FORMER ‘lollipop lady’ Edna Lupton discovered 35 years ago that looking chic can be cheap – it’s just a question of knowing where to go for a cut-price hairdo or beauty treatment.

Now aged 93, the Elland pensioner is one of the oldest customers of The Hair Academy, the Huddersfield town centre salon run by Kirklees College. Before the salon opened three years ago she was a regular visitor to the main college campus.

“I used to go up to the Tech for my hair and beauty therapies,’’ she said. “I’d have a massage or a facial, lots of different treatments, but now I just have my hair done.

“I find it very good and it’s so cheap – just £3.50 for a shampoo and set. I couldn’t afford to have that done once every fortnight if I was going to an ordinary salon.

“I’m not short of time so it’s perfect for me.”

Edna is just one of the many volunteers who offer their services as a client to hairdressing and beauty therapy students.

In return for allowing students to ‘practice’ their skills, these customers receive cost-price treatments.

Huddersfield is a great place to access thrifty therapies as the town has two colleges with professional student-run salons.

Kirklees College, which also has a site in Dewsbury with beauty and hairdressing, has three hair salons in its main New North Road campus as well as The Hair Academy in Cherry Tree Court.

The Huddersfield campus also boasts four beauty salons. Hairdressing prices start at just £2.50 for a shampoo and finish and £2 for curling or straightening but the costs are slightly more at The Hair Academy, where only second and third year students are allowed to work.

Gully Azam, 32, from Deighton is another regular client of The Hair Academy.

A single mother with a young child, she says that her once-a-week visit for everything from a shampoo and finish to colouring, is her “treat for myself.”

She added: “Coming here is my only luxury and I really look forward to it. The tutors and the students are really lovely and I’m very happy with the service. I simply couldn’t afford to go to a regular salon.”

At the nearby privately-run White Rose School of Health and Beauty in Standard House, Huddersfield town centre, students also require a steady supply of volunteers to try holistic and beauty treatments – everything from aromatherapy massage to electrolysis as well as all the usual beauty essentials such as manicures, pedicures and facials.

White Rose clients are charged a flat £10 for any two treatments.

Tutor Suzanne Wormald said: “We have around 200 students who all need clients to practice on. They do one day a week of practical work in the school’s three professional salons.’’

Around 60 or 70 volunteers are needed each week and while the school has its regulars, new volunteers are always welcome.

“Obviously the students need to work on people of all ages so everyone is welcome,” said Suzanne. “Because the students are trainees then treatments can take longer but all the work is supervised and done properly,” she added.

White Rose client Christine Jessop, 66, from Fixby, has been booking regular treatments there for more than 20 years after reading a plea for volunteers in The Examiner.

The former school dinners supervisor said: “I’m on a pension so I can’t afford full price salons. It’s a Godsend for me.

“I go once a fortnight or as often as I can and I’ve had everything – facials, manicures and back massages.’’

Student Holly Aldersley, 23, is a new client of the White Rose Salon and experienced her first pedicure at the hands of a student only last week.

“Just £10 for two treatments is a real bargain,” she said. “I’m definitely going back for more – I’d like to have a full body massage. This summer I paid £90 for a massage at the Bath Spa which is an awful lot. At the White Rose it works out at just a fiver.”

At Kirklees College there is an even greater demand for volunteers.

Hair, Beauty and Holistic Therapies subject sector leader Lisa Buckley says the aim is to give the students as realistic an experience as possible.

“We are looking for all sorts of people,’’ she said. “We don’t tend to get as many men coming for treatments and hair appointments but sometimes I think there isn’t an awareness of what we do.”

Once a month or so Kirklees College offers members of the public the chance to enjoy a Pamper Day with five treatments and lunch in the campus bistro, which is run by catering students. The total cost to volunteers is just £30.

Lisa said: “I have been on one of the pamper days and I can honestly say that it was outstanding.”

The pros and cons

Treatments by beauty and hairdressing students are extremely cheap by ordinary salon standards. In a town centre prestige hair salon expect to pay up to £50 for a cut and blow dry and as much as £60 or more on top of that for a full head of colour. Salons may charge a premium for their senior stylists. Beauty salons charge anything from £20 plus to £55 for a facial, with specialist therapies such as electrolysis at £25 an hour.

Students need plenty of time to work so if you book a treatment at a college you will have to be flexible. You will be asked to stay until work has been checked as your haircut or facial could be part of someone’s course assessment.

Obviously, you will be on the receiving end of a treatment by someone who is still training and may not achieve the perfection of a fully-qualified therapist or hairdresser. However, all students are supervised and will be trying hard to please.

Booking an appointment at a student salon means that you will most likely see a different therapist or hairdresser at every visit. Those who like to see the same ‘trusted’ hair stylist or beauty therapist each time should bear this in mind.

Thrifty therapies at a glance

Sanctuary Salon, Kirklees College, New North Road, telephone 01484 437024: Beauty treatments from around £1.50 for eyebrow tinting; facials £6 and manicures £5 with hair from £2 for straightening or curling and perms (including finish) at £15. All treatments are also available at the newly re-launched Serenity Salon, Oldroyd Building, Dewsbury.

The Hair Academy, Cherry Tree Court, Huddersfield, telephone 01484 533231: Ladies cut and finish from £8.50 and men’s from £3; permanent colour (full head) up to £21.50.

White Rose School of Health and Beauty, Standard House, telephone 01484 510625: Any two treatments for £10 – from facials and make-up to waxing, massage and pedicures.