From hangdog hair to heathy hair. Why health and condition are so important.
In this popular series of blogs, we look at the common mistakes hairdressers make, and how to get the best out of your hair.
It may not look like it in the ‘before’ picture, but Eloise has great hair. Yet she had a truly awful haircut, designed to maximise the worst characteristics and throw them all over her face. Hairdressers blow out or flat-iron these basic haircuts to cover up a lack of shaping, but that isn’t much help to the wearer who is still left with a flat frizzy blanket of hair around the shoulders when trying to style at home.
Eloise’s basic long A-Line bob made the hair hang heavy around her face. It tangled and snagged when brushed. Difficult to manage, she just couldn’t seem to do anything with it. So disappointedly, Eloise spent most of the time with her hair scraped back in a ponytail.
Hair is a sensual material. It exudes vibrancy and a sexual energy that is all part of our animal attraction. But it has to be able to move or at least suggest the promise of this latent energy. The whole point of long hair is to transmit this health and beauty. Long hair cut in an A-Line is like hair in chains. A prisoner. Suppressed, restrained, its unable to express its unique dance to the viewing world.
Bounce, swing, vitality, vibrancy, strength, suppleness, flexibility, spring, elasticity, resonance. These are the words we associate with youthful, healthy, sexy, hair and particularly longer hair that can swing far and wide. But the two key things that will mostly kill this energy are a long A-Line outline shape and poor condition. And the A-Line contributes to this poor condition by keeping weak hair around the front far too long. Read the Lazy A-Line
Before – Really lazy haircut. Essentially one-length bar a random layer halfway up the back.
After – The new haircut has narrowed the old pyramid shape (flat around face, too wide at the bottom) and given lift, movement and vitality with precise long layers.
Before – Never again. Much of the frizziness in Eloise’s hair is caused by the bad haircut. Some of the rest is caused by the majority of de-frizz serums and oils on the market which actually dry hair out long term, so she used more of these de-frizzing products just to get through the day. Read...Why Silicone is Bad for your Hair?
During - I cut nine inches off the front and properly layered through precisely to the back. The Diamond Dry Cut™ is my natural method of sculpting. We cut hair dry to see the shape evolve in much the same way as Michaelangelo would approach a marble bust.
After - a simple blowdry that Eloise could do herself at home. Smooth, shiny and full of life.
Rocky our Senior Colourist crafted an exquisite balayage and highlight combination to amplify the textural contrast in the colour and enhance the sense of movement in the hair.
I’ve added some short videos here to illustrate the vibrancy in Eloise’s hair now. Running my hands through helps me check the balance and proportions of the haircut for any fine tuning. We treated the hair with our hero product LifeSaver Prewash Treatment which injects vibrant energy into the hair shaft and helps protect it. Eloise will now continue with this unique system of Healthcare for Hair™.
Correcting Eloise’s hair didn’t mean taking any length from the back. It just needed a better choice of outline and properly balanced layers. Sadly, most hairdressers don’t know how to layer properly. If you have any texture in your hair and want a shape that works, you have to have precisely connected layers. Particularly with long hair, so it can move fluidly and give off the vibrancy and bounce that makes it so alluring.
As the foundation, the outline is so important and for long hair the longest part should be at the back, not the front. I graduated the outline to chin length at the front. Layering then balanced out the weight between the back, sides and front to give lift, interest and shape to the look. This means that when hair moves around it will pull itself as one and land as one, like a flock of birds or shoal of fish, rather than the front separating from the back and hanging on its own.
“Michael and his team took care of my hair and transformed it. It had split ends, bad roots and was becoming extremely hard to manage. Michael explained why my hair looked like it did, the science behind it and I trusted his experience to make it look great. I had a fair chunk taken off but this resulted in more style, volume and shape. His team also coloured my hair and it’s much brighter and more flattering as a consequence. People keep noticing my new hair and it’s a lot easier to maintain! I’m delighted.” – Eloise
Why waste a good hair day? Eloise asked Rosie to tong her hair into waves, ready for a night out.
For Eloise’s hair we used our best-selling LifeSaver Prewash Treatment to rehydrate, then Cashmere Protein Moisturising Shampoo and Conditioner. A little Thicker Quicker blowdry spray and Volumising Mousse helped give body and control. We used the Large Round Brush to style. Then finally a little Ten Second Transformation to feed and smooth the hair giving a little shine and texture too.
Michael Van Clarke
How many Bobs have you got?
These quick clunky haircuts are becoming prolific as hairdressers become less and less able to layer hair properly. Emily had the very common 3-step Bob. The baseline, a step four inches off the bottom, and a sort of torn irregular piece suggestive of a long
