How to bring your inner Courtney love out…
Initially, when the buzz suggested the 90s were making a comeback into fashion, my insides shuddered. Surely it was bad enough the first time round?!
The summer trends didn’t fill me with much hope and inspiration. Jelly shoes in particular were a hideous fad the first time over. However, as style developed into autumn and now winter, the tables have turned. I am now a prime example of someone who missed out on the first round.
Firstly, clothes. While some things should stay at Noel’s house party, certain trends are a welcome return. For example, ill fitting oversized shirts with loud print, or checked print, yes please! These items are valuable, they can be a dressed down look, over leggings with trainers, ideal for me in salon. But to jazz them up, add a pair of platform chunky boots, or some gold chains, a la Mr T. Similarly, oversized plain shirts and tshirts can be ‘quietend down’ for daytime dressing, but throw on some funky galaxy leggings or fishnets, or a pair of house of Holland tights, and you have yourself an outfit for going out after work.
Slogan tees are all over the shop, although the less obvious ones are preferable. This is one of those times your mum would be right in saying you should go to charity shops and car boot sales. (But never tell her she was right!). Sometimes you will see yourself in the mirror when dressing for your day or night ahead, and realise you look like a grown up version of your childhood self, that only applies if you’re my age or older. If you’re younger than that, you may want to consider stopping dressing like a toddler.
Another word that has appeared all over the Internet is ugly. Now I take offence at this term being used, as I love the garish ott approach the 90s fashions brought with them. Yes, I had glitter in my hair and around my eyes. Yes, scrunchies weren’t cool, but practical, and yes, my once cool Adidas coat may have been a less than tasteful snot green, but if I had kept it, I’d be getting stupid offers from 18 year old hipsters now, wanting a piece of a do-called iconic time they missed out on.
Another ace thing, is the fashion for having your roots coming through, and for that matter, faded hair colour. There is getting it right however, and getting it wrong.
Example a: jerome Russell home bleach+directions colour=unprofessional finish
Example b: salon quality lifting, with your own custom mix of Evo fabuloso colour, which you can refresh yourself at home between trips to the salon= envy and insta-worthy hair.
If you’re hair is lifeless, throw product at it, use salt spray to your hearts content, texturizer is your friend!
Big and messy, or subdued and wavy. The idea however is to create the festival beachy look, not the ‘it rained constantly at the festival and I look like a member of the cast from grease.’ Don’t overuse product.
Your stylist is NOT a liar.
Running a busy salon isn’t easy. It’s good fun, and hard work combined. What really grinds my gears, is spending umpteen hours perfecting a colour, and taming unhealthy hair, genuinely talking clients through the process of how to maintain their hair and giving advice on how to care for it, to then have them return for their follow up appointment, saying how dry it feels, or how their icy blonde colour has faded to a dull yellow.
If I were running a salon offering £20 colours, and £8 cuts, I wouldn’t have the years of experience, training, knowledge and passion that I DO posess. I tell you my honest opinions on your hair choices, and offer genuine professional advice.
If I tell you, you need to use our Evo platinum conditioner once a week to keep your blonde really ice white, I actually mean that. If you read between the lines and hear me saying ‘I’m saying use the Evo stuff, but I really mean is buy some pound shop purple shampoo, and a cheap Aussie hair treatment, mix those together, wack that on your head endlessly, and your hair will be exactly the same as if you bought what I’m recommending’, then you need a hearing test or to learn to communicate better!
I endlessly tell clients how much regular shampoos will strip hair colour out, due to all the chemicals in them, and I’m sure 30% of you then go and scan the labels of every shampoo in super drug, or worse, pound land, in a bid to find a cheap sulphate free shampoo. 60% of you don’t listen to a word I say, and at an optimistic guess, 10% of you take the obvious and simple choice of buying what I’ve recommended to you as an individual.
