A new study shows that the price for a basic salon haircut varies widely from country to country, and in some countries there's a huge gap in price between men's cuts and women's cuts. The United States came in at an average of $95 for a woman's haircut and $44 for a men's haircut.* Just north in Canada, the price drops to $34 for women and $24 for men, and across the pond in England it's $57 for women and $28 for men.

* Keep in mind that, because the data was gathered at each country's capital, the US average reflects prices in Washington, DC, not the national average. ​

Everyone in the world faced the same tough question during endless months of coronavirus lockdown: grow your hair or let your mom cut it?

But now, hairdressers are re-opening, and so are bars, theatres and wedding venues. The Salon de Mom literally won’t cut it anymore. It’s time to get a proper haircut.

The problem is that money is tight right now for most of us. And a proper haircut tends to be a payday treat. Can you afford to give a little dignity back to your ‘Barnet’?
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It depends where you live. NetCredit researched the price of women’s and men’s haircuts in every country around the world, and we found that the disparity between countries and genders is massive. Read on to find the places where getting a haircut is a snip.

​Argentina is Home to the World’s Cheapest Haircuts
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​Scandinavians are famed for their golden locks, and the price of a haircut in this northern European region also glitters. Averaged across genders, four of the top ten most expensive haircuts are in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland). Other big economic powers also feature, including the UK.

At the cheap end of the scale, you’ll find a cut-rate cut in South America, Africa, parts of Asia, and eastern Europe. Argentina is the cheapest overall. Nigeria is sixth-cheapest overall, but it would be different if it weren’t for the 634% disparity between women’s and men’s cuts: a trim costs $13.43 for a Nigerian woman but just $1.83 for a man.

A Man’s Haircut in Norway is the World’s Most Expensive

Think Vikings had messy, unkempt hair? Wrong. The steep price of a man’s haircut in Scandinavian countries today reflects a long tradition of Scandi men taking their grooming seriously. A man’s cut in Norway costs $64.50 today, the most expensive men’s cut in the world. Norway also has the narrowest price gap between genders out of the top 20 men’s cuts: a woman’s cut costs ‘just’ 20% more, at $77.72.

We found nine countries where the five-buck cut (or less) is still the norm for men. The cheapest three are African countries (Zambia, Mozambique, and Nigeria). In Taiwan, a man’s cut costs $2.23 more than a woman’s – but it might just save your life. At the height of the pandemic, one Taiwanese mom paid for a “do not dare to go outside” hairdo for her 15yo son: a haircut so bad that he wouldn’t dare leave the house to see his friends.

The World’s Cheapest Women’s Haircut is in Bosnia – and it’s Cheaper than Men’s
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A different Scandi country tops the table for expensive women’s haircuts: Denmark is the only country in the world where a haircut costs more than $100. However, the US and UK aren’t far behind, at $95.00 and $94.71 respectively. The Danish Board of Equal Treatment ordered individual salons to reduce the gender price disparity in 2013, but courts later ruled that it was okay to have different prices. Today, the average women’s cut in Denmark costs 112% more than the men’s.

All in, Bosnia and Herzegovina may be the fairest place for a woman to get a haircut. Bosnia has the cheapest women’s haircut in the world ($6.20) and a disparity of just 8% – a man’s haircut costs around 47¢ more. Sarajevo, where we took our data, is lined with hairdressers, and the competition keeps prices down. But grooming remains a point of pride for citizens, who even maintained standards during the longest military siege in modern history – to the extent of holding a “Miss Besieged Sarajevo” contest.

Why (and Where) Does a Woman’s Haircut Cost More?

Men pay more for a cut in just 11 of the 102 countries with available data. The biggest gaps are in Africa and parts of Latin America, although Paraguay has the second-lowest disparity. Fairest of all is the microstate of Andorra in southwestern Europe. Andorran men pay more than women, as is the case in eight of the ten fairest countries.

