Go on! Cut loose with a post lockdown do
Pink! Short! Or bombshell blonde! Nothing says fresh start like a radical new look. Now the salons are finally open, five writers throw caution to the wind
Awoman who cuts her hair is about to change her life,’ said Coco Chanel, echoing a sentiment we can all agree with now. on the eve of what could be — at last — a truly great British summer, what better way to signal our entry back into the world than a dramatic new ’do.
all women know a radical haircut is a form of catharsis. no other treatment can immediately transform the image we present to the world and with it our self-confidence and poise. a big change of hairstyle is a sign of hope and optimism, a willingness to move onto a new stage in life or simply to embrace our capacity for fun and playfulness. and after months of staying at home, a style makeover is just in order.
For many women, then, it’s no hyperbole to call the re-opening of salons a Big moment. Ten per cent more of us will book into the hairdresser’s than the pub this month, says Catherine Handcock, founding director of the British Beauty Council.
and according to calculations by hair experts Vera Clinic, such is demand, there could easily be an astonishing 2.4 million haircuts in the UK today alone, with a grand total of 115 miles of lockdown hair lopped off.
at Jo Hansford, where I book an appointment, there have been far more requests for big changes than usual. It’s as if everyone has been confined for so long that now they want to shout about their hair and be more daring than before. Bland is boring and people want some fun and excitement in their lives.
with our ‘blank canvas’ hair — all colour and styling grown out — we are perfect material for a creative stylist.
Colour-wise, we’re all asking for red — ‘especially after the model Gigi Hadid went copper’, Jo Hansford explains. ‘Pinks are also on trend and it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can wear
it well if you choose the right shade.’ And when it comes to cuts and styling, bingeing on Netflix for 12 months has caused demand to soar for the ‘Queen’s Gambit bob’, after winsome actress Anya Taylor-Joy’s 1950s chin-length chop, and for Emma Corrin’s Princess Diana flick from The Crown.
Lockdown left me fixated by two TV haircuts: Daisy Edgar-Jones from Normal People and Strictly Come Dancing’s Claudia Winkleman. My fringe lust is longstanding and, like a bad boyfriend I know doesn’t love me, is one I must get over as no stylist can make it work.
When I admit this to Jo Hansford’s top stylist, Jake Wanstall, he tries to talk me out of what sounds like a tortured relationship. ‘Your hair is very lively and your hairline jumps about,’ he soothes, pointing out the stars whose hair I want are brunettes, not blondes.
‘Claudia’s hair is black, so that makes it polished, shiny and very dramatic,’ he explains. ‘When Vidal Sassoon created the sharp bob it was on dark hair because of that colour structure. Blonde hair should be soft and natural because the texture of the hair is different.’
Jo HANSforD is a blonde specialist famous for tending to the Duchess of Cornwall. So Jake asks me to picture blondes who have iconic fringes. It’s then that I confess my deepest, most orgasmic hair fantasy. ‘Can you, uh... make me look like Brigitte Bardot?’
I was expecting he’d say: ‘You’re deranged — Bridget Jones more like!’ But nothing phases the man.
He cuts a fringe in tentatively to assess how it looks, making it as light as possible. But I want it ‘shaggy’, I insist. The customer is always right so we go for it.
Colourist Louisa Moore is relieved she doesn’t have to correct a major faux pas — something she’s expecting a wave of this week. ‘Colour is different on everyone because your pigments and undertones are unique to you,’ she says. ‘If a celebrity says she’s used a box dye to achieve her look she’s lying.’ Louisa uses ammonia-free bleach. Pre-lockdown I was a honey blonde. She’s making me over in creamy tones for brightness.
After the colour, we’re back to the cut. Jake’s plan is to make the fringe the centrepiece, but blend it subtly with the rest of my hair so it flows in buttery waves.
He creates movement by cutting square layers at 180 degrees, not the usual 90. Then he integrates his preliminary work to frame my face and blend with Louisa’s lustrous lightness, taking care that I don’t look like a Lego head.
When I walked in, I felt like a penny piece discarded on the pavement, never imagining I could leave feeling a million dollars — much less Brigitte Bardot!
However, after three hours at Jo Hansford I really do feel like a sexpot. Let’s hope Coco Chanel is right and my life — and luck — is about to change.