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The story
A thread on 5ch lit up over the idea that cheap “¥1000 haircut” barbershops are disappearing amid a wave of price hikes. Even major chains like QB House have raised prices to around ¥1300, and posters piled on saying independently run shops still charging under ¥2000 are now hard to find. The thread weighed in on both price and skill — some blamed rising labor costs and inflation for the hikes, others argued that skilled barbers can still be found even at cheap shops, while a few took jabs at customers who care about nothing but the lowest price.
What people said
I stopped going there 'cause one of the stylists pissed me off
That chain's ¥700 for me
Any place under ¥1000 that's empty is definitely a landmine (i.e. a trap to avoid)
Independent shops in the ¥1000s have seriously disappeared
There are skilled people even at cheap places, and there are untalented stylists at expensive salons who are just as bad as the worst ones at cheap places
It's a mix of good and bad stylists
And you can't request a specific one
If you go super short, you'll get the look you want every time
At this point he's basically doing it as a hobby
At a fast place, about 10 minutes
Isn't that normal?
Is a genuine ¥1000 cut seriously just the cut and nothing else?
"We'll make and serve you lunch! That'll be $30, about ¥5000!
We pay our staff proper wages, so please understand the price."
Japan:
"We'll serve lunch for $6, about ¥1000!
We've cut costs to the bone, kept labor costs down, and hit $6/¥1000!
Even if it means suppressing workers' wages,
selling for even one yen cheaper is what's best for the customer!"
I wonder which path was the right one after 30 years~😑
Actually there are countries where even making customers pay extra on top as tips still can't keep up with the cost of living
They should just buy clippers and cut it themselves
Setting up and cleaning up afterward is a hassle though
Guys who settle for ¥1000 haircuts are poor for life
Not interested enough to read a whole book, just give me the gist
I bought a Rolex at a fake market in Thailand once just for fun, and I'm actually pretty well-off
Still get my ¥1000 haircuts though
Things were just insane before
Shifting to a normal, inflation-driven society is absolutely the right call!
That's stagflation (inflation without real wage growth)
And that's a regular barbershop, not even a fancy salon
At the prices of that era, too
That was basically a cartel, wasn't it
Everyone charged the exact same price
And there are customers who'll wait around just to get seated with her
Guys like that really do exist out there
It's creepy
even with a flat-backed head, which a lot of Japanese people have,
they can cut it to look egg-shaped like a Westerner's head
Sounds like you've never actually seen a Western person
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Since the 1990s, “¥1000 haircut” shops have been a business model spread by franchises like QB House, built around the pitch of “cut only, quick service.” In recent years, rising minimum wages and inflation have pushed even the major chains to raise prices to around ¥1300. The thread split between those insisting skilled barbers can still be found even at cheap shops, and those arguing that an empty shop charging rock-bottom prices is a red flag for shoddy skill — pointing out that price and quality don’t always move together. It’s worth noting that the claim these shops have “vanished” reflects the gut feeling of posters on the thread rather than any nationwide statistics on shop numbers.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] ¥1000 Haircuts Have Seriously Gone Extinct wwwwwwwwwwwwwww“.
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