The best hair salons in London

There is no feeling like settling down in a London hair salon before you head on holiday. It marks the start of your holiday mood – you’ve made your packing list, or even finished packing altogether, turned your OOO on and now it’s your time to relax. Below, we have personally tried and tested London’s best hair salons that guarantee everything you need for your trip: beautiful bouncy blowouts, incredible colour, and – best of all – time to unwind. From a sleek, marbled icon in Kensington to a haven for creatives in the East Village, these are the best hair salons in London for your pre-holiday appointment.

Best hair salon for: the coolest studio in London

Stā Studios, Bank

Getting your hair done is always a treat, but while many relish the opportunity to get pampered and forget about the world beyond the salon, others struggle to switch off fully or simply have too much to do to take time out. Samantha Cusick not only knows this but embraces it. The business model behind her successful London brands is targeted at busy modern women, and her clientele proves it – Mel C, Grace Beverly, Zoe Sugg and Tanya Burr, to name a few. Samantha knows what women want and need, and her easy-breezy salons prove it.

Her latest venture is no exception – Stā Studios is a hybrid space in Bank, where working women can pop in for a lunchtime trim or post-work drink. There’s a coffee and cocktail bar, a co-working area, podcast studios and private hair studio spaces. There’s even an option to book a “quiet treatment” if you need to sit and answer emails (or just close your eyes). My hair was the longest it's ever been, with grown-out dye and split ends, so Samantha gave me a much-needed trim, blowdry, Olaplex treatment and balayage. The colour of my hair has never been better – we went for neutral blonde highlights starting at the crown and getting stronger in colour towards the ends to create a natural, sun-kissed summer look and added in soft layering and shorter sections at the front. You can book via Samantha Cusick London Residency at Stā Studios. Olivia Morelli

Recommended buys: The Olaplex No6 Bond Smoother has worked wonders on my frizzy flyaways, and the No7 Bonding Oil is great for dry ends.
Address: 14-17 Old Broad St, London EC2N 1DW
Website: sta-studios.com

Best hair salon for: hair extensions

Beauty Club London

You will be hard-pressed to find a better hair extension specialist in London than Louise Bailey, the queen of the hair extensions scene. With over two decades of experience and training others in the industry, Louise is now based at Beauty Club London in Oxford Circus alongside Moe Harb, the UK's leading hair colour expert. The duo and their team at Beauty Club London provide the best hair colour and exceptional hair extensions to match. These extensions not only look natural but act and feel like your natural hair, giving even the finest of hair glorious volume and length. The in-house range of 100% human hair tape extensions, Hair Club Extensions, has set a whole new industry standard for both hair extension therapists and clients – this is the one beauty secret I can't live without. Saffron Altmeyer-Ennis

Recommended buys:
Address: 28 Market Place, London W1W 8AW
Website: beautyclublondon.co.uk

Best hair salon for: subtle colour

Nicola Clarke, Fitzrovia

With an impressive 25 years of experience and a long list of celebrity clients, Nicola Clarke is known as “London’s colour queen”, so it’s safe to assume that your hair will be in good hands with the team at her central London spot. On the day of my appointment, it’s a sweltering 29 degrees, and I’m running a few minutes late, but from the moment I push the glossy salon doors open, my stress turns to serenity. The space is calming and cool - all polished concrete floors, brass counters and leather chairs.

Within moments, I’m wrapped in one of the chicest robes I’ve seen, chilled sparkling water within reach. My treatment is with colour director John, who only needs to glance at my phone's embarrassingly large album of balayage photos to understand the exact shade I’m after. After John works his magic, stylist Ronnie expertly dries my hair into effortless waves. The salon uses the Hair by Sam McKnight range, and Ronnie recommends the Barely There Texture Mist for my fine locks – not only does it create a lovely beachy look, it smells incredible. Subtle and natural were my only requests when I arrived at Nicola Clarke, and at the end of my appointment, I’m left with the softest sun-kissed shade (as well as a shopping list of Sam McKnight products to try). Sarah Allard

