comment: >
  
  Wtf even are those prices? I live in Sweden and my cousin always goes to high end salons to get her hair done and it's never more than the equivalent of 150$. A decent haircut for a man with a good barber is about 20$
context: I once chose a new barbershop because it was close to my work and had a good review on Google.  I was moving soon, so I wasn't finding a forever-barber, just needed a cut.
  I go, and it's all old men getting their hair cut with clippers.  There's playboys in the waiting area and a beer fridge for customers.  This is a place where old guys go every 3 weeks or whatever and "get the usual," which appeared to be with clippers.  
  I got in the chair with my curly hair and asked for the cut, but insisted he not use clippers.  Everyone started making fun, saying he probably didn't know how to use scissors anymore.
  The dude nailed it, gave me one of the best haircuts in years.  He was even shocked that I found his place on Google, says he hates it.  I'd love to go back, but live nowhere near there anymore.  Some people DO have the skills. >
  
  So many great barbers exist. All my barbers even went to start their own shops with money they made from cutting hair. If they sucked people wouldn't traffic it like that. OP is just ignorant in this area. It's like saying there's no good restaurants anywhere and all any can serve is hot dogs. Not how it works in reality. OP logic is nonexistent. >
  
  Reality is, there's no good chain barbers. Just like there's no good chain restaurants. How can something so personal as skill be packaged into an instruction set? Answer is that it can't.
  So finding a good barber means finding a hole in the wall joint with likely no marketing to speak of. It's just not something that Google can really help with much.
  Same goes for hairdressers. Women find that one woman who's got a chair in her basement and hope she never dies. >
  
  I think part of being successful in the modern business world is the ability to market. You do not need to be a big chain to market effectively. Plenty of small businesses can and should capitalize on the digital tools available to drive their business upward. 
  That being said, I do agree chain establishments seem to suck the life and charm out of an enterprise. You can tell when you walk into big chain establishments that there is no soul there. >
  
  These sorts of small businesses live off word of mouth. >
  
  My barber is a retired Marine in his late 30s, maybe 40. He says maybe 10 words total through his entire day and always has dvds of 90s shows like Tool Time running. The waiting line is always over an hour because he doesn't suck and can do anything you describe to him. You yell him what you want and he just does it with no further explanation needed. I've even seen him do "exotic" hair cuts and designs in people's hair.
  Find a different barber.
  Edit: Home Improvement...Tool Time was the show inside the show 😆 >
  
  What a legend lmao >
  
  Dude needs to up his price if he has a line out the door >
  
  But at a certain point he's gonna start getting compared at least price wise to other higher end places, and lose customers.
  Anecdotally, my barber who I went to well into my mid 20's had a $15 haircut and $20 haircut + beard trim for the longest time. Like long enough the paper it was printed on got yellowed from age. He didn't have a line out of the door (we're a smaller town) but from what I heard he never was hurting for customers. He never advertised other than just having his shop window and barbershop pole. Really good guy, barely said five words to you, etc etc. >
  
  That's how much he charges for a basic cut and beard trim as well, $20. >
  
  I told him to trim some off the top and he gave me a fucking fade.... >
  
  I moved across the country, but I got my barber to write a little instruction/ notes for the next person before I left with what I usually had done. It literally spelled out 1/2 inch off the top with scissors. Guy gave me a buzz cut. Went right down the middle with the razor as his first move so it was too late to go back. >
  
  Really hope you didn't pay for that shit >
  
  Sadly I did. Didn't tip though. It was only like $20. The guy was recommended to me and so I didn't want to make a huge stink. >
  
  It’s like he literally said “fuck this i don’t want you as a client” in the first few seconds after reading the note >
  
  Then he could just have said "fuck this, I don't want you as a client" and not have ruined the guys haircut... >
  
  Yeah but then he doesn’t get ~$20 and a story about messing with the guy with a note from his old barber >
  
  Barbers really are a spoiled bunch of elitists nowadays tbh.
  Most of them are from who I've met.
  My barber didn't even do a fade after I asked him to, and then still charged $35. An absolute disgrace. >
  
  Can literally give my barber a pic of any cut I want and he does it flawlessly.  Your barber sucks find a new one. >
  
  Little do you know every pic you give him, also a fade. >
  
  He cuts men and women's hair, so nice try though. >
  
  Those women probably look very handsome in their fades >
  
  😂 >
  
  The owners of barber shop chains have been pushing for a race to the bottom in terms of training hours at cosmetology schools for a while now.  This is the result of that.
  Yes, you do need that extra 500 hours of training.  No matter how much you want it to be, cutting hair is not unskilled labor. >
  
  This problem could be solved by going to old barber >
  
  I've cut my own hair since 12yo, went to an old barber a month ago, and it was a nice experience.
  $17 for full service, cut, straight razor shave, the works.
  The new guys wanted to schedule multiple appointments, the first being just them "getting to know you". I just wanted my damn hair cut. >
  
  "The new guys wanted to schedule multiple appointments, the first being just them "getting to know you"."
  Lol wtf.  Nice scam if you can pull it, I guess. >
  
