I work between Old Street and Moorgate stations in London and have noticed Rush on the corner of Moorgate when walking past. It looks very smart from the outside so I wasn't surprised when I picked up a price list that it isn't cheap! I wanted my blonde highlights re-doing, and a full head starts from £80. A cut is from around £50 which is more than I would usually pay! However when reading the Metro paper recently I spotted a voucher for 50% off any colour during January. Being the penny-pincher that I am, I snipped this out and immediately booked an appointment! I popped in on the Thursday and was very glad to book an appointment that Saturday - I thought I might have had to wait longer.

Because I was new to this salon I didn't bother to check who would be doing my hair; however it turned out to be Emma who was a senior consultant for the franchise! Good job I had that voucher as a head of highlights with her would normally cost £115 - gulp. However she was extremely friendly and had lovely hair herself which is always good to see. When I arrived at the salon she introduced herself straight away and sat me down to talk through what I wanted. I explained that I wanted a colour similar to the very light ends of my hair, to even up my old highlights and generally give me a lift. She agreed with what I suggested and was reassuring, telling me it was just what I needed! She popped off to mix the colours and left me with a junior who offered me a drink. My tea arrived in a cute pot with a jug of milk and a biscuit on the side - always nicer than a grubby mug!

Emma worked really quickly on my hair (not surprising as she's clearly very experienced) and I felt very confident in her capable hands. She chatted to me a bit while she worked, but generally got the hint that I don't like to have to talk too much, and didn't bore me with chit chat like some hairdressers do! I got a nice pile of recent and classy magazines and just sat back and relaxed. Mmmm. This took about an hour, and then she sat me under a heat hood thing for about 30 minutes to finish the process off.

Once she'd checked the colour under the foils, Emma passed me over to an assistant to remove the foils and wash the dye out. This girl was very nice, very smiley and gentle on my hair, and not too chatty again! She masssaged my hair and I could have fallen asleep it was so relaxing! The products she used smelt lovely and she also offered me a treatment, although I said no thanks as I knew this would cost me! (They start from £5, apparently). She then wrapped a lovely fluffy warm towel round my hair and led me back over for Emma to dry my hair. I only asked for a rough dry (they call it a 'wrap dry') as I was only going home afterwards and didn't need a posh blow dry. A wrap dry is £5 and a blow dry is about £20, I think, so again it all adds up! However Emma made a really good job of drying it off with a big paddle brush and it looked better than when I blow dry it!!

I was so happy with the colour. It was definitely quite light and noticeable, but that's what I wanted. It looked very natural though and toned well with my natural colour and existing old highlights. I got lots of compliments over the next few days and a few weeks on I still love it. I hate to say it but I think you get what you pay for, and maybe I should go back to Rush rather than my cheapie local hairdressers! I hope they have some more offers soon though. While £65 is just about OK, I certainly couldn't afford this at full price!