Mahogany

30 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford Tel: 552494

If, like me, the very word hairdresser strikes terror into your heart, and you are reduced to a trembling idiot on walking into the shiny, mirror-encrusted interior of the hair salon, then do not fear, for this is the place for you. Mahogany might be a busy, trendy haircutting centre, but it also manages to cater for the hairdressing coward such as myself who requires gentle handling at all stages of the ordeal.
Those impossibly cool people who always inhabit hair salons are not by any means as intimidating once you get inside, turning out to be normal humans who are friendly, unpatronising and helpful and who, most importantly, made me feel welcome.
I had a cut and finish with Luke. He calmly and efficiently dealt with my disobliging hair and proceeded to banish the persitent split ends and shape it into a sleek layered style. When I admitted my ineptitude with all things hair-related, and my consistent inability to crack the glamorous hair secret, he told me to get a good shampoo, and showed me how to apply that gloss and even how to hold the hairdryer. He also went to the trouble to straighten my wavy hair, a thing I had not believed possible and which was astonishingly successful.
Furthermore, the service is excellent, with tea, coffee (comes with proper little coffee-shop biscuits) and mineral water available on request. The salon itself is small and very personal, and there is always someone around to help you out. This must be the first time ever that I have actually enjoyed a visit to the hairdresser.
This may be, according to Elle magazine ‘one of the top five colour hairdressing salons in the UK’, but it certainly manages to avoid the pretention that should accompany this accolade. They’ll cut your hair wonderfully, and are human along with it. I left with that ‘just stepped out of a salon’ feeling, and will certainly step in again. Definitely the place to go in Oxford....

Jane Labous