Hair straighteners offered at gyms, bars

Some bars and gyms across Auckland are being fitted with hair straighteners in their bathrooms. Photo / Thinkstock

Frazzled and frizz-afflicted women can expect free hair straighteners at plenty of gyms and bars even though bureaucrats were chided for providing the device at a ministry head office.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was derided for spending $400 on a hair straightener during a building refit, following news it splashed out on a $140,000 screen and an expensive fridge, sun deck and stone sign.

A human resources expert said employers could probably come up with multiple justifications for installing hair straighteners.

But Human Resources Institute of New Zealand chief executive Chris Till said a counter-argument, mostly around inappropriate spending "of someone's dollars" could also be valid.

Justifications for installing straighteners could include "employee well-being" and helping staff prepare for work social functions, Mr Till said.

"Imagine a member of staff who has biked to work, got wet hair and needs to shower and then make themselves presentable and also feel good, all day, about their personal appearance and brand," Till said.

"That is the zone where you might seek to justify this 'enablement'."

Mr Till said the issue the MBIE hair straightener raised reminded him of some British "blue chip financial institutions" which used to supply shoe shine services, visiting hairdressers and sandwich vendors, and complementary concierges and dry cleaners or even tailors.

Gyms including Les Mills in Victoria St, Auckland, and Exodus in Wellington offered customers free use of straighteners.

In wet and windy Wellington, Dockside Restaurant also offered the service to customers.

Dockside bartender Josh Davies said customers loved the hair straightener, and a hair dryer too.

"It's just been something that we've recently introduced - about two months ago," Mr Davies said. "So far we've only had good feedback about it. I think one of our owners saw it somewhere else once when he was out and thought it was a good idea, so just decided to do it."

Magazine publisher Bauer offered hair dryers to staff at its Auckland headquarters.

Accounting firm Grant Thornton in Auckland and Craigs Investment Partners said they did not provide the straighteners.

Greater Wellington Regional Council did not provide hair straighteners but a spokesman said the council did provide hair dryers, as some staff worked outside for long stretches of time.

A Public Service Association (PSA) spokesman said he had no idea how commonly hair straighteners were provided but it was probably an issue for individual workplaces.

A source from a different union said he'd be astonished if hair straighteners were asked for, or provided, at any workplaces.

Several Wellington women said many women's toilets in the city's pubs had coin-operated hair straighteners.