Recommended buys: The Sam McKnight volumising spray and barely there texture mist – a great combo for fellow fine-locked folk!
Address: 58-59 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SN
Website: nicolaclarke.com

Best hair salon for: afro textured hair

Charlotte Mensah Hair Lounge

Since 2016, Charlotte Mensah – a three-time Afro Hairdresser of the Year – has taken care of her clients’ natural, relaxed or post-braid hair using her award-winning, own-brand Manketti product range. Needing a treatment to soften and moisturise my parched curls, I headed to her smart, wooden-floored salon on Portobello Road. Mensah’s experienced staff began by applying detangling conditioner before vigorously hand-scrubbing Himalayan salt onto my scalp to get the blood circulating and stimulate hair growth. “If the scalp is not cared for, you don’t really get healthy hair,” she says. Afterwards, they added Manketti oil – an organic blend of sustainably sourced manketti nuts and Ximenia oils – to nourish and condition my Afro. Then the Manketti Treatment began – 30 minutes under a steamer while I sipped tea and scoffed slices of Mensah’s sensational lemon drizzle cake. Post-treatment, my curls were smothered in her own-brand oil pomade and drizzled with a finishing mist to boost lustre and tame the flyaways. For days afterwards, my hair stayed soft (a considerable achievement), and the curls looked brighter and more defined – a very satisfying result. Noo Saro-Wiwa

Pro tip: Those who can’t come to the salon and use its steamers can put on a heat cap or shower cap at home for a few hours. Do this once a month or every six weeks to attain gradually softer, healthier hair.
Recommended buys: Manketti hair oil - Charlotte Mensah from £17, and Charlotte Mensah Manketti Oil Pomade, £55
Address: 347 Portobello Rd, London W10 5SA
Price: Treatments from £130
Website: charlottemensah.com

Best hair salon for: scalp conditions

Healthy Hair Studio by Enitan, Hammersmith

A few months ago, I went to see the practice nurse at my surgery, and we discussed our mutual diagnosis of lichen planopilaris. She recommended Hair by Enitan, and I immediately made a note to book in for a trichology session. Enitan Agidee started out informally, simply caring for her daughter’s hair in the best way possible and, from there, began to impart advice to other women in the Black community. “It was never styling or dressing,” she says, “always hair care.” After amassing clients and knowledge over time, she became Britain’s first Afro hair coach and trained as a trichologist. News spread, and her popularity grew to the extent that, at one point, there were 8,000 people on her waiting list. That’s when she decided to look for a London salon. Healthy Hair Studio by Enitan has recently opened in Hammersmith, treating everything hair care related from volume to dryness, scalp issues like dermatitis and alopecia. They also perform hair loss procedures, which are diverse, including stem cell treatment that works by creating micro channels to deposit stem cells to stimulate growth, as well as plasma-rich platelet therapy and phlebotomy.

While Enitan centres Black women, she works with all hair types and notes that some alopecia, for example, affects the Caucasian community more, such as alopecia areata. Enitan is the accompaniment, the antidote, or the alternative to, the GP route, if you’re having problems with hair growth. She analyses my hair under the microscope before telling me the slightly depressing news that my hair will soon go grey; and she confirms lichen planopilaris with frontal fibrosing alopecia. She provides in-depth advice and explains the triggers, symptoms and how to handle it. Plus, she goes into depth on how gut health and daily stress can severely impact your scalp and hair. She advises me to follow the advice of a functional nutritionist for six months. It’s possible to reverse it, but I need to work with a nutritionist, she says. As long as my hair loss doesn’t progress, then I might not need any hair treatment, she says. But in my case she would offer a combination of plasma rich platelet therapy and stem cell therapy, four times a month for four months. You cannot restore or replace the hair follicles that you’re born with, but you can stimulate your follicle to give you four strands instead of one, she says. It’s best to do this when the condition is inactive. I leave Enitan feeling like I know much more than when I came in, and with a sense that I now have options. Lydia Bell

