SALON Thirty has been 16 years in the making for hairdresser Lauren Marchant.

The 29-year-old took inspiration from her upcoming age milestone and has been in business on Priory Street, Colchester, for one week.

Her plan is to create a hair and beauty service from the ground floor up with customers and staff training at the core of Salon Thirty's brand.

In one way she has done it backwards, she said, starting small with just two part-time staff, but it was an informed decision having been in the industry since age 13 as a Saturday girl in Wolverhampton.

She said: "I went full time at 16 on the day of my last GCSE exam.

"Towards the end I worked for Headmasters salon in London, which I loved, and then went on to become a rep for Laceys looking after 200 salons in Essex and London.

"My core job was sales but as I got better at it, I realised I wasn’t selling to them anymore, I was giving them business advice and wondered why I wasn't doing it for myself.

"I went home that night and told my husband Benji I’m quitting and opening my own salon."

To do so the couple postponed owning their own home and wanted son Logan, five, to enjoy this new venture with them.

Being in the town centre was a tough decision where hairdressers average three per road according to Mrs Marchant, but she was sold on the location.

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She said: "I was looking more on the outskirts of town towards Maldon because I think it’s unfair parking is priced so high here and I thought what we were offering would get lost in all the competition.

"But this place is perfect. From upstairs you can see the Roman ruins and it's a regeneration area so in five to ten years, I believe here will be the upscale part of town."

Mrs Marchant is also excited at launching Colchester's first express Blow Bar on December 1, offering customers a menu of nine styles done in less than 30 minutes.

She is keen to get women back into the salon chair and away from YouTube, which has seen people become their own beauty gurus.

She said: "Social media has its place but hairdressing is the one thing you can't do online.

"And in the last few years the core of hairdressing has got lost because you don't have to be a hairdresser to open a salon.

"But a stylist who owns a salon will have completely different core values to someone in it purely for business."