You get what you pay for.
I am glad I did not sign up for highlights, as I noticed the girl next to me had her hair bleached with a suspicious-looking 'Rapid Hair Bleach £7,99'. The ladies running the salon have beautiful Arabic features and fantastic thick hair which can probably take the 'rapid hair bleach' with no harm.
But me with my fine European mousy hair would just walk out bald...
I paid £15 for wash&cut and got a quick (a bit too quick!) haircut. Nothing wrong with it, but some hairstylists in the past took 40 minutes, not 12... But like I said - my haircut is absolutely O.K.