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Money piece highlights are two bright sections of colour placed right at the front of your hair, framing your face from the parting down. They suit almost anyone who wants brightness where it shows most without lightening their whole head, and at our salon they usually cost between a few single foils from �5 each and a partial foils or partial balayage at �40 to �60. The name came from social media a few years ago, but the idea is old. Hairdressers have always put a bit of ex

Full foils cover your whole head and cost £70 to £85 with us, half foils cover the top and sides for £55 to £65, and partial foils are a lighter scatter around your parting and face for £40 to £60. The price follows how much hair gets lightened, which means more foils, more product and more chair time. I get asked about full foils vs half foils at almost every colour consultation, usually by someone who has seen the three options on the price list and wants to know which one

If you have ever sat in a salon waiting area for forty minutes with your coat still on, you will know why I care about this. Most appointments run to time here because we book every service for the chair time it really takes. When a day does slip, and some days do, we tell you straight and give you a choice. The short version Every service is booked for its real chair time, processing included. A blow dry is about 45 minutes, a full balayage two and a half to three hours. Col

Hat hair is flat, dented roots caused by pressure and trapped warmth, and winter static is an electric charge that builds when dry hair rubs against wool or synthetic fabric. Both are fixable, and most of the fix happens before the hat goes on. Dry your hair completely, put a little moisture into the lengths, and pick a hat that is kind to your hair. Every November my chair fills up with the same complaint. Someone has had a lovely blow dry, walked to the car in a beanie, and

How long hair colour takes depends on the service: a toner is about 45 minutes, a root tint about an hour and a half, and a full balayage can be three to four hours. Those times include the wash and the blow dry, which people often forget to count. Add a few minutes for a chat at the start, because that is where we check the plan before any colour goes on. I get asked this most when someone is trying to fit an appointment around the school run or a lunch break. So here is the

The festival hair that survives a full weekend is tight braids put in the day before you leave, on hair that was washed two days earlier. Loose waves and fresh blow dries rarely make it past Saturday lunchtime in a tent. Braids, buns and twists that are pinned close to the head will still look decent on Sunday night. Every summer I get the same messages on a Thursday morning asking if we can squeeze someone in before they drive to a field. Here is what I tell them, so you can

Every few months one of the girls comes back from a training day buzzing about a new way of placing colour or cutting a shape. You will not see it on your head the following Tuesday. Before a new technique goes anywhere near a paying client, it goes through four stages here: learn it, practise it on a training head, do it on a model, then do it with someone watching. That takes weeks, sometimes months. Here is what actually happens in that time, and why I will not let anyone

No, a ponytail every day will not ruin your hair on its own. A tight one in the same spot, day after day, can. The damage comes from tension and friction, so how you tie it up matters far more than how often you do it. I ask nearly every client how they wear their hair between appointments. For anyone who works shifts, goes to the gym or has small children, the answer is usually the same: up, all day, every day. So it is worth getting right. The short version A loose ponytail

If you want your hair right for Christmas party season, book your colour and cut for the first two weeks of December, not the last. The diary fills fast and the good slots go first. Party season hair is mostly about planning, not last minute miracles. Here is how I get my clients sorted. The short version Book your colour and cut for early December, before the diary fills. Fresh colour settles after three to five days, so do not leave it too late. A blow dry lasts two to thre

Yes, if you are allergic to hair dye you can often still have colour work done, but it depends on what you reacted to and how bad the reaction was. For most people the culprit is one ingredient, PPD, and there are ways to work around it. If your reaction was severe, the honest answer is no dye at all, and I would rather tell you that than risk it. The short version PPD is the ingredient behind most hair dye allergies. Foil highlights keep lightener off your scalp, so many all

Sulphate-free shampoo is a sensible switch for some people and a waste of money for others, and the label on the front will not tell you which one you are. Sulphates are detergents. They make shampoo foam and lift grease off your scalp, and they do that job well, which is exactly the problem if your hair is coloured or your scalp runs sensitive. The short version • Sulphates are detergents. They clean well and can strip colour over time. • Sulphate-free shampoo foams less tha

Face shape rules matter a little, but far less than the charts suggest. Your hair texture, how much of it you have and how long you will spend styling it each morning decide whether a haircut works much more than whether your face is oval, round or square. In my chair, face shape is where the conversation starts, never where it ends. The short version • Face shape is a guide for where length and volume sit, nothing more. • Hair texture and density matter more than the shape o

Frizz is your hair drinking water out of the air. When the air is damp, dry or porous hair pulls moisture in, swells slightly, and the cuticle lifts, so the surface stops lying flat. That is why a blow dry can look perfect in my chair and give up somewhere between the car park and your front door. The short version Frizz is hair absorbing water from damp air and swelling. Dry or porous hair frizzes fastest. Healthy hair holds its shape longer. Coloured and bleached hair takes

Yes, colour changes your hair, but on healthy hair that change is small and easily managed. Whether colour will damage your hair depends almost entirely on how much lift you are asking for. A tint that goes darker or covers grey sits in the hair and does very little. Lightening is bleach, and bleach removes something that does not come back. The short version Colour changes your hair. How much depends on how far you are lifting. Tints, toners and glosses cause very little str

We are at Shop 660, Jansel House, on Hitchin Road in Stopsley, tucked into the parade of shops with the chemist at 650 and Greggs at 658. Almost everyone finds us first time once they know to head for the shopfronts rather than the office entrance set back behind them. Below is where to leave the car, which buses stop close, and what happens when you walk in. The short version We are Shop 660, Jansel House, Hitchin Road, Stopsley, Luton LU2 7XH. Look for the shop parade with

Most of the salon tools on my trolley do one specific job, and that is the whole reason a colour appointment takes as long as it does. We swap between eight or nine of them in a single head of foils. Clients ask me what half of it is for, so here is the honest run through. Nothing on there is for show. If a tool has a spot on the trolley it is because the alternative either makes your hair worse or makes you sit in the chair longer. The short version Tint brushes apply colour

Book your colour seven to ten days before you fly. That gives the tone time to settle, leaves a window to fix anything that is not quite right, and means you are not sitting in my chair the night before a 6am flight with a suitcase still open on the bed. The short version Book your colour seven to ten days before you fly. Full balayage takes two and a half to three hours. Plan the day. Book your toner for the week you get back, not before. Fresh blonde plus chlorine is the cl

Yes, you can wear extensions with thin hair. The rule is that the hair you already have has to be able to carry the hair you are adding. Extensions for thin hair work when the method is light, the sections are small and nobody gets greedy about length. Get that wrong and you get soreness, shedding and bonds on show every time it is windy. The short version Thin hair can take extensions. The weight is what decides, not the length. Nano rings suit low density best. Small tape w

A trim keeps your shape and takes off half an inch to an inch. A cut reworks the shape you already have, so your layers, outline and length all get adjusted. A restyle is a new shape altogether. Three different jobs, three different chair times, three different prices. Clients book a trim and then describe a restyle to me once they are sat down. It is not a problem, it just means we either run over or you leave with less change than you wanted. The short version A trim keeps

Growing out a pixie cut takes 12 to 18 months to reach a chin length bob, and closer to two years if you want it past your shoulders. Hair grows about half an inch a month, so the timeline is fixed. What is not fixed is how rough the middle bit looks, and that comes down to how you cut it on the way through. The short version Pixie to a chin length bob takes 12 to 18 months. Hair grows around half an inch a month, six inches a year. Keep booking a cut every 8 to 10 weeks whil