What does a haircut cost around the world?
All 27 markets now carry both figures. Each bar below is the published range across salon tiers - neighbourhood to premium - converted at reference rates from 27 August 2026. The two panels share rows but not scales: the balayage axis runs six times further. Hover any row for the local figures; click it to jump to its table entry.
Why is balayage so expensive where haircuts are cheap?
Ranking markets by the balayage-to-haircut multiple makes the pattern visible. A haircut is almost pure labour, priced locally. A balayage is labour plus several hours of lightener, bond-builder and toner - products priced closer to globally, and imported into most of these markets.
Across the 8 markets where a cut costs under €15, the median balayage is 10.3 times the price of the cut. Across the 12 markets where a cut costs €25 or more, it is 3.8 times. Same service, a threefold difference in relative cost, and it tracks wages rather than geography - Chennai, Manila and Karachi behave alike, and so do Zagreb, Québec and Milan.
The practical consequence falls on the client. In a high-multiple market a colour appointment is a far larger share of income than the sticker price suggests, and a colour you dislike is proportionally more expensive to live with or correct.
The world at a glance
Median multiple per country - darker means colour costs more relative to a cut. Hatched countries are not in the dataset yet. Hover for figures; click a country to jump to its table row. India is coloured by the median of its three city rows; Canada reflects Québec pricing.
The full table
Sort any column, filter by market, and follow the source links - rows with public price lists link to them directly; the rest link to the market page where their named sources are detailed.
| Haircut (local) | Balayage (local) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | Rs500–1,500 | €2–5 | Rs8,000–65,000 | €25–201 | 36.5× |
| Cut is the neighbourhood-parlour band; named salons run Rs 2,500–12,000. Balayage is priced by length. Karachi adds 5% Sindh Sales Tax. Source: Nabila Karachi, TONI&GUY Islamabad and Lahore, Fresha listings - detail on the market page. | |||||
| India (Chennai) | ₹250–700 | €2–6 | ₹3,000–6,500 | €27–58 | 10.0× |
| Upper balayage bound is premium salons; high-end reaches ₹15,000. Source: Naturals, Green Trends, Toni&Guy Chennai - detail on the market page. | |||||
| India (Hyderabad) | ₹200–700 | €2–6 | ₹3,000–6,500 | €27–58 | 10.6× |
| Ameerpet and Dilsukhnagar parlours sit at the lower bound; Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills at the upper. Source: Naturals, Green Trends, Lakmé, Hyderabad Fresha listings - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Serbia | RSD400–4,800 | €3–41 | RSD12,000–25,000 | €102–213 | 7.1× |
| Cut spans the aggregator floor (400 RSD) to a named salon's extra-long cut-and-blow-dry (4,800). The city average with blow-dry is ~2,800–5,500 RSD; Novi Beograd and Dedinje rarely under 4,500. Sources: SrediMe žensko šišanje HEADZONE cenovnik | |||||
| Georgia | ₾10–80 | €3–26 | ₾150–305 | €49–100 | 5.1× |
| Cut range spans budget salons (₾10) to KEUNE-tier (₾60–80). Source: Ann Maison, Mitte Beauty, Bastikunebi via Fresha, commersant.ge - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Philippines | ₱280–550 | €4–8 | ₱3,000–6,000 | €42–84 | 10.8× |
| Add ~10% mall service charge and a ₱300–1,000 length surcharge past bra line. Rebonding (₱3,000–8,510) is the market's higher-volume decision. Sources: David’s Salon list Bench Fix list | |||||
| India (Kolkata) | ₹800–1,000 | €7–9 | ₹5,000 | €45 | 5.6× |
| Balayage is a published floor ('₹5,000+'), not a range. Source: Salon85 Park Street, Expert Hair Skin, Lakmé, Jawed Habib - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Azerbaijan | ₼15–40 | €8–20 | ₼120–220 | €61–111 | 6.2× |
| Balayage band covers ombré and şatuş; lifting to blonde runs 150–250 AZN. Source: Published Baku salon and barbershop lists - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Portugal | €9.5–40 | €10–40 | €65–173 | €65–173 | 4.8× |
| Widest cut range of any euro-priced market, a fourfold spread: neighbourhood salons from €9.50, central Lisbon to €40. Sources: Vitor & Vitor João Ana Sofia | |||||
