Elm Room Hair Salon — Cutting, Colour & Care

The room

Four chairs, one appointment at a time

We keep the diary deliberately light so that nobody is moved between chairs mid-service. The practical details below are the ones clients ask about before they book.

Appointment length

Cuts run 45 minutes to 1 hour 30. Colour work is booked in one continuous block, so a full lightening session holds the chair for the afternoon.

Your consultation

Fifteen minutes before we touch anything: hair history, what grew out badly, how much time you want to spend on it at home, and a written plan with the price confirmed.

On the shelf

Sulphate-free cleansers, a bond-building treatment range and three styling products. We will tell you if your hair does not need any of them.

Service index

Times and from-prices

From-prices are in pounds, cover hair up to shoulder length and include the wash and finish. Longer or denser hair takes more product and more time, so your consultation confirms the figure before we begin.

Cutting

Dry-cut first, so we are shaping the hair you actually live with.

Consultation & dry cut

Shape maintenance between colour visits, cut without a wash so the fall of the hair stays visible.

45 minfrom £38

Precision cut & finish

A full redraw of the shape, washed, cut and finished with the styling steps shown back to you.

1 hr 15from £56

Curl pattern cut

Cut dry and section by section, following the curl family rather than a straightened line.

1 hr 30from £64

Fringe trim

Booked on the hour between visits. No charge if you are in the diary with us already.

15 minno charge

Colour

Every colour service is quoted after a strand check and patch test.

Gloss & tone refresh

Shifts brassiness and puts shine back into existing colour. The gentlest way to change how your hair reads.

1 hrfrom £48

Root colour & blow dry

Regrowth covered to the existing tone, with the mid-lengths refreshed only where they have faded.

1 hr 45from £78

Half-head balayage

Hand-painted lightening through the top sections for a soft grow-out and fewer salon visits a year.

2 hr 30from £120

Full-head lightening

A full lift with toner and a bond treatment built in. Usually staged across more than one appointment.

3 hr 30from £165

Care & finishing

Add to any appointment, or book on their own as a reset.

Bond rebuild treatment

For hair that has been lightened repeatedly. Applied before the finish, with a home step to follow.

30 minfrom £26

Scalp ritual & wash

A clarifying massage and double cleanse for flaking, product build-up or a tight scalp.

25 minfrom £22

Blow dry & set

Smooth, soft bend or full volume. Tell us which of the three you want when you book.

45 minfrom £34

Occasion styling

Pinned or dressed styling for one event, with a run-through booked earlier in the week if you want one.

1 hrfrom £52

Not sure which line to book? Request a chair and write what you want to change. We will put you in for the consultation and the service we think it needs, and confirm both before the appointment.

Choosing your colour

Three routes, three upkeep rhythms

The difference between these services is not how light you end up. It is how often you have to come back, and how the colour behaves when you leave it alone.

Gloss & tone

Works with the colour already in your hair instead of replacing it. Nothing is lifted, so the hair is left in the condition it arrived in.

Suits: Faded or brassy colour, first-time clients, hair that is already fragile.
Upkeep window: Six to eight weeks.
Grow-out: No line. The tone simply softens.

Balayage

Lightening painted by hand, placed where the light hits. Depth is kept at the root so regrowth is part of the design.

Suits: Anyone who wants fewer visits, and natural bases that lift evenly.
Upkeep window: Three to four months, with a gloss in between.
Grow-out: Soft. Usually invisible for weeks.

Full lightening

A complete lift to a new base. The biggest change available, and the one that asks the most of your hair and your diary.

Suits: Committed colour clients with healthy mid-lengths and time for maintenance.
Upkeep window: Four to six weeks at the root.
Grow-out: Visible. Plan the next appointment as you leave.

Your visit

What happens in the chair

The same four stages whether you are in for a fringe trim or a full day of colour, so a first appointment holds no surprises.

Consultation

We talk through what you have had done before, what you want changed and what you are willing to do at home. Colour clients are patch tested at this point, or at a short visit beforehand.
The plan and the price

You get the service name, the time it will take and the confirmed price before anything is mixed. If it needs two appointments, we say so now rather than halfway through.
Cut, colour, treatment

One stylist stays with you for the whole service. Where there is a processing wait, we use it for the treatment or the cut rather than sending you to a corner.
Finish and home routine

We style it, then walk you through doing it yourself with what you already own. You leave with the two steps that matter and a note of when to come back.

Stylist sectioning and combing a client's long hair at a salon chair — One stylist, one appointment

Styling station with brushes, scissors and bottles laid out beside a salon mirror — Stations reset between clients

Questions

Before you book

The things clients ask us most often, answered properly rather than briefly.

Do I need a patch test before colour?

Yes, for any service that deposits or lifts colour, including a gloss. It takes a couple of minutes and has to be done at least 48 hours before your appointment, so book it alongside a cut or drop in during opening hours. Without it we cannot colour, even if you have had the same shade elsewhere.

How far ahead should I book?

Cuts usually open up within a fortnight. Long colour appointments hold a chair for several hours, so they tend to go three to four weeks ahead, and Thursday late chairs go first. If you are tied to a date, tell us in the notes and we will work backwards from it.

Can I bring reference photos?

Please do, and bring more than one. Photos tell us about tone and placement far faster than words. In the consultation we will be straight with you about how close your hair can get in one appointment, and what the route to the rest looks like.

I am not sure which colour service I need.

That is what the consultation is for. Describe the change you want in the enquiry form and we will book the service we think fits, with a note of the price. If the consultation points somewhere else, we rebook you at the right length instead of rushing the wrong one.

Do you cut curly hair dry?

Yes. The curl pattern cut is done dry and section by section so we can see where each curl sits and how it springs. Come with your hair worn the way you normally wear it, without it pulled back, and skip heavy gel on the day.

How long should I leave between lightening appointments?

For a full lift, four to six weeks at the root, and we will not re-lift mid-lengths that are not ready. If the ends need recovery time we will put a bond rebuild in instead and move the lightening on. Going lighter is a sequence, not a single visit.

Should I arrive with washed hair?

Clean but not freshly washed is ideal, so a day or two old. Dry cuts and curl cuts should be dry and product-light. For colour, unwashed is genuinely better: a little natural oil protects the scalp during processing.

What if I need to move my appointment?

Let us know at least 24 hours ahead and we will move you to the next chair that works, at no cost. Long colour bookings are harder to refill at short notice, so the earlier you tell us, the more likely we can offer you something the same week.

Request a chair

Tell us what you want changed

One short form. No deposit, no account, and no appointment held until you have seen the times and the price.

Send the form and we will reply with two or three chair times, the service we have put you down for and the confirmed price. Nothing is held until you answer.

If your request needs a patch test, we will include the window for that in the same reply.

Studio hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9am – 7pm
Late chairs: Thursday until 8pm
Reply time: Same day during opening hours

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