Pro tip: Book early - Enitan is on the UK trichologists most-wanted list.
Recommended buys: The gold standard of hair follicle stimulation is plasma-rich platelet therapy, which costs £295 per treatment and is normally administered in a series of four.
Address: 298 King Street, W6 0RR, London
Website: healthyhairstudio.co.uk

Best for: gender-neutral hair care

Harness and Mane, Walthamstow

As I made my way across town in a rather too virginal white dress, I started to regret my rushed sartorial decision not to wear something black or leather. Set in northeast London, Harness and Mane describes itself as a “fetish-inspired” salon and even sells an impressive range of bondage-style fashion – hence my trepidation. But my fears quickly evaporated as I entered the edgy and intimate boutique, with clients ranging from cool hipster parents to indie actresses. The salon’s USP is its inclusivity – the price list is based on the length of time your appointment will take, not your gender. I sat in the waiting area, contemplating whether to stick my head and wrists through the casual pillory framing the bench for a selfie, then decided against it.

I was booked in with the salon’s founder, Gunel Kelly, Creative Director and winner of The Cut’s 2022 Colour Expert award, to whom I had entrusted with an autumn hair makeover. I (shakily) tasked her with transforming my permed and bleached thick, long locks into this season’s “Butterfly Bob” with glossy lowlights. After a detailed consultation, Gunel expertly whipped up a Davines mix to freshen up my old colour with back-combed highlights, putting a glossy black over the rest of my hair. As the colour developed, I flicked through magazines and admired the custom-bound wall of bondage ropes separating the salon basins. After a relaxing hair wash with K18 products and an invigorating scalp massage, Gunel set to work chopping off my hair and creating layers and heavy curtain bangs. Four hours of careful work later, my hair was blow-dried into a shoulder-length bob with rich colours, making me feel autumn-ready. Jessica Rach

Recommended buys: Gunel, who counts Hairstylist Errol Douglas MBE as her mentor, recommends K18 Detox shampoo followed by K18 Mask to eliminate metals and limescale build-up and Olaplex No. 6 for heat protection.
Price: Wash, cut and finish are £80 with Creative Director; half head highlights are £154 with Creative Director; Semi-permanent gloss is £95 with Creative Director; toner is £45 with Creative Director.
Address: Harness and Mane, 289 Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 6HD.
Website: harnessandmane.com

Best hair salon for: first-time colour

Cobella, Kensington High Street

When I was younger, someone told me that once dyed, your original hair colour would never return. It’s clearly an old wives’ tale, but it stuck with me and remained a firm belief. As grey hairs started to sprout, I decided it was time to refute old convictions and let the experts prove myself wrong. Luckily, I could try it at one of London’s top salons for hair dye. Anestis Cobella opened his first salon in Mayfair in 1980 to worldwide acclaim, and since then, the name has become an old faithful in the industry. Now owned by Anestis’ daughter Jordanna, the brand’s creative director has forged her own path in the hair industry as the winner of the London Hairdresser of the Year award, colour expert, author and trends ambassador for Wella Professionals.

The salon on Kensington High Street is as sleek as expected, with marbled walls, smiling staff and – best of all – flattering lighting. Thrilled at treating a hair-dye virgin, Jordanna soothed any lingering nerves and immediately understood the look I was going for. We opted for a soft balayage style, with honey blondes and soft gold tones interspersed with my natural brunette colour. Her professionalism is second to none – she chatted to me non-stop throughout the four-hour appointment. She somehow remained totally aware of everything happening in her salon, constantly providing advice, tips and teachings to more junior members of staff, moving bits of equipment around without even looking and subtly requesting products from assistants without breaking the flow of conversation. Her techniques were assured and confident, and the result was even better. My hair is perfectly shaped to frame my face and emphasise the blonde locks, and the colour is just as I hoped it would look. Jordanna is a total hair magician – I’m confident that I won’t need to search for a new salon for the foreseeable. Olivia Morelli

