Exterior of Wabi Sabi Salon shopfront in Collingwood, Melbourne, viewed from the street with signage, windows, and outdoor seating area.

Arrivals

Feeling unwell? Strict health and safety requirements apply if you have cold or flu symptoms on the day of your booking. Please review the Health & Safety Policy before attending.

Read the Health & Safety Policy


This is a close-contact, 90-minute dry haircutting service. The process depends on being able to work with and accurately read your hair in its natural state on arrival. If anything below feels unclear, that’s okay—just ask. These preparation notes are here to support the work, not to test you.

  • Same-day clean: Shampooed and conditioned on the day of the booking, not the night before. Please shampoo thoroughly. Co-washing is not a substitute for shampooing for this appointment. Use conditioner if this is part of your normal routine. Rinse fully. Detangle. Air-dry or diffuse only. Do not smooth, straighten, or blow-wave the hair before arrival. Hair does not need to be fully dry.
  • Product-free: Please arrive without leave-in conditioner, heat protectant, gel, oil, serum, crème, curl cream, dry shampoo, or other residue-leaving products.
  • Dry-cut ready: Do not arrive with hair tied back, clipped, pinned, headbanded, straightened, brushed out, or blow-waved. No hats or beanies. Bike helmets are acceptable.

This preparation is not about habit, personal comfort, presentation, or judgement. It enables close-contact work and establishes a baseline so the dry cut reflects how your hair actually behaves before any product or effort is applied.

To support a sensory-friendly space, please do not wear perfume. Avoid bulky high-collar or turtleneck tops.

Arriving with hair that has been smoothed, straightened, blow-waved, or otherwise altered places the appointment into a higher-risk category because the hair cannot be accurately assessed in its natural state. Detangling with a comb is fine; smoothing means deliberately stretching or flattening the hair so its natural movement is suppressed.

If the hair arrives in a condition that prevents a standard workflow, the session may need to be converted to a wash-and-reset workflow with an additional fee.




To assist you with getting upstairs, please watch this short arrival walkthrough video.

Arrival walkthrough Video

Take a seat in the waiting room. You'll be welcomed into the salon when your session is ready to begin.

The waiting room and private haircutting salon are located upstairs inside Wabi Sabi. If their streetside door is locked upon arrival, don't panic—someone will let you in. If their door is unlocked, simply enter and head up the stairs just past the bar area.

Please note:

  • The salon and waiting room are reserved for clients only.

  • Additional guests, accompanying persons, or pets are not permitted.

  • This includes partners, parents, guardians, friends, infants, and children.


What to Expect