Sarah and Jo's Awfully Big Hair Adventure

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is here – but it’s natural to feel some trepidation about venturing into a salon. Our Editors Jo Fairley and Sarah Stacey report on what to expect – and how marvellous it feels to kiss goodbye to grey hairs and split ends…

Sarah writes:

‘The emotion was palpable. In our village community shop, my husband’s comrade volunteer – whose thundercloud of curls threatened to out-Hendrix Jimi - was counting down the hours to her mane-taming appointment the day after my own long-awaited booking for colour and cut at Paul Edmonds Battersea salon last Wednesday 8th July (a day for the record books).

Hair has always been A Very Big Thing for women but, as lockdown blocked all access to our hairdresser friends, the state of our mops has been propelled into well-nigh an obsession. 

For most women, the state of our hair is a barometer of how we feel and that has a real impact on how we cope in strange and scary situations. This is not just vanity (although there’s nothing wrong with a bit of that). It goes back to evolution, explains neuroscientist and psychiatrist Dr. Tara Swart. ‘Glossy, abundant hair, which doesn’t show signs of age like grey pigment, is the most obvious marker of youthfulness in post-menopausal women (and, for younger women, fertility). Losing control of how our hair looks can trigger a primal fear response.’

The prospect of my hair appointment provoked a slew of messages from friends and colleagues who were excited for me! Requests for Before’s and After’s. Questions about was I scared? Well, actually I was a bit, both about the spectre of Tube travel in London and also what hairdressing under Covid would be like. 

Pushing open the heavy door into Paul Edmonds’s salon I skipped blindly over the thick white line, which told me to, umm, wait behind it. Once I’d reversed I was directed to shimmy sideways into ‘that chair’ (freshly-sanitised), apply hand sanitiser and put my belongings in my own tote. My temperature was taken and pronounced normal – phew. I donned a fresh disposable gown from a sealed packet. Adjusted my mask. And proceeded to GO! 

Julie, the uber-brilliant colourist, and her colleagues in their own particular Battersea bubble wore neat little see-through visors over their mouths and the backwash was overseen by someone looking a bit like a helmeted knight in a full face covering – all see through. Curiously perhaps, I stopped noticing the masks very quickly and it was all much the same as usual albeit without the buzz of a busy salon; there were five staff in all plus Paul himself (lovely to hear that deep laugh) and about the same number of clients. 

One unlooked for frill was being offered coffee, tea and water. And yes, we could go to the loo, thank goodness. The missing factor was the beauty treatments, particularly mani/pedis. (Surely to heavens the Government must rethink this idiocy soon. Update since I wrote this: they have…)

Given it was four months since my long, coloured bob had been near dye or scissors, it didn't look too bad. There was an undeniable two-inch tidemark where my natural dark mouse streaked with grey had grown through; I was weirdly fascinated, as it was the first time I’d seen that much of my natural colour in decades. The blonde bits had gone a bit yellow – not brassy but not the best with my skin - but it was in good condition and the lovely stylist Matilda told me I had no split ends (felt rather perky about that). 

But, oh goodness, the wonder of a good hairdo. The ends no longer straggle out in a wayward fashion but plop purposefully into place. The softer ashy blonde colour mingles with my natural shade and is much kinder to my skin tone.  Balayage around my hairline highlights my face. And my sense of me is restored.’

Paul Edmonds Battersea Power Station Hair & Beauty Salon 3 Circus Road West, Nine Elms, London SW11 8EZ/020-7589 5958.

Jo writes:

Fact. I used always to have my hair cut and coloured in London. But even before lockdown, I was getting a great blow-dry from a fantastic ‘find’ of a local stylist, Mark Norton – ex-Toni & Guy, now resident at Serenity, my stone’s-throw-away hair and beauty salon.

And when HE called ME out of the blue a couple of weeks ago to offer an appointment for colour, cut and blow-dry, I leapt at the chance. Thursday (9th) was my ‘Great Hair Day’ – 24 hours after Sarah’s. And oh, oh, oh does it feel good!

There are some adjustments. The salon has been reconfigured with much greater distance between chairs, with only four stylists working in the whole salon. (Bonus for customers: they’ll be open longer, and even Sundays, so all the stylists can get a shift.) There’s a squirt of hand sanitiser at the door, and a little ‘goodie bag’ with a mask and a disposable (biodegradeable) gown.

I can’t say I LOVED spending four hours in a surgical mask - which is how long my expert hair rescue took. But frankly, I’d have worn a complete HazMat suit, if that’s what it took. I missed having a cuppa (I took my own water – and next time, a Thermos). I was allowed to take my laptop, thank heavens! – and I used an antiseptic alcohol wipe on it before I put it down on the surface of my gilt-tabled ‘station’.

Though it was the first time he’d coloured my hair, Mark’s an absolute expert – and you can see how fabulous the results are, above. You literally can’t tell that there were two inches of brown roots, and he got my Holy Grail ‘California surf girl’ blonde bit at the front spot-on.

Then came the cut – longer than I’m used to wearing it, because I’m liking how it’s grown over the past few months (and easier to clip up, for sea-swimming). And I already knew he’s a GENIUS blow-dryer, so by then any anxiety was history.

There were actual out-loud squeals, at the end of it. I’ve not done a bad job at all styling my hair (thank you, James Dyson), over the past four months – but I’ve watched my roots grow darker and darker. (I shouldn’t complain but frankly, a touch of grey would have been welcome, just for blending,) But after this, I felt completely like ‘me’ again. I’ve always known how central my hair is to my confidence and happiness – and hundreds of millions of locked-down women know it, too.

I didn’t walk out of the salon; I DANCED out. Happy hair. Happy Jo. And the happiest day-before-my-birthday in all of history.

So thanks, Mark. Never mind ‘as good as London’. This was world-class…

Serenity Hair & Beauty Rooms 46-47 High St, Hastings, TN34 3EN/01424-444946

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