Wow, that sounds ridiculous. How on earth can you afford to work unless the fees paid by your clients are extremely high end?
As far as I know, there aren’t many laws protecting salon workers in the USA compared to the EU, so I guess it comes down to what you can negotiate with the salon owner. Do you have enough experience to look for work in another salon?
As for you tipping the assistant, that sounds bonkers to me...!
I’m so grateful that we don’t really do tips over here, (Ireland). Thankfully, most salon workers normally earn enough from their wages to not have to rely on tips to make a decent living.
Here, you either pay a daily chair rent that’s roughly equivalent to the charge for 1 cut/finish OR you pay a percentage of your takings. If a percentage, it’s generally 60/40 split with whoever is providing the colour products receiving the 60%.
You wouldn’t be expected to pay for someone else’s salary on top of that as it would get far too complicated with regards to paying tax.
