I’ve been going to the same Toronto hairdresser for three years. In that time, I’ve been sent some version of the same message at least once – sometimes twice – a year.

“Like many in the industry …” the e-mail begins, before listing off a host of rising costs and ending with a link to a list of eye-watering new prices.

Seventy-five bucks for a trim, $460 for colour and blow-dry. Tax and tip not included.

Women pay about 40-per-cent more than men for a haircut globally.

Men in Toronto have railed on Reddit against “crazy” prices for a simple beard trim, with some adding up the cost to $720 a year.

My colleague hit a nerve when he recently wrote about investing in electric hair clippers to save $400 a year and look “somewhat presentable” on Zoom calls.

And today, yet another unlikely force threatens to push prices even higher: Donald Trump. More specifically, Canada’s retaliatory measures against the U.S. President’s latest round of punishing levies on Canadian goods.

Hair-care products and styling tools from the U.S. are among the largest categories of direct consumer-facing goods to get hit with countertariffs of up to 50 per cent by Canada, amounting to about $347.6-million in value.

“It’s hard for a retailer to absorb all of that, so it’s likely that a large fraction will be passed on,” Joseph Steinberg, an economics professor at the University of Toronto, told me. “Even if retailers eat half of the tariff cost, that’s a 25-per-cent price increase for consumers.”

And it’s not just prices at the store.

While European products dominate professional haircare, and the Buy Canadian movement hasn’t died out, “many of the products used in a typical salon are manufactured in and imported from the U.S.,” said Greg Robins, executive director at BeautyCouncil, an industry group representing professionals at salons, barbershops and spas.

“Prices will have to rise, likely at a rate disproportionate to inflation,” he said.

The cost of sitting in a hairdresser’s chair has been growing in recent years owing to massive labour shortages, rising rents and the stickiness of higher prices brought on by pent-up demand during COVID-19 lockdowns.

“We try to go no more than 3 to 5 per cent every year,” said John Nguyen, vice-president of the Ontario Professional Hairstylist Association, referring to price hikes.

But the cost of some products has climbed far more than that. An operator might now pay about $15 for a tube of dye, compared to roughly $8 in 2017-18, he said, or nearly double.

And even with a conservative 3-per-cent to 5-per-cent annual spike in consumer prices, that means a $60 haircut six times a year in 2016 adds up to between $125 and $225 more today, or an annual total of between $485 and $585.

To be clear, not all salon products are imported from the U.S., or poised to drive up prices further as a result of Canada’s countertariffs. The latter affect shampoos, treatments and tools, rather than items such as colour, Nguyen explained.

But when manufacturers or service providers face rising costs or shortages affecting a particular product and need to hike prices, they may spread those increases.

And there are also more unexpected ways the trade war is raising costs. For example, there are tariffs on aluminum, which stylists use in abundance for colouring and highlights, Nguyen said. Despite being a massive aluminum exporter, Canada is a net importer of aluminum foil, with the U.S. being a major source.

Even tiny increases matter when you’re replenishing supplies “constantly,” Sharday Walker, a Winnipeg-based hairstylist, told me.

Any additional cost pressures are bound to push up already tight margins, and ultimately, consumer prices. The good news is any hair products already in Canada will have to work their way through the distribution chain first.

“There’s at least a three- to six-month buffer,” Nguyen said.

How much has the cost of your cut or style increased in the last few years? Is it an expense you’ve decided to trim entirely? Drop me a line at mpostelnyak@globeandmail.com