| Türkiye | ₺550–2,500 | €10–45 | ₺1,600–10,000 | €28–178 | 3.8× |
| Cut spans the national tariff (₺550) to a named Bağdat Caddesi salon (₺2,200–2,500). Balayage runs from the survey's ombré band (₺1,600) to a full long-hair package (₺10,000); the İstanbul salon lists front-frame balayage at ₺6,500–8,500. High inflation dates these faster than other rows. Sources: Karekod 2026 Mehmet Tatlı Erenköy | |||||
| Brazil (São Paulo) | R$60–250 | €10–42 | R$350–850 | €58–142 | 3.9× |
| São Paulo city only. Escova is charged separately, several lists price a cut with and without it about 30 BRL apart. Every balayage figure is an 'a partir de' floor repriced by length. Source: Oficina da Beleza, Rebeca Beauty Salon, Ritz Cabelo e Estética Moema, Sirley Almeida Sapopemba, Rebel Club Consolação - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Poland | zł50–150 | €12–35 | zł243–365 | €56–85 | 3.0× |
| Balayage figure is the ombré/sombré band; air touch runs to ~695 zł and up to 2,000 zł. Sources: kb.pl Warszawa cenauslug.pl airtouch | |||||
| Kazakhstan | ₸6,300–25,000 | €12–47 | ₸18,000–65,000 | €34–121 | 2.7× |
| Cut spans Astana entry (₸6,300) to central Almaty (₸25,000). Complex colour starts ~₸35,000. Sources: almaty-hair.kz profi.kz Almaty | |||||
| United Arab Emirates | AED50–300 | €12–70 | AED650–1,850 | €152–432 | 7.1× |
| Cut spans budget (AED 50–150) to hotel-salon premium (AED 300–800). Sources: The Salon Dubai Kimia Salon | |||||
| Kenya | KSh1,800–3,200 | €12–21 | KSh12,000–19,000 | €79–126 | 6.2× |
| Cut is wash-and-cut to wash-cut-blow-dry. Most spend here goes to protective styling instead: knotless braids from KSh 3,000, sisterlocks KSh 15,000–25,000 over 15–36 hours. Sources: Fresha Nairobi braiding Soreti Spa | |||||
| Armenia | ֏6,000 | €14 | ֏40,000–90,000 | €94–212 | 10.8× |
| Cut is a single published figure, not a range. Balayage band also covers highlights and airtouch; Syrian- and Lebanese-Armenian stylists reach 150,000 AMD. Source: Beauty Bar Yerevan list, EVN Report market piece - detail on the market page. | |||||
| South Korea | ₩25,000–45,000 | €15–28 | ₩200,000–300,000 | €124–186 | 7.1× |
| One Gangnam salon charges 45,000 / 75,000 / 115,000 / 155,000 KRW for the same cut by stylist rank. Source: Seoul salon menus and Korean market reporting - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Japan | ¥3,000–4,000 | €16–22 | ¥22,000 | €119 | 6.3× |
| Balayage figure is an air-touch package including cut, highlights and treatment; black-to-high-tone needs bleaching twice or more. Source: Household survey averages, Tokyo/Osaka salon menus - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Spain | €18–47 | €18–47 | €87–136 | €87–136 | 3.4× |
| Barcelona and Madrid chains; Valencia sits at the lower bound. Sources: Raffel Pagès Olga Camargo | |||||
| Greece | €20–28 | €20–28 | €50–79 | €50–79 | 2.7× |
| Balayage upper figure includes toner, mask and styling. Source: Romylos, Cut off & Dye price lists - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Bulgaria | лв39–68 | €20–35 | лв230–300 | €118–153 | 5.0× |
| Cut with wash and blow-dry across named Sofia salons (39–68 лв, dual-priced in euro ahead of adoption). Balayage band from Sofia listings. Sources: Rosi Style ценоразпис SVM Studio цени | |||||
| Italy | €22–40 | €22–40 | €60–125 | €60–125 | 3.0× |
| Spread is salon tier and centre-vs-periphery, not north-south: Torino ~€23.60 sits below Roma ~€37.60. Source: City averages plus L'Italiano, Roin Style, So Glam listini - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Mexico | MX$450–700 | €23–35 | MX$2,000–3,800 | €101–192 | 5.0× |
| Balayage is billed by length in several CDMX salons: ~$4,900 at 30 cm rising to ~$7,900 at 60 cm. Source: Rafaella Salón CDMX, Brillo Mío Del Valle, Tribeca Monterrey, Leonora Studio - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Croatia | €25–40 | €25–40 | €80–110 | €80–110 | 2.9× |
| Adopted the euro in 2023; figures are post-changeover. Source: Zagreb salon price lists - detail on the market page. | |||||
| France | €24.6–38.8 | €25–39 | €70–250 | €70–250 | 5.0× |
| Cut range is the province (€24.60) to Île-de-France (€38.80) spread on shampoo-cut-blow-dry. Sources: Wecasa prix coupe Medicharme balayage | |||||
