news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

▲ hair perm at a hair salon (data photo). photo courtesy of ic photo

red star news reporter | luo danni editor-in-chief | lan jing

editor｜pan li editor｜li binbin

recently, after red star news reported that a man chose a 398 yuan perm package and ended up paying 2,477 yuan, the shenzhen municipal administration for market regulation filed a case for investigation and the store involved had reached an agreement with the consumer on a refund. red star news reporters learned from the shenzhen municipal administration for market regulation longgang branch longcheng branch and the parties involved that the store agreed to refund 1,600 yuan after deducting the cost, and the consumer said he accepted the mediation plan.

previously, a video about a 16-year-old boy in hangzhou being charged 4,000 yuan for a haircut and perm, and the store owner being rebuked by the police had attracted widespread attention. what is the cost of hairdressing services? the pricing logic behind it has attracted the attention of many consumers.

red star news reporters visited daily chemical products wholesale markets and several hair salons and found that there was a lack of unified standards and evaluation systems among different brands, which gave some businesses room to "charge random prices." the lack of transparency in products and disorderly pricing also put consumers in a passive position. some businesses took advantage of this information asymmetry and sold inferior products as good ones.

on-site experience:

the price of the same product in different stores varies by 720 yuan

hair salons often cost hundreds or even thousands of yuan. is the liquid hair really worth the price? red star news reporters visited more than 10 hair salons in two cities in the southwest and northwest as consumers and found that many hair salons generally have a "non-transparent" phenomenon - "no active introduction of brands, passive product display", and it is difficult for customers to learn product details unless they ask.

in a hair salon located near a university town, most of the customers are students. the main focus is on value for money, and package discounts are offered from time to time.

"the cheapest products here are ordinary brand products, which are relatively more damaging to hair." when asked twice by the reporter about the specific brand names, the hair salon owner was reluctant to disclose the specific brand information. instead, he recommended that the reporter consider choosing a more expensive hair dyeing service, implying that a high price corresponds to a higher quality or less damaging product.

another community hair salon introduced a brand of potion after the reporter asked about it, but because it was a little-known brand on the market, its quality, ingredients and safety were questionable.

the shop owner showed the reporter perm lotion packages priced at 200 yuan, 298 yuan and 398 yuan, corresponding to brands such as aoyi, show perm and youlish. "the better lotions don't hurt the scalp, and the hair won't be so dry after perming." the reporter repeatedly asked about the difference between lotions three times, and the other party just repeated this sentence and said that the hairstyle (hairdresser) can do it, the main thing is to use different lotions.

even if you use the same brand of hair dye, the price in different stores can vary significantly.

a hair salon located in a central shopping mall charges by hair length. the reporter had chest-length hair and was quoted 1,800 yuan for hair dyeing from the meilipan brand. a hair salon on a pedestrian street charged 1,080 yuan for the same brand and style of hair dyeing. the difference between the two is 720 yuan.

market visit:

the cost is 6.5 yuan more expensive, and the price is 400 yuan higher

an investigation by red star news reporters found that the mixed brands used in hair salons have exacerbated the complexity of the market, and the lack of unified standards and evaluation systems among different brands has made it difficult for consumers to directly compare their advantages and disadvantages, giving some businesses room to "charge random prices."

for example, among the three brands used by the aforementioned community hair salon, the reporter only found a package of show perm solution with a price tag of 298 yuan, but the solution is priced at only 4 yuan per box (two bottles of 100ml×2), which is enough to complete a cold perm for a short-haired man. products with the same packaging of aoyi and youlish were not found online.

a hairdresser at a shop in a shopping mall introduced to reporters the price system of men's cold perm, which covers three brands: dicai (699 yuan), feiling (899 yuan), and l'oreal (1099 yuan). he said that the price difference mainly comes from the difference in ph. high-priced products are often less alkaline and cause less damage to hair.

▲men’s cold perm products in the store

however, the corresponding prices the reporter found online were 22.5 yuan for dicai (120ml×2), 27 yuan for feiling (100ml×2), and 29 yuan for l'oreal (100ml×2). the prices of the three potions are relatively close, with the difference of 6.5 yuan between dicai and l'oreal of the same capacity, but the price difference in the hair salon is 400 yuan.

consumer ms. song told red star news that she is accustomed to comparing the brands and group purchase prices of various hair salons online. however, when she arrives at the store, she has no idea which brand of hair products are actually used, how effective the products are, how much to use, or even whether they are within the shelf life. it also takes a long time to see how long the products will last, the effects, and whether they cause any damage to the hair.

industry insiders:

some hair salons use cheap or counterfeit lotions

red star news reporters found that whether it is perming or dyeing, even for well-known brands, the price of chemicals and dyes is not expensive. in a daily chemical wholesale market in the southwest region, dyeing and perming products of well-known big brands and domestic brands are sold in many wholesale stores, with prices ranging from a dozen yuan to hundreds of yuan.

the reporter visited a wholesale store that specializes in supplying hair salons. the shelves are filled with perm, dye, and hair care products from brands such as l'oreal, schwarzkopf, and shiseido, and the store displays hair styling machines such as perm machines.

take l'oreal's hydra-perm cream as an example. the boss said that the unit price of a 400 ml bag is 67 yuan, and with the same styling water, the total price is 100 yuan. it can be used to perm chest-length hair three times, with an average cost of about 33 yuan per time. the boss also showed the reporter the order record, and a customer who placed a one-time order of more than 10,000 yuan bought this product at a unit price of 66.5 yuan.

the boss said that both perming cream and styling water can be sold separately. since styling water is universal in most cases, some barber shops will choose to mix different brands of perming cream and styling water, and sometimes even choose cheaper styling water.

