In 2026, a haircut in Chicago runs anywhere from about $25–45 at chains, $60–100 at neighborhood salons, $95–150 at high-end studios, and $200+ for senior or celebrity-level stylists. At Reverie in River North, every stylist sets their own pricing, and within it cuts are priced by length — never by gender — so what you pay depends on which stylist you book, and you see their price when you choose them at booking. The Bespoke Haircut with Sal is $500. Here's an honest owner's breakdown of what actually drives those numbers, so you can decide which tier is right for you.
What you're paying for at each tier
Chains ($25–45): speed. Appointments run 20–30 minutes on a formula system with high stylist turnover. Perfectly fine for maintenance buzzes and simple trims.
Neighborhood salons ($60–100): a real consultation and a stylist who may remember your hair, with wide variance in training depth.
High-end studios ($95–150): this is where technique changes — longer appointments, real consultation, cuts designed for grow-out, and usually a dry-refinement step after the wet cut so the shape holds at week one and week six.
Senior/award-level ($200+): you're booking a specific artist's eye — the same skill they teach or compete with, applied to your head.
Why prices moved by length, not gender
The industry is (slowly) abandoning "women's cut / men's cut" pricing, and we don't use it at all: a pixie takes the same skill and time whoever wears it. Length and complexity drive the work, so they drive the price. If a Chicago salon still quotes you by gender, it tells you something about how current their training is.
What makes a cut worth the higher tier
Three things, in our experience: a real consultation (your growth patterns, face shape, and how you style at home — not just a photo glance); dry refinement, because wet hair lies and the difference shows up the next morning; and grow-out design — a cut that looks good for ten weeks costs less per week than a cheap cut you hate by week three. That math is the whole argument.
Pricing at Reverie
Every stylist at Reverie sets their own pricing, and within it cuts are priced by length — short, medium or long. Choose your stylist when you book and their pricing appears before you pick a time. Bang trims and neck cleanups from $10, Bespoke with Sal $500 — and a written quote before any scissors touch your hair. Every appointment includes a full consultation in the chair at no extra charge; if you'd rather plan it before you book, a standalone consultation is $50 for 15 minutes, or $150 for 30 minutes with Sal, credited in full toward any service or any product at Reverie within 30 days. No surprise totals at checkout, ever. Full details on our haircut page.
