Do You Tip at Great Clips? Complete Guide - Green in Black & White (2024)

Great Clips is one of the largest American hair salon companies in the US with a massive yearly revenue of over $1 billion.

They now are now present in 4,100 locations in the US and Canada.

If you’re heading to Great Clips for a trim, or perhaps you’ve just finished having your hair done, then you might be wondering what you need to tip your barber or stylist, if anything.

Working out tipping etiquette can be an integral part of managing your monthly spending plan and it’s essential to get it right.

If you’re too generous, you could end up busting your budget.

If you don’t tip or fail to tip enough, you could end up redfaced.

We’ve looked at the customary practice for tipping at Great Clips so you can make an informed choice on what to do.

We’ve also looked at other important metrics like Great Clips’ employees’ salaries, the cost of a haircut, and other key factors.

Keep reading to find out…

Do You Tip a Barber/Stylist at Great Clips? The Short Answer

It is customary to tip a Great Clips Barber or Stylist 15-20% of your bill. Haircuts at Great Clips are priced at $17 – $55 so expect to tip around $2.50 to $10 depending on your total spend.

How Much Do Great Clips Stylists/Barbers Earn?

A key factor in deciding whether to tip after your next Great Clips haircut might be the earnings of your stylist or barber.

People tend to decide they should tip or tip more when they know that the worker needs to supplement their income with extra income.

This is certainly the case within the catering, party rental, and restaurant industries.

It’s also the case in other cosmetic-type industries such as the spray tanning industry.

But let’s take a look at Great Clips employees’ salaries.

The data from Indeed, suggests an hourly rate of around $20 on average.

If we say $20 per hour and base that on a 40-hour work week then Great Clips stylists and barbers all pulling around $800 per week or $41,600 per year.

This is close to the average salary in the US which stands at around $47,520 according to Zippia.

On the basis of this, while Great Clips’ workers earn slightly less than average salaries, they are hardly on the breadline and there isn’t really a need to tip them to subsidize their income.

How Much Will a Haircut Cost at Great Clips?

The etiquette when it comes to tipping at a salon is to tip around 15-20% of the final bill.

But what will a haircut cost at Great Clips?

We’ve pulled the prices from Great Clips’ website.

Expect to pay $17 for a child’s or senior’s haircut, $19 for a regular cut, and then between $26 – $55 for styling.

These prices are actually below average according to the costs provided by You Probably Need a Haircut which states that the average cost of a men’s cut in the US is $40 with the average cost of a women’s cut coming in at $66.

On that basis, it seems you’re getting a fairly good deal at Great Clips which may offer further impetus to increase your tip or offer one if you wouldn’t normally.

How Much to Tip the Barber or Stylist at Great Clips?

As above, it’s customary to tip around 15-20% of the cost of a haircut in the USA meaning you’ll be paying around $2.50 at the bottom end of the scale and up to $10/11 at the upper end.

Obviously, you can also just pay a fixed sum if you’d rather not work out a percentage.

To avoid looking cheap, we wouldn’t advise tipping below a couple of bucks but there’s no need to tip more than $10 in most instances (unless it’s Christmas/holidays or perhaps if you’re blown away by your new trim).

We recommend tipping in dollar notes if possible.

There’s a rather outdated custom that you shouldn’t tip a salon owner and should really only be tipping an employee.

Therefore, if you intend your tip to go to the employee, the best way to do this is by paying in dollar notes. Otherwise, there’s no guarantee the employee will actually see your money.

Does Great Clips Ban Employees from Taking Tips?

Some companies actually prevent their employees from taking tips as a matter of company policy.

But what about Great Clips?

We looked into this and haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that Great Clips bars its staff from accepting tips.

Tipping is commonplace within the haircutting business so it would be rather odd for them to ban them outright.

However, as a franchise company, there’s always the possibility that certain Great Clips salons will prevent their employees from taking tips, although we’ve not heard of this to date.

If your tip has been refused at Great Clips, let us know in the comments section.

When Should You Not Tip or Tip More at Great Clips?

There will certainly be times at Great Clips when you might want to go against the grain and not give a tip at all.

There’s nothing wrong with no tipping but this will generally be on rare occasions.

For example if:

• Your haircut falls well below expectations. For example, if it’s not what you asked for, poor shape, uneven, wrong coloring applied etc…
• If blood is drawn. Many salons will offer a free haircut if they nip your ear or graze your neck;
• If the hairdresser is rude or unprofessional;
• If you receive poor service such as long waiting times etc…

Alternatively, you might decide to dip further into your pocket than usual if:

• Your haircut exceeds your expectations;
• It’s Christmas or ThanksGiving;
• If the stylist has been professional or has gone beyond the call of duty;
• If you’ve had your haircut for a special occasion like a wedding etc…

Final Thoughts

It is common practice to tip at the barber or stylist in the US as we also discovered when we looked at whether to tip at Ulta and there are no reasons to depart from this custom when it comes to Great Clips.

Great Clips offers a reasonably priced service and so offering a tip is unlikely to break the bank.

We’d propose the standard 15-20% is ample to satisfy the tipping etiquette in this instance.

Great Clips employees earn a decent enough salary and there isn’t really a need to subsidize their income with tips, it’s just that tipping is customary in this industry and there’s no evidence we’ve seen to depart from this custom at present.

If you’ve received exceptional service, then you might wish to increase your tip or withhold one if you’ve not.