How we verify prices

Every price on HowMuchBeauty comes from one of two sources, and the two are never mixed.

1. Customer-reported bills

Customers report what they actually paid: salon, procedure, price. Reports are anonymous. Before a report ever appears on the site, it passes an automatic screening: reports more than three times or less than a third of the local median for that procedure are held for review instead of being published. Held reports are only released if later reports corroborate them. Reports can also list priced add-ons separately, and say whether the total is before or after tip.

2. Salon-published prices

We collect prices that beauty salons publish on their own websites and re-check them on a rotating monthly schedule. If a salon publishes a price range, we record and display the lower end of the range. Published prices show the date they were last verified. If a price cannot be verified twice in a row, we remove it; the salon listing stays so customers can still report.

3. Never blended

Customer-reported and salon-published prices are always labeled and shown separately, so you always know exactly what each number represents. A guess is never blended in with real reported prices without being clearly labeled.

Prices are estimates based on reported data, not quotes. Always confirm pricing directly with your beauty salon.