Pro tip: Check out Jordanna’s Instagram before you go for inspiration from clients requesting a range of cuts, colours and styles.. We combined a couple of different examples to create my finished look.
Recommended buys: Despite being a Wella ambassador, Jordanna didn’t push the brand’s products – a welcome difference to other hairdressers who can tend to blindly recommend the salon’s sponsor. But I was so impressed with her expertise that I decided to check out Wella’s products anyway, and have since become obsessed with the (very affordable) Wella definition and protection mousse for hold and styling, and the Wella deluxe rich oil for hydration.
Address: 5 Kensington High Street, London W8 5NP
Website: cobella.co.uk

Best hair salon for: Barbie blonde

STIL Salon Chelsea

Christel Barron-Hough, originally from the blonde mecca of Scandinavia, opened her Notting Hill-based salon Stil seven years ago. The team outgrew the space and opened shop in Chelsea - a much larger, airy, bright salon spread over a two-story townhouse. The clients followed, as did loyal regulars travelling from Cornwall and even as far as LA. My lifeless head of hair and I make our way to the shiniest borough of London to meet owner and colour specialist Christel for a patch test and consultation a week before the main event. We scrolled through Stil’s Instagram snaps of recent influencer clients for inspiration and discussed my skin tone and face shape to determine the perfect blonde shade for my complexion.

A week later, I sat comfortably with a glass of bubbles while Christel worked her magic. I was here to try the salon’s signature “Scandi Blonde” technique, which has been much raved about. The result is a buttery balance – not too cool or warm. Achieved using super fine, seamless baby highlights, as close to the root as possible, to create a natural, youthful look - much like the childhood fair hair us blondes once were. The baby lights cover three-quarters of the hair, leaving one-quarter of the natural colour to add depth and texture. Colour is washed off using Wella products, with a rich conditioning treatment to mend the hair’s bonds, followed by an aromatic essential oils treatment and firm head massage. As Christel is cutting and blow drying my hair, she educates me on how to care for, shape, and style it. This is undoubtedly the blondest, sleekest and greatest my hair has ever looked. Sophie Knight

Recommended buys: “For Blondes it would be the Wella Fusion Shampoo and Conditioner, they’re incredibly strengthening but hydrates and adds shine. The conditioner instantly detangles blonde hair making the length super supple and easy to comb,” says Christel
Price: Scandi Blonde starts from £175 with an entry level colourist and goes up to £396. Price also depends on length and how long the process takes.
Address: stil-salon.com
Website: 99-103 Fulham Road, London SW3 6RH

Best hair salon for: personalised treatment

Mathew Alexander Hair & Make Up, Mayfair

It matters how a hairdresser cuts your hair, but also who cuts it – that they are caring, intuitive and good company seems essential. You can be assured of all this in the chic and immaculate premises of hairdresser Mathew Alexander in Marylebone and his gentle, personal company. Mathew started at Sam McKnight and is also a red-carpet make-up artist – this remains one of the few top salons that can create a whole look. His client base ranges from Lancome for Bafta and a host of A-listers, including Gillian Anderson, to regular folk who’ve clung to him religiously for 30 years: “I’ve cut people’s hair for their first date and then for their wedding day”, he tells me. He listens carefully as I bemoan the ravages of alopecia and midlife lacklustre and pays special attention to my skin tone and natural colour before confirming that I am indeed better as a blonde, but I do need to veer cool and a little bronzy from now on. “No one has yellow hair,” he tells me while calming me down to a warm beige. The strands he selects will be chunkier, then finer, for better grow-out and a more dynamic weave. “I can do slutty streetwalker blonde if you want,” he says, “but my speciality is that “12-year-old at the beach colour”. He uses OWay colour and hair products, which are 98% biodynamic and ammonia-free. He also applies a bond multiplier, which means I leave with locks in better condition than when I arrived in a silky-soft beige that adds instant class. It’s as Mathew says: “You need your hair to be the Armani suit that will take you through the day and night”. I’m still feeling it weeks later. Lydia Bell

