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Hi Cherryblossom. I've seen this one come up a lot. If you are mandating that your maids get their hair done, you have to suck it up and pay for it. If you don't care how they do their hair, and want them each to feel comfortable in whatever they do, you can talk to them and say something along the lines of "I'm going to book my hair appointment soon. Here's the price list for the salon--please let me know if you want to get your hair done too, and I'll make all the appointments at once. But if you want to save the money, feel free to do your own hair or go to another salon." Even if they are all paying for their own services, it would be nice if you cover the tip for everyone. Good luck!
I'm paying for my BM's because I chose the place where I'm getting it done. For asians, VickyC5 is a popular choice in NY...I think she travels to NJ as well. But she's pretty pricey, which is why I felt that it was unfair for my BM's to pay since they had no say in the decision making. I believe from NJ, Miss Martini chose another vendor...check out her blogs.
Cherry
I was thinking of giving my BMs a gift certificate to get their hair done... along with something more personal for their gifts as my bridal party..
I'm paying for the BMs' make-up, and giving them the option of having their hair professionally done (but on their dime). They're all content with this arrangement! 
I'll be paying for my BMs hair and makeup -- but it's their choice if and what they want to do with it! I have no mandated style or anything. Our family is also just in general paying for all the female relatives on my mom's side of the fam to get prettied up so 3 more BMs isn't shocking, haha. If you don't want to spring big money to have them all do updos, a style at a good salon will run you around $20 avg which is a good price IMO for fabulously styled hair =).
We're paying for it. It puts a big dent in our budget, but I really wanted the girls to feel beautiful, and none of them are very good with hair and make-up. They can opt out if they choose, but so far everybody wants in.
I found an exceptional deal for my bm's and mine's hair and make-up so I decided we would pay for it. We have four bm's and their make up totals $120 and hair $100 - mine is free.
I paid to get my bridesmaid's hair and make-up done. It was their gift from me. I also paid for their jewelry, but I only had two bridesmaids.
I'm paying for their hair but don't think I will specify how they have to have it done. This was a bit easier for me to decide, as my sister is a stylist and she and a friend/fellow stylist will be doing everyone's hair. (I don't expect it to be free, she is providing me a service, but the cost will be less than what we would pay at a salon.) I don't know about their make-up. It will depend on cost; I don't know who is going to do our make-up yet, so we'll have to wait on that one. I do agree with some of the others posts; if you want to specify how their hair and/or make-up looks, you should at least contribute if not cover the cost. The last wedding that I was in, the bride paid for our hair, and invited us to use her make-up artist if we wanted to get our make-up done. (Though she didn't cover the cost for it.)
I'm paying for all my 5 bridesmaids (moh included) and my mom's hair and makeup for the day. Luckily my sister's friend went to makeup school a couple of years ago and offered to do it for free when I asked her how much it would cost. She needs wedding stuff for her portfolio so it's a win-win situation. For hair I went to a hair school's salon for a cut over the holidays and ended up really liking the girl who did my hair. I'm thinking of asking her to do hair for the day. Since she's graduating this June from hair school and my wedding is in July I can probably get away with only paying really little since she'll also want wedding stuff for her portfolio. It's best to find people who WANT to do wedding stuff and who are new in the business. They tend to either do it for free or charge really really little!! Call up the hair/makeup schools in your area!
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Wow, all you nice ladies make me feel like a jerk. I was going to pay, but with hair & make-up costing so much I had my girls pay for their hair and make-up...I had 6 of them and the costs were just too high. Add that to the cost for me, my mom, my MIL, and my grandma....and wow was it $$$! In retrospect, I wish I had offered to pay for the BMs or at least for their hair or make-up.
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I think if you are going to insist on hair and make up, you will want to pay. It's fine to suggest a place and see if they want to go, and have them pay. (You're not forcing them.) But it can be a big extra expense, they were perhaps not aware of or budgeted for, that you will be forcing them to do. Hair and makeup is a pretty gray area. BMs usually expect to pay for their own dresses, not necessarily hair and make up.
I asked a wedding planner this question, because I too want my girls to get hair and makeup done. But I have 6 BMs, plus me, my Mom, my MIL and our brothers' girlfriends. Basically the wedding planner said that etiquette does not dictate that the bride pays for hair and makeup. Because I'm on a budget I'm asking them to pay - I think I've found a place in NYC that will do it for $130 each though - so not so bad.
I paid for their dresses, allowed them to wear any pair of black shoes (everyone has a pair of black shoes!) paid for their jewlery and purses along with make-up for those who wanted it done. I had a friend come to my house and do their hair for those who wanted help, the rest did their own.
I think if you require your girls to wear a certain thing that they do not already own, or have their hair or make-up done professionally it should be at your expense. It can get expensive (I had 5 bridesmaids) but we just cut things out in order to make it happen. These girls were the ones doing me a favor - I couldn't have it cost them money!
I finally got the ok from the hubby to pay for all our BM's makeup. I want to actually pay for a few more things for them. But I know so far we are paying for their makeup.
