Should I Wash My Hair Before a Salon Appointment?

The honest answer to whether you should wash your hair before a salon appointment is this: clean hair from the day before is ideal for most things, and you do not need to wash it again the morning of. Freshly washed, slightly slippy hair can actually make a cut or a blow dry harder to judge. So aim for clean, not just stepped out of the shower.

The short version

• Day before clean hair is best for most cuts and blow dries.

• You do not need to wash it again the morning of your appointment.

• For colour, skip washing on the day. A little scalp oil protects you.

• Two day old hair is genuinely fine. We wash it here anyway.

• Skip heavy oils, dry shampoo and tight styles before you come in.

Clean, not squeaky clean: what your stylist actually wants

When I say clean, I mean washed the day before, dried and brushed through. Hair that was washed twenty minutes before you sat down can be too soft and slippy, which makes precise cutting and sectioning harder. A bit of natural texture helps the girls see how your hair really falls.

Come with it down and worn the way you normally wear it if you can. If you always wear it up, that tells us nothing about your day to day. We cut to your real life, not to how it looks straight off the brush.

If your appointment starts with a consultation, clean and dry also helps there. It is far easier for one of the girls to read your natural texture, your grey coverage and how much weight your hair carries when it is not hidden under product or yesterday styling. Two minutes of honest assessment at the start saves a lot of guesswork later.

When you should wash the night before

Cut and finish, blow dry, restyle, hair up: day before clean is perfect. For a blow dry especially, clean dry hair gives a better, longer lasting result. Our cut and finish runs £42 to £55, a blow dry £28 to £35, and hair up £35 to £50.

If you are coming for a special occasion style or hair up, do not load it with product first. Clean and dry, no serum and no oil. We will build the hold we need from scratch.

When to leave your hair alone, which means colour days

Colour is the big exception. For a tint, balayage, foils or a toner, do not wash your hair on the day. A day or two of natural oil on the scalp acts as a buffer and makes the process more comfortable, particularly for a full head tint or anything near the roots.

Do not scratch or scrub your scalp hard the day before either. Tiny scratches can sting once colour goes on, and broken skin is more likely to react. If you have never had a particular colour before, we will do a patch test first, because hair dye can trigger allergic contact dermatitis in some people.

A full balayage is £70 to £85, a root tint £40 to £47, and a toner £35 to £40. None of that needs you to arrive with wet hair.

Does it change for extensions?

A little. If you are in for tape, weft or nano extensions, clean dry hair from the day before is best so we can section cleanly and the bonds sit flat against your own hair. Avoid putting conditioner or oil on the roots that day, because anything slippy stops tape gripping properly.

Our nano extensions are £55 an hour, tape is £60 to £70 an hour, and weft is £70 to £80 an hour. Turning up with grease free roots genuinely makes that time go further, so you pay for fitting rather than for us cleaning your hair first.

What not to do before any appointment

Skip the dry shampoo. It builds up at the roots and we end up rinsing it out before we can start, which eats into your appointment. Same goes for heavy oils and thick styling creams.

Try not to come straight from the gym with sweat dried into your hair, and avoid tight plaits or buns for hours beforehand. Kinks and dents make it harder to see your natural fall. If in doubt, give us a ring on 01582 730381 and we will tell you what suits your specific appointment.

If you are still not sure, clean and dry the day before is never the wrong answer for a cut, and unwashed is right for colour. You can book online or call us on 01582 730381, and tell us what you are booking so we can tell you exactly how to turn up. We are on Hitchin Road in Stopsley, Luton, open Tuesday to Saturday.