SECRETS OF AN IN-SALON SPY How to make the most of your hairdresser’s, er, backwash

want a little extra from ypur standard cut and colour? There's a host off - menu services - if only you know whatto ask for ... >

“There’s vitamin rinses, collagen treatments, and masks”

For most of us, the hairdresser’s ‘backwash’ is simply the place you make small talk about your impending holiday with the juniors as they wash your hair, while trying not to give you a neck injury. However, it’s also the place where some of your salon’s most innovative (and undiscovered) off-menu treatments can be found. Request any of them and not only will you be guaranteeing yourself a better head of hair when you walk out of the salon, but your hair will stay healthier for longer, too.

“What’s applied at the backwash is the precursor to how your hair is going to both appear and behave,” says Paul Edmonds, celebrity stylist and salon owner. “It’s where we use all our premium products [which] keep hair in optimum condition.”

Premium, you say? That’s because, while anyone can get their hands on the shampoos and conditioners used, the super-strength formulas in the treatments hidden behind the backwash are pumped full of reparative proteins and highdosage antioxidants... and, yep, you guessed it, they’re salon-only.

“There’s everything from vitamin rinses to reparative collagen treatments, as well as masks that deal with shine, density, hydration, colour lock and repair, which can be tailored to each individual,” continues Edmonds.“We have around 62 different options, and even have solutions that prevent things like oxidative stress, so your colour will last longer and remain vibrant.”

Which begs the question: so if the good stuff is kept under wraps out the back, how are we supposed to know what’s on offer – and, more crucially, what we need?

After all, you can’t go 50 paces without someone thrusting a blow-dry menu in front of you. So why the secrecy around the backwash services?

Edmonds believes that it’s because a lot of clients think the treatments are superfluous. Indeed, £20 for a fancy hair mask versus £20 for the instant glamour of a glitter parting or an Instagrammable braid (even if it only lasts for a few hours), and you can see why some stylists avoid the upsell (that, and the fact that a branded treatment costs the salon a lot more). But that’s where you need to change your mindset. Just like an investment purchase, these off-menu salon solutions will leave your hair in such good nick that your colour will last longer, or your hair will look healthier, meaning you’ll be able to swerve your standard six-week trim.

A bit like a secret password at an elite member’s club, you just need to know what to ask for the next time you’re reclining (possibly uncomfortably) in a neck rest and someone mutters those magic words: “Is that temperature OK with you?”

If you’re at a Wella salon, drop in a mention of the colour-keeping Olaplex and see what happens. If you can see L’Oréal products on the shelves, quiz them about their Smartbonds technology. Failing that, ask the stylist point-blank what hair and scalp treatments they offer. (A brief aside: picking up the cash-and-carry-sized optics behind the basin and saying,“Ooh, shiny,” while trying to sniff them – usually frowned upon.)

Still unsure? Use our guide to the seven salon services worth shelling out for…