Recommended buys: I am now an OWay convert.
Price: my colour treatment
Address: Mathew Alexander Hair & Make Up, 21 New Quebec Street, W1H 7SA; 020 749 51122
Website: mathewalexander.co.uk

Best hair salon for: all-rounder

Blue Tit, East Village

Originally hailing from Dalston in 2011, Blue Tit quickly gained a reputation as the salon for creatives across the city. Now, with 12 unisex outposts, it seems Blue Tit is on a mission to take over London lock by lock. Upon visiting their East Village salon, I was immediately put at ease by the friendly staff and relaxed vibe (we all know those pre-new hairdresser jitters). The interiors are bright and light but with an industrial edge – think light wood, exposed concrete blocks and large windows allowing the sunlight to beam through. I went in looking for a clean, cool balayage and blunt cut – hoping to right the wrongs of a previous colour escapade that had left my hair brassy and the consistency of straw – and came out with a cool, ashy, lived-in blonde. I was most impressed by my hair's condition over the following days and weeks. My coarse textured hair is visibly softer and smoother with not a brassy tone in sight, perhaps a testament to their use of sustainable, organic hair brand, Oway. All-in-all, it's a good experience for a not-eye-watering price – plus if you're looking to go bolder, you'll be in safe hands here. Lucy Bruton

Recommended products: Oway moisturising mask, £32
Price: Half head balayage from £139, cut and finish from £70
Address: Unit 9, 70 Celebration Ave, East Village, London E20 1DB
Website: bluetitlondon.com

Best hair salon for: super soft results

Salon Sloane, Chelsea

Nestled at the top of Pavilion Road is Salon Sloane, one of London’s best hair salons and home to world-class stylists, colourists and next-gen talent. Outside the salon is a buzzy mecca for chic shoppers and cafe connoisseurs (the salon is opposite an Ottolenghi cafe and Sarah Chapman’s Chelsea boutique), while inside, it’s all about sleek and understated interiors where heavyweights of the hair world work their magic with confidence and charisma. The team is led by Belle Cannon, the brilliant co-founder and ambassador of Sisley Hair Rituel, who masterminds specialist treatments alongside excellent cuts, colours, and blow dries. There’s a trichologist on site for dedicated scalp support, and the in-demand K18 treatment is available – a leave-in miracle mask that works on a molecular level to restore hair strength, softness and bounce in just four minutes.

I have an ashamedly lazy approach to my hair care regime and can often be seen racing towards the school gates with wet, unbrushed hair. I arrive at Salone Sloane on a sunny Saturday afternoon with lacklustre post-gym hair, worried for the poor soul tasked with treating it. I leave 45 minutes later with gently tousled K18-treated waves bouncing in the breeze, thankful that stylist Cristian didn’t laugh when I showed him a picture of my hair idol Sienna Miller for blow-dry inspiration, and feeling like I’ve been given a secret recipe. Now, if only they could bottle the blissful feeling of the head massage. Louisa Parker Bowles

Recommended product: the K18 treatment mask will do wonders for your hair.
Pro tip: “Keep the K18 mask on your dressing table, apply to clean towel dried hair and comb through,” says stylist Paul Pruchnik. “Less is more, one pump is plenty. Emulsify in your hands until the palms of your hands are completely covered and white (looks like sunscreen or sudocrem). This way you can see exactly when you are applying it for an even coverage before you comb through.”
Address: 186 Pavilion Road, London SW3 2BF
Price: The K18 in-salon treatment starts at £15 add a blow dry for £55
Website: salonsloane.com

Best hair salon for: own-brand products

Windle London, Covent Garden

Windle London has been in Covent Garden since Neal’s Yard was actually hippie. It has grown organically and layered on expertise and stylists since 1988, weathering the hairdressing storms of Covid, and has 21 stylists in a multi-level salon that’s a one-stop shop for hair care and stylist products. All is presided over by the personable and effortlessly knowledgeable Paul Windle, with over 35 years on the job. His expertise travels well out of the salon, having developed cult hair lines for the likes of Bumble & Bumble.

