Ulta is one of the most popular beauty, cosmetics, and hair companies in the US.
Ulta employs a massive 37,000 people at approximately 1,200 locations.
They offer a wide range of beauty services including makeup applications, lashes, brow waxing, hair services, skin treatments, and even ear piercing.
If you’re visiting Ulta for some pampering or perhaps just to buy beauty products, then you might be wondering whether you need to tip.
Tipping is commonplace in the US but people often get it wrong and end up either tipping way over the odds and straining their budget, or fail to tip or don’t tip enough and fall short of common customs.
To bring you up to speed with the tipping etiquette at Ulta, we’ve done the donkey work and will put you in the picture as to whether you need to tip, how much to tip if so, what Ulta employees earn, and other important factors such as the costs of their services.
Keep reading to discover what we found…
Should You Tip Ulta Employees? The Short Answer
It’s customary to tip Ulta employees who are performing a treatment/service such as a haircut/styling, ear piercing, skin treatment, brow waxing, or eyelash treatments etc… However, you don’t need to tip store assistants in the shop.
Keep reading below to see how much to tip…
How Much Do Ulta Employees Earn? Do They Need Tips?
You will no doubt be familiar with the notion that some employees simply need tips to boost their income to help them get by.
We’re all familiar with coffee shop workers, servers, and caterers receiving tips but what about those at work at hair and beauty companies like Ulta?
We’ve pulled up the data from the job website Indeed to have a look at what Ulta employees earn (we’ve just included the employees who provide health and beauty services):
| Role | Hourly Rate |
| Hair Stylist | $13.48 per hour |
| Beauty Consultant | $19,821 per year |
| Waxing Specialist | $13.77 per hour |
| Esthetician | $12.70 per hour |
As you’ll see, these are fairly poor salaries and hourly rates and are in fact well below the average yearly salary in the USA.
According to PolicyAdvice.net, the average salary in the US is $51,916.27 and yet on the above data, Ulta employees earn well below this.
On this basis, you may feel it is in good conscience to tip as it’s clear that Ulta employees providing hair and beauty services are earning fairly modest salaries and probably need to supplement their income with tips.
We haven’t included the earnings data for store managers and store assistants as they aren’t usually tipped in any event.
How Much Do Services Cost at Ulta?
Another thing you might want to think about when deciding whether and how much to tip is the cost of services at Ulta.
We’ve pulled up the data from Ulta’s website to give you the low down:
| Service | Costs |
| Hair Styling | $40 – $75 |
| Hair Treatment | $20 – $35 |
| Skin Treatments | $10 – $90 |
| Face Makeup | $30 – $60 |
| Lashes | $10 – $200 |
That should give you a rough idea of what you might expect to pay at Ulta for the various treatments they offer.
According to our research, these costs are about average when you assess them against Ulta’s competitors.
How Much To Tip at Ulta?
As we’ve established, it is good etiquette to tip at businesses like Ulta but what is the market rate?
When we looked at whether to tip at Great Clips we discovered that the standard tipping rate in this market is around 15-20% of the total cost of the services purchased.
We don’t see any reason to depart from that with Ulta. For example, we aren’t aware that they add a service charge or anything of that kind onto your bill.
Clearly, 15-20% can get quite expensive, especially if you have something like your lashes done (up to $200) so you might decide to pay a fix sum instead.
If you do decide to tip a fixed amount then $5-20 will be plenty.
Within this industry, it is commonplace to tip with money but there are of course other ways you can show your gratitude such as:
- By offering praise or a review
- With a gift voucher or thank you card
- With flowers
- With a bottle of wine or chocolates
Does Ulta Allow Tips?
Some companies ban their employees from taking tips as a matter of company policy. Most do so on ethical grounds.
However, we couldn’t find anything to suggest that Ulta bans its employees from taking tips.
Indeed, this would be highly unusual in an industry where tipping is commonplace.
If you’ve experienced something different at Ulta then let us know in the comments section as we appreciate some locations may adopt different rules to others.
Related Article:
Ulta Makeup Returns Policy
Should You Ever Tip More or Not at All?
It’s common practice to tip your beauty technician or stylist more under circumstances.
This might be if:
- The service surpassed your expectations
- The quality of your treatment is better than expected
- It’s around the holidays
- You’ve received a discount or good deal
You might decide to not tip if:
- The treatment or haircut isn’t as expected or is not what you asked for
- If the stylist or technician has been rude or unprofessional
- If you’ve been injured (for example if the hair stylist knicks your ear or eyelash extensions are incorrectly applied)
- If the service is not what you expected
Conclusion
In summary, you really should be tipping employees at Ulta.
It’s common practice to tip this kind of worker and on the basis of the earnings stats we’ve pulled up, it seems that their staff could really do with tips to get by and to boost their income.
If you do tip then the standard rate is 15-20% of the service you have and we’d apply that across the board, whether it’s a haircut, skin treatment, or eyebrow service you’re having done.
The prices of the services provided at Ulta are well within industry norms so you should have the budget for a tip.
Remember to tip a little extra if the service really blows you away or around the holidays.
