River IsleHair Salon
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Light-filled hair salon interior with styling chairs facing tall mirrors

Cuts · Colour · Care

Hair that still looks like yours

A small, unhurried salon on the river bend. Long consultations, soft colour, and cuts shaped to the way your hair actually falls when you leave us.

Request a booking See services & prices

Open six days, two late evenings

Every appointment begins with a seated consultation and a cup of something warm. Walk-ins are welcome whenever a chair is free, though enquiring ahead is kinder to your afternoon.

  • Tuesday – Wednesday9:00 – 17:30
  • Thursday – Friday9:00 – 20:00
  • Saturday8:30 – 17:00
  • Sunday10:00 – 15:00
  • MondayClosed
Stylist sectioning a client's long hair before applying colour
Row of empty salon chairs beside a bright window in the studio

The studio

Four chairs, one conversation at a time

River Isle was built around a simple idea: nobody should leave a salon holding a style they cannot recreate on a Tuesday morning. We keep the room small on purpose, so your stylist is never running between three heads at once.

We work with your natural texture and growth pattern rather than against it, and we will happily talk you out of something if we think it will not wear well. Expect honest advice about what your hair can carry today, and a plan for where it could go next.

“We would rather make a small change beautifully than a big change badly.”

Services

Price guides, not surprises

Guide prices start from the figures below and are confirmed in your consultation, once we have seen your hair's length, density and history.

Cut & finish from £48 · 60 min

Cut & finish

A shape drawn around your face and your hair's own fall, finished dry so you can see exactly how it will behave.

  • Consultation and scalp check
  • Wash, cut and blow dry
  • Styling notes to take home
Colour & gloss from £72 · 90 min

Colour & gloss

Root blends, tonal shifts and glazes that add depth and shine without announcing themselves across a room.

  • Shade matched in daylight
  • Root tint or full colour
  • Finishing gloss and tone
Lightening from £130 · 3 hrs

Lightening & balayage

Hand-painted lift placed where the light already hits, built over sessions so the condition keeps pace with the colour.

  • Strand test before we begin
  • Freehand or foil placement
  • Bond-support treatment included
Care from £34 · 45 min

Treatments & repair

For hair that feels tired, dry or over-worked. A quiet appointment that rebuilds strength before we touch the colour.

  • Scalp and porosity assessment
  • Protein or moisture course
  • Home routine written for you

Fringe trims and parting tidies between appointments are complimentary for anyone we have cut in the last six weeks. Longer or denser hair may sit above the guide price — we will always say so before we start, never after.

The team

Choose the chair you'd like

Name a stylist in your enquiry and we will hold their diary first. If you are not sure, tell us about your hair and we will suggest the right fit.

Portrait of Mara Vance, senior stylist, standing in the salon

Senior stylist · Founder

Mara Vance

Opened River Isle after fifteen years behind other people's chairs. Precision cutting, curtain shapes, and the difficult in-between lengths.

Portrait of Imogen Reyes, colour specialist, beside the salon window

Colour specialist

Imogen Reyes

Lives for soft blondes and grown-out roots that still look deliberate. Will build you a colour plan across seasons rather than one appointment.

Portrait of Theo Nkemba, stylist and barber, in the salon

Stylist & barbering

Theo Nkemba

Short shapes, clipper work and textured crops. Patient with coarse and curly hair, and quick with a tidy-up between longer visits.

Lookbook

Finished in the room, photographed the same day

Nothing here is restyled for the camera. This is hair as it left the chair.

Client with soft blonde balayage and a long blunt cut
Lived-in blonde over a long blunt line — three sessions of gentle lift.
Close detail of a freshly cut and faded short style
A short textured crop with a soft fade, cut dry throughout.
Client with glossy brunette waves after a tonal gloss treatment
Brunette gloss and a wave-friendly shape for fine, flat-drying hair.

Visiting the salon

The practical part

Everything people usually ask us before a first appointment.

Do I need a consultation before colour?
For any first colour service, yes — a short seated chat so we can look at your hair in daylight and talk through what is realistic. It is free, takes about fifteen minutes, and can usually be added to the start of your appointment.
Will you patch test me?
Always, before your first colour and again if you have had a reaction to anything since your last visit. Mention it in your enquiry and we will arrange the test at least forty-eight hours ahead of the booking.
How long should I set aside?
A cut and finish takes about an hour. Colour runs from ninety minutes, and lightening work can take three hours or more depending on your starting shade. We will confirm a realistic window when we reply to your enquiry.
What if I need to move my appointment?
Life happens. Let us know as early as you can and we will find you another slot. Because the room is small, a late change usually means an empty chair, so the earlier notice genuinely helps.

Booking enquiry

Tell us about your hair

Send a few details and we will reply with the chairs we can offer you. No deposit, no account, nothing to confirm until you have heard back.

  1. You write, we read

    Your note reaches the salon diary, not an inbox nobody opens.

  2. We offer times

    Usually two or three options with the stylist you asked for, plus a realistic duration.

  3. You choose one

    Reply with the slot that suits you and the chair is yours.

We use your details only to answer this enquiry and to prepare for your appointment.