The clearest line through this ten is whether the salon cuts hair. Indigo Hair & Beauty, Macintyre’s Hair & Beauty and That Rosie Glow run colour, cutting and a beauty menu under one roof, so brows or nails fit in while a tint develops. Opposite sit rooms with no mirrors or dryers: Frenchys grew out of waxing, The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms works only behind closed doors, and Ivy Natural Health & Beauty and Edinburgh Beauty Quarter build everything around skin. Jasmin French narrows further still: makeup and styling are the main event, not an add-on.
The second difference is what the kit commits to. Sleeping Beauty Salon anchors facials on Elemis, Biotec and clinical Image; Edinburgh Beauty Quarter picks a specialist per job — CACI for microcurrent, Dermalogica for skin, Perron Rigot for wax. Indigo’s colour is Goldwell, with Olaplex behind a big lightening job; Sweet Beauty runs peels and ultrasound in courses. Choose by the treatment: the narrower and more technical it is, the more it matters that it is done here daily.
At a glance
| # | Place | Score | Reviews | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivy Natural Health & Beauty | ⭐ 10.0 | 440 | Editors' pick |
| 2 | Indigo Hair & Beauty | ⭐ 9.7 | 304 | — |
| 3 | Sleeping Beauty Salon | ⭐ 9.9 | 300 | — |
| 4 | Frenchys | ⭐ 9.9 | 293 | — |
| 5 | The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms | ⭐ 9.9 | 286 | — |
| 6 | Macintyre's Hair & Beauty | ⭐ 9.3 | 233 | — |
| 7 | Jasmin French | ⭐ 9.5 | 161 | — |
| 8 | Edinburgh Beauty Quarter | ⭐ 9.5 | 153 | — |
| 9 | Sweet Beauty | ⭐ 10.0 | 103 | — |
| 10 | That Rosie Glow | ⭐ 9.5 | 100 | — |
Highlights
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Editors' pick:
Ivy Natural Health & Beauty
Opening hours
Closed on Sundays: Ivy Natural Health & Beauty, Indigo Hair & Beauty, Sleeping Beauty Salon, Frenchys, The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms, Macintyre's Hair & Beauty, Edinburgh Beauty Quarter.
Check the hours before you set out — they shift on holidays and out of season.
Full ranking
1. Ivy Natural Health & Beauty · ⭐ 10.0
(440 reviews)
+5 photos
24A Haddington Pl, Edinburgh EH7 4AF, UK
Ivy Natural Health & Beauty opened in 2011 with one stated idea — to be genuinely different. It occupies a quaint listed building near the top of Leith Walk, and the brief has not shifted since: a boutique salon with a natural twist, built on organic, cruelty-free products. Regulars come for waxing, massage, lashes and brows, and nails done with BIAB, gel extensions or Shellac.…
«Amanda creates a welcoming and calm atmosphere in her salon, always well prepared for appo…»
2. Indigo Hair & Beauty · ⭐ 9.7
(304 reviews)
+5 photos
332 Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 5BR, UK
Since 2014 Indigo Hair & Beauty has looked after clients on Leith Walk, collecting an unusual amount of silverware for a neighbourhood salon — including Hair Salon of the Year for the South East at the Scottish Hair & Beauty Awards. It is a real hair-and-beauty hybrid, not a hairdresser with a spare room.
«I’m really happy with my new look! Donna put so much care, effort, and genuine heart into…»
3. Sleeping Beauty Salon · ⭐ 9.9
(300 reviews)
+5 photos
4 Alva St, Edinburgh EH2 4QG, UK
Sleeping Beauty is a family business that started in 1999 in Lerwick, Shetland, and grew the unusual way — north to south, through Inverness, Aviemore and Fort William before the Edinburgh branch opened in 2012 in the West End. It reads as a proper salon group with a training culture, not a single room.
«Both my girlfriend and I have had appointments with Millie – she’s fantastic and great wit…»
4. Frenchys · ⭐ 9.9
(293 reviews)
+5 photos
83 Bruntsfield Pl, Edinburgh EH10 4HG, UK
Frenchy's has been part of Bruntsfield since 2009, and the shape of the business says a lot: it grew out of one therapist's specialism rather than a franchise plan, later adding a second boutique in Stockbridge. It is a beauty boutique in the true sense — no hair, no mirrors, just treatment rooms and a menu refined rather than expanded.
