One thing you have to ask yourself when you walk into a Toni and Guy Academy is... are you precious about your hair? As someone who's experimented with my own for years, bleaching it to within an inch of its life, cropping it pixie short, colouring it blue, playing around with a fauxhawk and trying out every home hair colour under the sun, I'm the kind of girl who walks into a hairdresser and says to the stylist, 'What do you want to do with it?'
Thus I am the perfect meat for these trainees. Forsaking my beloved Alex for the purposes of Yelp, I decided that if I was having something simple done like going a few inches shorter but keeping my regular style, I might as well get it done here. Now, I've heard plenty of horror stories about hair colouring, so only take my word for the whole cut process. I myself am only using semi permanents until I go grey, and that hopefully won't be for a lo-ho-hoooong time.
Like a tattoo salon, this place makes you sign a waiver so you can't really whinge if it all goes doolally. After all, these are trainees but they're under the supervision of a manager. You're not used as a test subject, don't worry. In fact the teachers make a point of telling the students not to veer too far away from the style the customer already has. You'll be asked what you want and the teacher will talk the junior through which styles suit which face shapes and what not. You're unlikely to get something alien and artsy, in fact it'll probably be a very classic cut. Your hair will be washed with their own brand shampoos and conditioners which smell and feel amazing, and then the assigned student will cut your hair in stages which takes a good while longer than regular hairdressers as the supervisors have to check what's been done and offer improvements.
If you can, pick up a flyer or magazine advert that says Toni and Guy require hair models because that means you'll get a free cut. If not it can be anything from a fiver to £15 if you're going more extravagant with colour and perhaps a perm, but it's way cheaper than most salons. If money's short and I'm not feeling too in love with my hair, I'm happy to take the risk and come here. read more