HAIR salons offering cut-price services are flooding the HDB heartland.

Snip Avenue was one of the first, offering haircuts for just $2.80 and colouring for less than $20.

Now more chains have jumped on the bandwagon.

But, while the haircuts are cheap, some of the hairstylists persuade customers to take up more expensive services like scalp treatments, perming and colouring.

Mr Alvin Ng, director of Barracuda Hair Studio, explained: 'Salons can't survive if every customer goes for ridiculously cheap haircuts. So the hairstylists have to persuade the customers to pay for more services.'

Barracuda has four outlets in Clementi, Bedok, Kallang and Tampines.

Mr Ng said it is more feasible to do business in the heartlands because of the lower rents.

He said: 'My budget is between $4,000 and $6,000, but I could be paying four times as much in a mall.'

A typical shop in a mall costs about $10,000 a month to rent.

Rates at Barracuda's Clementi shop are higher than at other branches as residents in the area have higher disposable income, said Mr Ng.

Prices for haircuts and colouring start from $10 and $35 respectively in the Clementi shop, compared with $7 and $30 at other outlets.

Mr Joe Koh, who owns Tranzform, also admits he tries to persuade customers to go for perms and dyes, or even a wash to earn at least $10 more.

He said: 'Of course, if customers go for more services, we earn more. But we don't force them.'

Tranzform has two outlets in Toa Payoh. Both charge $7.80 for a haircut.

Snip Avenue's hairstylists also ask customers who go in for haircuts if they would consider dyeing or perming their hair.

Netizens have described on Internet forums how they were urged to perm or colour their hair when all they wanted was a trim.

One of them, pink-starz88, wrote on sgclub.com: 'They (Snip Avenue) keep on pushing you to do treatment and all that, like just interested to earn commision (sic).'

Snip Avenue's managing director, Mr Jimmy Tan, however, said it is still up to customers. He admitted that stylists sometimes try to sell more services to earn more commission.

'It's natural that our hairstylists would try to make as much as they can,' he said. 'But they should also not pressurise customers to take up services they don't want.

'If our hairstylists are unethical, that would give our salons a bad name.'

Keep opening outlets

To make their presence felt in HDB areas, these chains keep opening outlets.

D'Image has five outlets in areas like Bukit Batok, Marine Parade and Toa Payoh and plans to open a few more by year-end.

Haircuts cost $6 for men and $8 for women, while hair colouring starts at $18.

One of its directors, Mr Patrick Ee, said: 'Having several outlets is convenient for clients and gives our hairstylists the chance to manage a shop.

'We had customers who asked us to open outlets near their homes as they were happy with our pricing and services. More shops also mean we can promote more hairstylists to be shop managers.'

However, Mr Ee claimed he is not raking in big bucks.

He said competition has eaten into profits but would not reveal figures.

Still, pioneer budget chains like EC House and QB Net are unfazed.

EC House's marketing manager, Ms Zann Soh, said: 'We emphasise hygiene and many customers come back to us. And we charge $10 for all haircuts regardless of hair length.'

EC House has 29 outlets and QB Net has 24.

QB Net's managing director, Mr Osamu Matsumoto, said: 'We know there are many salons pricing haircuts at less than $10.

'But our stylists are well-trained and that's how we have retained customers.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.