You can get your hair done without leaving Kotara, and plenty of people do. This is the hair salon Kotara clients drive 6.4 km to from the station, about ten minutes, when they want a specific stylist on a quiet village street.
Ten minutes past Westfield Kotara, for a stylist who does one thing better than anything else on the menu.
Kotara was planned as a garden suburb and grew quickly after 1947. Westfield Kotara, once Garden City and then Kotara Fair, sits on Northcott Drive with the Kotara Home Centre across the road, and Kotara station on Park Avenue has served the line between Newcastle and Sydney since 1924. Like Adamstown, the suburb is split between the City of Newcastle and the City of Lake Macquarie. Two primary schools, Kotara South Public on Rodway Parade and St James Primary on Vista Parade, shape a lot of weekday mornings here.
Kotara has Westfield on its doorstep, and we're not going to pretend you need to leave it for a fringe trim. You don't. The people who make the ten-minute drive to Kenrick Street do it for a particular kind of appointment.
For some it's curls. Mika cuts them dry, one ringlet at a time, so the shape you leave with is the one you wake up with. For others it's a blonde that has gone brassy or a box colour that needs undoing, which is Jess or Lena. And for a lot of Kotara parents it's simply the timing: a long colour slotted between the morning school gate and the afternoon one.
A consultation first, every time, with the price agreed before anything is cut or mixed. That's the same for a $45 men's cut with Tom and a three-hour balayage with Jess. The balayage page covers how we place colour so it grows out softly, and the hair extensions page explains tape fittings and move-ups.
If you haven't had colour with us before, there's a five-minute skin test at least 48 hours ahead, as the colour makers instruct.
New Lambton and Adamstown each have a page, and the full list is on the hair salon Newcastle hub. When you're set, request your chair.
Kenrick Street, The Junction.
Sources: Kenrick Street to Kotara railway station by OSRM road routing (station, not suburb centre): 6.4 km, 10 minutes, as tabled in the 26 Oct 2026 brief. Stop names from OpenStreetMap. Garden-suburb plan, post-1947 growth, Westfield Kotara's former names, the Home Centre, the two councils and the schools from Wikipedia, Kotara, New South Wales; the station's 1924 opening, Park Avenue location and bus connection from Wikipedia, Kotara railway station.
Mostly for one stylist. Mika's dry curly cuts, Jess's blonde and Lena's colour correction are what bring Kotara clients the ten minutes from the station to Kenrick Street. If it's a quick trim you're after, somewhere closer makes sense.
Usually. Balayage takes about three hours, so a 9am start on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday finishes around midday. Tell us your pick-up time when you book and we'll plan around it.
Graduate stylists start balayage at $260, Jess as a senior starts at $310, and a director at $370, toner included each time. Length and thickness can move it, and you'll have the figure before we start.
Our distance is measured from Kotara station rather than the shopping centre: 6.4 km by road, around ten minutes. We're on Kenrick Street in The Junction, with street parking close by.
Yes. The consult and colour match are free, tape extensions are $650 for the hair and fitting, and a move-up every six to eight weeks is $180.
Let us know at least 24 hours ahead. Inside that, half the booked service is charged, though we'll always talk it through with you first, because school-age kids get sick at short notice.
Tuesday to Saturday, late on Thursday. A consultation is free, and every price is set before anything is mixed.