The best hair salons in London

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