‘I wish there was a deeper study on this.’
A server believes her hairstyle drastically impacts her tips and is taking to social media to prove it. In a series of viral videos, TikToker Sam McCall (@sammccall0) shared different hairstyles she tried during various server shifts and how much money she took home each day.
She documented her hairstyle for three days. Each day, she made a different amount of tips.
“Day 3 of trying the server hair theory to see what makes more tips,” text overlaid on one of the clips read.
In that video, she styled her hair into a messy bun and reported that she made $392. That amount was right in the middle of what she made during two other shifts with different hairstyles.
In a prior video where she wore her hair down but accessorized it with a bandanna, she made less money.
“I made $310 with this hairstyle (Thursday),” the text overlaid on that video said.
On Friday, she styled her hair into two Dutch braids and made $428. It was the most money she made on any day.
In the comments section, many theorized why the braids were more popular than the other styles.
“As a customer I would tip more because your hair is contained and won’t be in my food day one I’d ask for a different server,” Jmc9093 commented.
“I always wear braids and I will say it’s a classic, but I genuinely wonder the correlation like I wish there was a deeper study on this,” user Littleghostboyy wrote.
“2 ponytails,” another viewer agreed. “Gets the most.”
“So having a childish style gets you the most tips, men are gross,” user Sara B said.
The correlation between hairstyles, particularly pigtails, and tips has inspired plenty of viral content on TikTok.
Last month, the Daily Dot reported on another TikToker, Autumn (@autumnsgotaux), who also tried to test the relationship between her hairstyles and the amount of tips received during her serving shift. She reported that she received the most tips with pigtails.
These women are not alone.
More often than not, servers who participate in the hairstyle challenge report that pigtails yield the most tips.