But why does a man’s cut usually cost less? “[I]t doesn’t take as long to cut their hair, but also they’re in the salon more regularly,” explains celebrity hairdresser Adam Reed. “And there’s less time taken and fewer products used on the finish – for a man it’s four to five minutes, whereas women’s blow-dries can take a long time.”
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Still, others are aiming for parity: “We allow exactly the same amount of time for an appointment whether it’s for a man or a woman,” says Covent Garden hairdresser Neil Moodie. “It has been a slow process, trying to convince men that they should pay the same as women, but this was mainly due to the cheapness of going to a barber back in the day versus going to a women’s hairdressing salon.”

Our prices are averaged, so it’s always possible to find a cheaper cut in your area. If you’re time-rich and money-poor, you can always snag yourself a cheap training session with an apprentice hairdresser. And if you can’t afford to make it back to the salon, why not take inspiration from these unlikely quarantine self-haircut wins?

METHODOLOGY & SOURCES

​We sourced the price of a basic haircut (no beard trim or wash) for both genders in 102 capital cities. If prices were not advertised on the internet, our research team emailed and called businesses for a quote.

Are you ready to “fall back”?
The times ⏱ they are a changin.
Sunday, November 7th, to be specific. ​

I don’t know about you, but I do not know what day it is most of the time.  Thank goodness I know when to come in for your appointments.  🤪

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before - Fall is my favorite color. Fall foliage. Cooler weather. Longer shadows. I am not a fan of the shorter days or it getting dark at 5 o’clock in the evening, though, but I’ll manage. I hope you’ll manage, too.  👍
 
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The Holidays 🦃 🎄 are here so you'll want start thinking about your November and December appointments.  Take a look at the next 6 or 7 weeks on your calendar and schedule your next appointment(s) now so you don’t forget.  I want you looking great for the Holidays! 

I’ll be visiting my Mom over the Christmas / New Year break.  I will be away the end of December and the first couple weeks of January (December 23rd thru January 8th to be exact). You'll want to keep those dates in mind when scheduling your appointment.

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This month I have articles for you on the cost of a haircut 💇‍♀️ 💇 💇🏻‍♂️ worldwide, when to get a trim ✂️, hairstyles for body types 🍎 🍐 ⌛️, the effects of Vitamin D on hair loss 🔬, taming your child’s 🧸 wild mane and more.

I even have something on Mental Skills Training, too.  💯
So, check it out!

As a conspicuous feature of the human body, hair – or its absence – is also a major element of social perception and identity. Yet the symbolic meaning of hair is far from fixed. Historically, the ways in which this bodily component has been regarded have been astonishingly varied, fluctuant and often contradictory. This is evident in even a brief sampling of the rich lore built by our multifaceted views on hair.

For some time, a goodly head of masculine hair was considered the appanage of the warrior spirit. Among the ancients, servants and slaves reportedly had their hair cut very short, in contrast to patricians and free men, who wore it long. By the same token, Germanic kings wore their hair long, but they shaved the heads of the princes they vanquished. One historical account says that, when the son of the Merovingian king Chilperic I (c539-584) was killed, his body was recognised thanks to his long hair.

Herodotus tells a story that attests to the relationship between hair length and military prowess. During the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, King Leonidas and his few thousand warriors, including 300 Spartans, were preparing to fight the hundreds of thousands of Persians at the pass of Thermopylae. The Persian commander, who had heard of a small Greek force, sent a spy to find out what they were doing. The spy returned with a surprising report: some of the Spartan soldiers were combing their hair. But the Persians found out that concern for style does not exclude grit, daring and ferocity; the vastly outnumbered Greeks were said to have held the pass for two whole days.

An observation by the Greek orator Dio Chrysostom (c40-120 CE), in his brief Encomium on Hair, echoes this association between well-kept hair and formidableness. He refers to ‘hair-lovers’ who take extreme precautions when sleeping on the ground – using a piece of wood to keep their head clear of the earth – perhaps, he suggests, because ‘hair makes them both beautiful and at the same time terrifying’. Certainly, a man who appears dishevelled, as if still drowsy after a night’s sleep, is not as fearful a foe as one who looks spruce, trim and ready for battle.

