My husband dyeing my hair was NOT the HIGHLIGHT of our marriage
Kate Middleton’s hairdresser warned her against it, but this desperate writer just couldn’t wait for April
Kieran has proper coffee at his salon,’ i remind my husband. ‘You haven’t even offered me a glass of water.’ My reluctant other half, rama, is about to highlight my hair for the first time, and tempers are running high. He hasn’t even begun on my roots and his customer service would barely score him a lone star.
it has been six months since my hair enjoyed the magic of the bleach brush and, at 47, i am no longer fooling anyone i’m a ‘natural blonde’.
i now have grey hairs as thick as twine and dark roots, yet my salon won’t open until april 12 at the earliest. So i’ve press-ganged my partner into employment as a hair colourist.
i usually pay Kieran, my colourist, £90 for a half-head of highlights and he’s already texted to express concern: ‘Gorgeous, i’ll talk him through it, but this could be a disaster.’
Unnerved, i seek reassurance from king of colour richard Ward, who’s styled the Duchess of Cambridge.
‘no, no, no, on every single level, don’t do this,’ he says. ‘My colourists train for six years before we let them near a bottle of bleach. even experts can get the timing wrong. if you leave it too long the hair becomes like chewing gum and can break off.
‘it takes years to become skilled at the weaving process of foil highlights. if your husband overlaps the bleach, you’ll get an unsightly band of colour. My advice would be to grit your teeth for a few weeks longer and use touchups for now. You may permanently damage your hair.’
Gulp. This is not what i was hoping for. But i’m sick of the sprays and powders i’ve been using for months. i decide to throw caution — and sense — to the wind.
rama picks up the highlighting kit i ordered, but decides the instructions don’t need reading. ‘it doesn’t say if i use the whole bottle,’ rama mutters. ‘i guess i do.’ Guess?!
AS MY final port of call, i book a free video consultation with Bleach London. Stylist Jayne Tinham says: ‘The most common mistake is taking out the foil before the bleach has lightened the hair. The colour you want is the yellow of the inside of a banana skin.’
She suggests i stick to the front of my parting and the hair in front of my ears, adding that six foils each side should refresh my colour. We need to mix the bleaching powder with the developing lotion in a non-plastic bowl. We also need a dozen rectangles of foil the size of a business envelope.
Once applied, the bleach stays on for 45 to 90 minutes until the hair goes bananas, as it were. Then we wash, towel dry and apply a toner. We leave the toner on the roots for 20 minutes, but just five for the rest of the hair.
Kieran also told rama to colour just the tiniest strands through my parting, as that will be the most noticeable spot for mistakes. and yes, i have booked a rescue appointment.
ready to section my hair, rama asks where my parting is. He uses those actual words. He is becoming animated now he’s beginning to understand his power. it turns out he watched a tutorial called ‘The Best and easiest DiY Highlight Video ever’. Made by Lou, an american mother in her 40s with no salon experience, it has left rama brimming with confidence.
Once my hair is divided and held in place with crocodile clips, he foils down the left of my head.
He uses a comb to weave a line parallel to my parting.
Lifting the hair, he slides the foil underneath and butts it up to my scalp. Strands of hair lie on the foil and rama paints the bleach mix down the roots to where my hair is blonde. i’m impressed. He seals the foil at the sides and folds it in half from the bottom to the scalp. Then he flips the foil of hair over the other side of my parting and clips it there.
rama flies through the rest. He can’t stop some from sliding, but uses the clips and hopes for the best. now we wait. Well, rama waits. i call Kieran to doublecheck that appointment.
ninety minutes later i jump in the shower, use a neutralising shampoo and towel dry. Time for toner. This could be a challenge.
He smooshes — more than a press, not a rub — the toner into my roots and combs it through.
One blow-dry later and the results are in: the boy excelled. There is some patchy work, and the whole process took three hours, but the roots are seamless and the colour is creamy.
We used the Bleach London Plex Bleach Box, White Toner and reusable Tool kits. We had the foils and bought a pin-tail comb. it all cost £26.64. Meanwhile Josh Wood, colourist to the stars, charges up to £1,000 an appointment. i bask in the glow of saving money… and resolve not to look closely in the mirror until april.