Think you guys are mixing up hair designers with barbers. Barbers that simply put razors to your head and give you a good enough cut will be $7-$20. However, hair designers that come out of hair art schools (yes it's a thing) do a wide spectrum of things from dying hairs, perms, knowledge of how to use a wide spectrum of scissors along with scissor techniques, do dreadlocks, etc. These lads and ladies easily charge $20+. And as @The Undefeated stated, these folks are able to cut your hair precisely as you want them to be cut. Heck there's a shop next to my university with an old guy that charges base $50 for a haircut. Not that I would ever go there... I get that nice $8 ROTC buzz cut lol.