Pioneer pathologists spotted an occasional shaggy heart, and the presumption that cardiac hirsutism correlated with exceptional bravery persisted for a time.

A different form of hairiness makes an appearance in the legend of the ancient warrior Aristomenes, who fought against the Spartan oppressors of his homeland. Made a prisoner repeatedly, he escaped his captors each time, demonstrating incredible daring and endurance. When he was finally slain by the Spartans, they opened his cadaver and, marvellous to recount, found that his heart was full of hair. This was not an isolated case in Greek lore. Plutarch told the same of the hero Leonidas; Caelius Rhodiginus, the 15th-century Venetian writer, said the same of the noted Greek rhetorician Hermogenes of Tarsus.

Later, when autopsy studies were performed in Renaissance Italy, pioneer pathologists spotted an occasional shaggy heart and, for a time, the presumption that cardiac hirsutism correlated with exceptional bravery in life persisted. However, modern heirs to the likes of Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682-1771), Antonio Vallisnieri (1661-1730) and other founders of the science of anatomical pathology did not inherit such a belief in an anatomical basis of moral virtues. To them, a ‘shaggy heart’ is simply the appearance seen in cases of fibrinous pericarditis. Fibrin is a protein formed during blood clotting. It presents thread-like fibres that, when deposited abundantly during inflammation, can impart a ‘hairy’ appearance to the surface of the heart (including, mind you, the hearts of cowards).

These days, no one believes that the heart bears marks of a mettlesome spirit. And, as for the warrior’s mane: male army recruits today know that initiation into military life implies shaving the head. A luxuriant head of hair is considered by some to be proof of effeminacy, something opposite to military culture. Efficiency trumps stylishness: ours is a prosaic age.

Traditionally, hair has also been thought of as an ornament, a thing of beauty, an adjunct for seduction – especially in women. Countless odes have sung the silkiness, the golden sheen or the pitch-black, splendiferous charm of the beloved’s hair. Take away the hair of the most outstandingly beautiful woman, and ‘were she Venus herself … she would not be able to seduce even her own husband,’ the Numidian writer Apuleius wrote in his 2nd-century novel Metamorphoses. ‘The hairs are Cupid’s nets, to catch all comers,’ reads a line in the English writer Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621). So powerful are the arcane forces believed to reside in women’s hair that an old Scottish superstition reputedly warned that women should refrain from combing their hair at night when their menfolk were at sea, lest doing so cause the boats to sink.

Hair’s seductive powers help to explain women’s enduring concern for keeping it luscious, abundant and artfully displayed. At times, such displays have been taken to extraordinary heights. In the Western world, hairdo excess reached its acme during the life of Marie Antoinette (1755-93), the queen of France, who adopted famously complex coiffures, powdered and ornamented with ribbons, feathers, diamonds and more. Her hairdos also became politicised in the form of the coiffure allégorique, with figures alluding to important events. The coiffure à la Belle Poule, for example, featured a complete model of a victorious French warship. Much to the queen’s woe, her hairstyle fancies helped to confirm her frivolity, for which she would pay an inordinately heavy price.

Women’s styles continue to enchant today yet, as regards the aesthetics of hair, some have fallen into the opposite extreme – concluding that female charm suffers no detriment from far more minimal hairstyles. The ‘pixie cut’, for instance, held sway in the 1950s and has since reasserted its power several times. The German fashion model Ioanna Palamarcuk has appeared in beauty contests with hair shaved or grown into a meagre crewcut, and so arrayed won the titles of Miss Hanover (2017) and Miss Lower Saxony (2018).

Who would deny that, in terms of hygiene, comfort and general good sense, a crewcut drubs the baroque extravaganzas of the Enlightenment era? But we can still heave a sigh for the loss of such florid flamboyance.

