Scarlet Salmons is the go-to stylist for those Beijing ex-pats wanting to edge up their look, emerge from parenting or grueling work into the land of the modern, and shed some accumulated dust from their do. Scarlet is a long-term British expat in Beijing with magic in her scissors.
After years of working in partnership with other salons, she opened her own salon called London Loft in the summer of this year, located just across from the April Gourmet on Xingfucun Zhonglu in Sanlitun.
The salon is cozy and hip with great shelves made of painted pipes, excellent contemporary art and a Plexiglas railing that holds the empty color tubes from years of the previous salon’s customers. It was such an excellent idea to house them in the railing—colorful and eye-catching—that I snapped these pictures but left forgetting to ask her if she would be collecting the used tubes from her new customers and adding them in too. I hope so!
The last time I visited Scarlet was in the springtime when she cut off my mousy shoulder-length hair (most often tied up in a ponytail) into a stylish short crop. I loved it so much I vowed to never try growing out my hair again. It had been too long between cuts, however, and so this week’s “trim” became epic. The last time I had it this short was in the late nineties and apparently this look is back in style again. Behold the requisite selfie. I am happily shorn!
Ember Swift is a Canadian musician and writer living in Beijing since late 2008. She is married to a Chinese musician and they have two children, Echo nearly 4 and Paz nearly 2. To know more about her, please visit: www.emberswift.com
Photos: Ember Swift
