Prestige Hong Kong - Beauty & Wellness Awards
ALL THINGS HAIR
No matter our hair type or texture – whether it’s fine, thick, dry, damaged, coloured, curly, wavy or straight – we’re all striving for those perfect-hair days, a seemingly impossible feat in Hong Kong’s humid summers. MARCUS LAM, style director at Essens
What’s the best (or easiest) way to create volume?
Blast-dry your hair upside down, then spray dry shampoo along the roots and massage it with your fingertips.
Dry shampoo is an efficient and effective means of adding body to your hair without labouring for hours or fiddling with tools when you’re short on time. Not only will dry shampoo add texture and boost volume, but it also absorbs any excess oil on your hair to give a clean, refreshed look. Klorane dry shampoo with oatmilk is a classic option and our personal favourite, while R+CO Skyline Dry Shampoo offers similar properties accompanied by a divine scent.
Of the many styling tools in the market, which ones would you recommend?
The Dyson hair dryer. It leaves your hair smooth and silky, while reducing frizz and flyaways. It dries hair quicker than other hair dryers, so there’s less damage.
The right tools are not only helpful but can also be essential to creating long-lasting, salon-quality styles. The Dyson Supersonic hair dryer is a great option to cut drying time while eradicating frizz. Just make sure always to apply a heat protectant (such as those by Living Proof, which also offer UV protection and instant shine) before using a hot styling tool.
What’s the best way to maintain colour at home?
Wash with lukewarm water, with colour-stay shampoo and conditioner. If you have blonde hair, use purple shampoo twice a week to eliminate yellow and brassy tones.
The quickest way for colour to fade is by washing the hair too often, and with water that’s too hot. If it’s impossible to wash your hair less, try to avoid harsh sulphates and alcohols that can exacerbate the fading process (as well as being more drying to the hair). For blondes, aside from purple shampoo, blue or silver shampoo are also great options for colour correcting more stubborn brassiness that purple shampoo can’t seem to fix. Typically, coloured hair tends to be on the drier, more damaged side. Try incorporating a rotation of moisturising and protein treatments into your hair routine, for healthier and stronger strands.
Can you recommend ways to care for hair and scalp?
Don’t wash your hair with scalding water; never scratch your scalp too hard; and brush it too brusquely. Be gentle to your hair and it will be gentle to you.
What piece of advice can everyone benefit from?
After blow drying your hair, turn the hairdryer on cold mode and go through it for about 10 seconds — that seals the cuticles and leaves your locks silkier.
One thing you wish your clients would do at home?
Don’t sleep on your wet hair, apply some serum and dry it off, otherwise you might wake up with smelly and limp hair, especially because it’s so humid in Hong Kong.
While there’s been much debate about the benefits of using ice-cold water on your hair, what can be agreed is to not use water that’s excessively hot. Hot water can dry out the hair and scalp, while leaving the individual hair strands brittle and more prone to breakage. The ideal temperature to wash your hair is lukewarm — warm enough that the hair cuticle is able to open and allow product to seep in without straining the hair. Being gentle is key: when applying products, use your fingertips and never your nails as you gently massage in the product.
Which products you can recommend?
Our own label.m products from the UK. For 10 years, they’ve been the official products for London Fashion Week. Most of them are made from natural ingredients and are cruelty-free. Our Texturising Volume Spray is the killer product — this dry mist gives ultimate volume and a lasting root lift. With the benefits of dry shampoo, it’s the perfect hair product for Hong Kong weather.
What’s the one product and tool you use most at the salon?
The Texturising Volume Spray from label.m and the GHD platinum styler.
The flatiron not only straightens hair, but it can also create soft salon-quality waves. The temperature consistency at 185 degrees Celsius also minimises damage.
What’s the hottest hair trend today?
Dark roots with sun-kissed ends — with loose, long and wavy strands. Also, everything from the ’70s. It works with a long curtain fringe or shaggy bangs.
How can you re-create that salon-quality look at home?
We often leave the salon happily admiring our new locks, yet come next wash day, it seems impossible to obtain results anywhere near close to our stylist’s. It’s important to ask your stylist which products and techniques they recommend for your specific hair type and texture to achieve the desired results.
The right tools are not only helpful but also essential to creating long-lasting, salon-quality styles