Toni & Guy Academy

if you’ve got time to spare, but not money to burn, then the Tony & Guy Acadamy is a great place to get a cut. I actually found out about this place as they were offering free hair cuts one afternoon as I was wondering around Albert Square hung over and in need of some serious TLC. I ended up gettign my hair cut by who I later found out to be the director of the ‘real’ branch round the corner for nothing when it should have been way over £30 I presume. It’s not often you get offered a freebie in this world, one that you actaully want anyway, so that was a more than pretty good deal.
Since then I’ve been back as it’s only £10 for a cut and blow dry and although you don’t always have the luck to get a top stylist, even the juniors I’ve had were fairly decent and for a tenner it’s worth the risk.
You do however feel like you are a bit of a battery hen as you sit opposite a large group mirror with the rest of the free loaders in there and wait to be doled out your stylist. So for experience it’s a 2 star, but for cost the Tony & Guy Acadamy gets a big fat 4.

I am a boy and I have had my hair cut in Toni & Guy Academy.
I have to admit, though I now go for a number 2, I used to pay a little too much attention to my hair, and I wouldn’t go to a barbers like a boy should, but always went to a hair dressers.
During this juvenile time I discovered Toni & Guy Academy, and it was a perfect medium. Its only £10, which is pretty much what you’ll have to pay in a barbers in this day and age, and the haircuts are great.
However, it takes absolutely ages! You’ll be seated in front of a mirror along with many others whilst the training hairdressers do their stuff, under the guidance of senior hair cutting professionals. This means that every few minutes, once they have completed a stage of your trim, you have to have your head inspected by the big dog hair chieftain. This must be completed before your completely competent trainee can continue to the next stage. This can be really irritating and take ages. Plus you have to witness your hairdresser be told what to do, or even told off, when he has clearly got nothing wrong.
Basically you’ll get a cut worth much more than it costs, but it’ll take much longer than normal. Time is money, so you’ll have to work out for yourselves whether its worth it or not.

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 Unilocal,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.