Toronto hair salon ends gender-based pricing

Fuss Hair Studio, in the Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto, plans to end gender-based pricing for haircuts on January 1. (Instagram / Fuss Hair Studio)

At most hair salons, women pay more than men for a haircut.

Fuss Hair Studio is no different: a man pays $45 for a cut, while a woman pays $60.

But come January 1, the Leslieville salon will be changing its pricing scheme so that clients won't be paying more -- or less -- based solely on sex or gender.

Instead, prices will reflect the length of a customer's hair. Fuss will offer a "barber cut" for $45, a "short cut" for $55 and a “long cut” from $55 to $70.

Salon owners Kristin Rankin and Stacey Lipstein thought they were doing a good job of catering to their progressive and diverse clientele, until some of them reached out via email to complain about pricing.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve gotten maybe two or three emails where they've just been surprised because they're like: 'You're forward-thinking people running a salon, we're surprised and kind of disappointed,'" Rankin said in an interview.

"And we were just like: 'We can’t ignore this anymore; we are a progressive salon (owned by) two queer woman, and we felt like hypocrites."

Rankin says that some of the emails were from women with short-cropped hairstyles who were being charged the same price as other woman with long hair.

Fuss announced the changes in pricing on its Facebook page on Thursday, and Rankin says the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

"We've had comments on our Facebook page from people who were like 'I didn’t come to you guys, but I will now,'" she said.

"It has been really great."

Rankin, who opened Fuss with Lipstein in 2008, says the changes will mean the salon will take a bit of a financial "hit," but it is worth it to end a traditional "inequality" in the industry.

"I really hope that our clients see how much we care and how much we try to listen," she said.

"We're not just talking the talk but we’re walking the walk. We stand behind what we say, we look for progress and we try to be progressive."