Party season is upon us, and unless you’re blessed with incredibly obedient hair, blow-dries will become your new best friend. Central heating, wet, rainy weather, roaring winds, cold frosty mornings and rolling around in bed not wanting to get up all take their toll on frizzy winter hair.
1st Place: Habsburg & Bourbon
Seconds from Fulham Broadway station, this incredibly cute, brand-spanking-new blow-bar is tucked away in Farm Place, the décor is super-girly without being saccharine, the staff lovely as they come, and the results A*.
I’m gonna come out and say it, I’m a ‘difficult’ hair client, I request no shampoo, just conditioner, and usually irritate my stylist further by quietly suggesting that they don’t drag a brush through it while still wet. Normally this is met with a steely glare, and an I-know-what-I’m-doing-better-than-you attitude, but for the first time ever my stylist met my requests with a cheery great-idea attitude, didn’t damage my crazy-fragile hair, and had me out of the salon with the perkiest, sleekest waves in a flat 20 minutes. She didn’t rush, or use a scalding hot dryer, she just knew exactly what she was doing, focused, and did an incredible job, all while being charming and unobtrusive.
If all their stylists are this good Habsburg & Bourbon is set to be the hottest blow-dry bar in town—watch this space!
Habsburg & Bourbon, Farm Lane, London Fulham SW6 1PU
2nd Place: Blush and Blow
A Parsons Green institution, Blush & Blow is a safe pair of hands. Perfectly situated opposite the best deli in Parsons Green, and filled to the brim with impeccably-groomed ladies-who-lunch, this place knows what it’s doing. A tried and tested formula for success.
Small enough to be considered boutique, it has the professional efficiency of a much larger operation. The finish is supremely comfortable yet minimalist. Chic, and brilliantly tonal. Think aubergines and greys with a hint of neon pistachio branding.
Luckily form doesn’t flout function—I was in and out in 40 minutes and left with absolutely angelic ringlets.
Blush + Blow, 197 New King’s Road, London SW6 4SR: 020 7736 0430
Honourable Mention: Blade
Blade is not glam in a west London sense, and I don’t think they want to be. This is old-school Soho—stroppy stylists who don’t seem to like you but do a great job. The lighting is horrible, the shared iPad earphones disgusting, but the trim and blow-dry fantastic.
With a (chargeable) cocktail menu and Netflix at your chair, Blade is a small but efficient operation. More central than sensual, this isn’t a spa, it’s a quick in-and-out set-up that does exactly what it says on the tin. One of the best blow-dries I’ve had, in a no-frills Soho dive, in the very best sense of the term.