Men are no less vain than women. Yet, much to their chagrin, hair loss is common as they age. It hardly needs to be said that here, too, societal and individual judgment changes in parallel with the zeitgeist. There is evidence that some in contemporary society see bald men as more dominant than others. Yet the absence of men’s hair has traditionally been experienced as a source of perceived inadequacy. There is much to say about this common blow to the male self-esteem, but I will focus here on one male mental strategy to combat the baldness-induced doldrums: a novel way to regard hair and its caducity. It is owed to Synesius (c373-414 CE), bishop of Cyrenaica and author of an essay praising baldness.

An ungarnished scalp, he wrote, is no detriment to a man’s honour; rather, it is a token of wisdom. Look at the busts and portraits of the great sages of the world: if you could put them together, the collection would look like a Museum of Baldheadedness. The sheep possesses the thickest hair among the animals; it is also the stupidest. Youth is the time when hair sprouts most profusely; it is also the time when a man lacks good judgment. When a man reaches the age of sound judgment and keen discernment, hair profuseness is an incongruity.

The soul of man, in Plato’s magnificent allegory, is a charioteer who travels through the sky in a chariot pulled by two winged horses. The charioteer would like to climb, way up to the heavens, but the horses pull in different directions. One is a noble courser that obeys the charioteer’s orders – there is no need to use the whip. In contrast, the other one is heavy, ugly, ‘shaggy-eared and deaf’, and does not obey the orders. Why? Synesius suggests that the horse cannot hear because its ears are plugged by its overabundant hair. In sum, hair is a harmful appendage, marking a lack of good sense: nothing to be admired.

No bald man today beguiles his frustration reading Synesius’ humorous lines. If his discontent is great, he has such alternatives as Minoxidil ointment and expensive, onerous surgery: the resources of a prosaic age.

​This section is for the "Follically Challenged".  There are so many conversations and articles on the topic and I want make sure you are getting good information. 

This month's article is from
the New York Times
 
What Happened to That Comb-Over?
Many balding men got hair transplants during the pandemic. Now they’re girding themselves for the return-to-office whispers.

​Joining the pandemic boom in cosmetic tuneups, many follicularly challenged men have used their time away from the office to embark on a fresh new look of their own: a hair transplant.

To some, a recarpeted scalp is a way of turning back the clock to a glorious youth. To others, it’s a business move, a way to burnish their image so as to rearm themselves for a return to the corporate trenches.

But to many, it’s … well, a little awkward. Wait, weren’t you the guy with the comb-over?

“Always, the dilemma is, what are people going to say?” said Robert Golden, 51, a tax adviser in Los Angeles who sprang for a hair transplant last winter while working remotely. “Do you tell anybody you’ve done it?”

Men often feel sheepish about undergoing a hair transplant, at least at first, said Fabien Beretta, the executive director of the Beverly Hills Hair Group in Beverly Hills, Calif., where Mr. Golden went for his transplant. “Men are a little more iffy about getting anything cosmetic,” he said. “Women talk about it openly. Guys want to hide it.”

There is nothing objectively embarrassing about a hair transplant. Even so, old stigmas linger. The internet is filled with articles like “Why You Shouldn’t Be Ashamed of Getting a Hair Transplant.”

New hair in general, particularly toupées, have long served as gag material in movies and television shows. “Why don’t you get a pair of white shoes, move down to Miami Beach and get the whole thing over with,” Jerry teased George in the “Seinfeld” episode where the latter bought a new rug.

This may explain why celebrities like Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Matthew McConaughey who appear, uh, “less bald than they used to be,” as Buzzfeed once put it, tend to remain mum about their bushy new manes, leaving tabloids to play the guessing game.

