"Mr. Moo Moo" the cow is grazing in the pasture with his little buddies. Along comes the farmer and steers him and his friends into a truck and ships them off to the slaughter house to be "processed".
At the end of the "processing", the hamburger meat produced is shipped off to different buyers at restaraunts to be made into hamburgers. Now here is where it is interesting. These are all the same cows ground up and in the end made into burgers, but the price of the burgers are totally different at each restaraunt. McDonalds charges $.99 TGIFridays $7.99 Longhorn steakhouse $12.99, same cow, same meat, different price. So what constitutes this? What makes Mr. "moo moo" more expensive in some places and cheaper in others?
PRESENTATION and skill in preparation my friends, along with dressing up the burger with spices and sauces and served on bread I can't pronounce.
The same goes for hair. What constitutes the difference between a $5.99 haircut and a $60.00 haircut? PRESENTATION and SKILL. The experience you recieve from a $60.00 haircut should be TOTALLY different from a $5.99 haircut. The skill recieved for a $60.00 haircut should be above and beyond that of a 15 minute $5.99 haircut. Extensive training in the hands of an artist that can create an entire look for the individual justifies price. I would much rather eat a hamburger from Ruth Criss Steakhouse than a $.99 burger from Wendy's. The difference is night and day. But what I really want to talk about is the COMPLETE package.
In order to sell more burgers and fries McDonalds employed a clown, Burger King, a king, and Wendy's, a dead niece of founder Dave Thomas. These icons are what create recognition to consumers. How does your hairdresser fit in?
A stylist could give the greatest haircut in the world, but his or her personality could be downright rotten if not absolutely void. The chance of a client returning to that stylist is next to nil. When I give a hairstyle to a client, I want the client to talk about me as well as the hairstyle that I gave her. It's much more flattering when a client raves not only about her hair, but about her stylist as well. It's a complete package.
I see so many stylists in so many salons walking around with color processing in their hair while styling clients, or stylists walking around the salon with their hair still wet from the morning shower or not done at all. They look sloppy and unkempt. They have the appearance of not caring. A stylists outward appearance reflects their inward attitude. This is obviously ruining their total packaging of their product.
Bottom line is this, an upscale hair cut with an upscale price should be justified by the toal package. From the skill demonstrated, to the attitude and outward appearance of the stylist. You are buying into the complete deal.
Phil Stone is a Master Stylist at BIANCHIS salon and Spa in both Clinton Twp and Troy locations.
