'It's time': Ottawa hair salon to offer gender-neutral pricing

An Ottawa hair salon will soon adjust its pricing so that the cost of a cut will depend on hair length, not gender.

Most salons across Canada charge women more for haircuts, even if they sport short, low-maintenance styles. But that’s about to change at Fady Assad’s Hair Junkie.

Starting next month, the downtown Ottawa salon will set a gender-neutral base price for haircuts. Cuts for both men and women with short hair will start at $31. The longer the hair and the longer it takes to cut and style it, the higher the price will be.

“We’ve been asked over and over, ‘How come I get charged so much for such short hair?’ or ‘How come my husband gets charged so little for so much hair?’” Assad told CTV Ottawa. “So we thought, it’s time.”

Hair Junkie client Lucy Ellis, who wears her hair short, said she typically spends between $40 and $80 on her simple haircuts.

“A few times, I’ve tried to go to barbers…and they turned me away,” she said. “So it’s really, really nice to see somewhere that’s going to be charging the same price for short haircuts, whether you’re a man or a woman.”

Assad believes his salon will be the first in Ottawa to offer gender-neutral pricing, and one of only a few across Canada to do so.

Some salons in Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax and elsewhere have introduced equal pricing for men and women in recent years.

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Annie Bergeron-Oliver

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