“It’s like one of those old ’80s rom-coms, where the geek suddenly gets this flashy makeover and shows up at the club,” said Mitchell Virzi, 29, one-third of the Los Angeles comedy team called the Virzi Triplets, identical brothers who all got hair transplants in recent months. “For a lot of guys, it can feel awkward, like you’re trying on a new personality.”

Then there are the perception problems of springing for a “luxury” like cosmetic surgery, particularly during troubled times.

Transplants are not cheap, averaging around $7,000 but often rising to $20,000 or more, depending on geography, the type of procedure and the amount of work that needs to be done, said Dr. Akash Chandawarkar, a former plastic surgery chief resident at Johns Hopkins University who is now in Manhattan.

To some guys, that can seem a little, well, vain.

“There’s still that old stigma, where guys aren’t supposed to worry about how they look and spend a lot of money on their appearance,” said Alex Virzi, another of the newly coifed triplets.

That doesn’t seem to be dissuading many balding men.

“It’s the largest demand I have ever seen,” said Dr. Marc Dauer, a hair restoration surgeon who practices in Los Angeles and New York City and has seen about a 30 percent surge in hair transplant procedures, and a 50 percent increase in transplant consultations, during the pandemic.

The Beverly Hills Hair Group has also seen a 25 percent spike in inquiries in recent months, and other cosmetic surgeons interviewed reported a similar surge.

Some of this apparent boom seems attributable to the pandemic itself.

Extended time away from the office gave men the cover they needed to slip away for the procedure, then recover away from prying eyes of co-workers.

There is also “Zoom dysmorphia,” in which people feel the need to “fix” perceived “flaws” in their appearance spotted during endless hours of video conference calls. “On FaceTime, Skype or Zoom, people are looking at themselves more than anyone they’re talking to,” Mr. Beretta said. “It’s like they’re sitting at home all day looking in the mirror.”

Then there is the emotional drain of the last 18 months, which is enough for even people with the fullest heads of hair to find their shower drains clogging with hair. Intense stress, as well as post-viral inflammation from Covid-19, can also cause temporary hair loss known as telogen effluvium.

Whatever the traditional hesitations, the old shame over new hair may be fading, especially in this age of oversharing.

It helps that the post-surgery results are not as stark as they once were. A popular method of hair transplants these days — follicular unit extraction, in which surgeons plant individual follicles from the back of the head onto the top of the head — can take months to start filling in. (“It’s like a Chia Pet,” Mitchell Virzi said.)

For Mr. Golden, the tax adviser, his initial trepidations dissolved quickly once he saw how much his new hair boosted his confidence among friends and even with his wife, he said.

And when he finally returned to the glassy high-rise office a month ago and displayed his new tresses to colleagues, the real shock was how little people cared, or even noticed.

“To be honest, it wasn’t like I walked in and people said, ‘Oh, you got a hair transplant,’” he said. “It was done so well that people didn’t even really notice. They were like, ‘Did you get a haircut? You look younger.’”

Yes, I admit it. I am a hair care junkie. People may think I am obsessed with skincare, but the truth is when it comes to products for my golden locks things get out of control. There was a moment in my life when I had so many hair care products that I could open my hair salon (I am not exaggerating, believe me). A huge variety of shampoos, leave-on treatments, hair sprays, masks, serums, straightening balms, curling mists, volume powders – I don’t even remember all the stuff that I had. When I started my Master in Medicinal chemistry I was very passionate about one particular course – Chemicals in Personal Care Products. I admit that I learned a lot from our professor but I also did my research and I don’t regret it.

Here is some “intriguing” info about 3 widely used chemicals in hair care products, that made me throw away half of the masks, serums, and mists that I was using at that time.

