I have had ginger hair for ever – well, ever since I discovered an amazing Goldwell colour formula that turned my non-descript light brown hair ginger.
I should have been a ginger at birth. I have warm skin tone and freckles, so I’ve only been correcting the bit that nature forgot. All went smoothly for many years. Every 3 weeks, I would visit my hairdresser for a colour, because (a) I have fast growing hair and (b) I hate roots showing – it gives the game away!
A year ago, I heard bad news. Goldwell had discontinued my hair colour. My precious ginger hair colour was no more. After that, no matter how hard my hairdresser tried, my ginger colour could not be recreated.
A year has now gone by – a year when my colour has got darker and deeper – and brown. I don’t do brown. Brown was my school uniform; brown is a great handbag; brown is not the colour I want on my head.
My hopes were focussed on a visit to Melbourne at the end of December. But the award-winning colourist who first defined my ginger hair colouring had sold her shop and gone to live overseas. Disaster!
So I made an appointment with a hairdresser who was convinced he could make my hair ginger again. All that happened was that he turned it brown – again – only darker and definitely coppery. It didn’t make me feel good when he told me it definitely was ginger and that I needed glasses! I told him my contact lenses worked fine, thank you, and sulked out of the shop.
I tried again the very next day with another hairdresser – who listened and really paid attention to my pleading for ginger hair. Whilst she did manage to replace the copper colour in my brown locks for ginger, it was still brown with a slightly ginger but greeny tinge. She did cut and blow dry my hair beautifully though. One can’t have everything I suppose…
What to do next? On my return to the UK, I had a light-bulb moment. I contacted HOB Salon in Camden Town. SoSensational had collaborated with HOB a couple of years ago, resulting in some great hair videos, so I sent a plea via email and issued a challenge to return my hair to its beloved ginger.
Gabi at HOB picked up the gauntlet. “Of course, we can make you ginger again”, said Gabi and made the arrangements for my appointment. To say that I was excited is an understatement when I turned up at the HOB flagship salon in Camden last week, with Jess Nash, our photographer.
The Journey back to Ginger!
Craig Clarke – Colour Director at HOB Salons Camden, gave me the low down of the issues, the technical analysis in other words. I had “lighter roots with demarcation on mid-lengths and the ends were deeper in tone and depth. The overall look of colour was cool, murky and flat – rather than vibrant, warm and illuminating”. Nicely put Craig!
With the condition, sensitivity and porosity of the hair, Craig chose to do a gentle detox of the mid-lengths and ends, using Wella Blondor Granules, mixed with warm water. It exfoliates the hair, removing the demarcation and build-up of tone, without sacrificing the condition of the hair. The detox mixture was left to develop until Craig saw the desired depth turn into an orange/gold undertone.
After shampooing, with Wella SP Repair Shampoo, Craig followed on, using Wella Blondor Care & Seal, which brings hair back to a neutral PH level. This is to ensure even colour and to stop the oxidization of the product. My hair was then dried, ready to be coloured.
For the root application , and using Wella Koleston Perfect, Craig applied 40gms of…. no, I just can’t reveal the formula. (It would be like giving away the formula for Coca Cola)! But I can say that he used a diluted version on the mid-lengths and ends, taking out the base colour, to ensure that the colour was even from root to tip.
After shampooing again, Craig used Colour Save Emulsion SP from Wella, which enhances shine and prolongs colour. As someone who has allergic reactions to colour saving shampoo and conditioners, I can testify that these products gave me no adverse reaction at all – and they made my hair really shine.
Craig then introduced me to Aude Bouziouane – Stylist at HOB Salons Camden, a delightful Parisian girl, and using volume enhancing, Sebastian Mousse Forte – voila!
I was coloured, coiffed and absolutely thrilled.
Do you want to try? (I would certainly recommend it).
On Mondays, you could save 50% off colour with every full price Cut & Finish at any HOB salon. See here for all the Ts & Cs.
Go on – change your hair colour for a new you in 2015!
A huge thank you to Gabi for organising, Craig for colouring and Aude for styling. What a team!
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Comment
Wow! You look wonderful! Every woman should have access to a Craig! =)