Hair Colour

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

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

No, plucking a grey hair does not make more grow back. One follicle grows one hair, and pulling it out does not send a signal to the follicles next to it. What you are noticing is the rest of your head greying on its own timetable, whether you own a pair of tweezers or not. The short version One follicle grows one hair. Plucking cannot recruit the ones around it. Greying is genetic and gradual. It was always going to spread. A plucked grey grows back grey, usually in six to t

Semi permanent coats the outside of your hair and washes out in six to eight shampoos. Demi permanent sits just under the surface and fades over about 24 washes. Permanent opens the hair and swaps the colour inside it, so it grows out rather than washing out. Which one you need comes down to how much change you want and whether you are covering grey. The short version Semi permanent coats the hair and washes out in 6 to 8 shampoos. Demi permanent uses low peroxide, blends gre

Autumn hair colour works for a practical reason: the light changes. From late September the sun sits lower and reads warmer, so a cool ashy blonde that looked crisp in July starts to look grey and flat by October. Warm tones catch that low light instead of fighting it. The short version Lower autumn sun is warmer in tone, so cool colour reads flat and grey. Warm shades like copper, caramel and toffee reflect that low light better. Most people need one shade down rather than a

Usually yes, but in stages and with less lift than you were hoping for in one appointment. Balayage on damaged hair comes down to how much strength is left inside the strand, not how rough it feels when it is dry. Some hair that feels like straw is structurally fine. Some hair that looks glossy snaps the second it gets wet. The short version Damaged hair can usually take balayage, but in stages and with lower lift. We test elasticity and porosity in the consultation before ag

Grey blending is colour that softens your greys rather than covering them completely. You keep some of the grey. It just stops reading as a stripe down your parting. Done well, the change is slow enough that people tell you that you look well and never think to ask who did your hair. It is the service I get asked about most by women in their forties and fifties who are sick of the four week root panic but nowhere near ready to go fully grey. There is a middle option, and this

Colouring your hair while pregnant is generally considered safe, and most midwives will tell you the same. Very little dye is absorbed through the scalp, and what does get in is nowhere near enough to reach your baby. I am a hairdresser and not a medic, so always check with your own midwife. But there are things I do differently when a pregnant client sits in my chair, and this is what they are. The short version • Salon hair colour in pregnancy is widely considered safe by m

New year, new hair is a lovely idea, but a big change works far better when you plan it than when you walk in on a whim. Before you book, get clear on three things: how much upkeep you actually want, what your hair can handle right now, and whether you are changing your hair or changing your life. Here is how I talk it through with my clients. The short version A big change is easier to plan than to reverse. Bleach and bold colour need more upkeep, not less. Book a consultati

A root tint, a root smudge and a root melt all deal with the same few centimetres of hair at your parting, but they do three completely different jobs. A root tint covers regrowth and grey with permanent colour. A root smudge softly blurs the line where your colour meets new growth. A root melt blends that root colour down into your lengths so there is no line at all. Same patch of head, three techniques, three price points. Here is how to tell which one you actually need. Th

A client came into my chair last month with her coat hood still up. She had tried to take box brown to icy blonde at home over one weekend, and what she got was three different shades from root to tip, with a patch at the crown that snapped off in her fingers. Here is the honest bit. A home bleach job that has gone wrong is almost always fixable, but it is a repair rather than a quick redo, and colour correction takes time. The short version A home bleach job is usually fixab

A colour consultation is a short chat, usually 15 to 20 minutes, before any colour goes near your hair. We look at the condition your hair is in, its colour history, the result you are after, and whether we can get there in one visit or over a few. It is free, and I will not let any of the girls colour a new client without one. The short version A colour consultation is a free 15 to 20 minute chat before any colour. We check your hair condition, its colour history and the res

Brassy blonde is what happens when the warm pigments underneath your hair start showing through, usually orange or yellow. It is not a sign your colourist got it wrong, just the toner wearing off and your natural warmth coming back to say hello. It is normal, and it is an easy fix. The short version Brassy means warm orange or yellow tones showing through faded blonde. It is the toner wearing off, not your colour failing. Blonde always has warmth underneath. Toner is what can

Toner is what takes freshly lightened hair from brassy yellow to that clean, expensive looking blonde, and most salons add it to your bill without ever telling you what it is. It is not a luxury extra. It is the step that finishes your colour properly, and once you understand it you will never skip it again. The short version • Toner neutralises unwanted yellow, orange or brassy tones after lightening. • It is a separate colour service, not part of your foils or balayage. • W

Yes, you can make a real change to your hair without regretting it, and the trick is doing it in stages rather than one dramatic leap. Being scared of going too far is the most sensible thing you can bring to my chair, because it means we plan properly instead of guessing. I have lost count of the women who sat down wanting something completely different, then went quiet halfway through when they realised how far we were going. So let me walk you through how we get you the ch

Balayage lasts longer than highlights, but only if you treat it right between appointments. Most clients can stretch a full balayage to four or five months with a toner refresh in the middle. The colour itself fades slowly. What ages it faster is brassiness, dryness, and wash habits that strip the tone. The short version Full balayage holds 4 to 5 months. A toner refresh at 8 to 10 weeks keeps it looking fresh. Hot water and over-washing strip your toner faster than anything

Sun and chlorine are the two fastest ways to wreck salon colour, and summer hands you both. If you want your summer hair to hold its colour, the work starts before you get anywhere near a pool. Colour fades, blonde turns brassy or green, and the gloss you paid for looks dull by August. Most of that is preventable with a few habits that take seconds. Here is what I tell my clients before they head off. The short version • UV breaks down hair colour and protein, the same way it

No, salon colour vs box dye is the question, and the short answer is no, they are not the same product in different boxes. Box dye is one strength of developer with a fixed pigment ratio, made to colour any head of hair the same way. Salon colour is mixed for your starting level, your hair history, and the result you actually want. That difference is what shows up six weeks later when the box dye has gone brassy and the salon work still looks like the photo. The short version

If you are torn between going grey gracefully or carrying on covering it, here is the honest answer: both are completely fine. The right choice comes down to your natural hair, how much salon time you want to commit to, and how you feel when you catch yourself in the mirror. I have clients who love their silver and clients who will be tinting at 80, and neither one is wrong. The short version Going grey means growing out colour, often with a blended transition. Covering grey

Going blonde from dark hair is rarely a one appointment job. If you are anything darker than light brown, you are looking at two or three sessions to do it properly, and the price reflects that work. I get asked about this every week, usually after a client has seen a Pinterest photo and thought it was one trip to the salon. It is not. The good news is the result is gorgeous when it is done right. The bad news is that anyone who promises it in one visit is either going to wre