| Canada (Québec) | C$43–69 | €27–43 | C$135–195 | €83–121 | 2.9× |
| Before TPS/TVQ (~15%). Montréal runs 15–25% above regional Québec. Source: Jardin d'Art, Salon MOMO, Coiffure Distinctive, 2026 Québec price guide - detail on the market page. | |||||
| Germany | €40–70 | €40–70 | €100–440 | €100–440 | 4.9× |
| Cut is wash-cut-blow-dry; premium salons €65–110. Balayage spans the survey band (€100–220) to a named salon's by-length list (S €250 to XXL €440, toner included). Cities run 30–50% above rural. Sources: Friseur-Preise 2026 SENAIT Balayage-Preise | |||||
How was this collected, and what are its limits?
Every row was gathered from published price lists of named salons and chains while researching that market's language section on this site. Where a row cites an aggregator (SrediMe, Fresha, kb.pl), the figure is the aggregator's published band, not our own average of it.
Four limits worth stating plainly:
These are list prices, not receipts. Length surcharges, toner, treatments, tips and local taxes sit on top. Several markets bill colour by hair length, so a single number cannot describe them.
Ranges are tiers, not distributions. They span the salon tiers a market publishes - neighbourhood to premium. They are not averages and not medians, because that is not what the sources are.
Currency conversion drifts. The local-currency columns stay accurate; the euro columns are correct as of 27 August 2026 and no longer. Türkiye ages fastest - with high inflation its lira figures date in months.
Ranges are wide where markets are wide. Pakistan's balayage spans Rs 8,000 to Rs 65,000 because it is billed by length across very different salon tiers; the width is information, not noise.
Can I use this data?
Yes - download the CSV. It is published under CC BY 4.0: reuse it with attribution to Visio AI and a link to this page. If you are citing one market, cite its local-currency figure and the source salon rather than the converted euro value, since that is the number that stays true.
Frequently asked questions
Which country has the cheapest haircut?
Of the 27 markets with a published cut price, Pakistan has the lowest entry point at Rs500–1,500 (€2–5). Germany has the highest ceiling at €40–70. Both are list prices for a straightforward women's cut, so they exclude tips and add-ons.
Why is balayage so much more expensive relative to a haircut in lower-cost countries?
A haircut is almost entirely labour, which is priced locally. Balayage is labour plus several hours of professional lightener, bond-builder and toner - products that are priced closer to globally and are frequently imported. Where wages are lower the product cost dominates, so the multiple rises. In markets where a cut is under €15 the median balayage costs 10.3 times the cut; where a cut is €25 or more it is 3.8 times.
Are these prices what people actually pay?
They are advertised list prices, not transaction prices. Real bills are usually higher: length surcharges, toner, treatments, tipping customs and local taxes all sit on top, and several markets bill colour by hair length. Read the ranges as what a salon publishes before you sit down, not as a final invoice.
How were the figures collected?
Each row comes from published price lists of named salons and chains in that market, gathered while researching the corresponding language section of this site. Rows with public price-list URLs link to them directly; the rest name their sources and link to the market page where the detail lives. Nothing is estimated or interpolated.
What exchange rates were used?
European Central Bank reference rates on 27 August 2026, via open.er-api.com (ECB reference rates). Currencies move, so the euro columns drift while the local-currency columns stay accurate. For anything precise, use the local figure. Türkiye's row dates fastest: with high inflation, its lira figures age in months rather than years.
Can I download or reuse this data?
Yes. The full dataset is a one-click CSV (salon-price-index-2026.csv), published under CC BY 4.0 - reuse it with attribution to Visio AI and a link back to this page. If you cite a single market, cite the local-currency figure and the source salon rather than the converted euro value.
