Categories
Engineer peering

How much would you pay for a haircut? #LINX77

Glamorous city centre hotel £47.50 a night if you book far enough in advanceIt’s a glamorous game, the internet. You get to go to all sorts of exotic locations. On this occasion it is the Travelodge in Covent Garden – a bargain at £47.50 a night (note bar set for other Timico staff 🙂 ).

On this occasion it is very handy for the LINX77 meeting at the TUC Congress Centre. We always have a social evening after the first day. Being a lightweight I left at 9.30 to hit the hay but was able to snap some interesting views on the way back to my room. Some were just plain artistic with their neon lights on display (as editor I make the call) and some were downright illuminating.

I first give you the artistic shots. It is worth reading the illuminating bits at the bottom, especially if you are used to paying £8 for a gents trim at the barbers as I am.Matilda the Musical - v colourful I thought Matilda stood out for me – very colourful and I’m sure I would have enjoyed the show. The theatre was at 7 Dials, You probably know it. It’s on the way to Covent Garden from Kings Cross Station. There are lots of nice looking bars and restaurants around that area.

bar cafe gallery

7dials  by nightOldest Punjabi restaurant in London apparentlythe diner You need to scroll down to after the picture of me and the lads at Laredo mexican restaurant to see the haircut bit.They are tough at LINX - one beer in each hand - same as the old days on the frontier The first thing to observe is that the hairdresser is named Sassoon – presumably after the WW1 poet, Siegfried. I’ve read his stuff.sassoon salon - I wonder if the coffees are free?You have to click to enlarge the pricelists – I photo’d them through the shop salon window. If you look carefully you can see that a cut can be as much as £145 if you want it doing by international creative director Mark Masefield. If you want to leave the salon with dry hairsassoon - a cut above the rest? that can put you back another £50 – plus £10 if you want them to use an iron !!! It takes years of practice to get that iron bit right – they have to try it out on students first. Then if you want a bit of colour in your hair that’ll be another £230 – for asassoon - colourful prices full head mind you – it’s cheaper if you only want half of it doing. I can’t imagine anyone asking for the half – unless they just do the front so it looks as if you have had it all done when someone is looking straight at you. Add tips into the mix and I reckon you can kiss goodbye to a monkey (all London hairdressers tawk loik vat yanow).neal street - the sign

At least when the hairdressers at Sassoon talk about where they are going on their holidays it will be somewhere nice. You of course will not be able to go anywhere other than Butlins because they will have all your money.

I normally get mine cut at Antonio’s on Wragby Road in Lincoln – as I said £8 for a quick number 2 back and sides – in and out in 5 minutes. Check him out in this promotional video which some of you will remember from my pigeon racing days.

I’m in the wrong game and it is now 11pm – I wanted to be in bed by 10 – night all.

Trefor Davies

By Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com

7 replies on “How much would you pay for a haircut? #LINX77”

I guess it’s down to what value you as an individual ascribe to a particular service. £8 is ok for me – all I need is for someone to keep it short & I don’t care what it looks like. If you want t olook fab & tell your friends you get it cut in an upscale salon that too is fine

It’s all in code. ‘Cut and finish’ means wash, cut, condition and blow dry/rough dry and straighten as required. The prices quoted for a blow dry will be for a wash, condition and style using hair dryer and brushes. If you then want it straightening following that then they want another £10 (extortionate in my view). Prices quoted for colour usually include your cut and styling, although it does still vary from salon to salon. Some places have the cheek to charge extra for long hair when giving prices for a cut and blow dry – I have seen variations of as much as 30%.

I pay £45 for a wash, cut and finish at my local salon which I think very reasonable, although I must admit I wouldn’t pay much more. It’s an independent place rather than a place with a designer label (Sassoon, Toni & Guy et al) and I have to say I always get first class service. I get very well looked after and if I go in the evening I even get a glass or two of wine. It’s an hour or so of utter selfishness once every six to eight weeks and I don’t begrudge myself that. It does amaze me that some women pay hundreds of pounds every few weeks to have their hair done, but then again there are few things more soul destroying for a woman than a bad haircut, so if you can afford it and are that fussy then why not? I wouldn’t pay for someone to blow dry my hair for me as I can do a decent job myself, although a few of my friends pay anywhere between £15 – £30 to have their hair washed and styled before a special occasion.

I think the fundamental thing is that *most* women are more bothered about their hair than *most* men! 🙂

Well thanks twinklystars. I have to say that there is enough jargon in the comms business without my having to learn new code:) Good job trefor.net has a wide readership that can educate the geeks.

I’m curious as to how far in advance you had to book the Covent Garden Travelodge to get that price per night. Or do you get a special corporate deal?

I used to be able to get something reasonable in the Bayswater area, but they’re all heading to £150/200 per night.

Incidentally if you like curries, try some of the restaurants round Drummond St right by Euston station. If you’re a real ale fan you could always start at the nearby Bree Louise. http://www.thebreelouise.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.