Wig prices. SM are not money grabbing monsters!!

amother

Cappuccino

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:06 pm

Ruchi wrote:

The money hungry ones are causing the entire industry to follow suit and raise prices beyond normal proportions.
What they are doing is having an enormous knock off effect that cannot be ignored.

Are you angry about the cost of shekels or the amount an individual SM charges to wash and set a wig?

Sheitl prices are to a great extent outside the control of an individual - I would imagine that the price for a specific brand is pretty much the same. I think there has been 17 pages of discussion on why the price of a sheitl is high.

At this point - based on many responses there are still less expensive options in terms of a wash and set. There are always going to be people who provide these kinds of services at different rates just as there are cheap hair stylists and expensive ones. People who spend hundreds to have their hair dyed and those at the opposite spectrum who dye it at home.

Ruchi

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:18 pm

amother Dandelion wrote:

It’s sick to call people money hungry because you want everything for free or dirt cheap. And I’m sure all of you make as much money as you please and of course your job deserves pay and you aren’t money hungry.

Value for money and what the job is really worth. I'm not looking for cheap. Normal. Reasonable.

Frum, Popular and great Hairstylists don't charge for blowing and styling over $100 for their expertise AND they do the entire job themselves from start to finish.
The sm has hired help and doesn't even pay them half of what she gets when she only spends a short amount of time on the final touch up.

How can anyone blind or delude themselves and consider this יושר?

amother

Ghostwhite

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:24 pm

amother Cappuccino wrote:

Perhaps I am obtuse but I don't understand how a SM is taking advantage by charging whatever rate she wants.

There are numerous options so no one is forcing a person to use a specific SM. Use a different SM.

A specific SM for whatever reason is able to command a higher price than others in the area. That is pretty common as many hair stylists, make up artists, masseuses, tutors charge different rates and people are free to use services of not.

No one is entitled to use a specific person's services at the rate they think is "fair".

If this was some kind of monopoly it might be different. If a SM is charging too much then people won't use her services.

I ask again - if some women feel that the services of a specific SM are worth the high price, why do you care since evidently there are other SM who charge less. Go to one of them.

Again, for the 100th time, because one person charging crazy high prices encourages others to also charge crazy high

amother

Dandelion

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:29 pm

Just because some frum people charge ridiculously low rates doesn’t mean that everyone has to charge that. And the super cheap ones are either new or not as good as the more expensive ones. I’ve tried them. And this bullying that goes on in the frum world is ridiculous. In the non Jewish world if you are experienced you charge higher rates. Here all service businesses are expected to charge as little as the brand new person who has no clue what they are doing. You are all ridiculous and it’s ridiculous that you use “Torah” incorrectly to try to back up your ridiculous points.

Go use the newbie who is charging $20 and does a mediocre job. Stop expecting talent and expertise for pennies. You are all so entitled it’s embarrassing.

amother

Leaf

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:31 pm

amother Dandelion wrote:

Who charges $20? Nobody is expecting anyone to charge $20...people just think $120 is insane and rightfully so.

amother

Lightyellow

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 7:32 pm

amother Dandelion wrote:

Your arguments are getting more and more embarrassing.

amother

Lavender

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 9:42 pm

Ruchi wrote:

Yes they do, the popular hairstylists charge over $100
I don't get your issue with the hired help - if she takes care of training and overseeing their work than what's the problem? Do you care that an expensive restaurant has "hired help" preparing your food instead of the head chef? No, as long as the chef is overseeing it - that's what you're paying for

Ruchi

Sat, Jan 28 2023, 9:54 pm

amother Lavender wrote:

Sorry but I don't know of anyone in the local community that charges $100 for blow and style job.

What kind of attitude and sense of entitlement does a sm have, when she decides that she is so high end that she can charge the earth?
Is there גאווה involved here? Money hungry?

The training of many sm aren't even nationally recognised, as it's usually given by some other heimishe folks, unlike a therapist who shells out $100k and receives a fully professional training and recognised qualification upon passing.

Majority of SM'S trainib, in comparison to that of a therapist, is cheap and done fast too.
Their training, qualification and certification would never allow them to obtain a job at a non Jewish salon that charges the prices that they charge their frum clients.

amother

Pansy

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 1:43 am

My sister is one of those SM that charges 120 for a wash and set. And she only accepts her own customers. She wanted to cut her hours once she had kids; this was her way of doing it. Don't like it, don't come. You can use her assistant for 55. She supervises and is right there.

I personally know her overhead is A LOT. All of her girls are being paid a fair wage. Her profit margin on most of her wash and sets are only a couple of dollars and are mostly done as a service.

Another point that is important to make, unless a SM is selling her own wigs the profit margins are exactly the same for a cheaper and a more expensive wig. They don't make more commission on a 10k wig vs a 1.5/2k wig.

Also, the wig companies are no longer selling wigs for cheap, so they can't pass on any good deals.

