DKUK
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Haircuts in front of art
Best Local Salon Nominee Creative Head Award This unique environment creates an experience like no other.
Established in 2014, DKUK is the original hair salon that got rid of mirrors, offering haircuts and colour in front of art. DKUK is for everyone; you can come in for a haircut, or just to see the exhibition. Open to all hair types and lengths, we charge gender neutral pricing based on time and stylists’ experience. We proudly stock vegan hair care range Pureology, Davines’ sustainable styling products, Philip Kingsley’s award-winning scalp treatments and are the only Peckham stockist of leading afro hair brand Design Essentials. Realised by artist/hairdresser Daniel Kelly, DKUK is a platform for making contemporary art and the discussion around it more commonplace and accessible. Staging six exhibitions and various events a year in the welcoming setting of a bustling hair salon, DKUK presents itself as a new model for creative practices and artistic economies to support each other. This includes commissioning new art works and providing full training for artists to become hairdressers. The co-existence of hairdressing and art means at DKUK we look after peoples’ heads – inside and out.
Asking our stylists what’s different about their day at DKUK compared to their last places of work! 🙌🏻
09/09/2026
Rosin cut by Shannon ✨
05/09/2026
Some people want a haircut without being seen having one.
We have been asked for this more often than you would think, and for a long time the answer was no. The salon is one open room. We tried hanging perspex between the chairs, left over from Covid. It worked for some people, but it was never a proper answer.
This is. The yellow frame has moved into the centre of the salon, which freed up the back, and the back can now be curtained off. The wash area too, so the whole appointment stays private, hair washing included.
You don’t have to explain why you want it. It is enough that you do.
Everything else stays the same. The same stylists, the same consultation, the same unhurried pace. The only difference is who can see you.
Ask before you come, by phone or by email at [email protected], marked for Emilia. You don’t have to explain why. Say you’d like the private space and we’ll have it ready.
If you have ever loved your colour in the salon and felt unsure about it at home, or the other way round, there is a reason and it is not you.
Wet hair lies.
Dry hair has a rough surface, and that roughness scatters light in every direction. All that scatter is what makes colour look bright. Add water and the surface smooths over, the little air pockets fill in, and the hair starts absorbing light instead of throwing it back. Same colour, several shades darker.
If your hair is curly, the gap is bigger still. More texture dry means more scatter, which means further to fall when it is wet.
So looking at wet hair and deciding whether you like your colour is close to pointless. You are looking at the wrong version of it.
That is why every colour here ends with a dry. Twenty minutes or so, smoothed out, while you are still sitting here and there is still time to do something about it. Think of it the same way we think about the mirror at the end of a cut. A first draft with time to say something.
A post-colour blow dry is about showing you the colour, not restyling. If you want it properly styled, bouncy or waved, that is a full blow dry. And if you are in for a cut too, the full blow dry comes with it.
04/09/2026
Asad cut by Daniel 💙
03/09/2026
If you have ever loved your colour in the salon and felt unsure about it at home, or the other way round, there is a reason and it is not you.
Wet hair lies.
Dry hair has a rough surface, and that roughness scatters light in every direction. All that scatter is what makes colour look bright. Add water and the surface smooths over, the little air pockets fill in, and the hair starts absorbing light instead of throwing it back. Same colour, several shades darker.
If your hair is curly, the gap is bigger still. More texture dry means more scatter, which means further to fall when it is wet.
So looking at wet hair and deciding whether you like your colour is close to pointless. You are looking at the wrong version of it.
That is why every colour here ends with a dry. Twenty minutes or so, smoothed out, while you are still sitting here and there is still time to do something about it. Think of it the same way we think about the mirror at the end of a cut. A first draft with time to say something.
A post-colour blow dry is about showing you the colour, not restyling. If you want it properly styled, bouncy or waved, that is a full blow dry. And if you are in for a cut too, the full blow dry comes with it.
03/09/2026
Our new booking system is live.
Thank for the feedback on our old system. The new system should make booking smoother, on your phone or at your desk.
If you’ve been to DKUK before, your account is already set up. Enter the phone number we have for you should be able to get your account. From there you can make a new booking or change one you already have.
Thank you for your patience over the last 24 hours while we moved everything across. If anything doesn’t look right, message us and we’ll look at it for you
Link in bio
31/08/2026
Please bear with us while we move to a new booking system tomorrow.
From 10am to early afternoon on Tuesday 1 September, we won’t be taking bookings. We should be back after lunch.
Your appointments are safe. Every booking is moving across exactly as it is, same day, same time, same stylist. There’s nothing you need to do.
Some of you told us reminders and bookings weren’t always coming through. We’ve done a lot of research, and we’re told the new system, Timely, is far more reliable.
Two small things to look out for. Reminders will come from a new phone number, so please don’t ignore it. And the first time you book online, you’ll get a text with a code to confirm it’s you.
Need us tomorrow morning? Email [email protected] and we’ll pick it up as soon as we’re back.
The BBC came to Peckham.
Outlook is a World Service programme about the people behind the things they build, heard by listeners all over the world. They spent a day in the salon. They talked to clients in the chair, then to some of the team, then to Daniel, and the questions went a long way back.
Presenter Mobeen Azhar sat down for a consultation. He did not go through with the cut, being loyal to his own hairdresser, which we respect entirely.
Twelve years in, it is a strange and rather good thing to hear this place described by someone standing outside it. One client, two and a half years of appointments, explained on air why she would rather not look at herself for an hour. She put it better than we ever have.
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Contact the business
Address
191 Queens Road, Peckham
London
SE154ST
Opening Hours
| Wednesday | 10am - 8pm |
| Thursday | 10am - 8pm |
| Friday | 10am - 8pm |
| Saturday | 9am - 6pm |