HE GATHERED MY HAIR INTO A PONYTAIL AND CUT THE WHOLE LOT OFF!
Frankly, I have always had unkempt locks; uncut, messy, dishevelled hair that rarely saw a dryer or a comb or a pair of scissors.
I was a laid-back, brush-backwards sort of girl who was hoping to perfect the just-come-off-the-beach with a glass of wine in hand look.
So for me, initially, lockdown was a breeze. It was the same old haircare routine, with even less care. But then the months began to pall and the hair began to hang limply. It frizzed and frazzled. It went a dull grey/ blonde mix, like old straw. I wore a hat. I looked like a boiled egg.
It was making me miserable — and to celebrate the great unlocking, I desperately wanted a new me with better hair.
What stronger message could I send than to have the whole lot cut off?
Step forward George northwood, snipper to the stars.
In fact, they don’t come more stellar than George, who was the only hairdresser glamorous enough to be entrusted with Ms Markle’s tresses on the day of her actual wedding to Prince Harry.
I arrived in his smart salon with a photo of my perfect image of soignée success — a lovely snap of rosamund Pike’s razor-sharp silky smooth bob.
Fortunately, George was professional enough not to laugh. ros has straight hair, he explained, not curly, wavy locks like mine. He didn’t say ros is 25 years younger and a Hollywood movie star, but that is also true.
So we agree on something different — a choppy, jaunty bob that would take two decades off my age. Flicky, fun, youthful. and with quite a lot of blonde.
I sat in my chair, adjusted my gown, thinking flicky, fun thoughts, while George’s assistant brushed my hair gathered it into a ponytail and promptly cut the whole lot off. What?! There was no going back now.
Phoebe set to work on the colour. She folded thousands of foils, eliminating as much grey as she could, adding extra stripes by hand a little later.
next it was George. The scissors were sharp and swift and my heart was beating fast. I was very much out of my comfort zone. Short hair. I was feeling sick.
Undeterred even by the landing strip of hair my ten-year-old had chopped out at the back with clippers after I’d had a glass of wine, George snipped away furiously.
He blow dried and whipped out the tongs, using his brand new ‘Undone’ hair products that he’s just launched in Boots.
He tamed the frizz and curled the curls — and the result was (given what he had to work with) absolutely fabulous.
The relief, the joy. I felt jaunty and young with a spring in my postlockdown stride. It was just what I needed.