A moment of panic. Pink! What have I done?!
I’M APPROACHING 40, married with two children, and lockdown has sent me hurtling towards a midlife crisis.
I thought about a piercing, or a tattoo, even a motorbike. I floated the idea of having an affair, but my husband pointed out the difficulties with this and suggested I start by changing my hair.
This is more extreme for me than it sounds. I’ve had the same blonde highlights put into my naturally mousy hair three times a year, every year, for the past 20. Length-wise I’ve repeatedly gone from fairly long to a bit longer and back again.
But now is the time for adventure. For getting out of my comfort zone at the same time as I ditch the old jeans and sweatshirt combo.
A big ta-da change could be just the thing to shock me — and everyone else — out of my lockdown lethargy.
Watching the live-streamed SS21 catwalk shows, I’d noticed a trend for bold and bright hair colours — blue at Valentino, pink at Moschino, orange at Raf Simons. Wow! They were fresh and exciting.
A shot of Kate Moss that I’d seen as a teenager popped into my head. It was 1998, and the coolest thing I’d ever seen — a beautiful supermodel staring back over her shoulder with peachy pink hair.
Inspired, I found the image again and ran my ‘hair’brained idea past awardwinning stylist Richard Ward and his technical director Mario Charalambous.
I was in safe hands. Richard is the man responsible for the Duchess of Cambridge’s luscious locks, and no one on the planet has better hair than Kate.
The first challenge was to bring my hair back to blonde with a full head of highlights. Once those had taken, Mario slathered on the pink.
This season it’s about strong vivid tones, no rose gold, no pastel colours. Go bold or go home — and heaven knows we’ve all spent too much time at home.
With a towel wrapped firmly round my head I returned to the chair. Richard removed the towel to begin the cut before a blow dry.
A moment of panic. It was certainly a strong look. What had I done? Just as lockdown
was ending and people would see me! But the colour softened as the hair dried and with a clean, blunt chop it looked fantastic. I decided I loved it. Shades of bold pink now run dramatically through my natural colour and it’s given my monochrome wardrobe (grey jeans, white shirts, black knitwear) a whole new lease of life.
At last I feel fresh and ready for the great spring unveiling. It’s a midlife crisis with a happy ending.