The London Reviewer

Hair salon review: Rush, Camden (NW1)
The Parkway, London, NW1
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Review by: Alexa Williamson

A good hairdresser – like a good cleaner – is hard to find, yet when you do find them, is worth their weight in gold. Having made such a great discovery in Camden, it’s definitely worth sharing.

Having walked by this slick-looking hairdresser several times on The Parkway, with its large glass windows and silver stainless steel fittings at each hairstyling position, and noticing their good range of hair products – Tigi* and Kerastase – I decided to give them a try to get my hair cut and my highlights done. Also impressed with their late opening hours and 7-day per week service**, which shows that they’ll go to great lengths to please their customers, I hoped the cut and colour would be as good.

So with my former hairdresser unable to see me after work to do a full head of highlights and a cut on my shoulder length hair, I crossed my fingers and fairly fearfully (having had the bad ‘orange’ highlights experience before when you want blond) gave them a try.

Happily, from the point I stepped into the hair salon, I was treated well and had no worries. Both the manager of the salon, who did my colour, and one of the mid-level stylists who cut my hair both listened to what I wanted and were able to give me exactly that. Plus, during my treatments, I was also offered many beverages – from wine to tea, coffee, cappuccinos and lattes – accompanied by biscuits, and during my shampooing I was given a great head massage.

At a price of £98.95 for the highlights and £44.95 for the cut, the entire experience is a reasonable price for London (considering what some of the West End salons and stylists IT girls and A-listers use charge).

With the chain being the Winners of the Hairdresser of the Year Awards for 2007, and now having had several good experiences at Rush: Camden. I can happily recommend them. Sadly, they lose a star as, although their hair-colouring products are top of the range and are the same that many top hairdressers use, they’re not as organic as, say, Aveda’s, which contain many less chemicals***.  

* Tigi is one of my favs. Despite their brightly-coloured plastic bottles, which can make them look like childish products of perhaps a bit tacky to some, they deliver good value for money. The Oatmeal and Honey Conditioner, for example, moisturises overly dried out hair more than most stylists’ first choice – Kerastase.
** Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm.
*** Current hairdyes, to date, have been deemed safe by health authorities, which authorise their use. However, more and more reports in the newspapers show a link between hairdyes and cancer. NB: if the chain ever switches to Aveda or a more natural range and someone notifies me, I’m happy to update this review.

Further information:
Rush (official site)