LUSH is progressing with its plans to open a hair salon, which is likely to be based in Bournemouth. The cosmetics company is requesting planning permission from Poole council to use part of its Lush Hair Lab on Strand Street for occasional 'live trials'.

Currently the Lush Hair Lab is a service for staff only, although customers were previously able to make appointments.

The proposed hairdressing salon would be a new offering from the company and open to the public. The brand's co-founder, Mark Constantine, who began his working life as an apprentice hairdresser in Weymouth, announced the plans in his annual speech to the Jobshop UK Directors’ Lunch.

At the event he said the salon would use "hard and soft water to wash your hair".

“It will be plastic-free and at present we are looking for the initial shop to be in Bournemouth," he said.

Lush is still looking for a suitable location for the proposed salon. The idea was developed at Lush’s new research and development lab on Poole’s Nuffield Estate, but development of the salon will continue at Strand Street. A spokesperson for the company said: "We have applied for planning permission on our hair lab on Strand Street so we can take the next steps in development of the new hair salon.

"At the moment we are still looking for suitable units within Bournemouth and Poole for the proposed salon. "Our support team have put in the application to cover if we want to do a live trial on the odd day. This isn't a proper location." They added planning permission was required for Lush to "move along the research and development process".