"this is selling well, it's a big international brand." the owner of a smaller wholesale store picked up a l'oreal perm lotion and sold it to the reporter, priced at 35 yuan, and finally sold it for 20 yuan. the owner promised that it was genuine and said that this lotion was also supplied to hair salons. the reporter said that he did not find this l'oreal product on the shopping platform, and the other party said "it's just the packaging that's different."

the reporter took the l'oreal perm solution he bought to the boss of the previous store and asked about it. the boss said, "we are all in the same industry, it's hard to say," and suggested that if the hair quality is not good, don't use it.

a hairdresser working in a mid- to high-end hair salon in dalian told reporters that the frequent counterfeiting of hair products from well-known brands such as l'oreal and schwarzkopf has become a hidden concern in the industry. "when the product supplier of schwarzkopf came to our store for training, they told us that even they themselves did not expect that there would be so many hair salons claiming to use schwarzkopf products on the market."

"those hair salons only charge one or two hundred yuan but claim to use schwarzkopf or l'oreal lotions, which is almost unrealistic from a cost perspective," the hairdresser said.

pricing logic:

product costs only account for 10% to 20% of total costs

what is the cost of hairdressing services? the pricing logic behind it has also become a question in the minds of many consumers.

wang yao (pseudonym), a partner in a hair salon who has been in the business for 16 years, said in an interview with red star news that if product costs are taken into account alone, the lowest price per unit of hair dye in his store is around 7 yuan. according to wang yao, this is not the most economical option in the industry, and some can even be as low as 3 yuan per stick.

wang yao said that to complete a customer's hair dyeing service, more than one dye is often needed, and long hair needs two to three dyes, and auxiliary materials such as hydrogen peroxide are also needed, so the overall material cost is about 30 to 40 yuan. but even so, the material cost of a hair salon usually only accounts for 10% to 20% of the total service cost.

wang yao said that hairdressers usually get 30 to 40 percent of the service fee, and assistant technicians get 10 percent. in addition, the daily operation, rent, maintenance and other expenses of the shop account for about 30 percent of the total cost. other indirect costs include water, electricity, cleaning supplies, etc.

in wang yao's view, "a barbershop does not sell products, but technical services, which means that the cost of the product is secondary."

he explained that the operation and design costs of hairdressing services are difficult to measure accurately and use as a benchmark for pricing. these costs involve many aspects such as the hairdresser's skill level, time investment, and creative ideas.

some larger hair salons have also introduced high-end titles such as "director level", "chief stylist" and "service manager", which show a higher premium when using the same brand of potion. but in comparison, product brand as a pricing standard is more intuitive and easy to understand.

in fact, the reporter found that fictitious grades are one of the common problems in the hairdressing industry. in order to attract consumers of different levels, many hair salons have launched multiple service levels, but in terms of actual service and product quality, the differences between these levels are not great.

especially in terms of product quality, it is difficult to say that there is a significant difference in effect when the same designer uses products with a cost difference of only 2 yuan. however, by creating a difference in quality, merchants induce consumers to choose higher-priced services, thereby obtaining higher profits.

department of trade in services, ministry of commerce:

new industry standards are being publicly solicited for comments

industry insiders said that what really attracts and retains customers is the professional skills and caring, personalized service experience provided by hairdressers. however, due to the lag in the long-term effects of hairdressing, even if inferior products or techniques will damage the reputation of the store and cause word-of-mouth to decline, the feedback is not immediate, so it is difficult for customers to hold them accountable for the negative effects.

red star news reporters learned that the "interim measures for the administration of the beauty and hairdressing industry" implemented in 2005 pointed out that "beauty and hairdressing operators should explain the service prices to consumers when providing services. beauty and hairdressing products sold during the service process should be clearly marked with prices." this method has been implemented for nearly 20 years. with the development of the hairdressing market, consumers have put forward higher requirements for product transparency.

in july this year, the department of trade in services of the ministry of commerce publicly solicited opinions on the industry standards of the "beauty industry integrity management system" and the "beauty industry service quality management specifications". it mentioned that business hours, service items, charging standards and precautions should be clearly stated, and charges should be based on the publicly announced charging standards; before the service begins, the service items should be objectively and truthfully introduced to consumers, including the quality and price of the beauty and cosmetics used, and the operation can only begin after the consumer agrees.

zhang chunyan, one of the main drafters of the industry standard, told red star news that he has noticed the recent disorder in the hairdressing industry. his drafting unit has been actively promoting the introduction of industry standards in recent years. "all places across the country must abide by industry standards, so the country is very cautious in drafting relevant standards."

on september 14, the staff of the department of trade in services of the ministry of commerce in charge of the beauty and hairdressing industry said that the beauty industry in a broad sense includes hairdressing, and the two are highly consistent, and "one standard should be implemented." the other party said that the standard has not yet been formally approved, and everyone is welcome to put forward opinions. the relevant content is subject to the final approved and released version.