My HooLooVoo experience began when, after making my appointment to have a cut and some colour (the salon’s speciality), a Colourstart skin test arrived in the post that checks for potential allergic reactions or skin sensitivity. Impressively thorough, I thought.

Then, the night before my appointment, a text arrived to remind me of my scheduled appointment time. Again, this touch impressed me - how very progressive (not to mention organised).

This high level of care and customer service is, I soon discovered, synonymous with HooLooVoo, a shiny, modern salon in Pottergate, Norwich.

Upon venturing in, I am struck by the clean, white lines of the salon, complimented by bright flashes of colour through wall decorations, hangings and super-sized contemporary artwork. It is trendy and minimally chic, but saved from being too clinical by the bright primary tones and innovative lighting (HooLooVoo uses daylight-emulating bulbs I learn later, meaning that even though it is rainy and grey outside, the sun still shines in HooLooVoo).

I am greeted and seated by one of the friendly team members, offered tea or coffee and then Manager and Co-Owner Simi McGeorge talks me through all things colour. A L’Oréal Professionnel Colour Studio Salon, colour is one of the things that HooLooVoo prides themselves on doing best. Certainly Simi, an experienced stylist and colourist with several years salon experience under her belt, comes across as being very knowledgeable and confident when she advises me that the colour I had in my hair already was a bit too blonde for my skin tone and dark eyes. She advises more golden tones - perhaps three shades to avoid an overly ‘striped’ effect. Unlike other hairdressers I’ve been to she doesn’t produce colour charts. “It just confuses things” she says, and goes off to mix the colours. Strangely, perhaps, I am supremely happy to trust her abilities to know what’s best (not a feeling one enjoys at every hair salon). While I wait I am asked if I’d like a magazine. Rather than a handful of glossies being plonked in front of me, a mobile-rack-type-affair full of the likes of Vogue, Tatler and others is wheeled over to me to choose a few myself. Nice touch.

 

 

Simi applies a full head of colour using ‘foils’ (actually those plastic ‘meche’ type things) adeptly while we chat about all sorts of things. I am brought another cup of coffee (decaf this time - don’t want to be bouncing off the walls) and Simi tells me that their decaf is unique in that it has been decaffeinated using water and not chemicals, as with some decaf coffees. I have to admit it tastes very good. Once my colour has been applied I sit like some strange Cleopatra with all my foils and read about the latest must-haves in beauty and fashion while it ‘takes’. I feel very relaxed. The cheerful staff, ambient music and general chilled-out vibe all make for a very pleasant experience.

 

 

Forty minutes later, my hair is washed (I’m liking the groovy seats that shift forwards and backwards on their base to accommodate the most comfortable position at the sinks). Becky, the stylist who removes my foils and washes the colour out treats me to a rather lovely head massage during the process. I know this practice is fairly routine at all hair salons these days, but I have to admit, this particular manipulation is rather exemplary.

Simi then cuts my hair (a fairly simple trim to liven it up a bit) and as she works I can already see the colour. Sun-kissed, radiant blonde locks that make me look like I’ve spent the last month on a beach in California. A vast improvement in my eyes. Simi styles my hair using ‘Curls Rock Curl Amplifier’ from one of the other professional product lines that HooLooVoo stocks - Tigi.

 

 

I leave the salon feeling de-stressed and a touch smug with my fabulous new summer look.  My morning at HooLooVoo has been nothing short of delightful. Featured in the Good Salon Guide, HooLooVoo is a truly 21st Century salon - professional, welcoming, stylish and offering an array of fabulous extras such as manicures and pedicures while your colour takes, make up, hair extensions, wedding and party hair and their new ‘Glamma Nannas Wednesday Special’ (especially for greying goddesses who want a colour injection). A perfect pre-summer pick-me-up and like having your hair done on some sort of spa spaceship, it is a fun, forward-looking lesson in indulgent, pampering delight. Perhaps it’s time you got a HooLooVoo-‘do’?

 

 

HooLooVoo.

11 Pottergate, Norwich, NR2 1DS.

Tel: 01603 618968.

| EnjoyMent Privilege Cardholders always qualify for a 10% discount off services at HooLooVoo with an EnjoyMent Card (excludes product purchases) |

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