Hair salon offers "silent haircut" for $5 up-charge: 'What is the reason for charging more for this?'

Today's topic of the day is: how much of your haircut time do you spend chatting away with your hairdresser? 

To be totally honest, I don't think you really get to choose whether or not you want to talk to your hair stylist — they kind of choose for you. If they want to talk, they're going to! After all, your hair is in their hands, so it's not like you can just walk away mid-conversation. 

I never mind talking with my hairdressers, though it does make me a little nervous beforehand knowing I'll have to do so. I also have to tell them how to cut my hair, which I never know how to describe properly. Anyway, I'm often just worried that I'll be asking them the same questions they hear 15 times a day. "What did you do for the holiday?" "Do you have any weekend plans?" You know, general questions like that. If you're able to get to know your hair stylist, though, the conversations become exponentially more rewarding. You get updates about their lives, and sometimes they spill interesting tea about their family or friends. For the duration of your haircut, you're the one who gets to hear their stories (whether you want to or not!). 

This hair salon raised some eyebrows with their interesting pricing options for their services. I want to believe it was a simple mistake – maybe they were trying to figure out the price of the cuts and made a simple pricing mistake on their site. Surely they wouldn't really up-charge for silence, right? I can't imagine that kind of pricing model is conducive to good tips. 

Although this person was nervous about their haircut, I think the best thing they can do is just politely ask about it. It very well may just be a simple oversight. And if not, they certainly don't have to give their money to a salon whose pricing they disagree with. There are plenty of salons in the world, and yes, the stylist might talk your ear off at many of them. But it's also not a bad thing to just listen while the barber yaps. That can be a low-pressure activity that indicates to the stylist that you're not in a chatty mood, while also allowing them to fill up that empty air with personal anecdotes if they so choose. 

And as one final suggestion, many booking apps for salons offer a section to tell the stylist what you want. I think you could easily describe your haircut and add something like, "I'd love a relaxing and silent haircut if possible!" Keep it cute and polite, and while results may vary, at least you'll know you've tried to solve this interesting dilemma without paying $5 for nothing.