Hair salon/ barbershop

[Mobin Shabani]

Hi everyone,

What is the most common word used by an American to refer to a place where women and men go to get a haircut?

I am assuming hair salon is for women and barbershop for men, but I don’t know if an Average American uses different words for different kinds of salon (with different services) for women and men.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, I don't know if I'm an average American. (Note the lower case spelling.) However, I would expect to see men in a barber shop and women in a hair salon.

 

[SoothingDave]

There are still dedicated (basically) sex-segregated "beauty salons" and "barber shops."

A lot of unisex "hair salons" exist. I haven't used a barber since my last one retired.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think I've used "hair salon" for a couple of decades. I call a business that specialises in cutting/styling women's hair a "hairdressers". A place that mainly does men's hair is still called a "barbershop". I don't know about anywhere else in the UK but in my local area there has been a huge increase in the number of Turkish barbershops, where men can get a haircut, a wet shave, nasal/ear hair removal and probably various other things I don't know about!

A beauty salon here would offer much more than just haircuts - you can get a facial, manicure, eyebrow threading and, again, probably various other things I don't know about!

 

[Tarheel]

The term "beauty parlor" used to be pretty common.

I've been to a place you might call unisex once or twice.