Don't like the 120 price point, don't go. So many other people are available who will be more than glad to accept you as a customer. Don't expect my sister to bend over backward for your ungratefulness. She doesn't owe you squat and it hurts me to see how some people feel entitled to her time and make her cheshbonos for her.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:07 am

amother Birch wrote:

If a SM is charging that it's usually because that is what is needed to cover her time and expenses and also earn a profit. You are welcome to use the younger less experienced stylist that is charging $30 and working out of her 1 bedroom apartment.

Do you realize that if you'd be wearing your own hair you'd be spending a lot more than that maintaining it, cutting it, getting it styled when you can't just throw it into a pony etc... Forget about when the greys grow in and you want to start dying that monthly.

If you are on a tight budget you can watch youtube videos put out by heimish stylists how to wash and set your own wigs for free!
Ah but you don't want to spend the hour plus it takes to do that.
You want the sheitelmacher to spend that time and expertise but do it at a price YOU want.

I don't wear sheitel, lol! Zero money spent on sheitelmachers! And, dear, dying hair is not a big science, many people can do it themselves , no need to pay $75 for dye. Please, don't validate yourself that bad and prove your worth it, it's just excuse. ( People can live without sheitel and sheitel machers,shhh, don't tell anyone:). And if she wore her hair herself, she would maybe spend $35 once In three months to get haircut. Don't be ridiculous. It's just women in states NEED to wear sheitel, and they can't learn to style their sheitels themselves, that's why sheitelmachers can charge this and be sure they are justified in price. No, it's not justified, it's the market and everyone does what others want to do. I bet you are not happy with schools raising tuitions and also kvetch on other forums how it's unfair. But no, women don't spend $100 on their natural hair every month, and a decent woman can smear a dye on her hair when it turns gray. It's not that hard.......same way how I can do my own manicure and pedicure salon level, and style my own hair, and dye it, and make my own eyebrows and remove hair in other body parts. You are just a part of beauty industry that tries to justify increase in prices, but don't forget that women are not handicapped. So happy I don't wear a sheitel and don't have to listen to these "don't want to pay $120 go somewhere else and we won't bend to you being ungrateful". I don't understand why won't women take the sheitel course and just send the sheitelmachers to the other side of the supply /demand curve, I would. Prefer to do things myself and not be dependent on anyone.

It's a pleasure to live without the need for all this "American Luxury ****" . Hair covering is a mitzvah (if you believe in it), not a "luxury services", someone got very mixed up along the road.

amother

Pansy

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:23 am

Ruchi wrote:

I don't know where your local community is but 5 years ago I paid $60 for a blow and style job for my daughter, and it wasn't even good. More recently I have paid close to or over $100, several times for simchas, and these people are moderately well known and do it in their basements or guest bedroom.

The sheitel macher does not have a sense of entitlement, but rather a sense of self-preservation. Not to say that some SM don't charge just because they can, but very often it is because that is what makes it worth it for them to come in.

Like I said earlier, my sister is one of THOSE SM. I know you were complaining that they charge $300 a cut and it only takes 15-20 minutes. Know that she has paid well over 10k in combined courses to get to that point. She intentionally took courses with the express goal of getting a cut down to 15 minutes from an hour each. Would it make you feel better if you sat on the chair for an hour and went out with the exact same cut? Btw, a straight cut takes just as much skill as a layered job, and no it's not just one straight snip with the scissors.

And yes, my sisters constant training would enable her to obtain a job at a no-Jewish salon that charges more than double of what she charges her frum clients.

Like you keep being told, if you don't like the price vote with your feet. The SM's charging $120 for a w and s are generally trying to be rid of entitled customers like you. You'll only be doing them a favor.

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:25 am

amother Dandelion wrote:

go get some degree ,and work in the non Jewish world, try to finish college and maybe make a master's degree. Who told you if you chose career as sheitel macher, you have to get paid like a lawyer? Finish expensive school and spend 100_200k on education, then you will be entitled. You are ONLY a sheitel macher and your skills are ONLY about sheitels. I don't even need your skills, so for me your value is always 0. How about that? I spent much more money and time than given 10k in courses in my profession, and I don't throw words about my amazing talent at work. Sorry, frum world got too fed up, it has nothing to do with mizvos or Torah anymore, it's so so much about luxury and greed.

amother

Dandelion

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:26 am

amother Saddlebrown wrote:

So then I assume you wash yours yourself since it’s zero skill right?

amother

Saddlebrown

Sun, Jan 29 2023, 7:31 am

amother Dandelion wrote:

So then I assume you wash yours yourself since it’s zero skill right?

no I don't wear sheitel ,lol, makes it much easier. None can blame for feeling entitled to someone's time if I don't wanna pay $120. It takes a long road in professional world to charge $120 for your time, so all those references about what people in professional world do are just funny for me. Or you think being sheitel macher is same hard as engineer or chemist? You are only charging those prices, because frum world prices are crazy inflated, including frum people's salaries vs amount of time spent on education. This is a bubble and fake world that gonna collapse one day. Your value is not justified.