Michael Van Clarke

These guys are good, serious professionals of their trade.
I used to go to the £8 per cut places who did a grade 3 cut all round, but as my hair has thinned with age I have needed someone good to make the most of what I have.
I started with a junior cutter there about 2 years ago, this level of person is trained and has been there for a few years. She is so good that I gave seen no need to go to the next level (and price) of a more senior person. Although not having tried more senior people there I cannot report on the difference.
This lady really has shown what a professional can do. She has amazed with by cutting and combing my hair with both length and shape, to look thicker. Also the effect lasts a couple of months.
I have been to places before who have taken ages and made a fuss, but never with such good results. Although being younger then with fuller when I tried these other places maybe I did not need or care about what they did.
The service and décor standards are like at a top 5 star hotel, that is their market and the kind of customers they attract. Service is personable, friendly with great attention to creativity and detail.
However I have gone there as someone who cares about looking good, so this place is really important to me. Although it is expensive, as long as I do not go to often I can afford it and find it is worth the money.

I’d been back in London for a year and hadn’t found a new hairdresser (my former go-​to guy in London had emigrated). To the internet! I searched for a salon that would be good for my increasingly-​wavy-​to-​loosely-​curled hair. On many a beauty blog and curly hair forum I read about the Diamond Dry Cut at Michael Van Clarke. I was intruiged. I spent a long time watching Michael’s videos (aimed at other hairdressers) on YouTube explaining his approach. I was convinced I’d give it a shot.
Being on more of a budget than perhaps some of the MVC clientele, I decided to go with a junior. In my experience, a junior at a high quality salon is still going to be a skilled stylist — places like this don’t take someone with no background or talent. Happily, I was correct in this assumption!
In late July I got a haircut with Rosie. She’s a really friendly gal and made me feel at ease from the get-​go. My hair had been about 14 months without a haircut, and the cut it was growing out from had been cute for a few weeks but grew into a shapeless and heavy mass of hair. I needed to be rescued! In what turned out to be the longest-​lasting haircut of my life (over 2 hours, I think!), Rosie used the MVC dry cutting method and scrupulously took my hair from blah, to basically shaped, to beautifully layered. It had life! It had movement! It looked pretty again!
As a new client, I was offered a complimentary follow-​up with blowdry within the next 2 weeks for Rosie to fix anything I wasn’t happy with and/​or make any minor adjustments to the cut. As I was absolutely pleased with the cut 2 weeks on, this just meant that I got a fabulous wash and blowdry (with the best head massage ever). Paired with the follow-​up offer was a discount to a beauty service. As I was headed on holiday, I happily took up the offer of a discounted manicure.
This is where things go less than 5 stars. The service of the manicure itself was wonderful: nice shaping, good trimming of cuticles, a great arm and hand massage. The polish selection was minimal, but offered all the usual basic options. I went for a fiery red. As it happens, the manicurist (whose name I’ve forgotten — sorry) used CND Vinylux 7 day polish. This is a really cool polish that’s somewhere between regular varnish and Shellac. I LOVED the shade of red and I went 19 days before I needed to change it — there was just a touch of chipping on 2 previously-​damaged nails, but mostly the change was needed due to the growth and the partial loss of shine. But 19 days on a polish with a 7 day selling point? Amazing. HOWEVER — and this is a rather big however — it wasn’t set properly to begin with. I think the 2 layers of red weren’t given enough time to dry before the quick-​drying and hardening topcoat was added because one hand was super bubbly and the other was fairly bubbly. This wasn’t apparent until they’d gotten quite dry, of course. The shade was great, and the high shine was wonderful, but I was disappointed in the presence of so many bubbles. When I paint my nails at home, this sometimes happens if I rush the topcoat and usually means I’ll start over. Sadly, this wasn’t an option as the manicure was done concurrently with the blowdry (I felt very pampered) and the manicurist had moved on to another client by the time my hair was finished.
Verdict: hair = 5 stars, nails = 3.5 stars. I’ll definitely be sticking with Rosie for my hair in the future, but not sure about getting my nails done at MVC again. The Diamond Dry Cutting method is time-​consuming on the first go round, but now that my hair is shaped so beautifully, I’m sure the maintenance cuts will be a much simpler affair. I highly recommend you check this place out!

They specialize in dry cuts, and my gf has been coming here for awhile now and highly recommended it. So I said why not, it was time for my 6 month haircut.
I made an appointment online, and the receptionist called immediately to confirm the date/​time. The haircuts range from 45 – 200 pounds? I figure a simple trim does not require a crazy amount of money, so I chose the beginner stylist for 45 quids.
The salon is situated in Marleybone which is a very lovely area. There was barely a wait, and the stylist even hands you a menu which offers a variety of light snacks and beverages.
The hair stylist is not as chatty as I’m used to in America. Usually in the states they talk your ear off about celebrity gossip and parties. Anyways, the trim was perfect and he seemed to be very methodical and careful with every snip.
I will come back again, because he scheduled me for a free blowout for my 1^st hair cut.

I now use the salon once a week. Prices are reasonable, the salon décor is chic and they are very accomodating — they even open early on weekday mornings if you need to go before work if you ask nicely!