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 I arrived at the salon expecting great things. After all, you only have to spend five minutes looking at the HOB website (www.HOBsalons.com) to see the multitude of accolades that have been showered onto their team members. The Salon in Camden is one of twenty HOB salons around Britain (but primarily in London) the first salon was opened in Mill Hill in 1983 and as they say, the rest is history. The salon in Camden is not only a salon but a training academy. There are a suite of rooms at the rear providing state of the art facilities used not only to train all of their own staff, right from the receptionists to the top stylists but also to train clients from around the world. The academy being a part of the salon really gave the place a feeling of liveliness as well as making me, the customer feel absolutely confident in the qualifications and training of everyone in the salon. Another interesting facility at the salon is a VIP salon room, where celebrity or other clients requiring privacy (including those for religious reasons) can have their hair styled in peace, quiet and above all, privacy. My trip to the HOB took place on a Tuesday, at around lunchtime, and, even at what one would have expected to be a fairly quiet time, the salon was buzzing with activity. Being right in the heart of Camden Lock, fairly close to some of the grungiest shops and edgiest shoppers means that this high end salon attracts some clients demanding hairstyles and colour right at the cutting edge of fashion. It also means that their staff are more than used to demanding customers with technical styles (although as expected the majority of work is classic styling and on the colour side, highlights). To be honest I have never been someone who has had a proper hairstyle, my hair has pretty much been one length all my life, and for about the last ten years it has been highlighted with varying degrees of success. So I came in for a refresh of my colour and a cut and finish, a fairly average salon visit. What prevailed however, was something far beyond average. My first meeting following from a very polite greeting by a smiling receptionist was with my colourist for the day, D’nae. The quality of the consultation was excellent, and when I mentioned that I had been toying with the idea of a fringe she immediately called over Mary, who was to cut my hair ensuring that cut and colour would combine perfectly. For the colour I decided to keep a natural colour, lighter around the face with a toning down of some of the brassy remnants of previous colouring disasters. For the cut, an ever confident Mary helped me to take the plunge and have my very first ever fringe. The salon was supplied with a very good selection of magazines including over 6 copies of the current Heat (always a great sign) to entertain you while the lengthy colouring process took place and there were lots of considerate staff checking your need for refreshments (coffee, tea, water, fresh juice and wine were all on offer). The washing section was complete with reclining chairs with leg rests and despite the salon being without a boiler on the day I went (the staff were busy to-ing and fro-ing with kettles of water), the washing experience was as relaxing as can be. However, taking these fripperies aside, what is really important is the quality of the cut and colour that I came away with and I have to say that I felt truly transformed when I walked back out of the salon. The expertise and confidence of the staff helped me to go for a total restyle and I have received abundant compliments since that day. I can’t help but think that all of HOB’s awards and celebrity clients are well deserved (It’s rumoured that Pixie Lott won’t get her hair styled anywhere else). I have already recommended this salon to all of my friends and family and I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to go back. Check their website for offers (at the moment there’s an excellent deal on Monday appointments) and book yourself in, you won’t regret it.
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Issue 5. Cover - Photographer - Moritz Stragholz
Model - Ian Jamieson
