Is it wrong to tip my hair stylist less after she raised prices?
I'm a woman with very curly hair who tried to find someone who is familiar with cutting my texture of hair, which is not easy in the town I live in. The stylist I go to is very good and specializes in curly hair, does a lot of continuing education, uses high quality products, etc., so I didn't mind paying the high price of $145 + tip for a cut and scalp treatment. It's California, after all. I know things are expensive here, and I am accustomed to paying around $100 for a cut and style in other places I have lived, so $145 didn't seem that unreasonable.
However, I just received an email from her that said she raised her prices by $75. This is a huge jump in cost in my opinion. I usually try to tip her 15-20% because I like her work (plus, she is a young, single mother with two kids). I still want to tip her for her work, however I don't think I can tip more than 10% now that the actual price has gone up to $220. Even that is a bit of a strain.
I don't make a lot of money. I save up a little at a time for my haircut, which I get about every 5-7 months. However, I still feel bad giving her only a 10% tip when I see most of her clients tipping 15-20%. Am I being unreasonable over an extra $11-$22? I also feel some kind of way about being told the price went up the day before my appointment, so I might be making a big deal out of nothing.