Wales’ first gender-neutral hair salon has been opened by a Swansea Valley stylist.

Customers at Chair salon, on Whitchurch Road, Cardiff, will pay based on the length of their hair, rather than their sex, and conversations will be free of "gender bias" according to owner and leading hair stylist Casey Coleman, who lives in Pontardawe.

Traditionally, hair salons offer male and female pricing, which means a female with short hair could pay substantially more than a male who receives a similar haircut.

But former British Hairdressing Awards finalist Casey said he’s done away with "outdated" gender-based pricing to make people “of all genders, ages, persuasions and communities” feel welcome.

“There’s no such thing as a man’s haircut or a woman’s haircut,” said Casey, a former salon director who has been hairdressing for nine years.

“In 2018, the idea’s totally outdated, it’s unfair and it’s prejudiced.

“If you’re a woman who likes her hair short, you shouldn’t have to pay more than the man having an identical cut in the next chair because the ladies cut costs up to £40 more.

"We’ll only look at you for your suitability, not how old you are or what gender you are.”

Casey, 30, said the salon, which uses recycled scaffold poles and corrugated iron to look more like an ‘art space’, allows customers to save money if they refill their shampoo bottles and will be completely gender-neutral from the magazines available to customers to the way they’re addressed with an absence of "stereotypical, gender-biased chat".

“We won’t tell somebody that a hairstyle would make them look ‘ feminine or two masculine,” said Casey.

“Women have also traditionally been seen as being more prepared to spend money on how they look, so there’s been a disparity in how they’re talked to about their appearance. That’s not the case anymore.

“We’re not going to assume anybody wants to look a certain way.

“Even down to the magazines we offer, we’ll make sure that customers have access to representations of beauty that doesn’t conform to stereotypes.”

Appointments were already fully-booked for the first week before opening on Wednesday, February 14, and Casey, who has worked at London Fashion Week and was last year crowned ‘The Visionary’ at leading hairdressing awards The It List, said he hopes everyone will feel comfortable booking an appointment at the salon.

“I’m from the LGBT community and I want to encourage people of all ages, backgrounds, communities, to feel welcome here,” said Casey, who is recruiting for an assistant stylist.

“Whoever you are, coming here will feel more like being backstage at a fashion show, and I want everyone to feel a part of that.

“I’m also going to make it my mission to halt the trend for the beige bob” added Casey, who says his motto is eat, sleep, hair, repeat.

“I’d say 95 per cent of women over the age of 40 are walking around with the look.

“I want to see more people in their 70s and 80s with electric blue hair. Not because its crazy or out there, but simply because they want to.”