Latterly, he built up his empire, with Windle Lab, a laboratory the business owns, born in the Lakes where he is from. “Most products coat the hair, but our aim was to feed the hair. The product is its nutrition,” he explains. All the shampoos and conditioners are infused with antioxidant teas – from green tea and yerba mate to white and purple teas cultivated by a British tea specialist in ecological regions. Many of these products work to stop the thinning and ageing of the hair and increase blood circulation in the scalp. All are sulphate, propylene glycol,paraben-free and vegan. “Though I didn’t set out to go vegan – it just got the best results in our trials,” he tells me. He cuts my hair in that certain blasé way that people have when they are so confident and adept that it looks like they are doing nothing. He does not pimp my hair up with a blow dry but leaves my hair to dry naturally, as I do at home. My sassy, layered long bob keeps its shape and style for months. Lydia Bell

Recommended buys: Ultra Nourishing Shampoo: £26.50, made with cocoa butter and argan oil, zero sulphates and silicones, a non drying formula and a colour protection complex, £26.50; and their Ultra Nourishing Conditioner, £28.50. This shampoo and conditioner duo puts the sexy back into solids and is ideal for travelling.
Price: women's haircuts from £75
Address: 41-45 Short's Gardens, London WC2H 9AP
Website: windlelondon.com

Best hair salon for: easygoing service

Arkive by Adam Reed, Covent Garden

This is a salon that really wears its heart on its sleeve. Bursting with personality, the floral wallpapered walls are lined with framed word art and keepsake mementoes; products are stored in antique apothecary cupboards, and overhead is a mixture of disco balls and chandeliers made from a myriad of wig hair. Yet despite all of this, the thing that stands out the most is the staff – laughing, joking and clearly enjoying this refuge of joy that Adam Reed has cultivated in the heart of Covent Garden. If you’re one to be put off by stiffness or thoughts of having to talk about your holiday plans, this is the spot for you. There is no strict menu of cuts or colours, no standards of beauty or gender discrepancy – staff will talk through what you want to achieve, like an old friend asking how you take your tea (which is coincidentally also a question you’ll be asked throughout your treatment). For colour, ask for art director John Spanton, who specialises in natural tones and working with hair’s natural texture – painting on colour like balayage, especially great for creating sunkissed, childlike blonde hues – “whipped butter” blonde, as he calls it. Charlotte Davey

Recommended buys: An upgrade from silver shampoo, this Kerastase treatment that John swears by to repair treated hair and keep blonde tones cool - it works like a conditioner and has different molecule sizes to nourish damaged hair without altering the colour of healthy hair. This Arkive Headcare primer is a great heat protection serum to keep hair soft - use before blow drying or styling.
Price: Full head balayage, £195 - £400, and cut and finish £77 - £300
Address: 75 Long Acre, Covent Garden
Website: adamreed.london

Best hair salon for: reliable results

Neville hair and beauty, Belgravia

Neville Hair and Beauty has been my go-to salon for years, partly because their artistic team is exceptional and somewhat because the salon feels like a chic members’ club, with clients greeted like old friends by owners and co-founders Neville Tucker and Elena Lavagni. There’s always a good buzz with Beyonce tunes playing and clients chatting animatedly to their stylists – usually because they’ve been coming to see them for years.

When Jack Merrick Thirlway isn’t travelling the world for fashion shows, editorial shoots or client’s weddings, I book in with him for a trim and blow dry. Neville’s Botox for Locks is excellent before a big event or if your hair just needs a nutrient boost. The process is simple – hair is washed, then the hair botox is applied to damp hair and massaged from root to tip. The treatment is left on wet hair for around 45 minutes and then sealed using a hair straightener. Hair is smoother, shinier and healthier for three to four months after. Louisa Parker Bowles

Price: Neville Hair and Beauty's Botox for Locks is £180
Address: 5 Pont Street, London SW1X 9EJ
Website: nevillehairandbeauty.net