The Good Black Hair Salon Guide

We’ve all been there – your appointment at the salon was 12:00, it’s now 13:30 and no one has so much as offered you a cup of water! We’re not sure what the problem is with a lot of local black hairdressers but in the past, we’ve had to mentally set aside a whole afternoon if we decided to get our hair done as who knew what time we'd actually be seen!

Waitng...we've all been there!

It frustrates us as we want to support local black owned business but their tardiness is costing them clients and money. Enough is enough! We went on a quest to find good hair salons that can work with afro, relaxed, natural and mixed race hair. All the salons listed here have been visited by us so our comments come purely from personal experience.

As we’re based in London, all of these salons are local (ish) to us but if you have had good experiences at salons we’ve not visited, please leave a message in the comments section. Here goes:

Errol Douglas Salon

Errol Douglas Limited
18 Motcomb Street
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 8LB
Tel: 020 7235 0110
www.erroldouglas.com

Very experienced in European, Afro (relaxed or natural), mixed race and synthetic hair and can do pretty much whatever treatment or style you want. They are Knightsbridge based and priced accordingly! They see you on time, are professional and polite and the juniors give the best scalp massages known to man. The only thing we don’t like is that, unless you see Errol himself (and a cut and blow dry with him is £200) all work on Afro hair is done downstairs in the basement. As nice as it is, we’d quite like to sit upstairs sometimes. That said, various team members have won accolades including Afro Hair Dresser of the Year and Celebrity Hair Dresser of the Year.

Price Guide: Relaxer, cut and blow dry from £90

Junior Green Hair & Beauty
39 Knightsbridge
London
SW1X 7NL
Tel: 020 7752 0620
www.junior-green.com

Ex Errol Douglas, you get a much more informal and friendly experience at Junior Green. Very professional, we were seen on time and given time to think about what we wanted to do with our hair (1 mixed race curly, 1 natural afro). They specialise in mixed race hair and cut your hair with straight and curly days in mind. They are also very good with natural hair and offer specialist braiding services which includes work with locks, cornrows, twists and weaves/extensions.

Price guide: Relaxer, cut and blow dry from £85

Kosit Hair Designs
113 Peckham High Street
London
SE15 5SE
Tel: 020 7732 5946
www.kosithair.com

Not in the most salubrious of areas, highlighted by the fact that you have to be buzzed in, the staff in this salon are quick to say the least - you almost feel like you are on a conveyor belt! You are seen as soon as you get in and you are out the door almost just as fast. That said, they are professional, not very chatty (but then we weren’t there to make new friends) and are good at cutting. We deduct points for them not accepting credit/debit cards – cash only and that they charge based on the length of your hair. If you have long, flowing tresses, fair enough, but it felt steep to charge us £80 to cut our hair from mid back to shoulder. The team are experienced though and among them have won various afro/weave/avant garde styling awards. Best for relaxed and mixed race hair.

Price guide: Not available on website

Hype Coiffure (salons in Balham, Brixton and Battersea)
We visited: 186 Lavender Hill
London
SW11 5TQ
Tel: 020 7223 3800
www.hypecoiffure.com

Home to Afro Hair Dresser of the Year 2010 Kim Johnson and Michelle Sultan, the staff here can’t do enough to help you feel comfortable and relaxed (we saw them let a new mother go into the downstairs office to feed her baby) and take their time to discuss your hair needs and concerns before they get the scissors out. They work on all kinds of hair - natural, relaxed, mixed race, weaves, braids and locks and even treat some scalp conditions. Whatever your hair type or condition, they probably work on it. They also stock and sell Mizani products.

Price guide: Not available on website

Toni & Guy (salons around the UK).
We visited: Unit 2 Cowcross Street
London
EC1M 6DH
Tel: 020 7251 0990
www.toniandguy.com

You may be wondering what Toni & Guy is doing on a guide to afro/mixed race hair but bear with us! While they probably aren’t the first place that come to mind when you’re thinking of a new ‘do – they will cut your hair like no one else will. They aren’t afraid to attack your hair with scissors and gave us probably the best hair cut we’ve ever had. They pay no attention to your scalp or the actual condition of your hair but we didn’t want or expect them to. We were there simply for an edgy haircut. It’s best for relaxed or mixed race hair – we don’t think they would know what to do with natural afro hair. They are very quick (washed, cut and blow-dried within the hour) and at one point we had three people working on our hair, we felt like quite the celebrity. If you’re going to visit another T&G salon, always call in advance to see if they work on your hair type and if possible, go in for a consultation first – for them to see what they’re working with and for you to make sure you are comfortable. We saw Greg at the Farringdon branch and he was very knowledgeable re how to cut naturally curly hair. We’ve also been to the Crouch End and Bluewater branches, but again, call to see if they can work on your hair before booking an appointment.

Price guide: Wash, cut and blow dry - £55 (senior stylist)

As we said earlier, this list is not exhaustive – the article is about salons we’ve personally visited and as we live in London, they are all based here. If you know of others that are just as good, please let us know via the comments section!