UKIYO Salon & Haircare is a hair studio and professional haircare store on Helwick Street in central Wānaka. The salon covers the full spectrum of colour work — balayage, global colour, highlights and foils, and a dedicated blondes and lightening line — alongside precision cuts and styling, smoothing services including a Wella Smoothing Treatment, and in-salon treatments and rituals designed to restore, nourish and strengthen.
Extensions are a genuine specialty here, offered two ways: keratin bond, applied strand by strand so it moves like your own hair, and tape-in, which is flat, fast and gentle on fine hair. Jack, a Master Stylist and the salon's extensions specialist, works across both, with Kelsey focusing on tape-ins — and every journey starts with a complimentary 15-minute consultation. Brides are well catered for too, with wedding and occasion styling, curated bridal packages and a free 30-minute bridal consultation.
The retail shelf runs deep: Kérastase, Wella Professionals, Sebastian Professional, Redken, EVO, ANGEL and ghd, organised both by brand and by hair concern — blonde, damaged, dry, frizzy, fine, curly, colour-treated, scalp and thinning — plus salon-curated bundles like The Blonde Edit and Damage Rescue Kit. In-salon clients gain 10% off retail, the online store ships free across New Zealand on orders over $75, and appointments can be booked online via Kitomba.
UKIYO Salon & Haircare sits on Helwick Street in the centre of Wānaka and runs two operations under one name: a full-service hair salon and a professional haircare store. Appointments are booked online through the salon's Kitomba system, the retail range ships across New Zealand free on orders over $75, and the team shares hair advice through its journal and Instagram.
Colour work is what UKIYO is visibly built around. Balayage is pitched as sun-kissed, lived-in colour — the soft, low-maintenance approach — while highlights and foils deliver a multi-dimensional lift. Global colour handles all-over tone, and a dedicated Blondes & Lightening line serves clients chasing lighter hair. Cutting and finishing sit alongside, with Cut & Style covering precision cuts and finish.
When hair needs repair rather than a restyle, the menu turns to Smoothing and the Wella Smoothing Treatment, plus Treatments & Rituals designed to restore, nourish and strengthen. The journal backs all of this up with aftercare advice, including a stylist-approved guide to maintaining balayage between appointments.
Extensions are a specialty here, not an add-on. Keratin bond extensions are applied strand by strand and are chosen because they move like your own hair; tape-ins are flat, fast and gentle on fine hair. Jack, a Master Stylist and the salon's extensions specialist, works across both methods, while Kelsey focuses on tape-ins. Every extension journey begins the same way: a complimentary 15-minute consultation to talk through length, thickness and what will suit your own hair.
Wānaka hosts a lot of weddings, and UKIYO has organised itself accordingly. Wedding and occasion styling sits alongside curated Bridal Packages, and every couple starts with a free 30-minute bridal consultation. The supporting cast is thought through too: a Wedding Hair Kit covers at-home prep in the lead-up, extensions can add length and volume for the day itself, and Treatments & Rituals are positioned as pre-wedding hair prep. The journal keeps the same thread going, with a bridal hair timeline planner and a look at the wedding hair trends the team expects this season.
The team is led by Mikaela, Creative Director and Salon Manager. Nicole works as a Master Stylist, as does Jack in his extensions role, with Kelsey and Jasmine as stylists, Mya as the apprentice, and Jade running front of house as studio coordinator. The salon invites clients to choose their stylist when booking, which makes repeat visits easy to plan around the person whose work you already know.
The retail offer is unusually deep for a regional salon. UKIYO stocks Kérastase, Wella Professionals, Sebastian Professional, Redken, EVO, ANGEL and ghd, and arranges it two ways: by brand for the loyal, and by hair concern for everyone else — blonde and highlighted hair, damaged and broken hair, dry and dehydrated hair, frizz, fine hair and volume, curls, colour-treated hair, scalp issues and thinning. Salon-curated bundles do the pairing for you, from The Blonde Edit and Damage Rescue Kit to Smooth Operator, Curl Magnet, Volume Boost, Scalp Reset, the Wedding Hair Kit and Travel Essentials. In-salon clients gain 10% off the range, and gift cards cover the people who are impossible to buy for.
Central Otago air is hard on hair, and the team writes about it plainly — the journal's winter hair care guide is aimed squarely at surviving alpine air in Wānaka, alongside wider advice on choosing a stylist in New Zealand. Whether you are after a colour refresh, a first extension consultation, a bridal party booked out months ahead or simply a shampoo that suits your scalp, the door on Helwick Street — and the Kitomba booking link — is the place to start.