Colour is the service Northampton clients travel furthest for, and it's also the one most worth a proper consultation rather than a same-day walk-in. Balayage and highlights start from different base prices because they take genuinely different amounts of foiling and lifting time — not because one is dressed up as premium.
Keratin treatment is priced by hair length and thickness for the same reason: a short fine head and a long thick one use a different amount of product and sit in the chair for a different number of hours. We'll always confirm the exact figure before anything is mixed.
Highlights, Balayage Or A Full Head?
Half head highlights at £75 cover the top and sides — the sections that show when your hair is down. A full head from £90 takes colour all the way through, which matters if you wear your hair up or have a lot of density underneath. Balayage from £80 is hand-painted freehand rather than foiled, so it grows out softly with no hard regrowth line.
That grow-out difference is the one worth thinking hardest about. Foiled highlights need attention every eight to ten weeks or the regrowth line becomes obvious. Balayage regularly stretches to three or four months. If you genuinely cannot get to a salon every two months, balayage will make you happier even if highlights look brighter on the day.
What A Colour Appointment Includes
Every colour service here includes the wash, condition and dry afterwards — it is not a separate line added at the till. A toner is £25 on its own and is included in the balayage and bleach services, because lightening removes pigment but does not create a finished shade. The toner is what produces the cool, expensive result you brought in a photograph of.
It is also the part that fades first, usually within four to six weeks. Hair that looked beautifully cool when you left and reads brassy by the second month has almost never been coloured badly — the toner has simply washed out. A gloss appointment resolves it in half an hour for a fraction of a full colour.
Keratin: What £210 Buys
Keratin smoothing starts at £210 and rises with length and thickness, because both the product used and the hours in the chair scale with the amount of hair. It typically lasts three to six months.
Two habits decide where in that range you land: leave it completely unwashed for the first 48 hours, and switch to a sulphate-free shampoo afterwards. Those two alone routinely add six to eight weeks to the result, and they cost nothing.
How Long To Set Aside
Root colour with a blow-dry is around two hours. Half head highlights run to two and a half, a full head to three, and balayage three to four depending on length and how many sections need painting. Keratin is a three to four hour appointment and cannot be safely compressed.
That matters for planning, because a colour appointment is not something to squeeze into a lunch break. Our concierge tells you the realistic duration when she confirms the booking, so you can arrange the rest of your day around it rather than discovering it on arrival.
Bring something to read or work on — the processing time in the middle is genuine sitting time, and the studio has free wifi. Unlike most salons your colourist is not starting somebody else's appointment during it, so if the colour needs checking or adjusting halfway through, she is there to do it.
Colour & Keratin — Full Price List
Prices are our standard rates — your therapist will always confirm the exact cost at booking. See the full Ladies' menu for every service in the studio.