling bubble hair dye on the market is just like washing your hair.

"Dyeing your hair by yourself is not very complicated. Just apply the foam of hair dye to the ends and middle of your hair. However, some inexperienced people may make mistakes. For example, they do not leave enough time for dyeing the roots of the hair, which leads to overexposure of the top of the head or uneven dyeing. The part with the lowest tolerance rate is the back of the head in the visual blind spot. The effect of dyeing depends entirely on your own operation level." Xiaorong, a designer born after 1995, said.

In order to ensure that every strand of hair can be colored, Xiaorong usually prepares several mirrors and even has a mobile phone behind her to record the video, so as to ensure that the hair on the back of the head can be colored evenly.

"It's most convenient to have someone else help you dye your hair. The whole process only takes about an hour, and the hair color can last for a month or two. As long as the color is not too light, you can dye your hair again at any time. Two boxes of hair dye cost less than 200 yuan, which is quite affordable compared to a barber shop." Xiao Rong said.

If hair cutting and dyeing are entry-level, then perming can be said to be an advanced operation, which is more difficult to complete independently. And the tools for perming are also more complicated. In addition to the basic tools such as shawls, rubber bands, gloves and combs, different types of curling irons, perming solutions, positioners and perming papers are also used.

Xiao Rong also shared her own experience in perming her hair: "First of all, before perming your hair, you must be clear about your hair quality and the hairstyle you want, and you must buy the lotion separately. When perming your hair, if you are perming your hair alone, you must choose a convenient angle, comb and straighten it when you start curling, and comb the back straight before curling it each time." It can be seen that perming your own hair is not an easy task, but this does not prevent young people from being eager to try.

Just like the unknown risks faced by "seeking help" from old-fashioned barber shops on the street, young people are trying DIY hairstyles in a different way. Although it is a way to save money, it is also the time when "accidents" are most likely to occur in the process of trying new things: failed haircuts and having to find Tony to trim them; uneven dyeing and going to the barber shop for re-processing; untimely perming time leading to hair damage...

However, in the face of various uncertainties, young people still choose to embrace cost-effective consumption, which not only shows their practice of rational consumption concepts, but also reflects that the barber industry is out of touch with the current new generation of consumers. Those young people who walk into the old-fashioned barbershops on the street may not be looking for low-cost haircuts, but after encountering too many consumption routines, they suddenly wake up and try to defend their freedom to have their hair cut.

As for Tony and others, I think it’s time to consider a “makeover”.

Author: Chuxia WeChat public account: Jingzhe Research Institute