***UK LADIES--ADVICE NEEDED**

bellachic

bellachic

New Member
Hi. I am a relative newbie but a looooong time lurker. Definitely looking for help from my LD ladies. I am temporarily relocating to the London in mid February for work from NYC and need advice on hair care.

Short history, I am a Dominican Hair Salon fanatic and only recently started to try and do my own hair!! While I can wash and condition like nobody's business, my rollerset skills still need A LOT of work:ohwell:

I'm going to try and do my own hair while I am there every other week. Any recommendations for a hooded dryer I can purchase in the UK? I was really close to purchasing a Pibbs but I did a search and read a member's fear of blowing a fuse if she took her Pibbs to LD.:eek:

Also, I'll post this in the Salon review section too, but can anyone recommend a good salon for a wash and set that is comparable to the Dominican salon's wash,set and doobie roll. and also a stylist for perms? I have bra strap length hair and its definitely a whole lot to handle.:perplexed Also, what are salon hours like? Like I said, I love me some Dominicans and the convenience of going anytime I want, Monday through Sunday. Last time I was in LD, it seemed liked most of the salons were only open from Monday to Friday. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
 
Hi ya!
As far as I am aware there are no Dominican hair salons over here. I have never seen one and would be interested if anyone tell me different!

Good luck

Susanna
 
Many people are still confused over the difference between Dominica and Dominican Republic.

:lachen:

Haven't heard of Dominican hair salons
 
Thanks ladies. I am not looking for a dominican salon in London. Just a place that does wash and set for a reasonable price.
 
Boy oh boy, London is NOT a good place for haircare, thats why I learnt to do everything myself. Most girls I know/see wear weave and rollersets in salons are generally out of the question unless you are a 50 year old in need of some curls! They generally blow fry or wrap and flat iron at the very best. I would say try your best to master it before you come, in my experience, some are good at styling but not in overall health. I may be wrong but I dont know of any salons that i could recommend, the one good one I do know have stylists that are generally scissor happy. And waiting times-just expect to be there all day, maybe two!

I use the Aphrodite hooded dryer, i have had it for about 15 years and it is large like the pibbs. I wanted to buy the pibbs but I too was worried about it blowing up. If you want, pm me and i will tell you where to buy it for the best price. Where abouts will you be staying?
 
Just sent you a PM. I don't have permament housing yet and am not familiar with the different areas of London. I have heard that Croydon and Brighton (sp?) had a lot of salons.
 
Brighton isn't London, it's by the coast. Croydon isn't too bad, about a half hour train ride from central London. There are a few salons there too, but I'm afraid I agree with Lonei about the salons here. I just don't go to them anymore. When I was relaxed, I went to La Coupe Futur, and they were just alright. I always had a lovely style, but healthy hair? No way. The water here is also really hard, so be prepared to do your final rinse with bottled water.
 
I'm afraid all the previous posters are right.....hairdressing in London is rubbish and expensive to boot.

Women in England are rarely loyal to a salon simply because we are never truely happy with the service we get.
They don't seem to care about the health of hair - they use the same ole products - jar of grease with oven tongs to flat iron hair and some of the premises are shoddy - proper back street looking and still want to charge £30 for a simple cornrow with no extensions. Also they are slow - you need to take a whole day off.

OK OK i'm going over the top here - just needed to vent :wallbash: - i don't want to scare anyone away from London.

However i did go to a salon in Catford (South East London) for my Big Cut and she was very understanding about what i was doing and talked alot about the health of hair and used premium products.....i was impressed but she was very expensive.

Asquared - Catford Broadway. Nearest train stations are Catford Bridge or Catford.
 
I agree with the other posts. I moved from the US to London in May for a few months before moving to Spain.

The water was he** on my hair. I had to start buying water. Even if I did want to go to a salon they were TOO expensive for what they offered, it wasn't worth it. So I learned how to do everything myself. They do have a Sally's over in London. Also, it is easy to find products like, KeraCare, Aveda, Phyto, etc...

However, if you are a Lye user, I did not have luck finding relaxers, such as Mizani, so I have to order it from the States, now.

If anyone, can recommend some European online haircare stores, that maybe useful to a few of us.

Oh and remember, you will most likely pay close to double for everything in London because of the currency rates.

How long will you be in London?

PM me if you are interested in more details from a fellow American that relocated to Europe.
 
Kosit @ Peckham High St seem to be into healthy hair care, they use Phyto & Nexxus products but are expensive. I once went in there to relax my virgin hair but he refused to do it cos my hair was in a really bad condition. He suggested a deep conditioning steam treatment once a week for a month b4 i relaxed my hair but i wasn't happy paying £40/wk for a deep condition so he recommended I buy phyto intense conditioner and use the steam room at my gym.I stopped going there when i discovered this site and started looking after my own hair. I did relax with Kosit but then went back to being natural.

I'm sure u can find saloons that can roller set cuz that's what most of the oap's do.
 
Theirs some cool salons (so ive heard) such as harriet kessie - www.harrietkessie.com, and yes London water is very very very hard! My best advice is find someone to do hair, lol if you see someone who's hair looks good, ask them were they got it done. Ive realised that the people with the healthy hair (over here) dont go to salons, they usually have a mobile stylist or an unlicensed person that does hair better than anyone!!!
 
