Sophie says
There’s a new remedy for shocking hairstyles, and it’s simpler than you think
always precedes a cycle of doom. First there’s the through-gritted-teeth submission: ‘Erm, thank you. Yes, it’s great, much better. OK, I have to go now.’ Then the two-days-too-many of lanky hair while you stave off the first wash, because that leads to the first DIY styling. And finally, there’s the defeatist realisation: you do look as terrible as you suspected.
The only way to salvage some control is with aggressive daily heat styling. But then guess what? You torch your ends so much that you need to cut it again and lo, the doom settles in for the long run.
It took one comment too many from my husband to allow this latest accidental bad haircut to grow out with dignity. ‘You look like an older lady who has cut her hair short to manage it better. In older age.’ Thank you, husband, your work here is done. I have a difficult relationship with my hair, and since I can’t look in the mirror without seeing my future now, I just avoid it. And sulk.
Within two days of the first (disastrous) wash, I’m back in the hot seat. This time it’s at Daniel Hersheson’s Harvey Nichols concession and extensions expert Hadley Tweddell is attaching micro-fine pieces of someone else’s hair to my temples (it’s ethically sourced, don’t panic). I’ve booked in for ‘hair fillers’, the idea being you use much smaller, lighter pieces than conventional ‘length’ extensions to create ‘filler’ where you need it most. This way you get more bounce and sideways volume, rather than the length traditional extensions are known (and often disliked) for. In most cases, this is around the hairline where you see the most styling damage and the first place the hair thins naturally. In my case, I do have the styling damage, plus I have a rounded front section, which lends that ‘ageing lady’ feel to my look. Within an hour I have invisible keratin bonds with colour-matched, flowing hair, creating a seamless asymmetric bob that succeeds in disguising the damage. It’s a flipping miracle. The ultimate test? The husband. He was away so the drastic difference wasn’t too drastic for him. Instead, upon his return, I got a ‘your hair looks really nice actually, I don’t know why you made such a fuss about it’. Fair point – now I know how easy it is to fix.
For a falsie-phobic the pros here far outweigh the cons. Time taken: one hour rather than the typical four or five for classic extensions. Cost: £250 as opposed to the £450 starting price for the full works. And while I can feel the fillers and I’m tempted to fiddle with them at every opportunity, there is a whole middle section of untouched hair that I can still run my fingers through, unobstructed. All in all, while I’m looking forward to removing them in three or four months, I’m happy to let my hair grow out this way. In fact, it definitely looks better than before I got it cut. I’ve broken the cycle of doom. And a new addiction has been born! Uh-oh…