Admit it: getting your hair cut is a strange experience. You take photos of people you don’t look like to a stranger with sharp implements and ask them to do their best. Yet somehow that’s not the weirdest part. The really strange bit is having to stare at yourself in the mirror at close range for over an hour. Preferably without having an existential breakdown.
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If you’re someone who glances into every reflective surface you see, then it’s not going to be an issue. For the rest of us, however, looking in the mirror doesn’t come naturally. Maybe you’ll get a few quick sightings of yourself in bathrooms but generally your reflection isn’t really a part of your day. There are also those who absolutely hate mirrors and find it a nightmare to be faced with one for a whole haircut.
A Whole New Look
Lucky for us, there’s an answer. One salon owner decided enough is enough and has put a new slant on the hair salon. Daniel Kelly did away with the mirrors at his Peckham hairdressers, putting a whole new spin on self-reflection. Artwork has replaced the normal mirror. Now clients have something timeless to look at, a new topic of conversation and a surprise when they’re done.
DKUK has always been a salon with a difference. Kelly is both stylist and artist, so it’s always been both a hairdresser’s and a gallery. The balance has now been tipped a bit more, with a revamp by architect Sam Jacob. Depictions of windows, artistic T-shirts, landscape paintings and sculptures line the walls, while pores and flaws remain thankfully out of sight.
The owner and architect realised that people often feel differently about their hair once they get home. Now their home has become the main stage for their new haircut. The only mirror in the salon is on the far side wall, designed to reflect back the teeny space and make it look bigger.
Making Statements With Scissors
This tucked-away salon has been redefining hairdressing since it opened. The most revolutionary idea from DKUK isn’t using the space as a gallery but charging for cuts based on hair length rather than gender. Females who are sick of paying through the teeth for a pixie cut no different from a ‘male’ short back and sides can rejoice. This is the place for you. Just don’t expect to see the results until you get home..
Most importantly, DKUK does away with that awkward moment when you’re asked to give an opinion on the back of your own head. We’re hoping the stylist simply holds up a Magritte instead, before brushing you down and bidding you and your new do adieu.
The post A New Take On Hair Salons: Goodbye to Mirrors, Hello to Art appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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