​Pioneering black-out mirror to alleviate salon anxiety

​Those who always feel uncomfortable being confronted with your own reflection when visiting the hair salon need feel that anxiety no more thanks to a pioneering new mirror.
By Rachel Armitage
Published 31st Mar 2023, 00:00 GMT
​Lucy Johnson, of Luce Ends hair salon, has introduced a new ‘black-out’ mirror.​Lucy Johnson, of Luce Ends hair salon, has introduced a new ‘black-out’ mirror.
​Lucy Johnson, of Luce Ends hair salon, has introduced a new ‘black-out’ mirror.

​Lucy Johnson, who has owned Luce Ends hair salon in Horncastle since April 2022, has introduced a new ‘black-out’ mirror in the salon, which doesn’t show the client their reflection.

This innovative new mirror aims to alleviate anxiety during appointments for people with mental health struggles, clients with dementia, autism, or for people who just don’t like to see themselves in a mirror.

Having already created a ‘quiet room’ at the back of the salon for those who didn’t want to hear a lot of hustle and bustle during their appointment, and offering ‘quiet appointments’ where you can have a hair cut in silence without any small talk, Lucy wondered if there was a way to make her clients even more comfortable:

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She said: “I’d already been approached by a lady who said she wasn’t a fan of sitting in front of a mirror and said to the salon she was at that she didn’t want to see her image, but they didn’t really do anything.

"I’ve already had clients saying they didn’t want to sit in front of the mirror so I’d covered it over for them, but that evening I got thinking – we’ve got plenty of mirrors already so I painted it with black paint to see how it went.”

The response so far since the mirror was debuted last week, Lucy said, has already proven popular as people who have autistic children have already come in to make the experience of having their hair cut less stressful sensory-wise.

A woman with anxiety has also been able to enjoy a less-stressful haircut not being confronted with their own reflection.

"It’s also a good tool to have during complete re-styles,” Lucy said, “A lot of people don’t like seeing the process of having their hair completely redone and they want a big reveal when it’s finished so it’s come in handy for that too.”

Lucy said that it’s not just women who would get plenty of use out of the black-out as men also feel the same anxiety:

"My uncle always said he hated going to the hairdressers as he hated being in front of the mirror, and I’ve tried to change the mirror layout in the barber’s to individual mirrors to make the room feel less open and exposing for this exact reason,” she said.

To find out more about Luce Ends services, call 01507 525928.