Cost of Living: Here's how I saved over €100 at the hairdresser
Six tips to save money at the hairdresser
The cost of living crisis has me re-examining every area I spend money in, from late-night chipper orders to my energy bills.
I’ve already culled my subscription list, and tried to cut meat from my diet in an effort to save money, but I’ve yet to tackle my beauty spending.
Haircare is one area where I find it hard not to overspend — and trips to the salon can cut into your discretionary spending quick.
Depending on your hair colour (are you a natural brunette lusting after that ashy-blonde look?) and your cut (a blunt fringe anyone?), a trip to the salon could cost you anything from the €60 mark, to well over €200 — and that’s before we look at extensions.
But there are steps we can take to lengthen the time between trips to the salon, or at least minimize the cost each time we go, without having to sacrifice fresh, healthy hair. Here are some top tips from the experts — and how I cut my own salon bill.
To prevent thick root regrowth and extend the time you can get out of your fresh-out-of-the-salon look, opt for techniques like balayage and ombre over highlights.
Highlights are high-maintenance and usually require a trip back to the salon every six weeks. Techniques such as balayage and ombre can be used “to compliment the natural tones of your hair”, as hairstylist and Olaplex brand ambassador Halley Brisker explains.
“In turn, [this allows] the regrowth process to remain more subtle than traditional highlights or full head colours, which can create heavy contrast with regrowth over time.”
If you want to reduce salon bills, now is not the time to cut bangs in to your hair.
“A full fringe or straight bangs will require a fair bit of maintenance,” warns Tom Smith, hair stylist and international creative director at Evo Hair.
“They usually need to be trimmed monthly, so if you’re looking to go longer between appointments, consider a longer, more sweeping style like ‘bottleneck bangs’, which grow out very softly as they sweep into the rest of the hair.”
“Hair longer than collarbone length will last a lot longer than shorter hair, as it’s harder to determine just how much it’s grown,” Tom says.
“Very quickly, a length that was cheekbone length becomes jaw length and then chin length, as the gaps between these features are shorter.”
Almost every place I’ve lived in Ireland has had hard water. The tell-tale sign is a build-up of limescale in your kettle, or on your showerhead. Unfortunately, the minerals in hard water can affect the health of our hair and cause discolouration and brassiness. Andy Cronin, co-owner of Carbon Hair Design on Cork’s South Mall street, recommends using a detox or clarifying shampoo to help remove the minerals and restore and revive your colour.
“L’Oréal Professionnel’s Metal Detox treatment can be done in-salon with a colour treatment, and that removes minerals and helps prevent them from building up in the first place.”
The range also includes a shampoo (L’Oréal Professionnel Metal Detox Anti-Metal Cleansing Cream Shampoo) and a mask (L’Oréal Professionnel Metal Detox Anti-Deposit Protector Mask) which Andy recommends for use at home, particularly for blondes. A bundle deal including the shampoo and mask is currently on sale at Cloud10Beauty for €24.95.
Many of us will have heard that washing our hair less will help prolong colour. But while every shampoo does equal a certain amount of colour loss, Andy says not washing your hair frequently enough or over-using dry shampoos can damage your scalp, which nobody wants.
“Wash your hair as often as you like, but use a sulfate-free shampoo,” he advises.
Andy recommends Eleven Australia as a brand that’s kind to your locks and your wallet. The brand's 300ml shampoos are priced between €21 and €22 and can often be found on sale on sites like millies.ie.
Something my local hairdresser, Megan Lane of Hair & Co, Tulsk, taught me is that you don’t always need a full head, or even a half head of colour. Sometimes, a good detox and a toner can help restore your colour and make it look like you had foils in your hair for a few hours when really, you were at the basin for 10 minutes.
I recently popped into Belo Concept salon on Townsend Street, Dublin, where I had a free consult with Aline Belo. Usually, when my hair looks like it does on the left below, I go in for a half-head if not full-head of bleaching. But, after chatting to Aline, I decided on a glossing treatment instead, to see whether it might give me a few more weeks out of my last hours-long salon visit.
The treatment set me back €60 in total, including a lovely wavy blowdry. A half-head of highlights in the same salon would have cost me somewhere in the region of €170.
Aline’s number one tip for saving money on haircare is asking your hairdresser for advice.
“People don’t know what to do, when to do it, what products to buy... and they spend so much money on the wrong stuff,” she says.
So let your hairdresser know what you’re looking for, and your budget — they will be able to recommend the products and styles to keep you looking fresh, without breaking the bank.
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