We’re certainly not short of salons in Bahrain but which ones should you trust with your tresses and your dos? There are plenty you should steer clear of (not that we’re naming names) but if you follow our guide to Bahrain’s best hairdressers then you should never again experience that moment of sheer panic when you realise your asymmetrical bob is a hideous bowl, or your ‘natural’ make-up leaves you feeling a little drag.
Dessange
Features: Ladies salon, spa and health club
This is your one-stop-shop for all things beauty related, as Dessange Paris brings the latest in hair styling, beauty, exercise, nutrition and spa trends to our Bahraini shores. The salon was founded in 1947 in France, when Jacques Dessange achieved success by styling Miss France’s do. He followed up with the opening of his salon in 1956 and soon saw over 250 patrons a day including Grace Kelly and Brigitte Bardot, who were regulars. Now the name has spread all over the world – to 39 countries in over 850 branches – bringing edgy, stylish haircuts-of-the-moment with them. Alongside a salon featuring the latest technology, they also have a spa with Moroccan baths and luxurious products, as well as a health club that offers a gym and a range of great fitness classes (think everything from yoga to Zumba spinning to BodyPump).
Open daily 7am-9pm. Gudaibiya, Adliya, www.alghalia.com/healthy (1771 3999).
Toni & Guy
Features: Hair salon with services for men and women
If you love walking out of a salon looking like you belong on the catwalk then Toni & Guy is your spot. As one of the most powerful hairdressing brands in the world – with 420 salons in 42 countries – they have quite the reputation to protect here in Bahrain and their location couldn’t be any better, nestled among fashionable shops in the heart of Seef Mall. Pair a spree with your cut and blow-dry, and you’ll be feeling like a million dinars in no time. They also do make-up, nails, hair removal, lash and brow tinting, beard trimming and shoe shining for men!
Open daily 10am-10pm. Seef Mall, Seef District, www.toniandguybahrain.com (1700 1700).
Elie & Jean
Features: Three Bahrain locations, salon supplies and stylist training
Brothers Elie & Jean have one of the most enviable reputations for styling on the island with skills ranging from classic cuts to today’s edgiest ‘dos. It was back in the 1980s when their salon story began, when these Lebanese brothers set up their first ever branch at the InterContinental Regency Bahrain where they remain today. Now they also have branches in The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain and Mövenpick Bahrain Hotel, where they style hundreds of ladies and gents’ hair every day, as well as offer a range of other services such as make-up and hair removal. They’re also responsible for a lot of the model’s looks you might come across in Bahrain. In fact, they’ve caught on so well, the brand has also spread through the GCC to Qatar, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Open daily 9.30am-1pm, 3pm-8pm. InterContinental Regency Bahrain, Manama, www.ejhair.com (1722 7300). Other locations: The Ritz-Carlton (1758 0885); Mövenpick Bahrain (1733 9122).
Gloss Salon
Features: A full service salon for ladies
AlAnood Al Khalifa set out on her first business venture back in 2009 when she opened the boutique Gloss Salon & Spa at the Marriot Executive Apartments in Juffair. Today, she’s garnered a notable reputation for offering top quality salon services which include hair treatments and styles, colour, blow-dry, nails, waxing, eyelash extensions, facials, massages and many more hair and body treatments, using products like L’Oreal, Dermalogica and Essie, which are also available to buy from the salon.
Open daily 10am-7pm. Marriot Executive Apartments, Juffair, www.glossbahrain.com (1782 6030).
Felda Cut & Style
Features: Hair and nails, plus a few other beauty services for men and women
Felda Cut & Style salon, located at the Delmon International Hotel in Manama, might be small but that means nothing because the regular clientele list is huge. Felda’s skills and reputation outweigh the space ten-fold and you’re always bound to leave her looking stylish, refreshed and, most importantly, satisfied. As well as a list of full hair services, they also offer manicures, pedicures, waxing, threading and plenty more. Best of all, you’ll always be remembered here and treated like a friend.
Open daily 9am-5pm. Delmon International Hotel, Manama, www.facebook.com/felda.cutandstyle (1722 4077).
Prestige Salon
Features: Beauty services for gents
Gentlemen listen up because Prestige Salon has been conceived solely for you – the team, from Lebanon, has been offering men’s treatments for hair, nail and skin care, since 1996 and their goal is to bring out all their clients’ individual styles. The trained stylists can do classic or contemporary cuts for men and boys, as well as colour, blow-dry, razor shaves, beard and moustache trim, manicures and pedicures, and a range of regular facial treatments to improve skin texture, tone and appearance. They also offer wedding services. With two conveniently located branches, Prestige is a good choice for all your grooming needs.
Open Sat-Thu 10am-7pm. Al Moayed Tower, Seef, www.prestigesalonbh.com (1756 4564).
Johnny & Co
Features: Separate areas and full beauty and hair services for men and women
Seef-based Johnny & Co is fast approaching their tenth anniversary, as back in 2006 Lebanese hair stylist Johnny opened his first ever salon right here in the heart of Bahrain’s business district. At the time, Johnny had over ten years of experience working in Lebanon, London and Dubai, and was trained by Toni & Guy, before opening this branch as a way to bring his fresh ideas to Bahrain’s beauties. Now, Johnny and his team work with all the fashion houses in Bahrain, as they’ve become known for pulling off classic and modern looks, and offer a huge range of hair and beauty services to men and women in separate areas at the salon, using Schwarzkopf and L’Oreal products.
Open daily 10am-9pm. Elite Grand Hotel, Seef, www.johnnyandcobahrain.com (1758 3362).
