Soho’s Blade salon: where hair meets clubbing
‘We don’t do blow jobs, porn star Martinis or anything involving a purée,’ cautions Stroo Olofsson from the handmade counter of his Hair of The Dog bar at Blade, Soho’s hair salon/members’ club.
Wearing a neo-gothic clasped cape, which he describes as a ‘traditional Norwegian hunting top’, Olofsson has an ecclesiastical air as he glides around the subterranean former milk shop. Born in Croatia, the vegan, curly-haired drinks aficionado came to London via New York, lured by a music deal he couldn’t refuse. But refuse it he did when, needing a haircut five years ago, he entered Blade, the salon run by partner-to-be in life and business, Julia, a Jewish-Russian Swede, glittering in pink Chanel glasses.
The resulting fusion is ‘hair clubbing’, a means to circumnavigate tetchy alcohol licensing laws in this Westminster labyrinth of regulations. On securing an appointment, club membership is bestowed on customers and guests who partake in biodynamic wines with body, craft lager from a Scottish indie brewer, seaweed gin or single origin Ethiopian espresso Martinis while one of nine stylists ensures they improve aesthetically with every sip taken. Meanwhile, Olofsson plays jazz, blues, soul and funk.
‘The party’s always in the kitchen,’ says second-generation hairdresser, Julia, of the unconventional set-up.
Olofsson mentions that in an earlier chapter he enrolled in a pharmacy course ‘because the majority of students were female’, but lasted only one term. ‘During that time I was asked to pour things because I had a steady hand,’ he recalls, neatly dispensing 54.7% Four Roses rye as Julia scissors my sideburns.
He then paraphrases George Martin while explaining his invention of the ‘kryptonite-like’ Matcha and
17th-century monastic liqueur-led Zombie cocktails, trialled on an unsuspecting stylist whose eyes crossed. ‘Having good taste depends on how many people agree with you...’ (bladesoho.co.uk)