  Ahh yes the "consultation" appointment. Because they can't possibly cut your hair without a 15 minute meeting you pay for and then a couple weeks to think it over. >
  
  They need time to do the hand sketches and then the 3-D renderings. >
  
  I have a barber (in NYC) that I've been going to for 11 years. I've had 1 haircut elsewhere in that time. Leo is a real professional. His English is mediocre at best, but bring him a pic of what you want and he delivers. Every. Damn. Time. His shop also serves free shots while you wait. >
  
  In my experience the best barbers in NYC are from somewhere else. >
  
  In NYC, I feel like this paradigm applies to most things >
  
  Maybe the ones you saw just suck? There's a reason many people stick to one barber. >
  
  I've just moved back to Canada after living abroad for years. My barber there was great. 
  I've gone to a different barber each time since I've been back, and they have all sucked. 
  I will show a photo of what I want, and walk away looking nothing like it. 
  My photo is just short sides, a little longer on top. Something easy that doesn't really need much styling. 
  They always leave the front super long, and style it brushed back. 
  I don't understand... If you see the photo, do it to the photo. Don't just do whatever you want. >
  
  Why not just say at the end "I wanted it shorter, can you fix it please?" >
  
  Because it doesn’t matter… I’ve been getting an undercut for years and everytime I go to the barber and say that’s what I want I they always try to talk to out of it or react openly disgusted that I want that hairstyle, professionalism is dead >
  
  Undercut was my fav cut growing up then I became a barber and I think because we’re so used to blending cuts/fading the undercut goes against everything we’re taught, it’s complete opposite. So the first time I had someone ask for that (they didn’t call it am undercut) I was quite iffy and thorough out the whole cut I would ask if they were sure and is this what you mean because I didn’t want to screw it up if they weren’t explaining it right to me ya know?! I hope to them I wasn’t looking disgusted it is just so rare to do them now a days & I’ve had many people explain things way different then they mean. >
  
  I mean it’s the most classic cut, a timeless look so I don’t really understand why my barber was so hesitant >
  
  That's why I don't go to barbers anymore. I go with hairdressers. They don't stick to clippers only. >
  
  That's literally the difference. Barbers specialise in clippers and shaving. Hairdressers specialise in scissors and styling. >
  
  No, the difference is that barbers primarily cut men's hair. >
  
  You wanna google that and see? Or you wanna ask the barber I live with?
  I don't dispute that barbers primarily cut men's hair, but that is not the difference between their professions in the first place. Plain and simple, barbers are trained to specialise in clippers and shaving, hairdressers specialise in scissors and styling.
  Gender doesn't come into that, other than men tend to have shorter hair that favours clippers, as well as beards that they may want tamed, and women tend to have longer hair that they would like styled. A woman going to a barber isn't going to get the colouring, styling and treatments she would like, and a barber can only do so much due to their training to favour clippers, rather than scissors. There are of course exceptions to this, where men have longer hair they want styled and vice versa. In this case, that man would have a better time going to a hairdresser than to a barber. That's nothing to do with gender, and all to do with hair.
  Funny that. A discussion about barbers and hairdressers actually being about hair, and not some other thing?! Who would have ever imagined?! >
  
  Alright, I guess my tone could have seemed bad so your aggro response is warranted. Given my history going to barbers, I've basically never met one who wouldn't cut my hair well with scissors, so I thought your distinction seemed off. 
  I did Google it since you asked me to. If I Google "what do barbers specialize in" the answer it gives me is "A barber's primary focus is cutting men's hair". The true distinction (according to the internet lol) is that barbers can use straight razors. >
  
  "barber vs hairdresser" will give you several results that will tell you it's the tools of their trade that differ. There's even such things as "men's hairdressers", who primarily cut men's hair, but again will focus on using scissors and styling techniques over clippers. And it's not that they won't use scissors, or hairdressers won't use clippers - it's just not the PREFERRED tool for the majority of their work. 
  I dunno. I guess it just irks me when people don't know the fundamental definition of something, and then complain about that very thing. It pays to learn what you're getting yourself in for, before doing it. Saves a little disappointment in the long run. >
  
  I think it has more to do with the fact that those who go to school (idk wtf the course is called, styling or whatever) all pay for the same cheap, shitty classes and come out with the exact same skills.
  My aunt is a stylist/hair dresser, both her and her coworkers actually put in the effort and money to learn.
  It's the same with makeup tbh. Everyone takes the same class and learn the same shit from some idiot who only knows how to do ONE thing and they all do the same shit then teach others how to do said shit, so everything becomes boring and everything's the same >
  
  This is the most accurate answer. These people here need to go to a salon not a Barber if they want a nice haircut. The haircutters there are on different levels of expertise. You pay more for someone who's more experienced and less for someone who's just starting out in the salon as a stylist.
  Reddit is very lowbrow, and they don't understand that you'd have to pay more for something that's quality, and that includes haircuts.
  And if you're a woman, at least around here.. women at  paying at least $300. We Men men get off easy.. we're only paying 40, 50, $60 to get better haircuts.