Prive Salon
Features: Beauty salon with private area for ladies
The Fraser Suites Prive Salon offers hair and nail services to both men and women, with a special section for ladies wishing to remain private. The professional stylists can do classic and contemporary styling, cutting, colour and a range of treatments to keep your locks luscious for weeks to come. On top of that, the salon has a portfolio of bridal services and a host of nail services too. The convenient location, fresh atmosphere and professionalism should keep you coming back to this salon.
Open Sat-Thu 9.30am-8pm; Fri 3.30pm-8pm. Fraser Suites, Seef Mall, www.prive-hairdressing.com (7717 7155).
Novel Beauty Salon
Features: Full hair and beauty services for ladies only
This stalwart Saar-based salon is known by all in the area for their friendly atmosphere and for offering a wide range of affordable hair and beauty services. From hair cuts and styles to a simple blow-dry, manicures, pedicures, waxing and other body treatments, Novel Beauty Salon has it all, plus friendly stylists and therapists to boot. For an affordable treatment in the Saar area, you can’t do much better.
Open Wed-Thu 9am-6.30pm; Sat-Tue 9am-noon, 2pm-6pm. Saar Road (1779 1222).
Moustache Salon
Features: Services solely for men
This upscale, full-service salon for gentlemen is a haven for men to sit back, relax and switch off after a hard day’s slog at the office. They have a whole host of grooming services such as hair cut and colour, shaving, nails, hot oil and even a range of facials such as the ‘Business’ option (BD10) or ‘Moustache Signature’ (BD25). It’s affordable and friendly, professional and sparkling clean, and that’s why we recommend it.
Open daily 10am-11pm. Tala Plaza, Kuwait Avenue, www.facebook.com/moustachesalon (7730 5555).
Beauty Spot
Features: Hair, nail and body treatments for women only
Beauty Spot not only offers a wide range of hair and beauty services for ladies but they also get involved in the community and that’s why we love them. From charity drives to partnering up with local businesses, they usually have something else going on at the salon you can join in. As for regular day-to-day practices, you can get everything from Brazilian microbead hair extensions to bridal make-up to a regular cut and blow-dry. They also offer a host of massages, facials and other body treatments, as well as nail services and slimming treatments, and even personal shopping, style analysis and wardrobe organisation! It’s definitely worth the hop over to Hamala for the experience.
Open Wed-Thu 9am-9pm; Fri 10am-7pm; Sat-Tue 9am-7pm. Hamala, www.beautyspotbahrain.com (1761 1888).
Raise those brows
Gloss Salon owner AlAnood Al Khalifa keeps us up-to-date with ladies eyebrow trends…
‘In case you haven’t noticed big, bold and beautiful is back! So go easy on the threading, waxing and plucking of your eyebrows for a while. The 90s eyebrow trends were too thin and almost scary looking (think Pam Anderson, Drew Barrymore, and Christina Aguilera), but now stars like Cara Delevingne, Rita Ora, Keira Knightly, Demi Lovato, and even the Kardashians, are championing statement brows. I couldn’t be happier that arched eyebrows are making a comeback, however, after years of plucking and threading my own I feel as though they’ve stopped growing into a more natural shape. After reading a few articles related to eyebrows I discovered I wasn’t alone and lots of others are desperately shelling out huge amounts for eyebrow transplants. This alone is enough to make you want to go easy on the tweezers.
‘Of course, the trend is nothing new. Liz Taylor, Madonna, Audrey Hepburn, and the young Brooke Shields have made big brows beautiful and iconic throughout film and fashion. Brows are the most important piece of the facial structure puzzle. Not only do they provide shape but, according to many stylists, bigger brows are a symbol of confidence, power, and youth. That’s probably why huge make-up brands have built empires on the big, beautiful brows, inspiring customers to perfect their own natural arch shapes. They know all too well that when it comes to brows, bigger is better.’
In-style for 2015
Lebanese hair stylist and salon supervisor Bilal Zalghout from Jean Louis David gives us the lowdown on the hottest styles for men and women this season
Top cut for men
Short cut
The look: The ‘David Beckham’ style
Age range: 15-40
Get the cut: For men, whatever hairstyle English footballer David Beckham dons tends to be a popular one. This kind of haircut is done by cutting the hair very short on both sides with a defined line on one side while keeping some length on the top.
Three styles for ladies
Short cut
The look: Short bob
Age range: All ages
Get the cut: There are a lot of trendy short haircuts that are popular this year and we choose one of the best – the ‘short bob’ cut. The hair is cut to the length that hovers just above the neckline with slightly longer hair in front, cut in an asymmetrical style for volume and body. Victoria Beckham popularised this haircut, so once more the Beckhams are setting the fashion trend. This cut is so feminine, it looks great and, best of all, it could make the ladies look younger. It is suitable for all ages.
Medium cut
The look: For career women
Age range: 30-45
Get the look: For career women who don’t want to go short and at the same time want to change their hair from time to time, we advise the customer goes with a medium haircut. This is done by cutting the length over the shoulders with a straight layer, graduated on the face and with some soft layering only on the top to give movement and body to the hair. This length can be done with a short fringe or long one.
Long cut
Name of cut: Long bob cut
Age range: All ages
Get the look: This is one of the most popular haircut and colour trends today. It can be seen on many red carpet celebrities around the world such as Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams, Emma Stone and many more. It’s based on a copper red hair colour and a nice defined length cut. For the cut we chose to do a ‘long bob cut,’ which gives the hair a thick hair line with a few layers only on the top to give some movement and body. The fringe is cut short to cover the forehead with a thin, long layer over it. For the style, it can be done with a simple straight blow-dry for the weekdays, and for weekends and special events, why not go for a loose, wavy look? This will make you stand out wherever you go.
