July 20, 2026 |
Once a month, Salt Salon, the hairdresser, listening room and event space, which has locations in Hackney and Borough Market, becomes an all-female haven. Gaggles of excitable women flock to get their hair cut and styled, aunties, sisters and mums in tow, with a menu of non-alcoholic drinks to sip while they’re at it, safe in the knowledge that no men are allowed in.
The sessions, named Hijabi Sundays, were created two years ago by the salon’s founder, John Paul Scott, and his wife and operations director, Iona. They paused Salt’s regular schedule to provide a space where Muslim women who wear the hijab can get their hair done. “I’ve never been, because it’s female-only, but I’ve heard it’s a beautiful day,” Scott says, explaining that the event started after a client emailed asking if they had a secluded space for hijab-wearing women. “I started replying no, thinking she meant a private room, but it felt like it went against what we’re trying to do… [The women] pray in the space, drink matcha lattes, get their hair done. It’s joyful, and we’re proud of it.”
Salt Salon in Borough, South London, designed by contemporary architecture firm Unknown Works, has a modular design that means it can be turned into an event space.
Dialling in from his sunny homestead in Lisbon, Scott commutes back to the UK every other week to tend to his Salt team and see his loyal clients. Despite his move, Scott’s dedication to building an inclusive salon that mirrors London’s diverse population has never wavered. Walk into Salt and, whatever your ethnicity, background or hair texture, you’ll be made to feel welcome, and you’ll also be attended to by a stylist who understands your hair and how to make it look great.
“That isn’t true of a lot of high-end hair spaces,” says Scott, who speaks with an authority backed by decades in the industry. He found his place in hairdressing after getting kicked out of school at 16. “It’s often segregated [in terms of white salons vs. Afro-Caribbean salons, or spaces for Muslim women]. We were like, ‘This is London. We should operate for everybody.’”
Salt’s founder, John Paul Scott.
Salt’s interdisciplinary approach sets it apart from other salons. Feeding his long-term love for music (Scott and his friends used to run UK garage nights in Hackney’s abandoned warehouses 20 years ago), Salt’s East London space has a sound system built in, developed by Martin Audio, and a modular design that means they can turn it into an event space. Every few months, Scott and his team host Salt Sessions, where friends of the salon and beyond can come, listen to sets from local DJs and sip natural wines. When getting your hair done at Salt, you’ll never be listening to a randomly chosen radio station that plays the same song three times while you’re in the chair. Instead, curated playlists will carry you through the day, drawing on everything from Japanese pop to Detroit hip-hop stalwarts like Slum Village.
It’s an approach that has spilt over into Salt’s latest space in Borough Market, which opened in August of last year. “We wanted an evolution: not just another event space, but more of a highbrow listening space,” says Scott. The result was a collaboration with Shivas Howard Brown of bespoke sound system company Friendly Pressure to create a retrofuturistic, cavernous silver speaker. The rest of the space was left to contemporary architecture firm Unknown Works, which used the design to communicate that Salt isn’t just about hair; it’s about elevating the experience of a haircut through consideration and style.
The salon is built with silver surfaces that catch daylight elegantly.
It was runway shows that taught Scott why this was important. Having worked with legendary hairstylist Guido Palau for more than a decade at houses like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Prada (Scott was part of the team on the 2015 Dior haute couture show, where ponytails were sliced in half and linked back together using metal rings), he was inspired by how robust the world-building was. “Everything has a feeling: how people talk, the space, even the coffee cups – you can tell when it’s a Prada coffee cup. I find it a bit cheesy, but it’s true. That inspired how I think about Salt. You should feel the aesthetic in everything, even the glass you drink from.”
Scott spent those years balancing his work with Palau with shifts at various salons, while also running a club night called Joyride Dance Club across London with his friend John Joseph Holt, founder of Law magazine. “I learned about building a brand and saw it develop and grow. That planted the seed: I could do this for hairdressing.”
Every few months, the space transforms for Salt Sessions, with sets from local DJs and plenty of natural wine. Their bespoke sound system was created by Friendly Pressure and includes a retrofuturistic silver speaker.
When Covid hit and the world went into lockdown, that seed started to sprout. When Scott was allowed back to work, he quit on his first day, despite the recent news that he and Iona would be expecting a child. “I went on Gumtree, found a little studio in Hackney and took it. I had no money, no financial backing and a baby on the way. It felt risky. I told my mum, and she was like, ‘What have you done?’”
It worked out all right, though, with Scott’s years in the industry serving him well. “I posted a picture of me sitting in the chair in the studio, said I’d quit and started my own studio. I was fully booked on my first day, all new clients. It was the best feeling. Then Ross McLaughlan, a former student I had taught 10 years earlier, called me and said, ‘I’m quitting my job, and I’m coming,’ and hung up. He started full-time. From there, it was an upward trajectory.” McLaughlan is now the salon’s senior artistic director.
Scott has built a business that’s conscientious at its core. He runs a staff wellness programme, where the team do monthly yoga, reflexology or sessions with chiropractors to keep their backs and necks in working order after standing up all day. He’s built a base of dedicated clients, especially clients of colour with textured hair, whose experience of salons before Salt could be quite negative. “[There’s] trauma [that can be] wrapped up in their hair. [Those clients] put all their trust in me. It’s a huge responsibility, and I take it seriously,” Scott says.
This commitment led to a burgeoning business that has surpassed Scott’s expectations. It was a watershed moment when he signed the lease on the new space in Borough Market, a spot he’d always had his eye on but that felt out of reach. After he and Iona declined the dream space because it was too expensive, they got an unexpected call from an agent who explained that, after their pitch, one of the market’s owners sent his personal assistant to get her hair done at the Hackney space. She loved it so much that they slashed the rent by 30 per cent, and the deal was done. “It was surreal… worth it, but I’m still recovering,” he says with a laugh.
Like most entrepreneurs, Scott is never done. When asked what he hopes is on the horizon for Salt, his answer is to keep the salons busy and his team happy, while also starting an agency that connects stylists to further opportunities in the world of fashion. And what he’s built so far? Scott is proud. “There’s a feeling [when you’re in the salon],” he says. “It’s a safe space and it feels good. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but it’s about positivity and inclusivity, and we’re really proud of that.” And with a slick sound system, matcha on tap and beautiful design, when it comes to other salons, Salt is a cut above the rest.
Photography by Henry Woide. Taken from 10 Men Issue 63 – Classic, Craft, Nostalgia – out NOW. Order your copy here.
