A personalised styling experience at H&J

If, like me, you tend to prickle with intimidation at a) finding a salon in London that doesn’t make you feel like a rag-headed loser and b) one with stylists that do actually fully engage during a consultation, then you need to (literally) head over to Hair and Jerome.

Recently relocated to Toynbee Street in Spitalfields from Artillery Passage, the salon’s new roomy, industrial skeleton is bizarrely melded with a wasp-coloured baroque interior. Sounds insane, and to an end, it is. But at the same time, it makes perfect sense. In fact, that’s kind of the thing with Hair and Jerome: its avant garde focus meets seamlessly with traditional styling.

The small team of stylists – just four; Danilo, Misook, Simon and Jerome himself – with Cecile, their host and receptionist (I don’t want to gush forth with superlatives, but if ever there were a dream salon maitre d’, Cecile is it for absolute real…) comprise a highly – if not luxuriously – personalised salon experience. Yeah, so, salon owner Jerome won the Avant Garde Hairdressing Award a few years ago and the salon itself is squeezed in between Tracey Emin, the Chapman brothers and Gilbert and George’s studios, but Hair and Jerome is a pretension free zone. The salon’s clientele ranges from uber-eccentric Hoxtonites through to traditionalist sexagenarians.

My stylist for the afternoon was Misook. Originally from South Korea, where she trained as a stylist 17 years ago, she’s been living in London for the last six and before joining forces with Jerome, worked with him at Rush.

One of Misook’s signature moves is issuing clients with a head massage during their shampoo. Okay, so nothing especially new there: don’t most stylists do this? Yes, but Misook wins triple platinum – South Korean training commands a half-hour head massage as standard treatment before anything happens with scissors. Although H&J clients don’t get a whole half-hour, I strongly recommend prospective patrons to take a tissue for the dribble factor.

My cut was relatively radical in that I’d rocked up with pretty plain mid-length hair. Misook spent one-and-a-half hours reshaping my hair into a slightly-above-ear length ‘bob’, grading my hair at the back to create volume and thickness, while exaggerating the length of it slightly at cheekbone level. I’d been determined to emerge with a ‘Louise Brooks’ cut, which I more than got, with a very modern edge to its sculpt. Cutting a deeper fringe, Misook’s finishing flourish was a slightly asymmetrical line above my eyebrows. The finished shape was flawless and, as Misook had advised during my initial consultation, flattered my face shape impeccably. Yep; she steered me away from suggestions I’d made, explaining the balance of my features to me (I like straight talkers if I’m putting parts of my image in their hands).

The quirky cool salon interior

In addition to enjoying such a personalised experience, what struck me also was that at no point did I feel like a faceless £60. Chatting to Misook – and Cecile and Jerome – during my restyle was genuinely enjoyable, something I very rarely feel in the hairdresser’s chair.

Hair and Jerome use Redken and Bumble and Bumble products and prices for a cut and blow dry (women) range from £43 with Simon, £48 with Danilo, £62 with Misook and £89 with Jerome. Colours range from £12.00 (refresh / tone) to £120 (full head foils) dependent on stylist. Where the cost of the salon’s services certainly aren’t the cheapest in London, what you do get for your money does feel like a bit of a steal on the part of the client.

Bear in mind that the salon is easy to miss if you do book an appointment as at the time of my visit, there was no signage. I walked passed it three times before I twigged. I’m a little ashamed to admit that I thought it was an Indian restaurant from the exterior…

If you’re looking for an independent salon with genuinely friendly service, commendable technical expertise and a bespoke ‘do, your search is over as Running In Heels has done the legwork for you.

www.hairandjerome.co.uk