How it all began….
We have been in Haddington Place, in Leith Edinburgh for 19 years. I can’t quite believe it’s almost 20 years!
I worked in various salons in Edinburgh for years, and loved it, but, after many years of I found that in the early 2000s people were starting to ask more questions. The link between what we put on our bodies affects when happens in our bodies was becoming more and more apparent. People started asking “Is colouring hair safe when pregnant?” “Does this contain parabens?” “Is this tested on animals?”
The truth is, at the time I didn’t know. We are trained on how to use a hair colour, but at that time, not what was in it or how it was made.
I started to think that maybe a salon with only organic products and products not tested on animals would be a good idea, it had never been done before in Scotland. Even going vegetarian in the early 2000s was unusual, as I realised as I stopped eating meat in 2001…. I set to work researching chemicals in hair and beauty products. I read every book I could, and started to try to find the best products for my new salon.
When I first started to look into the idea, I couldn’t find many options. Some were cruelty free, but not organic, some were organic but not cruelty free and vegan was almost unheard of. Even my friends, family and business advisers said “can you not just open a NORMAL salon?!”
But, I found a couple of suppliers and got to work opening the salon. I found the perfect place in 19a Haddington place. It was great fun, I slowly started to build up a great team of people, and we really did have fun, every day. We wanted the salon to be as fun to visit as it was to work in, something that has been in my core values ever since.
In 2021 we moved a few doors up the street, to 31 Haddington Place, from our little basement which we loved so much to a brighter, lighter space and have never looked back. We love the new space and love that we can watch the world go by..
We slowly changed and evolved, found another few brands, then finally settling on Oway as our colour choice. It all aligns so beautifully with our ethical, sustainable, cruelty free and vegan values. We would never use anything that doesn’t align with this ethos. . When we moved salons we geared it up a level, and now use the green salon collective to recycle our waste, including the hair that we cut and the foils we use. Now the terms and culture of sustainable, organic, cruelty free, vegan and eco friendly are used in every day life, and I’d like to think that our little salon had just a little part in that!
At our salon, from day one, in 2006, we wanted a hair salon visit to be relaxed, fun, and friendly, We would never have anything else. We only use the finest in organic, cruelty free and vegan products, we are sustainable and eco friendly. We want you to feel comfortable and really relax here. We find new and lovely ways to add a little more self care every week… We take self care and mental health very seriously and we’d love for you to take care of yourself with us.
Emma x