«Such a clean and soothing atmosphere. For the length of my arm hair, it was a relatively p…»
5. The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms · ⭐ 9.9
(286 reviews)
+5 photos
NOIRouge, 19 Torphichen Pl, Edinburgh EH3 8DY, UK
Founded in 2009, The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms sits a short walk from Haymarket and describes itself in three words that turn out to be accurate: welcoming, tranquil and inclusive. The approach is holistic — treatments are chosen for what the skin or body actually needs, at a deliberately unhurried pace.
«Had a very lovely time here today! This was my first proper massage and it was a great exp…»
6. Macintyre's Hair & Beauty · ⭐ 9.3
(233 reviews)
+5 photos
66-68 Thistle St, Edinburgh EH2 1EN, UK
Macintyre's has been a New Town fixture for well over a decade, tucked onto Thistle Street a few steps from the George Street shopping run. It is a full hair-and-beauty house rather than a hairdresser with a sideline: transformation work on hair, a beauty menu and dedicated nail specialists all under one roof.
«I treated myself to a spa pedicure after feeling quite upset lately, and I’m so glad I cho…»
7. Jasmin French · ⭐ 9.5
(161 reviews)
+5 photos
42A Hamilton Pl, Edinburgh EH3 5AX, UK
Jasmin French built something Edinburgh did not really have: a salon that treats makeup and styling as the main event rather than an add-on to cutting and colouring. After several years trading she opened a lounge on Hamilton Place in Stockbridge, so a client can arrive plain and leave fully done — hair, face, brows, nails — in one stop.
«I’ve been going to Jasmin French for 2 and a half years and could not recommend them enoug…»
8. Edinburgh Beauty Quarter · ⭐ 9.5
(153 reviews)
+5 photos
32 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9EZ, UK
Edinburgh Beauty Quarter sits on Lauriston Place, book-ended by George Heriot's School and Edinburgh College of Art and a minute from Quartermile. It is a multi-award-winning salon that took the opposite approach to most: instead of one house brand, it cherry-picked a specialist product or device for each job on the menu.
«I’ve been going to Edinburgh Beauty Quarter for facials for a few years now, and I can hon…»
9. Sweet Beauty · ⭐ 10.0
(103 reviews)
+5 photos
66A Newhaven Rd, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 5QB, UK
Sweet Beauty is not only a salon in Leith but also a training centre, which changes how it works: standards have to be teachable and repeatable, not improvised. The owner states the philosophy plainly: regular care beats a single dramatic treatment, because most skin problems do not resolve in one visit.
«I’ve been coming to this salon for a year and a half, and it’s easily the best decision I’…»
10. That Rosie Glow · ⭐ 9.5
(100 reviews)
+5 photos
11 E Norton Pl, Edinburgh EH7 5DR, UK
That Rosie Glow is an award-winning beauty boutique and training academy, with the Edinburgh site in the Hillside and Meadowbank stretch east of the centre and a sister salon in North Berwick. The stated aim is disarmingly simple: to be a place where you feel like yourself again, which explains why the boutique reads as social rather than clinical.
«This salon is brilliant I would definitely recommend. I suffer really badly with anxiety a…»
Questions & answers
Which place tops the ranking? Ivy Natural Health & Beauty — score 10.0/10 (Editors' pick).
How many places are in the list and how were they chosen? The selection includes 10 places chosen by our editors based on rating and reviews.
What is the average rating in the top? 9.7/10 — average score of 10 places in the list.
Which place has the most reviews? Ivy Natural Health & Beauty — 440 visitor reviews.
By task. Big colour, balayage and keratin smoothing — Indigo Hair & Beauty and Macintyre’s Hair & Beauty, which also fits extensions and cuts curly hair. Nails as a trip of their own — the private suite at Sleeping Beauty Salon, or BIAB at Ivy Natural Health & Beauty. Brows, lashes and event makeup — That Rosie Glow and Jasmin French. Skin as a plan rather than a treat — The Secret Garden Beauty Rooms, Edinburgh Beauty Quarter and Sweet Beauty. Waxing with a specialist — Frenchys, whose owner Vicki holds a CIDESCO diploma. For a first visit, closed rooms are gentler than a busy floor.
Worth knowing the limits. There is no standalone barbershop — men’s cutting and fades come attached to hair-and-beauty houses — no nails-only studio, no aesthetic medicine, and children’s hairdressing at two addresses only. Geographically it leans on Leith, the West End and the New Town; the south side and outer neighbourhoods are absent. It closes at ten, so good salons sit just outside.
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