Money Guide · London
Two ways to do it
I’ve got the receipts for this one so here are the numbers. £125 on my nails in December. £193 on my hair in July and I tipped £15.75, which lands at 8%. And one visit this year where I paid, said thank you and left nothing, which is the useful one.
All of this is London. It’s where I live and it’s what I pay. Prices are different in the rest of the country and so is what people can afford, so I’m not going to pretend I know what the right tip is in Leeds.
Here’s where I’m coming from, because it changes the answer. I’m Australian and tipping was never really a thing where I grew up, which is about as far from the US as you can get. There’s a legal minimum wage here so I’ve never thought of my tip as covering somebody’s wage, but a minimum wage and being able to afford London are two different things. My own costs have gone up a lot in the last few years and I think about that when the screen turns round, which is most of why I tip more than I used to.
There are two ways to do this and I should say up front that mine is the less conventional one. Option one is a percentage of the bill. That’s the 15 to 20% you’ll see quoted online, or whatever percentage you’re comfortable with. If you loved the service and it’s within your spend, that’s the one to go with. Option two is a set amount, which is what I do. I go on what the service cost, how it made me feel and what I can afford that day. Nails, that’s usually £5 to £10. Hair, £10 to £20. Nobody has ever said a word to me about it, but I’m not going to tell you it’s the proper way.
So this is what I actually pay, what the card machine asks for, what happens to the money after you tap and how to work out your own number either way.
The conventional way | A percentage of the bill, if you loved it and it’s within your spend |
What I do instead | A set amount. £5–10 on nails, £10–20 on hair, going on cost and how it went |
Where these numbers come from | London. My prices and my tips are London ones. Elsewhere in the UK the bill will be different and so will what people can afford |
Card or cash | Card at the hairdresser, cash at the nail place. Some of the places I go take nothing else |
What the machine asks for | 10, 15 or 20% |
Service charge | I’ve never seen one added to a salon bill I’ve paid. That’s a restaurant thing in my experience |
Works for | Anyone who’s just moved here and anyone who’s been quietly panicking at the card machine for years |
£15.75 on £193 and the 75p is a mystery
July last year, a salon in Shoreditch. Face framing £80, wash, cut and blowdry £76, Wellaplex with the colour £37. That’s £193 before anything else.
I tipped £15.75 at the terminal, which on £193 is 8%.
Fifteen quid is right in my normal range for a big colour appointment so that part makes sense. The 75p is the bit I can’t account for. I don’t do percentages and I didn’t round it up either, because £208.75 isn’t a round anything. I’ve stopped trying to work it out. It’s an odd number and it’s what the receipt says.
Which is about as scientific as my tipping has ever got.
The £125 nail bill
December 2024, a nail place in Shoreditch about five minutes from the hairdresser. Acrygel extensions with gel polish and detailed cuticle care £85, then Category 3 art on top at £40, down from £43 because they knocked a few quid off. £125 all in.
This was the first time I’d had my nails done properly in a long time and I went somewhere pricey. They were beautiful and I’m not going to pretend the cost didn’t sting.
I booked through Fresha so £112.50 came off as a deposit three days before and the last £12.50 went on the card on the night. I went in at half five and the art was still going at quarter past seven, so it’s a proper sit-down, not a quick one.
There’s no tip line on that bill and that’s on me, not the salon. Nail places can take a tip if you want to leave one. Every place I’ve been to with a terminal has put the options in front of me and the cash-only ones have taken cash or a bank transfer when I’ve offered. That night I just tapped and left, mostly because I was still recovering from the total.
Nails are not tools
Nobody warned me. I broke one two days in.
Extensions change how you do absolutely everything. Opening a can needs an actual tool or a friend without nails. Same with anything with a lid, a zip or a ring pull. It’s not a complaint, it’s just a thing to know before you spend £125 and then snap one on a tin of chopped tomatoes.
The time I didn’t tip and why I’d still do it
Earlier this year I went to a place that only takes cash or a bank transfer. I’d gone in to have a bad set of extensions taken off, which is ten minutes of work and no fun for anybody.
They were lovely about it. They took pity on me and gave me a discount without me asking, which I hadn’t expected at all. My nails are still recovering from the damage the old set did.
I didn’t tip them. I paid, said thank you and left and I don’t feel bad about it. If I’d gone in for a full set I’d have put cash in their hand, which is how I do it at nail places (the hairdresser gets it on the card because the terminal asks). The tip follows the job, not the transaction. A ten-minute removal on a discount already felt like they’d done me the favour. Worth having a note on you if you’re going somewhere little though, because some of them take nothing else.
What the card machine actually asks for
August this year, a coffee shop on Bishopsgate, about quarter to ten in the morning. Coffee and something, £8.20.
The terminal came up with 10% (82p), 15% (£1.23), 20% (£1.64), then Custom Tip, then No Tip in the smallest box at the bottom.
Twenty per cent. On a coffee.
The salon tills I’ve paid on do the same thing. They turn the screen round, it offers percentages and the number I want has never once been the obvious button. You’re allowed to press Custom and put in your own amount. That’s what the button is for.
Do you tip hairdressers in the UK?
More than nails, yes. Still nowhere near 20%. Mine lands somewhere between £10 and £20 depending on what I’ve had done. A big colour appointment gets the top of that. A wash and blowdry on its own gets less, or I round up to the next tenner and leave it there.
