When you feel rubbish on the inside, there’s something about
making yourself look bright and fresh on the outside that seems to help you
feel a bit better.
I’ve been feeling a bit pants of late and decided that it
was time to polish the exterior, take control of something that I actually have
control over and make myself feel better!
So, I decided to have my hair coloured in a way that I’ve
never done so before.
By going Ombre!
After numerous personal recommendations I decided to trust
my hair to
Nightingales hair salon in the heart of Soho.
This cute, intimate salon is run by a team of three- Conor
the Salon owner, Owen a stylist and Hollie, a trainee stylist.
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| The gorgeous Owen (left) & Conor |
It has a friendly, relaxed, fun yet professional atmosphere,
unlike many salons which can feel
sparse, cold and intimidating.
I was invited for an initial consultation with Owen who took
the time to sit down with me and find out in-depth, what I was after.
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| Me before & Khloe Kardashian, my hair inspiration |
I brought some photos along of the kind of thing I’d like and
was reassured by Owen that he could create an extremely similar look and that I
would look ‘fierce’.
Fab!
I booked my appointment for the following Tuesday and spent
the next 5 days dreaming of gorgeous hair.
When I arrived Owen sat me down, got out his Wella colour
chart and asked me to point out which shade I thought I would be having, to
ensure I had a realistic view of the finished look.
When we were both happy that we were on the same page, he
began backcombing my hair.
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| There's no turning back now! |
This was necessary to ensure that I wasn’t left with a harsh
line where my natural hair colour meets the dye!
The lotion which would strip my hair colour was then applied
to the ends and mid way up my hair and left for 45 minutes to get to work.
A second coat was then applied to allow the hair to
redevelop further and was left for another 25 minutes.
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| After 45 mins and before the second coat was applied |
Owen then rinsed my hair and I was horrified to discover
that my hair was now bright ginger.
Think luminous hi-lighting pens orange.
Argh!
‘’Don’t worry’’ he reassured me. ‘’We haven’t put the toner
on yet!’’.
Phew!
Toner was applied through the coloured ends of my damp hair
and left to work its magic for 15 minutes before being applied all over my hair
and left for a further 5 minutes.
The toner was then rinsed off and it was time for the blow
dry of my life.
Owen was sneaky and decided to blow dry my hair behind me so
I couldn’t see the final result, which I was obviously desperate to!
Then was time for the big reveal.
I was so incredibly pleased!
I’d never seen my hair look so good- voluminous, bouncy,
shiny and so different!
Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s
‘only hair’, but that didn't stop me skipping
out of
Nightingales with a huge smile on my face and rushing home to admire it!
With hair as long and as dark as mine, without dying it
bright blond or having a drastic cut its difficult to
make it look any different, but Owen succeeded where most others had failed.
Where as before I’d been pretty
lazy and tied my hair back for work every day, I now find myself getting up earlier to blow dry my
hair as it seems a shame to keep it tied back when it looks so cool!
You can follow Owen on Twitter here and Nightingales on Twitter here.
Call Nightingales for an appointment on 0207 734 5533
Owen's Top Tip for getting GHD Gorgeous Curls!
Step 1: Section the hair into 1 inch thick sections
horizontally
Step 2: Take small section of hair and comb through
with hands
Step 3: Wrap each section
individually around the barrel fully
Step 4: Rotate the iron
(closed) once over, clockwise
Step 5: Pull iron downwards
slowly et Voila, you have the perfect bouncy curl
