Would You Pay $4,000 for This Hair?

Can you imagine shelling out over $4,000 for a single hair appointment, only to walk away feeling disappointed? TikTok creator @notfamous808 did — and her complaints about the experience are going viral. The bubbly blonde recently made an appointment with Chrissy Rasmussen, better known as Hair by Chrissy, an influencer-favorite stylist she had seen all over her feed. Instead, she claims in a TikTok video posted this week that the stylist “might’ve touched my hair for 60 seconds” total throughout her entire experience — even though she sprang $2,974 for what the receipt called the “Chrissy service.”

On one hand, it’s a classic tale of going somewhere TikTok-famous and having expectations collide with reality. On the other, the story has inspired intense discussion within the beauty community about whether top stylists rely too much on their assistants and the exploding costs of getting your hair done. What’s a visit to a high-end salon really worth? Let’s dig in.

Who is Hair by Chrissy?

Rasmussen owns Habit Salon, a hair salon that specializes in extensions with locations in Arizona and California. According to the salon’s website, she has over 27 years of experience; the stylist also has 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million on TikTok, thanks to her viral hair-extension transformations on celebrity and influencer clients like singer Sicily Rose, reality star Ariana Biermann, and creator Dixie D’Amelio.

Rasmussen has been in hot water before — most notably in 2020, when she seemingly allowed her employees and influencers to defy California’s mask mandate inside her busy salon.

What happened to @notfamous808?

The TikToker has posted a dozen videos about the drama, but here’s a quick summary. According to her first video in the series, which currently has over 15 million views, the young woman went to Habit Salon to get extensions, color, and a cut. She says there were about ten people working on her hair during the appointment, but Rasmussen was “nowhere to be found.” This was especially disappointing to her, since she had specifically gone to see Rasmussen.

@notfamous808 hypothesized that because she wasn’t a famous client with a large following, Rasmussen didn’t spend as much time with her during the appointment. “You walk in, she touches your hair, asks you what you want,” the creator says in part one. “Then, she tells everyone what to do on your hair.” She continues, “but the problem is, when you have ten people pulling your hair every way and dying your hair, they’re all kind of on different pages.” The creator claims that she wanted long, nearly white-blonde hair, and though she ended up walking out with what looks like platinum waves, she says it turned out darker than expected, particularly at the roots.

Later, she explained, Rasmussen did come over to talk about what she wanted for her final look. Then, @notfamous808 estimates that the stylist spent about 20 seconds foiling a small section of the hair, “did something in the back” for about ten seconds, told the team which toner to use, and later cut the front of the creator’s hair to blend them into the extensions for about 15 seconds. In part one, the TikToker states that Rasmussen curled a single piece of her hair, while in part three, she says that the stylist did not curl her hair. Regardless, it sounds like Rasmussen’s team took over styling the hair before sending the client on her merry way.

Overall, she called it an overwhelming experience in a space that felt like “TikTok Land” due to the number of “famous people” and influencers filming in the salon.

What was the total bill?

@notfamous808 shared a screenshot of her receipt in her videos and the final total (including a roughly one percent tip of $50) was $4,216.61. Initially, she had wanted to simply move up and color the extensions she already had in her hair (a cheaper service) or use the brand-new hair she brought to the salon. Allegedly, Rasmussen promised to make the TikToker’s hair look just like her inspiration photo, but said that in order to do so, the TikToker needed to purchase a new set of extensions from the salon. Because no other stylist had been able to give the creator exactly what she wanted, she complied. “I thought it was gonna be my perfect hair,” @notfamous808 says in part two. Not only was she disappointed by the end result, she also felt that she had been coerced into purchasing the new hair. The extensions she originally brought “look even brighter and more like my inspo pic,” she says.

The bill also included charges for a hair shampoo, treatment, detangler, and serum, which totaled $152.50. “I had no idea that I bought that,” the TikToker claims. She reports that the stylist put the products in a bag for her, saying “Here you go,” so the creator assumed that the items were complimentary. “I love these products,” she says. I use them every day. But, I don’t know. It was definitely interesting to say the least.”