Here’s the thing I’ve worked out about hair though and it changes who the tip is for. I used to go to a salon in Soho and for years that was my favourite place in London. Then my hairdresser moved to a different salon so I moved with her. Nothing wrong with the old place, she’s just the one who makes me feel good about my hair and that turned out to be the whole thing.
So when I’m tipping at the terminal I’m not really tipping a salon, I’m tipping her. At the new place she does the whole appointment herself, start to finish, no trainees, so I know where it’s landing. At my old salon I never actually asked. It may well have been shared across the floor, which would have been fine too. “Who am I thanking here” is a real question and you’re allowed to ask it out loud.
One more thing on salon bookings: a deposit isn’t a tip and isn’t a fee. My hairdresser’s salon takes 60p to hold the slot online and the nail place took £112.50 of a £125 appointment up front. Both came straight off the final bill, so don’t mentally write that money off.
Where the tip actually goes after you tap
Here’s the honest bit. I’ve been going to the same places for years and nobody has ever told me how the tips get split with the juniors, or with the person who washes your hair. I still don’t know.
What I do know is what the law says. Since 1 October 2024 the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act has been in force. It covers every sector and not just hospitality, so salons are in it too. Under it:
- Tips have to be passed on to staff without deductions, except in very limited scenarios such as tax.
- Where tips come in more than occasionally, the business has to have a written tipping policy.
- Staff can ask to see the tipping records. One request every three months, going back up to three years.
So if you’ve ever wondered whether the tenner you put on your card reaches the girl who did your wash, the person to ask is her. She’s now entitled to an answer, which is why I’ve started asking.
Checked at gov.uk on 1 September 2026.
When I don’t tip
If I’m not leaving happy I don’t tip. A tip, to me, is a thank you for good service, not something I owe for someone turning up. The other one that gets me is price. If the bill comes in a lot higher than I was expecting, I’m not then adding 15% on top of a number that already surprised me.
I’ve thought about this a lot. If you can afford it and you’re happy, tip. If money’s tight that month, a genuine thank you costs nothing. I’ve walked out of a salon without tipping and nobody has ever said a word to me about it.
Worth It / Not Worth It
Worth it
Cash at a small nail bar. Worth It. The small ones I’ve been to sometimes don’t have a terminal at all, so nothing is going to ask you. Five or ten quid when they’ve done a lovely job is plenty.
Not worth it
Letting the screen pick the number. Not Worth It. A percentage is a good tip when it’s the one you chose. 20% on an £8.20 coffee because it was the biggest button is not. Press Custom and choose your own, whatever it is.
Not worth it
Tipping on top of a service charge. Not Worth It. I’ve never seen one on a salon bill, but it’s the same reflex. In a restaurant the discretionary service charge already on the bill (12.5% on my last one) is the tip.
Worth it
Asking where the tip goes. Worth It. Costs nothing and since October 2024 the business has to have that policy in writing.
How to work out your own number
If you loved it and you’ve got the room, a percentage is the conventional way and there’s nothing wrong with it. Pick the one you mean, not the one the screen puts first.
If you’d rather a set amount, here’s how I land on mine. Look at what the service cost and how you feel walking out, then pay what you can afford. For me that’s a fiver to a tenner on nails and ten to twenty on hair and it moves depending on the day. Somebody with a smaller budget landing on three quid is doing exactly the same thing I am. Somebody who’s had a brilliant morning and wants to round it up generously is too.
These are London numbers, mine specifically. If your salon costs half what mine does, your tip can too.
If you’ve come from the US these numbers will look low to you. I’ve never once had a reaction to them. And if you’ve come from somewhere that doesn’t tip at all, you’re fine as you are.
The machine will always give you the options. The only mistake is letting it decide for you.
The Pivot
Worth It: paying what you can afford, on a job you were happy with.
Not Worth It: whatever number the screen puts in front of you first.
And if you want the restaurant half of this, the discretionary service charge and what you can do about it, that’s over on Do You Ask for the Check in London?
FAQ
Do you tip at nail salons in the UK?
Yes, when it’s a proper job and I can afford it, usually £5 to £10 in cash. A percentage of the bill is the conventional way if you’d rather do that. For something quick like a removal I don’t.
How much do you tip a hairdresser in the UK?
£10 to £20 depending on what I’ve had done. My last big colour appointment was £15.75 on a £193 bill, which is 8%. That’s less than the 15 to 20% you’ll see quoted online, which is the conventional way and a fine one if it’s within your spend.
Do I have to tip on the card machine?
No. The 10, 15 and 20% buttons are the machine’s suggestion, not a bill. Look for Custom and No Tip. They were both on the screen I photographed, the No Tip one in the smallest box, so put in your own number.
Do nail salons ask for a tip?
The ones I’ve been to with a terminal put the options on screen. The cash-only ones haven’t prompted me at all, but they’ve taken cash or a bank transfer when I’ve offered.
Do UK salons add a service charge?
I’ve never seen one on a salon bill I’ve paid. If the total is higher than the price list, ask what the extra line is.
Is it better to tip in cash or on the card?
Cash definitely reaches the person you handed it to. Card tips are covered by the 2024 rules and have to be passed on without deductions, except in very limited scenarios such as tax. Cash is still what I do on my nails.