CoiffeurGate: The high cost of Hollande's haircut

He's typically perfectly groomed and neatly turned out for every occasion but Francois Hollande's hairstyle doesn't come cheap.

France has been mulling over the revelation that the hairdresser responsible for maintaining the head of state's quite ordinary looking head is paid almost 10,000 euros a month.

The presidential barber bill was revealed by the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine which also disclosed that the stylist - identified only as Olivier B - travels with Hollande on most of his foreign trips.

This quickly inspired the hashtag #CoiffeurGate, as social media users posted pictures of Hollande with hairstyles that they considered might be more worthy of such a hefty price tag.

CoiffeurGate: The high cost of Hollande's haircut

But amid the mullets, memes and comments about it being a good job if you can get it, the revelation has re-ignited the political debate over claims of unnecessary spending by the Socialist president's administration.

This tweet asks: "9500 euro's a month for this? What a talent."

'A hairdresser that costs 9900 gross per month? "Because I'm worth it!"' - was the caption of this tweet posted by a political opponent

French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll has confirmed that Hollande's hairdresser is paid 9,985 euros per month and said that the expenditure was reasonable. "Everyone gets haircuts," he said. "This hairdresser had to abandon his salon and he's on tap 24 hours a day."

He also stressed that the operational budget of the presidential Elysee Palace was cut by 15 to 20 per cent after Hollande took over from Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012. However, that hasn't stopped the torrent of memes.

Blog by Rozina Sini

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