So … why do people care?

In the past two days, videos about this situation have racked up tens of millions of views. The huge reaction is a little surprising, since this is the type of thing that could be chalked up to a case of “buyer beware” and handled in a Yelp review. After all, it’s not unusual for stylists to use assistants, and — especially right now — it’s hard to feel bad for someone who has thousands to spend on an indulgence. But the story has really fired up the beauty community online.

Honestly, if I were paying top dollar to have my hair done by a celebrity stylist, I would also expect them to stick around for most of my time there, especially if that was the quality of service I had seen advertised online through other clients’ TikToks.

But according to some stylists, it’s par for the course. @Philip_Stylist, the style director of Static Salon in White Plains, New York, stated in a video that Rasmussen should have been more transparent about what her customers are actually paying for. However, he says that “it’s been going on for years, where celebrity hair stylists, you’d go to them, you’d meet with them, and then they bring in an assistant to actually do the hair cut, the work. It’s kind of a given.” He alleged that legendary stylists like José Eber have been doing the same thing for a long time.

Rachel Bynum, a Texas-based hair-extension specialist with over 400,000 followers on TikTok, said that several of her own clients have gone to Rasmussen and had the same experience as the young blonde. Like @Philip_Stylist, she agreed that Rasmussen needed to be clearer about her offerings, so that clients “know exactly what to expect, and there’s no surprises.” Still, Bynum also said she’s not going to judge Rasmussen for running “her business the way that she wants to, and it’s working for her” and shared that she, too, has an assistant who helps her with blow-drying, washing, and styling of clients’ hair, due to carpal tunnel. However, she herself installs the extensions and colors the hair.

The bulk of reactions have been less sympathetic to Rasmussen. Comments on @notfamous808’s videos are full of users telling her to dispute the credit-card charge. “If I’m paying $3,000 for ‘Chrissy’s service’ then Chrissy is doing the service,” one user wrote. Another admitted, “No doubt she’s talented. But her ego has gotten so large it’s left the planet. Charging that much just to be in her presence is WILD.” Even the comments on Bynum’s post are fired up, with one user writing, “I’m an attorney. If I do work, it’s billed at one rate. If a partner does the work, it’s billed at a different rate. If a paralegal does the work, that’s a different rate. Idk why hairstyling wouldn’t be the same. Just a thought!” A different commenter suggested a new system: “She should have 2 tiered pricing, price 1 - with Chrissy the whole time or price 2 - consult with Chrissy, work to be completed by assistants, with Chrissy checking in.”

At the end of the day, stylists can run their business however they want to (within legal limits) and can charge virtually any price as long as their clients are willing to pay. It seems like most of Rasmussen’s are.

How did Rasmussen respond?

While the stylist hasn’t come out with a statement yet, she initially posted several videos to her TikTok Story, seemingly as evidence that she does actually touch her clients’ hair. One, captioned “Chrissy doing hair,” captures her sticking her tongue out while working on a set of extensions, before walking away and allowing an employee to keep working on the client. (She later changed her TikTok profile photo to a screenshot of that video.) Another, captioned “Chrissy cuts,” depicts the stylist cutting a client’s hair. The third one, captioned “She curls” in all caps, shows Rasmussen curling a strand of hair and giving a wide smile to the camera. She also seems to have flooded her TikTok page with dozens of videos since @notfamous808 posted her review.

Generally, though, it seems like Rasmussen is totally unbothered. Earlier today, she posted videos of the blonde’s before and after on her TikTok Story and page before writing, “merch coming soon” over an image of a T-shirt that reads, “Hair in 4K.” It’s reportedly on presale right now, although it’s unclear where. @notfamous808 reacted with a video, stating, “That is literally insane. Oh my gosh, what did I do?”

The Cut has reached out to Rasmussen and @notfamous808 for comment.