TWO heads have proved to be better than one for the sisters behind a Bicester hair salon set to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Identical twins Francine Porter and Jackie Huntley started Francine's Salon on December 6, 1987 after working for Salon Scandinavia for seven years.

Mum-of-two Mrs Porter said: "We both got an apprenticeship there at the same time and I think they found it fun that it was hard for people to tell us apart.

"We really liked it there but decided we wanted to set up on our own business and helped design this place to make it how we wanted it."

The 56-year-old added there was never any fighting over which twin would get their name above the door, saying: "I was the oldest, plus Jackie had three young children at the time so she was working part time at first.

"I originally wanted to call it Gemini because of the twin link but there was already another hairdressers' down the road with the same name."

When the Bucknell Road salon first opened it was even more of a family affair than it is today, with younger sisters Catherine and Shirley employed as apprentices.

Over time, both sisters moved on to jobs in HR but their elder siblings stayed and grew a loyal client base.

Mrs Porter said: "We've loved working here together, sometimes customers will be sitting getting their hair done and they'll start a conversation with one of us and continue it with the other because they can't tell us apart."

On the changing styles since the salon opened she added: "Fashions do come around in cycles, though we're definitely doing more colouring than perms compared to the 1980s.

"What's nice is we are getting quite a lot of young people coming to us these days. We're actually cutting the hair of the children of people we used to cut the hair of when they were younger."

To mark the milestone anniversary, throughout December all cut and blow dries will be £30, instead of the usual £43.

The salon is also running a raffle, with one lucky customer winning 30 per cent off hair cuts for the whole of 2018.

Since it launched earlier this week more than £100 has already been raised for chosen charity, the Hummingbird Centre in Launton which helps those diagnosed with cancer.

For the official anniversary on Wednesday customers are also invited to a pink-themed celebration featuring champagne and balloons throughout the day in the salon.

Mrs Porter said: "We wanted to do all this to thank our customers and staff past and present for supporting us throughout these 30 years.

"We think it is quite an achievement for a family-run business to reach this milestone and that we couldn't have done it without all of them."

Raffle tickets are £1 and are available at the salon.