The hairdressers at Chop Chop Shoreditch

Looking for a hairdresser in Shoreditch usually means looking for a person rather than a postcode, so this page is about the four on the Charlotte Road rota and what each of them is good at. They are Asma, Edmond, Kevin and Peter. All four are senior. You can request any of them by name when you check availability, and it is worth doing, because who you sit with changes the appointment far more than which salon door you walk through.

Asma, senior colourist and stylist

Asma's listing leads with colourist, and that is the sensible way to read it. If the point of your appointment is the colour, whether that is a first set of highlights, a change of tone, root work on something already established, or the slow business of getting back to your own shade, hers is the diary to look at first. She cuts as well, so a colour and a shape can be one booking with one person rather than a handover halfway through. Worth knowing: Asma is on the Wembley Park rota as well as this one, so her days at Charlotte Road move around. Check before you set your heart on a particular afternoon.

Edmond, senior stylist and creative cutter

Creative cutter is a specific claim and it points at a specific kind of booking. Ask for Edmond when the cut itself is the job: a proper shape change, a shorter length you have been circling for months, a fringe you are not sure suits you, or a grown out cut that has lost its outline and needs redrawing rather than tidying. If you tend to arrive with a rough idea and want someone to have an opinion about it, that is the appointment he is set up for.

Kevin, senior stylist and colour expert

Kevin is listed as a stylist first with colour expertise attached, which in practice makes him the other name to look at for anything involving lightener, tone or correction. Having two people on the rota who work in colour matters more than it sounds. It means a colour appointment is not queueing behind one person's availability, and it means there is a second opinion in the building on the day when something on your head is not behaving as expected.

Peter, senior stylist

Peter's entry is the plainest of the four: senior stylist, no sub-speciality bolted on. Take that at face value rather than reading anything into it. He is the general senior appointment, which covers most of what people actually come in for, from a trim that keeps a shape honest to a wash, cut and finish where you want it done carefully and without drama. Like Asma, he appears on the Wembley Park rota too, so his Charlotte Road days vary week to week.

A short guide to who to ask for

• Colour is the main event, or colour plus a cut in one sitting: Asma.
• Lightening, toning or fixing colour that has gone somewhere you did not want: Kevin.
• A real change of shape, or a cut you want someone to have a view on: Edmond.
• A straightforward senior cut and finish, done properly: Peter.
• No preference, or you are new and would rather be matched: leave the choice open and write down what your hair actually does.

Requesting someone, and what to do when they are full

Asking for a stylist by name is normal here, not a favour. The one thing worth planning around is that senior diaries fill from the outside in, so the last minute slot you find at short notice is more likely to be with whoever has a gap than with the specific person you wanted. If you are set on one of them, book further ahead. If you are not, being flexible on the person usually buys you a better time of day.

Getting hold of them

Find the team on Charlotte Road in EC2A 3QT, or ring 020 3488 1492 and ask who is in this week. Online availability follows the rota, so if a name is not coming up at all across the days you want, ring and ask rather than assuming they have gone. Use the notes field when you request someone, and say what your hair is doing and what you want changed. Four senior stylists is a small team, they read what you write, and arriving to a stylist who already knows what they are dealing with is the difference between a good appointment and a rushed one.