Gender-neutral pricing gains cuts-through
A Wellington hairdresser is taking a stand against gender pricing for cuts and colours.
Matthew Kane has a ‘‘nongender based price structure’’, meaning he charges according to the length of a client’s hair, not their gender.
As a result, his salon has become popular in transgender and gay communities.
Kane, who moved to the capital from Canada seven years ago, said the non-gender price policy started in his Toronto salon, and was introduced to reflect his clientele.
‘‘We had a broad range of people, so you had some girls coming in with short haircuts, which were short and easy, and you had some guys coming in looking for fabulous hair.’’
Kane quickly discovered the traditional male and female pricing model was not working.
‘‘We went in the middle of the two, so we brought the girls’ price down and the guys’ price up to have one price,’’ he said.
This, too, was changed, because although everyone paid the same price, some required more work than others.
‘‘So then we did the three – short, medium and long – prices,’’ Kane said.
‘‘Things started to change anyway, because we were getting into the age of gender dysphoria, so it [the pricing] matches moving forward.’’
Wellington was ‘‘cool and funky’’ so opening a salon with this pricing structure in the capital made sense.
‘‘This kind of policy does fit with the subculture in Wellington.’’
Rainbow Wellington chair Richard Arnold said he had ‘‘unequivocal support’’ for the idea, as no one had to ‘‘declare anything about yourself that isn’t relevant’’.
‘‘The only thing that’s relevant is what is on your head and what they do to it. It doesn’t matter what’s happening elsewhere on your body.’’
Arnold believes hairdressers should eliminate gender-based pricing, or justify the reason for keeping it.
‘‘They shouldn’t be able to put a premium on women’s hair if it’s not justified,’’ he said.
‘‘I think it’s a great challenge to throw down to the retailers who are treating their customers in an unequal fashion with no justification. I think they need to defend their position.’’
A search of some well-known Wellington hairdressing salons shows haircuts are often charged by gender.
New Zealand Association of Registered Hairdresser chairwoman Maureen Bowring said gender-neutral pricing was ‘‘not very common’’ in New Zealand, but could be in the future.
‘‘Generally, it depends on the service the client is wanting, the length of the hair, the colours used, the products used, definitely technique.
‘‘Gender shouldn’t really come into it.’’