The Look Hair Design is a boutique hairdressing salon on Kaikorai Valley Road in Dunedin, offering a service its owner describes as friendly and sophisticated at a fair price. The salon has always used cruelty-free products — Paul Mitchell and Echos — and free parking is available right outside the door, or over the road, at any time. As you drive into Kaikorai Valley, it is the first business on your left, just past Subway.
The salon is run by owner Sharon, an experienced, qualified hairdresser from England who started in 1984 and has worked for many UK salons. She keeps up to date with fashion-forward ideas, exploring new ways to make hair colour look spectacular and natural, and is known for fixing problem colours using good-quality, reliable products that give great and lasting results.
The menu spans men's, women's, children's and seniors' haircuts, blow waves, hair-ups and bridal styling, Davines conditioning treatments, and a full colour offering — toners, re-touches, full head colour, foils and balayage. Keratin smoothing with the formaldehyde-free Cezanne system is available for short, long and long thick hair, and a free 15-minute consultation is offered to discuss any aspect of your hair. Appointments run late until 8:00pm Tuesday to Thursday, and gift vouchers are available.
Tucked at the gateway to Kaikorai Valley, The Look Hair Design is a boutique hair salon that has quietly become a local favourite in Dunedin. As you drive into Kaikorai Valley, it is the first business on your left, just past Subway, and with free parking right outside the door — or across the road at any time — getting there and getting in is refreshingly easy.
The salon describes its service as friendly and sophisticated, and that combination shapes everything from the welcome at the door to the finish of a blow wave. Behind it all is owner Sharon, the salon's stylist, colourist and the face regulars ask for by name.
Sharon is an experienced, qualified hairdresser originally from England. She began her career in 1984 and spent years working for many UK salons before bringing that experience to Dunedin. Four decades on, she keeps up to date with fashion-forward ideas, exploring new ways of making hair colour look both spectacular and natural.
One of her specialties is rescuing hair that has gone wrong elsewhere: she fixes problem colours, working with good-quality, reliable products chosen for great and lasting results. If you are nervous about a big change, the salon offers a free 15-minute consultation to talk through any aspect of your hair before scissors or colour come anywhere near it.
Colour is where The Look really shows its range. The menu covers full head colour, re-touches, toners, colour and foils, half head and full head foils across short, medium and long hair, and balayage for soft, hand-painted dimension. One thing to note: the salon points out that colour bookings exclude the cut, so clients are asked to add a cut and blow wave on as an extra.
For smoothness and shine, the salon offers keratin straightening using the Cezanne system — a formaldehyde-free treatment built on botanical extracts, vitamins and proteins, including keratin and sericin, a silk protein exclusive to Cezanne. Three versions cover short-to-medium, long, and long thick hair, each around a two-hour appointment.
The Look is very much a whole-family salon. Men can book anything from a quick 40-minute clipper cut to a wash and cut, plus a men's colour service. Children's cuts are tiered by age, from first haircuts for under-fives through to teen trims, and there is a dedicated seniors' menu that includes ladies' cuts, wash and cut, shampoo and set, senior men's cuts and even a pensioner-rate permanent wave that includes cut and finish.
Women's styling spans the everyday and the special: cuts, wash and cut, wash cut and blow wave, re-styles, fringe trims, GHD straightening, blow waves, hair-ups for occasions and a two-hour bridal hair-up for the big day. A Davines deep conditioning treatment is available as a 30-minute add-on when hair needs extra care.
Sharon has always used cruelty-free products in the salon, working with Paul Mitchell and Echos. The salon's philosophy is a fair price for a great service, and that value-for-money approach is part of why locals keep coming back.
Appointments run Tuesday to Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm for after-work visits, Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and Saturday morning from 9:30am to 2:00pm. Bookings can be made online in a few clicks, and gift vouchers are available — a handy option for birthdays or thank-yous. The salon is also active on Facebook and Instagram, where you can follow recent work.
Whether you need a tidy fringe between appointments, a full transformation with foils or a keratin treatment, or a calm, experienced pair of hands to fix a colour that went wrong, The Look Hair Design offers boutique service with easy parking and a genuinely friendly welcome in Kaikorai.