Whether it's blorange, bleached or balayaged, we're always keen to experiment with our hair colour. Softer and lighter shades in summer; richer and warmer tones in winter; bolder and brighter colours for festival season: we believe in the transformative power of a hair refresh. While we're open to new techniques and colour inventions, we're slightly more decisive about where we get our colour done. Leaving a salon with your balayaged roots left blunt (terrible for a natural grow-out) or with a colour that doesn't suit your skin tone (a good stylist will advise you) – everyone has had that grin-and-bear-it hair experience.
Luckily, we're spoilt for choice in London and can wave goodbye to rush-home-and-fix-it salon scenarios. We've found the top spots for hair colour, whether you're after classic and natural-looking highlights, playful pastels and statement-making colour, or are happy to be inspired by the latest technique innovations.
Click through to find your next appointment.
In 2010, Bleach London changed the way we do our hair, being the only salon focusing purely on colour rather than cut. Bringing out-there colour – from acid green to baby pink – to the mainstream, founders Sam Campbell and Alex Brownsell have expanded from their original Dalston location to a presence in Topshop's flagship, and a Soho store, too. Having just refreshed the brand's website and collection, they recently launched Bleach Makeup, with lipsticks and eyeshadows to match your hair colour – from Washed Up Mermaid to Blorange.
Best friends Susannah Jones (a former director at Aveda) and Katie Knox (an art school-trained editorial stylist) founded this Shoreditch-based salon back in 2014. Forward-thinking cuts, exciting, bold colours (although they do great balayage and highlights, too), and the all-female staff make the entire experience – which includes a pre-cut head and shoulder massage – a treat. The team use only eco-conscious products from brands like Aveda, meaning a trip is both good for your hair and good for the planet.
Loud and proud, the colourful decor of Not Another Salon is Instagram worthy in itself, but it's the talent of the team that we love. Owned by Sophia Hilton, winner of the Prestigious L'Oreal Colour Trophy, 2017 Colour expert of the year and previous winner at the British Hairdressing awards, she has curated a team of experts that offer a self-described 'anti grunge vibrant colouring'. But its not just high polish, high shine rainbow shades they excel at, they also specialise in giving you the healthiest hair possible from bold and bright to soft and subtle.
With a clientele spanning Alice Dellal, Pam Hogg and Daisy Lowe, for award-winning stylist Sam Burnett, hair is a vocation. The staff at his salon, Hare & Bone, are passionate about what they do and will consult you every step of the way, from length to style to colour. But what sets Sam apart is his innovation. Coining techniques like colour smudging (a soft shadowing of colour through the hair) and always looking forward to the next style du jour (the surfer crop will replace the buzzcut next season, just you watch), Sam's eyes are firmly on the future of hair.
There's a youthful, contemporary vision at Blue Tit, which boasts salons in Dalston, Clapton, Peckham, East Village, Brockley, Streatham and Brixton. Having taken their experimental styles to Secret Garden Party and Field Day this year, the Blue Tit team have their fingers on the pulse. What we love most, though, is that the website features profiles of all of the hairdressers working there: so if you want a '70s Marianne Faithfull-esque 'do, for example, you'll know to book with Sandra Vacev at Clapton. Your style, totally suited to your stylist. Genius.
One scroll through the Myla & Davis Instagram feed and you'll get a sense of how seriously they know colour. Half salon-transformed hair, half dreamy Tumblr-esque inspiration, there's no shade of blonde, red or brown the team can't achieve: from sun-kissed balayage to chocolate undertones and copper highlights. We've been in before with a photo and the lovely team have tailored the style to our skin tone, face shape and hair type, so you're sure to get the most fitting cut and colour for you. The salon uses Olaplex, too, so there's no need to fear damaged post-coloured hair.
Celebrity hair colourist Hansford (who worked alongside Vidal Sassoon in the swinging '60s) went it alone with a salon focused on colour. Now managed by her daughter, it's widely thought to be the place to go for the best colour in town, and counts Joséphine de La Baume and Georgia Jagger among its clients. Book an appointment to achieve glossy, natural and healthy-looking hair, which you can maintain at home with the Jo Hansford product range – from platinum blonde conditioner to an everyday shampoo.
In their own words, Blade Soho is #Salon + #Bar = #Hairclubbing. With iPads stuck to chairs and a coffee bar, it's ideal if you need pampering before heading out to paint the town red. It's edgy and fun whilst offering charming and friendly service with a blow-dry starting from just £18 and colouring from £27. Relax, bring friends and be social before, during and after getting your hair done.
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