How did the idea for DKUK come about?
DKUK originally started as a pop-up hair salon in a gallery, as a part of Art Licks Weekend 2014. The DK in DKUK, Daniel Kelly first trained as a hairdresser before deciding to go to Camberwell College of Arts and pursue a visual arts career instead. When Daniel combined these originally separate areas of his life, he stumbled on a new way to work with and look at art, away from the pressure of the commercial art world and growing complexity of ‘publicly’ funded spaces.

How do you find the artists you exhibit?
Everyone that works at DKUK can contribute ideas to the art programme. The programme is planned so that we show a diverse range of practices over the year, both in terms of artistic medium, but also age, gender, location, ethnicity and experience of the artists we work with. It is important that their work ‘fits’ within the unique concept of DKUK, as a result, many of our previous exhibitions were commissioned especially.  

Are all the artists local?
Whilst DKUK is committed to supporting the artistic economy and community in our area, we do not exclusively show artists that are based locally. In fact, we believe working together with artists from outside of London is one way to help develop our local art world too. 

Is the art for sale?
Almost always yes. It is part of DKUK’s core aims to support sustainable artistic economies. As such, as long as the artist want the work to be for sale it is. That being said, we are not a commercial gallery and therefore don’t invest time and energy in marketing the work. If you are interested in any of the work on show or that has been on show, feel free to get in touch. 

Is DKUK a complete mirror-free zone?
During the cut and colour you are sat in front of an artwork. However, a centre piece in the salon is the magic mirror, which doubles as a display cabinet when not in use. This is where clients and the stylist or technician have in-depth consultations at the beginning of all appointments, as well as the big reveal at the end. We also work with smaller hand mirrors and mobile mirrors for quick checks throughout appointments to check-in with things like fringe length.

Is it harder to cut hair without a mirror?
There are a few stages of the cutting process where a mirror can be beneficial, such as checking balance and face shape suitability. However, this can all be achieved by simply turning the hairdressing chair around looking from the front. There are many instances when haircuts take place without mirrors, such as demonstrations on stage, haircuts on location for photo shoots and haircuts done at home by mobile hairdressers. These examples indicate that the mirror is there more for the client than the hairdresser.

Do you cut kids hair?
Yes – for everyone 14 and under we charge 25/35/40 for a haircut, depending on which stylist cuts your hair. You can book this service via our website or over the phone as normal. 

Why do I need to come in for a patch test?
We strongly recommend that everyone who wants to have their hair coloured with us for the first time comes in for a patch test. This needs to happen at least 48 hours before your appointment and involves a tiny drop of dye being applied to the skin behind your ear, to check that no allergic reaction develops. If the skin does react in any way, we will need to discuss what the best next steps are.

If you are unable or unwilling to come in for a patch test you will need to sign a disclaimer form accepting all liability for proceeding without. 

Why do you charge a deposit?
We ask for a 25% deposit on all technical/colour services. The reason is that these appointments take a lot of time, making late cancellations are extra hard hitting, especially if we have had to turn other clients away. Don’t worry though, as long as you give us more than 48 hours notice on cancelling or changing your appointment, we will refund the deposit. However, late cancellations or no-shows will lose their deposit. For full details on these terms please refer to our Late Policy.

Are all you products vegan?
Most of them are, but not everything; 

Pureology is a vegan hair care range. Whilst Davines’ sustainable beauty brand is not certified vegetarian or vegan, none of the products we stock and use at DKUK contain any animal-derived products. In other words, these products are fully vegan friendly too. 

Design Essentials is a cruelty-free brand, meaning they do not test on animals but do have products that use animal-derived ingredients. The Philip Kingsley treatments on offer are not certified vegan.

Can we bring our own containers for the refill shampoo service?
We strongly recommend only refilling with the containers that the product originally came in. Some types of plastic used for bottles and containers can react with the content, meaning it could seep into the product and then the water supply. The bottles and containers used by Davines are made of reusable plastic and are therefore completely safe. Generally food safe containers meet these criteria too.

What time should I book for my haircut?
If it is your first visit we recommend booking a one hour slot, this will give us time to thoroughly discuss your needs. Your following appointments will then be charged according to the time required to do your hair and nothing else. We will advise you on the amount of time we recommend for your hair type and length.

How much should I pay for the pay what you can?
This is a genuine offer as we want everyone to have the chance to experience DKUK, so please pay within your means. We are of course a business, not a charity. This means we pay our staff a good wage as well as all overheads and taxes associated with being a business, things that are taken into consideration when calculating our prices.

The least we have received is £6; occasionally people choose to pay more than the appointment price; the average price paid is £42.