I think it is wonderful you are offering to foot the bill for this. I think nothing sucks more than being asked to buy a pricey bm dress, then have to pay to look the way the bride wants you to! Yes, it's a duty, but all that adds up to over $300 awfully fast. Have you tried a hair or aesthetician school? One near me does updoes for $25 each and makeup for $15+. They can't really mess up if you get one close to graduating. They are closely supervised and worst case scenario the instructor has to repin a few curls. Definitely a good money saving option. Maybe somebody would offer their services on Craigslist
I gave my girls the option of doing it themselves or going professional to the place I was going (without the financial help). Amazingly they all wanted to go get their hair down professionally because it seemed like they wanted to feel beautiful and have a special day too, and saved the money to do so.
In the end I ended up paying however, because our salon gave us a smoking deal, and my girls could afford to save the money for other things...
In the end I would discuss your options, I am sure they will understand if your budget won't allow for it, but at least give them an option to join you if they would like to.
I gave each of my BM's gift cards to the salon we had our hair done at (as well as a BM gift). They all told me they really appreciated that.
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I'm paying for my 3 maids and mom and aunt. You can always give them the choice of either having one service paid by you, and the other by themselves. One of my maids is coming all the way from Chicago, so I thought the least I can do for her is covering all beauty expenses. Good luck!
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I wasnt going to originally because I was just going to have them get their hair done, no makeup, at a really good price. Then I decided I wanted them to get their makeup done too, so I will be paying for their makeup and they will be paying for their hair. Each service is only $50 so I dont feel like Im asking them to pay a ton.
Yes! I paid for hair and makeup for all 6 of my BMs. I wanted them to be a bit spoiled and feel like they looked great, without the cost. I ended up hiring people who had flat rates to come to our site to do both. They were allowed to select any style they wanted, up, down, whatever. I don't think it is necessary, but I think if you don't pay then you can't require them to get professional services....
I think the rule is: If you tell them they have to get it professionally done, the bride pays. If it's optional, they can make the decision on whether to pay for the service or not. This was my arrangement with my BMs!
I agree with chicagowife. If you give them the option, they can decide whether or not to pay for the service.
cherryblossom515, are you still looking for someone in the NYC area? I'm asian and did some research and would be happy to share...
I gave mine the option of whether they wanted to get hair and makeup done. They all chose only to get their hair done (and do makeup themselves). In the end though, I ended up footing the bill. :)
I'm paying for manis for them the day before - day of, I told them hair and makeup is optional (at their expense) but that I would arrange for anyone who wanted it to get done. Most of them are doing their own makeup but getting their hair done.
I think it is great if you can offer this to your maids. I just don't have it in the budget!
I am paying for half of their make up and they are handling their own hair
i'm honestly shocked how many people paid for their BMs hair and make-up. I couldn't imagine being asked to me in someone's wedding and not understanding all that goes along with saying "yes". Paying $5000 for photography I would hope my BMs would want to look their best. I worked really hard to get a good deal on their BM dresses so I can't see it being a problem to spend a few dollars on their hair or make up. Of course like I posted above, I may throw in a gift certificate towards getting the process done but def. not the whole thing.
I also think how much time you give your girls between asking them to be in your wedding and the actual event should be a factor. I asked my girls a year and a half in advance to be my BMs. Plenty of time to build up that piggy bank 
I'm lucky that my sister/MOH is a cosmotologist and she and her friend are doing our hair the day of the wedding.
I've been a BM where the bride paid for all of us to have our hair done, but most recently we had the option to have it professionally done or help one another out. Some BM's went with the bride to the salon and others shared their talents with one another.
I say give the BM's the option or see if you could find some cosmotlogy students (often schools have their own salons) that would enable you to have have a "professional" feel for half the price.
If you can cover it, its a really nice thing to do...esp if you're asking them to do an updo or something they will have to pay for. I'm taking my girls to a super great spa that I adore the day before the wedding for manis/pedis which I will cover, that will be followed by the bridesmaids luncheon. I don't care how they do their hair and nails but I do want them to feel pampered and relaxed.
I am paying for their nails and 1/2 of their hair costs. There will be a makeup artist present, but they have a choice as to whether or not to get their makeup done. Like Sparkle, I am also taking them to brunch before we start our day of beauty. Our ceremony isn't until 7, so we get to spend the morning/afternoon together:)
As an aside, I've been in 5 weddings and have paid for my own hair/nails every time. I've never had my makeup done for a wedding (but I will for my own):)
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I'm paying for their hair to be done - but it's part of my gift to them (note- I asked them if they wanted to have their hair done - they were under no obligation to do so).
(Also paying for manis/pedi/foot massages the day before- at a bar/salon- what a great combo!)
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I have 5 bms and I feel bad if I don't pay for their hair and makeup. I want them to look great in the picture too. I'm currently searching for makeup artist that works with asian skin for myself if you have any recommendation that would be great. I preferred someone from NJ or NY. Anyway, back to orginal topic, so what should I suggest them to do if I can't pay for their makeup and hair? Any alternative?