Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Barbershops - do you tip the owner

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
I always tip. It was 8 when I started going, and I'd just give 10 and say keep the change. Then it became 10 and that made leaving a tip more obvious, but I'd just give 15. Now it's 12 and I give 15 still. It's a one man operation - used to be two. It's not for the man in a hurry, but I've never had a bad haircut.
 

TomS

One Too Many
Messages
1,202
Location
USA.
Perfectly appropriate to tip a barber...

I go every two weeks in order to keep my fade correct, and I tip every time.
B/R,
TomS
 

Mr_D.

A-List Customer
Messages
320
Location
North Ga.
I just recently found a barber shop in my area. I got tired of paying $15 for a hair cut so I just opened the phone book and made calls and went to the cheapest place. He charges $10. My first trip I tipped him $2, but have not since. Mainly becasue I have been out of work for over a year and money is very tight.

I love the atmosphere of the shop. Kinda odd to say the least. He has barber chairs form the early 60's. The place is full of trophy animals.

I do like the process. he uses a low pressure air hose to blow the hair off after a cut and his cutters have a vacuum hose on them so I don't get hair all over my neck.
 

Fletch

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,865
Location
Iowa - The Land That Stuff Forgot
What's the rule for barbershop quartets? I always tip the first tenor. lol
719-1.jpg

In case you ever wondered, this is what "nostalgia" looked like in 1936.
 

57plymouth

One of the Regulars
Messages
193
Location
Blythewood, South Carolina
I go to a one man show barber. I've been using the same guy for 15 years. I never have to tell him what to do, he just cuts it the same way every time.

My barber is the only person that I will happily tip.
 

Guttersnipe

One Too Many
Messages
1,942
Location
San Francisco, CA
Just ask yourself this, does it seem odd that I would automatically some who take a plate of food from point "A" to point "B" for me and not the guy who's using a straight razor on me neck?lol Tip your barber early and often...
 

wecrosscreek

New in Town
Messages
9
Location
Middle TN
Tip the Barber? YES! (But only if he's a true good Barber.) ;)

By good I mean more than the hair cut or shave. This coming from a genuine S.O.B. (Son of a Barber, also a Son of a Beautician). A true Barber (and this is just my opinion mind you) focuses on the customer. He doesn't "spin" you around the chair like you are a car on a lift. Working from one side to another. It isn't about him it's about you. It's a profession of service to another.

Here is a picture of a shop my Dad worked at after Barber college...
(He's the one closest to you.)
Dad_Barbershop.jpg

And yeah... still have three of his old Barber chairs. Two of them I can still remember playing on when I was little. :)

Next... it's not hard to "Flip" the hair away from the customer as they cut, very little should land on your face, and if it does it shouldn't be long till it's wiped away.

Conversation... a Barber should be able to tell if you want to talk or not. And if so know how to handle their side of the conversation. That's not to say they should be an expert, they should be an expert at allowing the other to talk.

My Dad could tell me all about a new customer by the time he finished cutting a guys hair. Not by what he said, but the way he said it. And way he carried himself. Not by his view points... but how he made his point.

Tips... My Dad got them all the time. Not just money though. In the spring and summer we got bags and bags of tomatoes, squash, Green Beans, etc. Fresh Bread, cakes and pies. At Christmas... hams. For a few years there was a liquor store right next door. So yeah... you guessed it... mountains of liquor Though my Dad didn't drink! Hahaha! He would place them in the back and tell some of his oldest customers "Merry Christmas!" and tell them to pick themselves out a bottle. When I shut the shop down after he died I had a huge box to deliver for him. :)

Sorry... rambling. Back on topic... They are working hard, it may not seem like it... but they are on their feet 12 hours a day, hands cracking from being in and out of water all day, and at the end of the day emotionally and mentally drained.
So if they do a good job, or even try... what's a couple of bucks?

Tip 'em.
 

Bustercat

A-List Customer
Messages
304
Location
Alameda
I tip whoever snips, $3 or more.

If anyone deserves a tip its your barber!
They use razor sharp objects around your face, neck and head with skill, keep you in the chair until you're completely satisfied, all while providing great conversation and an ear to listen to whatever's on your mind.
All this while trying to stay in business in an age of shagginess (i.e. fewer regulars) and competition from salons/stylists who cater to our increasingly unisex era.

A good barber gives you a haircut, a news bulletin, and a shrink session in one go. Try getting that from most bartenders in this day and age!
 

Guttersnipe

One Too Many
Messages
1,942
Location
San Francisco, CA
Tomasso said:

Regardless of whether he's the owner or not, I think what I said still stands:

Guttersnipe said:
Just ask yourself this, does it seem odd that I would automatically some who take a plate of food from point "A" to point "B" for me and not the guy who's using a straight razor on me neck?lol Tip your barber early and often...

I see my barber once a month. He's 80, and save for a hitch as a Marine in Korea, where he picked up a bronze star, he been cutting hair since he was 16.

Yes, he owns the shop, and yes, I tip EVERY SINGLE TIME!
 
You tip the guy who does the work, right? So if it's the owner doing the cutting/shaving - as it was when I was a kid getting my hair cut by Jock "The Pigman" (He was a pig farmer by trade, but cut hair as a sideline. He was cheap and it was quite ebarassing at school that it should be known that the pigman cut your hair, but poverty dictates.) - then of course you tip the owner.

bk
 

Tomasso

Incurably Addicted
Messages
13,719
Location
USA
The Emily Post Institute on tipping owners.


20% tip on all salon services, before tax, unless the person giving you the haircut or massage is the owner of the salon. “That’s a different kind of relationship,” says Ms. Post, who says you don’t have to tip if your stylist is the owner of the salon. “The idea is that tips are given to people who don’t make that much money.”
 

Geesie

Practically Family
Messages
717
Location
San Diego
Tomasso said:
The Emily Post Institute on tipping owners.


20% tip on all salon services, before tax, unless the person giving you the haircut or massage is the owner of the salon. “That’s a different kind of relationship,” says Ms. Post, who says you don’t have to tip if your stylist is the owner of the salon. “The idea is that tips are given to people who don’t make that much money.”

Though if the owners are also the sole employees...
 

ValEag

One of the Regulars
Messages
156
Location
Ohio
Charlie74 said:
I go to a 2 man barber shop and they are co-owners. I always tip

My situation, and sentiments, exactly. Two co-owners and one cuts my hair much better than the other. I tip them both, but make an appointment for my favorite whenever possible. $2 to $3 tip per haircut, at Christmas they get twice the price of a haircut.

This is a small town shop, I've never had a problem with tipping the owners. Neither do they.
 

St.Ignatz

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,444
Location
On the banks of the Karakung.
I always tip the barber. If the owner cuts my hair he gets the tip. When Joe is busy I have no problem sitting in Dots chair. She of course gets the tip but I still buy a Mummers (String Band) raffle ticket from Joe on the way out. Thirty years and counting. My previous barber was my Dad. He was never tipped for the other chairs work.
Tom D.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,000
Messages
3,072,425
Members
54,038
Latest member
GloriaJama
Top