As budgets tighten, how much is too much for a good haircut from a quality hairdresser?

For her, getting her hair done was a necessity. Something that needed to have money regularly put aside because, like taxes and death, her regular hair appointments were inevitable.

She will probably kill me for saying this, but the fact that she started to go grey at 16 meant that it was never a question of whether she would get her hair coloured every six weeks, or so. It was just a question of how much money would be put aside every pay day.

And it turns out my mother's skill in budgeting was not the only thing I got from her. That's right, your girl also got her ability to go grey at a young age. (Meanwhile, my dad is sitting pretty at almost 70 years old with only a couple of greys peppering his dark hair. You can't win everything in life, but I sure wish I won that in the genetics lottery.)

I actually quite like going to the hairdresser. That fresh locks feeling is unlike any other. The point is, though, I wish I didn't have to budget for it. Not because it would mean that my natural hair wasn't a representation of (literal) 50 shades of grey, but because it was something that was affordable enough that I wouldn't have to bother.

How good must it be for men to get their hair cut and not crack the $100 mark? What a luxury! And I know the argument is that women get their hair coloured and that's what drives the price up - and that is true. But I have also been to a hairdresser for just a cut and have still not managed to be charged the same as a man.

Not to mention, I have naturally curly hair. And while I have had so many people tell me they wish they had curly hair like mine, what they don't realise is how hard it can be to find a hairdresser who can actually cut curly hair (and not just think they can cut curly hair). An uneven cut can be somewhat hidden with straight hair, but for curly locks you end up looking like a mangled up pompom.

To find a good hairdresser who can cut curly hair (and can still do colour, because some specialist curly hairdressers don't) is a godsend. To find one where I'm not paying upwards of $400 every eight to 10 weeks ... well that's the thing that good hair day dreams are made of.

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Not to mention, just simply going through the drama of trying to find a hairdresser can be a financial drama. You can never be sure if you're going to walk away with a new haircut or a new haircut and some credit card debt. I have a friend who tried out a new hairdresser only to come to pay and find out the cost was $600. And that story is not unusual. It's always a gamble - quite literally - to find out just how much the bill is.

And I want to make myself clear - I want to be able to support local businesses. With the rising cost of living I can't be the only one reassessing how much they spend, which has to have an effect on the rate at which appointments are made.

But I would also love it if there was a clear guide at how much you are going to be charged when you book the appointment. Is that too much for this budget-conscious curly girl to ask?

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