hair

My hair has recently reached that awkward in-between length: it’s no longer the mid-length lob that I visited the hairdressers for last year but it can’t quite be considered a long hairstyle yet. Instead, it’s sitting rather uninspiringly on my shoulders causing me to seriously consider going for the chop. I’ve experimented with shorter hairstyles over the years but have never taken the plunge into a full-on bob. However, with my Instagram feed starting to fill up with dramatic, post-lockdown haircuts, I have to admit that I’m seriously tempted to forgo my lengths in favour of something shorter, choppier and infinitely cooler. And a quick look online confirmed that the bob might just be the hairs...

The truth is, while it might seem as though our hair has been put through the wringer, for most of us, the situation isn’t as bad as we think. In fact, several hairstylists I have spoken to this year have been surprised to find out that a lot of their clients’ hair is healthier than ever before. Why? Because we’ve been giving our strands a serious break. Less heat styling, colour treatments and bleach application, as well as many of us turning to nourishing at-home masks and serums mean that our hair is in a much stronger state than it was this time last year. And while we sadly didn’t get to live out our hair colour dreams this year, things are looking up for 2021. With salons re-opening in England today offering us all some much-needed hope that we can get back in salon chairs ...

Working with a brilliant team of fashion editors who have their fingers on the pulse means that, luckily for me, I’ve had the low-down on the spring/summer fashion trends for 2021 for quite a while now. The world of beauty, however, can be a little trickier to predict. We’ve already delved into the brilliant beauty products that shaped 2020, but the growing popularity of platforms like TikTok means that trending beauty often changes overnight. Combine that with the uncertainty around the opening and closing of beauty salons, and it’s becoming increasingly tricky to forecast which beauty treatments and trends look set to take off in 2021. However, after enjoying just one haircut during the whole of 2020,...

Generally speaking, when it comes to hair there seems to be one main thing that people want from their strands: thickness. In fact, when friends and family reach out to me with hair-related queries it’s most frequently to ask what the best products for thin hair are. I’ll be honest though, although I adore a good volumising product, hair thickness has never really concerned me. While my individual strands are quite fine, they’re coarse in texture and there’s a lot of them: I’m more likely to be testing products that promise hair hydration or strand-sleeking results than anything that makes hair look thicker. Until last year, that is. After having my first child I experienced the much-talked about postpartum hair los...

“When it comes to colour, you don’t want something that requires too much precision,” reveals hairstylist to the stars George Northwood. “Something that has become a bit of a signature of ours is a softer, natural balayage. With the disturbance of COVID and salons shutting for months on end, people are stepping away from that fresh, highlighted look that is quite high-maintenance and is tricky to maintain well at home without your colourist.” “Over the first lockdown, a lot of my clients saw their natural colour growing through and have actually gotten used to it,” Northwood continues. “So we are now seeing a lot more clients who are now experimenting with keeping their hair closer to their natural colour, which is far more easily m...

When it comes to hair trends, glossy, blunt cuts have most definitely reigned supreme as of late. For the last few years, we have found ourselves swooning over glossy, glass-like lengths and adding all of the blunt bob inspiration to our saved folders on Instagram. There’s no doubt that blunt cuts have had their fair share of love. But now, there’s a new hair trend on the horizon. With the space between our hair appointments becoming longer, high-maintenance blunt chops are on the out, and no-fuss, layered hair is back. Not only do layers give hair an undone, effortless vibe, they also help to disguise breakage and split ends (things that have become inevitable as of late). And while we don’t have long to wait until salon doors reopen, we think it’s still important to cons...

Leave it to the internet to wage war on our most beloved beauty trends. The latest beauty casualty? Side fringes. Yes, first TikTok declared that side-partings were under fire and with them came our beloved side fringes. How can this be? Side fringes are widely accepted as the most flattering style for every face shape and forehead length, not to mention their uncanny ability to conceal overgrown roots and scraggly lengths. To put it plainly, side fringes aren’t just pretty. They’re useful, too. In return for their decades of loyal service, it’s only right that we step in to defend them now and take a firm stance on this polarising subject. We’re pro side fringes in this house! And we’re not just being stubborn...

Undone, effortless hair has been a thing for as long as we can remember. Whether it be straight, silky lengths, effortlessly tousled waves or curls and coils with natural-looking bounce and definition, over the past few years, hair trends have been heavily focused on finding ways to make it look like we haven’t spent three hours styling it. The reality, however, is that it takes a whole bunch of heated tools, styling creams and setting sprays to achieve “I woke up like this” hair. But finally, after all of the years we have spent struggling to make our hair look effortless, uncomplicated and heatless hair is finally a thing. Seriously, we’re seeing it everywhere. From fashion girls to celebs, it seems that the events of the past year ha...

Since I started styling my textured hair more frequently and straightening it less often last year, there was something that I noticed about the curly advice out there: Curl gels kind of get a bad rap. Whenever I’d reach out to people for styling advice, they would recommend a curl cream to coax definition into my hair rather than a gel. Yes, using curl gels in the wrong way can lead to crispy, crunchy or stringy curls, but—trust me—adding a curl gel has been the best thing for my styling routine. For me, I like to use gels when I’m doing my braid- and twist-outs for any hope of getting definition into my thick, coily hair. And if you like to wash and go, then you can actually apply most curl gels to wet hair and work them throug...

Curly haircare and styling can be complex. With new super ingredients and products always trending and practices that are raved about by some and abhorred by others, it can be difficult to know what’s best for your texture. Recently, I have been on my own journey with my natural texture and have been testing out loads of different techniques—more than I ever have. I have to say, I have become pretty great at braid-outs and twist-outs and have loved learning what oils, creams, gels and serums my hair loves and loathes. To put it simply, I’m feeling confident in my coils.  However, I can’t dismiss the fact that I have the best hair experts at my disposal to pose a long list of queries to whenever I like. They help to cut through the noise of the internet and have pr...

There’s less than one month to go until hair salons will potentially be allowed to reopen in England, and that means it’s time to start deciding exactly what kind of hair transformation I’ll be asking my hairdresser for once I’m finally reunited with a salon chair. After just one professional cut in 2020 and a couple of mishaps with my kitchen scissors, I’m ready for a hair refresh, but I’m torn between opting for a low-maintenance style or something more striking that might require a bit more upkeep. Either way, I know I’m not alone in feeling more than ready to hear the gentle “snip, snip” of a hairdresser’s scissors. In fact, there’s one celeb who frankly couldn&...