Behentrimonium chloride

If you have more than 5 hair masks/conditioners at home (that are not organic, of course) take 3 of them and take a look at the labels. Chances are you’ll find Behentrimonium chloride listed among the first ingredients. Behentrimonium chloride (also known as docosyltrimethylammonium chloride or BTAC-228) is a waxy-like substance that works as a de-frizzer and conditioning agent. It is the manufacturer’s favorite because it keeps your locks frizz-free and makes them manageable and soft. Behentrimonium chloride is considered toxic in concentrations of 0.1% and higher and is suspected to cause skin and eye irritations. Though some claim there is not enough evidence supporting this theory, for me the European laws say it all:

In Europe, the amount of Behentrimonium chloride allowed in rinse-off and leave-on products shouldn’t exceed a certain percentage (rinse-off hair care products up to 5.0% & leave-on hair products up to 3.0%.).

If this compound wasn’t potentially dangerous, then most probably no one would have set these regulatory requirements, right?

PEG 150 Distearate

Like most PEG’s (polyethylene glycols), this one serves primarily as an emulsifier and thickener. Though PEG 150 Distearate has a high molecular weight, which makes it unlikely to penetrate the skin barrier, it is suspected to contain traces of harmful impurities like Ethylene Oxide (mutagen which increases the risk of cancer; neurotoxin and skin irritant) and 1,4-Dioxane (cancerogenic compound, often found as a contaminant in various personal care product available on the market). Apart from that, when heated, PEG 150 produces vapors that can cause dizziness, nausea, and eye irritation. If traces of PEG 150 are left on your hair and you use a flat iron after a bath, do the math – slow poisoning over a long period. 

Silicones & Dimethicones

What not to love about silicones and silicone-based polymers, like dimethicones? They make your hair shine, baby soft to the touch, manageable, and healthy-looking (yes, even when it’s burnt after regular flat iron abuse and bleaching). Silicones are probably the most widely used ingredients in the hair care industry and can be found everywhere – starting from shampoos, going through masks/conditioners, and ending at serums for split ends/damaged hair. Similar to mineral oil used in the manufacturing of skincare, silicones coat the hair fiber, helping it retain moisture. Besides that, they “glue” the hair cuticles, making the surface of the hair smoother. 

Smoother hair reflects more light and appears shiny and healthy. And we all want to be blinding, don’t we? Enough with the benefits, let’s talk about the not-so-bright-and-shiny side of the silicones. While silicones are considered relatively safe, some of them, being not water-soluble, build up, and do not allow your scalp to breathe. They can also clog the hair follicles, stopping the process of normal hair growth. Accumulation of silicones can weigh down your hair making it appear greasy and lifeless. Apart from these aesthetic problems that can occur with regular use, few people know that when heated, silicones (in particular Cyclopentasiloxane) release formaldehyde, which causes breathing problems, skin, and eye irritation, nausea, and headaches. And believe me, your heat-protectant spray contains at least one type of silicone. You can check.

What did I do after finding out all these “hidden benefits” of my favorite hair care products? Well, I did some more research and I found that there are safer, greener, and even cheaper alternatives that perform just as well (tested and proven to work!).

Natural Hair Care Alternatives

Jojoba Oil 
Thanks to its waxy-like properties, jojoba oil forms a thin protective layer around the hair strand, that keeps the water locked in, making your locks look hydrated and healthy. I use it like leave-on treatment/serum and my hair has never been so shiny and manageable. Be careful with the quantity though and focus on the lengths of your hair, when applying. Jojoba oil is also famous for having a long-shelf-life (without nasty preservatives!) which makes it worth the money. If your scalp is too oily, you can try rebalancing it with weekly jojoba masks. Jojoba oil has a structure similar to the sebum your skin naturally produces. With regular use, I promise, you’ll see the difference! 

Argan Oil
No wonder so many products available on the market have it on top of their ingredient lists. It makes hair softer and shinier, when used, both as pre-shower treatment and leave-on (especially if you have dry, coarse hair –this thing is ah-ma-zing!). It tames frizz, providing a silky smooth finish and glossy look. Thanks to the high content of vitamin E (a powerful antioxidant and nourishing agent), when applied directly on the scalp, Argan oil boosts the growth of healthy, strong hair. True miracle worker.