Avyance Pakcosmetics.com is a good online source, They stock lye relaxers in the store so they should have it online also.
I'm afriad I have to also agree with what everyone has said about london hairdressers. You can get nice styles but generally hair health isn't something they've mastered I personally try to do everything myself.
 
with regards to the hard water - Its a good idea to buy a showerhead filter - Its good for your skin and your hair:)
 
mslondon said:
Kosit @ Peckham High St seem to be into healthy hair care, they use Phyto & Nexxus products but are expensive. I once went in there to relax my virgin hair but he refused to do it cos my hair was in a really bad condition. He suggested a deep conditioning steam treatment once a week for a month b4 i relaxed my hair but i wasn't happy paying £40/wk for a deep condition so he recommended I buy phyto intense conditioner and use the steam room at my gym.I stopped going there when i discovered this site and started looking after my own hair. I did relax with Kosit but then went back to being natural.

I'm sure u can find saloons that can roller set cuz that's what most of the oap's do.
Click to expand...

Hey i've heard about Kosit, i believe the ower is Japanese (i could be wrong) and he's very much into healthy hair, and they'll test your hair before doing anything to it. I was thinking of checking them out when i decided to stop going to shoddy salons in Dalston.

I haven't been to salon since May last year but i discovered Envy near Islington/Angel. They impressed me compared to other salons because they obviously saw my hair was in bad shape and tried to help me, they could be scissor happy though because the hairdresser just chopped my hair off (i had bad ends though, see fotki). But even after that he chopped my hair off again when i went for my next retouch. Oh and they used Mizani, which you won't find in many salons in London i believe.
However, my hair was looking good and i got plenty of compliments. They warned me to stay away for straightners and that i should do deep conditions.
They were not cheap though, everyone's hair came out good and they were professional, you won't be sitting around forever while your hairdresser steps out for a kebab. I stopped going because i figure im the best person to take care of my hair.
 
Anancy said:
Hey i've heard about Kosit, i believe the ower is Japanese (i could be wrong) and he's very much into healthy hair, and they'll test your hair before doing anything to it. I was thinking of checking them out when i decided to stop going to shoddy salons in Dalston.

I haven't been to salon since May last year but i discovered Envy near Islington/Angel. They impressed me compared to other salons because they obviously saw my hair was in bad shape and tried to help me, they could be scissor happy though because the hairdresser just chopped my hair off (i had bad ends though, see fotki). But even after that he chopped my hair off again when i went for my next retouch. Oh and they used Mizani, which you won't find in many salons in London i believe.
However, my hair was looking good and i got plenty of compliments. They warned me to stay away for straightners and that i should do deep conditions.
They were not cheap though, everyone's hair came out good and they were professional, you won't be sitting around forever while your hairdresser steps out for a kebab. I stopped going because i figure im the best person to take care of my hair.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Hi! Concerning salons, I was with a salon called Hair Lounge (in West London) http://www.hairlounge.co.uk/home.htm for 6 years. The owner's name is Charlotte Mensah, and she is a great stylist (she was the ONY one I would let cut my hair when I kept it short). She is also great with weaves. Braids and cornrows, not so much. She is also very professional, clean and doesn't use greasy products. She uses mostly Keracare/Avlon, Paul Mitchell and I *think* Mizani as well. The only reason I don't go anymore is because I went natural and found this hairboard and NP :D - and it's cheaper :grin: !
I have to agree with everyone else here that she is not so cheap.
I also agree that the water is very hard, but I don't even know what soft water is supposed to feel like :sad:.
Concerning products (commercial) my absolute favourite store is PAK in Finsbury Park (North London, close to the tube). The have a BIG store just for Hair Products (also sell Nexxus, Redken, Matrix, etc.) and another 2 for Extensions only.
If you want to buy Blended Beauty, Curls or Mixed Chicks Products you can order them from http://naturalfrizz.co.uk/ at a reasonable price. If you're into natural products (shea butter, etc) you can order them from http://www.akamuti.co.uk/ or http://www.akuawood.co.uk/avocado.shtml also at a reasonable price.
Unfortunately I know nothing about water filters or I would have bought one ages ago :smile:!
Hope I helped you a little! Have a nice stay!!
 
Last edited:
ToyToy, those websites are excellent!! I was looking for somewhere in this UK desert for natural butters.

I agree with everyone here, good salons in London, are rare and expensive. All the others are not worth the nightmare.
 
thanks for the great ideas ladies!!! I will definitely invest in a shower filter since I have hard water at my home in the states.:perplexed

still searching for someone to do a simple rollerset but once I get settled in, definitely plan on doing it myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Misshairdiva
Is Amazon the cheapest place I can buy a Pibbs?
Replies
2
Views
847
nymane
nymane
TRINITY05
Natural Ladies/Dominican Salon
Replies
2
Views
941
Triniwegian
Triniwegian
MoonstoneBlu
UK ladies-Should I tip?
Replies
5
Views
1K
Mariaat40
Mariaat40
R
Wash & Set Salon/how often?
Replies
25
Views
20K
butterscotch
B
T
How do you use a steamer?
Replies
17
Views
3K
awhyley
awhyley
Back
Top