Tucked away behind tinted windows on the outskirts of East London’s Spitalfields Market lies Amazon’s first ever salon – and it’s unlike anything you may have experienced before.
The brand, which is clearly on a mission for world domination, opened its first experimental salon in April this year – a 1,500 square feet shop with two floors all framed around augmented reality.
And gone are the days of disaster dyes that leave you trapped in a bun-do for weeks on end – Amazon wants to come to your rescue.
Its unique selling point is that you really can try before you buy. If you’re in the mood for a bold new hue or a dicey chop, you can actually test it out before going all in – thanks to virtual reality cameras and ‘special’ mirrors.
Feeling precarious, I went for pink, and to be honest, it was a fun five minutes.
The clever screen even turned my hair green, before switching to blonde and concluding on the winning do – a caramel balayage.
But don’t panic, it’s not all robots. The salon itself is run by Elena Lavagni, the owner of Neville Hair & Beauty and a mainstay at Paris Fashion Week.
The celebrity stylist has carried her crew over to the Amazon salon in order to wow customers with a new hairdo.
I was introduced to Nadia, my stylist, and we got to work, starting with a deep steam treatment to de-stress my scalp and the past 12 months of home dye kits.
Nadia introduced me to what looks like a sixties perm machine – except it’s really a hands-free head massage.
She opted for L’Oreal’s Power Pro Keratin treatment, which uses rosemary oil to open up your hair follicles, allowing the treatment to remove products that are deep-rooted in your strands.
After eight minutes and right on cue, I started steaming up – literally like something out of Stars in their Eyes. Apparently that's a sign it's working.
Nadia tells me Keratin treatments have been their most popular since opening the salon.
“It’s a favourite, not just because it’s so soothing,” she tells me. “The treatment works with the steam machine to open up the pores and remove any build up – and the benefits of it can last months.”
Next up is my hair cut, Nadia gets to work and in all honesty, it’s exactly what you’d expect with a cut, dye and blow dry.
At my patch test, I'd already explained that I wanted to avoid any bleach, and she explained that there were possibilities for this.
The salon has a 'dye kitchen' downstairs where colourists can create their own tones using what looks like a snazzy coffee machine.
Her bleach-free combination even worked on my homemade ombre - which I've been disastrously dying from my own bathroom for years.
I leave Nadia to work her magic while I make use of the magazine-loaded Fire Tablets provided on arrival, and two hours later, I’m done.
Then we’re off to Amazon’s sensor wall – where the shopping begins.
The salon’s unique selling point is that you can shop on the go – without the baggage.
Its digital wall is home of where you can buy your favourite hair products.
Sensors on the shelves detect when an item has been picked up while cameras and other technology backed by artificial intelligence monitor individuals’ movement around the store and the goods chosen.
Would you try out the Amazon Salon? Let us know in the comments.
Cleverly, each time you pick up an item the screen above it pulls up a PowerPoint explaining it in all the detail you could possibly need.
To buy anything, just like your hair cut, you simply add it to the shopping cart – and walk out of the store.
Of course that brings us onto the prices, which surprisingly, are pretty on par with central London.
Hair treatments start at £15, colour from £30 to £110 and a typical cut and blow dry will cost you upwards of £53. For dye, you'll need a patch test 48-horus before hand.
Whether the prices will vary by city is something yet to be decided with no further salons currently in the pipeline.
“We have designed this salon for customers to come and experience some of the best technology, hair care products and stylists in the industry,” said John Boumphrey, Amazon's UK Country Manager.
“We want this unique venue to bring us one step closer to customers, and it will be a place where we can collaborate with the industry and test new technologies."
