Pierre Alexandre

As we all know, getting ones hair cut is not a walk in the park. Entrusting someone with something so obvious (and public if anything is to go wrong!) as your barnet can break many out into a panic, myself included. Needing something done prior to a recent event at work and not being able to book in at ‘my usual’, I decided to try Pierre Alexandre.
Directly across the road from work, PA is open different hours to usual, from 10am-​7pm, making it much easier for us 9−5ers to get a chop. You can also book online, which is perfect for anyone who doesn’t like using the phone… Simply click through, select your date, then the service and time you require. At this point you can also request the different levels of stylists which will impact your final price point.
I was warmly welcome by my stylist and shown to my chair for a quick consultation. The shampoo and conditioning was pretty standard with a short head massage that seems to be standard when visiting the hairdresser nowadays!
My stylist Mollie was lovely and chatty throughout the process, asking lots of questions about past styles and colours, and giving me some insight into the ‘behind the scenes’ of the hairdresser world. My final price was £30, £10 less than I was expecting to pay, plus I was given a small gift bag with some conditioning treatment samples as a festive thank you.
A lovely experience which I think I will be repeating, especially as their opening times and booking process means they work around my schedule as opposed to the other way around.

Hmmm considering the price of this place and the service I received, wouldn’t visit this hairdressers again. Made a reservation on the phone and was given a next day appointment no trouble which was great, but considering it’s Christmas time I did wonder if this was a good or bad thing. I was told I would need a skin patch test so came in the same day– the salon looks pretty swanky on King Street West. The guy told me I had been given an extra long consultation with the colourist so I could discuss exactly what I want and he did the patch test.
Fast forward to the following day and I was frantically trying to find somewhere in town to park close by. Ended up in the expensive King Street West car park and phoned to say I was on my way but would be 15 minutes late. The woman on the phone said that was fine. When I arrived the Olivia was said she was expecting me at 2 and since it was now quarter past that she probably couldn’t do my hair as she had a guy booked in at 3. I’ve been a few minutes late to other salons before but this has never been an issue. She said I could possibly have a half head of highlights instead of a full head and I said maybe she should take a look and tell me what she thinks needs doing, so she sat me in a chair.
Now I explained exactly what I wanted– the other salon I went to had put lowlights in and I felt it was too dark and coppery. I showed her a picture of my lovely blonde hair previously and that I wanted it to go back to a similar colour. Olivia called another stylist over to ask her opinion and they agreed a full head was the way forward. She said she could do it if the two of them did the full head of highlights to get it done faster. I said OK.
I’m not sure which of the colourists was the more superior– Olivia seemed to ask for the other one’s opinion a fair bit and seemed a little unsure of herself, which doesn’t reassure you or give much confidence when you’re having your hair done!
Anyway they quickly covered my hair with a load of foils and I sat and waited. Olivia had now moved on to her next appointment and so the other girl washed my hair and put a toner on. I made a point of saying I didn’t want it too ashy as I’ve had incidents with toner where my hair looked almost green.
After it was blow dried, it became apparent my hair didn’t look highlighted but pretty much an all over colour. It was very light and very brassy, but at this point I was so tired of hairdressers and just wanted to get home and see what it looked like out of the salon lights.
When I got home I realised just how yellow it was with a really obvious line at the roots. Now I’m just waiting for it to grow out and to get the condition back into it. Purple shampoo is a life saver.
For an expensive city centre salon (over £110 WITHOUT a cut) it was no better than my usual salon which costs £75 with a colour, cut and finish and everything thrown in. I’ve decided you really can’t tell the quality of a salon by the price tag. Oh and on the way out Olivia told me they have parking permits– could’ve told me that on the phone much sooner!!!

Right. Let’s get the positives out of the way. The haircut was fine and fast — 40 minutes is excellent, and there was a minimum of chit-​chat, which was also nice. I had no problems with the stylist really.
The problem came from what I can only describe as sneaky tactics, if not downright misrepresentation — when booking over the phone, I’d inquired as to whether or not I could use a 40% off voucher — I could! Fantastic! So a £25 gent’s haircut for £15. What could go wrong?
What could go wrong was that I was never told that I’d been booked with a senior stylist: at a cost of £45 normally, the actual cost (even with the voucher) was more than the £25 that I’d originally banked on! I’m really not sure whether to call this a scam or not but it sure felt like it at the time. Avoid.

I’ve just had my hair cut here, all the staff were really nice and professional too. The lady who cut my hair was friendly and offered advice when appropriate whilst also doing what I asked! She did my hair really nicely and put a lot of effort into the final touches and dried it nicely which was nice. I would definitely go again, All in all a pleasant experience.

On my list eloquently titled ‘Things I’d rather not do but can’t avoid if I want to look remotely acceptable’, having my hair cut is up there alongside «visiting the dentist» and «eating less food».
Some people love how pampered it makes them feel, how confident they walk out after a bouncy blow-​dry or how much gossip they gain from chats at the backwash. I don’t feel or want any of these things.
I think it stems from an awful work experience placement I had in high school. My teachers didn’t have any contacts with design agencies so presumed I would want to style hair instead.
You can imagine my dread as soon as appointment day came around, but this visit was relatively pain-​free.
On arriving at Pierre Alexandre, the staff seemed to be in the middle of some kind of team photo shoot. I was asked details of my appointment and ushered on to a bar stool in the window to wait. No attempt was made to take my jacket or dripping-​wet brolly.
Eventually, I was offered a drink and the experience got a whole lot more friendly. My stylist was Stephanie. After a short wait, I was led across the clean and modern salon to a very comfy chair where we discussed how she would tackle my mop.
Listening to my problems and suggesting solutions, she made me feel like my hair was in good, capable hands. I then had my hair washed by a young man who was very chatty — he asked all the usual questions, listened to my answers and seemed genuinely interested; good work that man!
Nothing was said during the cutting process. I liked that. It makes me feel confident that Stephanie’s attention was focused on the hair cut. Most hairdressers attempt small talk for the sake of it and it’s resulted in some of the worst cuts and most awkward silences I’ve ever known. If I had one criticism it would be that the comb kept catching my ear and began to get quite painful, but other than that it was great.
I appreciated how she would prevent the trimmed hair from falling into my lap or onto my face — there’s nothing worse than an itchy walk home.
The salon was clean, light, bright and cleverly designed. Behind each station was a hidden set of shelves. My jacket was placed on a rail behind my mirror, which avoided the identification parade of coats at the end of most cuts.
There was no hard-​sell at the till — no attempts made to book me in again in 6 weeks time. Efficient staff, no awkward conversation and I left with less hair than I arrived with. All in all a happy customer and will probably venture back.

This is the worst salon i have ever been to. The staff working here are horribly rude and seems to think they are way better than anyone stepping foot in their salon. I would not recommend going here. Nice looking salon with horrible staff!!!

This hairdressers is way too snooty. I went once with a discount card that my friend had been given and just got a cut and blow dry. They were nice enough but all the staff seemed like they were running in the back to bitch about all the customers. Or like they had TV cameras on them. Very fake, not very sincere.
The hair cut itself was fine. The chat over and done with without too much pain or awkwardness on my part (I have a phobia of hairdresser chats i.e. examinations of my life from a stranger’s point of view).
But lets face it if I hadn’t had the discount card I would not have been able to have afforded Pierre Alexandre’s prices. And no-one’s even heard of him. Whose hair does he do that I want? Hmm. To get the hair I want I’d have to have extensions put in underneath so that is a lost cause but anyway — overpriced for what it is because to the untrained eye (mine) there was no difference between this and a cheaper salon.