|As someone in the profession for twenty five years i’m reading this with interest.
In my experience there are those that tip and those that do not.
Both get remembered for different reasons.
A haircut is a personal thing and forming a relationship with your barber is worth its weight in gold, everyone has their own personal style of cutting and what will suit one client might not necessarily suit another.
Barbers are often therapists,stylists,shopping assistants and anything in between as well as being professionally trained stylists.
I have clients who come as much for the company and conversation/craic the actual haircut is almost an aside. While tipping isn’t compulsory it is appreciated as it shows that the client appreciates the time and effort spent creating a style that’s personal to them.
On the other hand i have known clients who arrive during lunch or right as you are closing the shop for the night, and expect you to jump through hoops for them and quite often show no appreciation at all. They still get the same time and professional attention as the tipping clients but the relationship isn’t the same for obvious reasons.
A few things about barber shops.
If you have an appointment, be on time, if you’re twenty mins late don’t expect to be taken right away.
Wash your hair before you go or if you cant then expect to have it washed.
Try to communicate what you want as well as you can, one mans trim is another mans scalping.
Turn your phone off or at least ignore it. Simply put it is considered rude. You wouldn’t answer it in the dentists chair.
Its like giving your local bike shop grease monkeys some nice biscuits to go with their tea break, it isn’t compulsory but it can make for a better relationship and that unexpected mechanical you had preventing your weekend ride might get bumped up the queue.