I’m not offering these products to you to make a bit of extra cash, I’m telling you my advice, based on my own experience and knowledge. Knowledge of what range I use, not knowledge of high street brands. I’m not a phone salesman, the treatments we sell to take home WILL help your hair, whereas that funky case for your iPhone 6, and optional posh headphones, probably WONT prolong your phone’s lifespan.
The sulphate issue is ongoing, and to be fair, clients are not to blame entirely. I am also a human, and money is always an issue. However it really is the case that you get what you pay for. Yes, boots may sell a nicely packaged conditioner, that smells nice, claims to do magical things to your hair using elaborate technology you’ve never even heard of, and yes, the shampoo is on offer with it too. Fab, you spend £12 on two products, whereas my Evo range would have been about that price for one. BUT, in a months time, you will have run out of both products, and your colour will have faded, and your hair isn’t as glossy, thick, and lustrous as the model on the telly. So you then have to pay more to revive your colour, have more of the dead ends cut off, and risk a depressing all-knowing look from your stylist, who knows exactly what you’ve been putting on your hair, despite your protests at such a suggestion.
I can see the economy in buying a salon product. They last longer, go further, and actually work.
Sadly not all of my clients regard their hair the same way.
Everyone has different hair, you can try and categorise it, but we all have subtle differences. My hair my get dry on the ends but greasy at the root, whereas yours may be the opposite. Hence my extensive shelves of lotions and potions that all target different issues. Nice hair products aren’t cheap, and cheap products aren’t nice.
You wouldn’t seek advice from your garage on your balding tyres, and then have smaller tyres for a different model of car fitted, because they’re cheaper! So why do so many people do this with their hair care?
So next time you come in for an appointment, remember that I’m not just talking for the sake of it, or trying to make a few extra quid to go in my pocket. I’m just trying to offer you products that long term will save you money and dare for your hair the right way.
Some of december’s work
Think you can’t have hair extensions? Think again!
Many people look at photos in the media, and see these women with their lush long hair, and think ‘Why isn’t my hair as nice as that?’ Fact is, most people’s really isn’t. Celebrities and models have a team of hair stylists behind the scenes, with loads of options for colour, volume, length and style.
While more traditional methods of hair extensions are still widely used, such as the single bond (glue in) and micro-rings, some of the old school applications have turned out to be quite damaging to your own hair, and can therefore leave you with less than you started with!
Another fear is the ‘extension look’. Where you have loads of ratty tatty ends and its glaringly obvious you are wearing naff cheap extensions. If you can live with that, you can source your hair cheaply and be content with looking like a knock off queen.
However most of us don’t really want to rock the trailer trash look, so salon owner Fen spent a lot of time researching methods of hair application, and now has something for everybody.
You may have heard of Tape in extensions. Sound scary? Well, if youtube home videos are anything to go by, these can be just as bad as other methods if in the wrong hands. If you choose a stylist who has a proven track record with these, you’re in safe hands. Fen has been experimenting with this method for years. The hair is well sourced from several well known hair extension companies, who actually exist, rather than an ebay shop.
The method is quite simply, two thing wefts of hair, both with skin friendly tape, are adhered to eachother, with a section of your hair sandwiched in between. NO heat is needed with these, and a full head can be applied professionally in less than an hour. These extensions are quite easy to maintain by yourself, and reusable. Once every 4-6 weeks you pop in, have them removed, and rotated, this means that your own scalp has a chance to breathe and the extensions are not constantly on one area of the head, which can cause traction alopecia if prolonged wear takes place.
What is also great, is that you can use these extensions for a host of uses, filling out thinner gaps, blending growing out hairstyles, or even creating a completely new one on shorter hair.
Prices start from only £260 for a regular full head, and with your rotation at only £38 a go, its not more expensive than a regular salon appointment.
Fen has trained extensively with many different companies who offer this application method, and knows the necessity of quality and value too. She herself has had ‘dodgy’ extensions fitted by a ‘qualified’ hair extension technician.
So if you’d like some length in your life, contact the salon now for a free consultation.
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