TWO men stole hair straighteners worth nearly £600 from a town centre hairdressers while a stylist was still working on a client after hours.

The award-winning Reds Hair Company in Henry Street, Ross-on-Wye, posted an appeal to track down the culprits after the Tuesday, March 8, incident, saying: “At around 9.05pm this evening, a man came into Reds after-hours, although a stylist was still working on a client, and stole GHD electricals from our retail area.

“The man came in, and asked the stylist how much gents’ cuts were, etc, as a distraction, and whilst looking at the retail stand, he then grabbed a few boxes of GHD electrical items (at least one white and one black GHD unplugged worth £299 each) whilst another man, described as taller, held the door open for him.

“Police have been and are looking to see if CCTV is available. They ran off in the direction of the Gwalia shop.

“If anyone saw or heard anything around this time in and around Ross, we would be very grateful.

“Thankfully, the stylist and her client are both ok, but what a horrible feeling!”

The business said the thief who came into the shop was a short (5ft 3ins) white man around 50-plus years of age, wearing a black tracksuit, a dark red baseball cap and a green/camouflage neckerchief over his face.

People posted their sympathy on the hairdressers’ Facebook page, one poster saying: “So sorry to read this, both stylist and client must have been very shook up.”

Others described the incident as “awful”, one saying: “I’m glad nobody was hurt.”

Another woman posted: “How horribly scary for the stylist and client. I hope you catch the thieving rascals.”

A Ross-on-Wye Safer Neighbourhood Team police spokesperson confirmed a theft had been reported after two people entered the salon through the front door and stole hair products.

“My understanding is staff were present and the door was unlocked at the time in question,” they said.

“Enquiries are ongoing currently with PC Daniel Chitty.”