About the studio
Eleven years of good hair days.
A small studio on a quiet corner of Sea Point, for people who'd rather have the right cut than the trendy one.
Our story
We started because good hair shouldn't be a gamble.
Ayesha had spent twelve years in big, loud salons where you rarely saw the same stylist twice and the answer to every request was “yes, of course”, even when it shouldn't have been.
Lumière was the reaction to that: keep it small, keep the same hands on your hair, and be willing to say “that won't suit you” when it's true. Eleven years later it still holds. We've stayed four chairs on purpose, because the alternative was becoming the kind of place we left.
In practice that means longer appointments, honest advice, and a lot of unglamorous care, strand tests, condition checks, and talking people out of the bleach their hair can't take this month.
We look after students before matric dances, mothers who get one hour to themselves, and clients who've been coming since the week we opened. If any of that sounds like you, you'll fit right in.
The studio
Four chairs, good light and a proper cup of coffee.
We're a two-minute walk from the Sea Point promenade, with off-street parking and a couch for whoever you bring along. Come as you are, grown-out roots and all.
How we work
Four things we actually stick to.
Say the honest thing
If a colour will wreck your hair or a cut won't suit you, we'll tell you before we start, not after you're sitting there with foils in.
The same hands, every time
You book with a stylist, not a slot. They learn your hair, remember your last colour, and pick up where you left off.
The price we agreed
Quoted before we begin and unchanged at the till. If your hair needs more, we tell you the number and let you decide.
Care over upsell
We only recommend the products your hair actually needs. Sometimes that's nothing new, and we'll happily say so.
Milestones
The short version.
Two chairs and a big idea
Ayesha opened Lumière with one other stylist and a fully-booked first month, mostly friends, family and word of mouth.
A dedicated colour room
Demand for balayage and colour correction outgrew the front of the studio, so we built a proper colour bar and brought Thabo on to run it.
Our own care range
After years of recommending other people's products, we curated a small shelf of the ones we actually use, and started stocking them for home.
Bridal, done calmly
Weekend weddings became a proper part of the studio. Trials, timings and on-location styling for the whole party.
Four stylists, still independent
No chain, no franchise, no plans to change either. We measure the studio by regulars, not by how many chairs we can cram in.