A hair longevity salon designs your hair to look beautiful on the day you leave and to stay healthy, strong and recognisably yours for years afterwards. I’ve been doing hair for two decades now, and when Chris Donohue and I opened AEVUM in Bloomsbury in 2025, we built the whole salon around that idea, from the way a colour is planned to the way the day is booked. It’s a fairly new phrase, so I thought it was worth setting out what it means to us, how a hair longevity salon in London works in practice, and who I think it suits best.
What hair longevity means
Hair longevity, to me, is the idea that we care as much about the long term future of your hair as we do about giving you your ideal style on the day of your appointment. We’re taking responsibility for the success of your hair in a bigger way. So when we plan a colour, we think about how it will grow out and how its tones will soften as the weeks go by, and when we cut, we shape the hair so it can carry that colour as it lengthens. Our aim is colour that looks as good at week ten as it does on the day, which in practice usually means fewer appointments, a gentler grow-out and hair that looks intentional at every stage in between. Not only that, but we have a profound respect for your hair health - one that goes further than any other traditional hair salon and we incorporate various modalities including devices and treatments that really future-proof your hair, including those that include exosomes, peptides, growth factors and red light therapy.
The six ways hair ages
Hair changes far more over a lifetime than most of us realise, and for reasons that reach well beyond the last colour or cut. Over the years I’ve started to think of it in six broad ways: oxidative stress from things like UV and pollution, the gradual slowing of the signals that keep each hair growing, hormonal sensitivity, systemic and nutritional factors, the condition of the scalp itself, and the everyday wear on the hair fibre from heat, colour and brushing. Some of these we can influence in the salon, some at home, and a few belong with a doctor. What I find fascinating is how often a client’s hair is telling a story about their life stage, their stress levels or a recent change in their health, sometimes long before they’ve connected the dots themselves. A hair longevity salon takes all six into account at every appointment, and gives your hair in a year’s time the same care as your hair on the day.
What happens at a hair longevity salon
At AEVUM we look at your cut, shape, colour, texture, density, scalp and home routine together at every visit, because in my experience they’re all connected, and a change in one almost always shows up in another. Every new colour client begins with a consultation, which is where we design your hair before anything is applied. We look at it in natural light, study how your grey is growing in, check your scalp and talk through your life: how much time you want to give your hair, how you wear it day to day, and whether anything has changed recently. You leave with a clear plan for what we’d do first and how it develops over the following months.
Every appointment, whatever you’ve booked, includes a peptide treatment at the basin, four minutes of red light and a mask or additional treatment chosen specifically for your goals. I think of this as the baseline, the minimum your hair should get each time it’s in our hands, and alongside it we offer a menu of dedicated Hair Health Sessions for anyone who wants to give their hair or scalp more focused care.
Why a calm salon matters for hair longevity
I’ve always felt that the way a salon feels is part of the result. A lot of the people who find us have spent years finding salons overstimulating, with the noise and the rush and the feeling of being hurried along, and I’ve noticed that when someone is properly relaxed in the chair, they talk more openly about what they want and what’s going on in their life, which makes for far better decisions about their hair. So we’re private and appointment-only, and bookings are paced so the salon always feels calm. There are heated massage chairs with a warm neck rest at the basin, a fiddle leaf fig tree at the centre of the room and herbal infusions served on delicate china, and each of those small details is there to help you settle. We’d like you to leave feeling calmer and more grounded than when you arrived, and for your time with us to feel genuinely well spent, which is a big part of why we named the salon after aevum, a Latin word for age, a lifetime and the long span of time.
Who a hair longevity salon is for
The people who come to a hair longevity salon tend to arrive for a handful of reasons. Some love their hair and simply want to keep it that way, with seasonal care and a home routine that suits their scalp. Others feel stuck in the root-colour cycle, with dark, dense colour and grey showing through within a few weeks, so we look closely at how their natural grey is actually growing in, which is almost always lighter in some places than others, and design softer, more dimensional colour around it. Many have been asking to go blonder for years and somehow never feel blonder, and for them we place brightness more carefully and bring back depth where it flatters. Then there are people noticing their hair change with age, menopause, a new baby or a shift in their health, who want a team that can support them through it, and people stepping into a new chapter, a new role or a public moment, who want hair that fits the person they’re becoming.
Hair longevity and your health
A hair longevity salon sits alongside medicine, and it’s important to be clear about where that boundary is. We’re hairdressers, and the work we do is about the condition, colour and shape of your hair and the comfort of your scalp. Where something needs a medical opinion, we refer to a trusted network of dermatologists and doctors, and if your hair loss is sudden, patchy or worrying you in any way, the right first step can also be your GP, and the NHS guide to hair loss is a good place to read up beforehand. Clients often tell us they find that reassuring, and we’re always happy to work alongside whatever care they’re already receiving.
Visiting our hair longevity salon in Bloomsbury
AEVUM is at 27 Colonnade, a quiet cobbled mews in Bloomsbury, about three minutes’ walk from Russell Square station and easy to reach from anywhere in central London. We’re open by appointment from 10am to 8pm. We were named Best New Salon at the Marie Claire UK Hair Industry Icons 2026, and Creative HEAD has described AEVUM as the first full-concept hair-longevity salon, which I think is a fair summary of our mission. Under the same roof you’ll also find acupuncture and bodywork, reflexology and regenerative aesthetics with our resident practitioners. If you’re new to us, the best place to start is a consultation, where we’ll talk through where your hair is now and plan where it goes next together.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hair longevity salon?
A hair longevity salon designs hair to look beautiful today and to stay healthy, strong and recognisably yours for years, planning every cut, colour and treatment with your hair in a year’s time in mind.
What makes AEVUM a hair longevity salon?
We consider cut, shape, colour, texture, density, scalp and home routine together at every visit. Every appointment includes a peptide treatment, red light and a mask or treatment, and colour is designed to grow out softly and respect your hair fibre.
Who is a hair longevity salon for?
Anyone who wants their hair to look good now and stay healthy over time, including people who love their hair and want to keep it that way, people caught in the root-colour cycle, and anyone whose hair is changing with age, menopause or health.
Do I need a consultation before colour?
Every new colour client starts with a consultation. It’s where we design your hair, look at how your natural hair is growing in, check your scalp and agree a plan and a price.
Can a hair longevity salon help with thinning hair?
We can support changing hair through cut, colour, scalp care, Hair Growth Sessions and ultra-fine extensions where appropriate. For sudden or patchy hair loss, see your GP first, and we’re happy to work alongside them.
What does AEVUM mean?
Aevum is a Latin word for age, a lifetime and the long span of time. In medieval philosophy it described a third kind of time, sitting between ordinary time and eternity.
Who founded AEVUM?
Tom Smith and Chris Donohue founded AEVUM in Bloomsbury in 2025. Tom has two decades of experience, trained at Vidal Sassoon and sits on the British Beauty Council Hair Committee.
Where is AEVUM?
27 Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1JA, about three minutes from Russell Square station. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm.
