A pair of hairdressers are downing their scissors and shampoo to scale the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales.

Best friends Sharon Owen and Laura Carling, who run Vibe Hair, in Banbury Road, Kidlington, are tackling the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Sobell House, a hospice for adults with life-threatening illnesses, in Headington, Oxford.

On May 29, they will attempt to climb Scafell Pike in the Lake District (978 metres), Ben Nevis in Scotland (1,344m) and Snowdon in Wales (1,085m) – all within 24 hours.

And they say it will be the toughest thing they have ever attempted – even harder than giving birth.

Both women have 13-year-old daughters.

Ms Owen, 38, from Wolvercote, Oxford, said: “We’ve been friends for 20 years, but it is the first time we have done anything like this. We are taking it seriously, and have been training hard.

“Our daughters have got new mums.”

Ms Carling, 38, from Kidlington, said: “We have been through a lot. We opened the salon together and went into labour together. But this will be the most challenging thing we have ever done.”

Ms Owen’s aunt Elsie Dixon, from Littlemore, Oxford, was diagnosed with cancer last year and visits the hospice.

Ms Carling’s father Dennis Carling, a former landlord of the Lamb and Flag pub, in St Giles, Oxford, stayed at the hospice before he died in 2007.

The friends have raised £315 of their £1,700 target.

For details of how to make a donation, see their webpage.