The Blurb
‘London’s leader in natural hair colour. Safe, vibrant colour that’s completely customisable, in tones created just for you. We exclusively use Aveda Hair Colour because it is the most advanced natural hair colour in the industry.
Aveda colour is:
- Long-lasting, conditioning
- Vibrant colour with shine
- Essentially damage-free
- Ammonia-free options
- Up to 96% naturally derived*
- *From plants, non-petroleum minerals or water.
Our award-winning colour professionals start with a consultation to identify the perfect plan to meet your needs. You may agree on anything from highlights and subtle enhancements, all-over tones to cover greys, or ahead-of-the-trends techniques just surfacing on the runways. There’s no rules, and no limits—whatever you can imagine, we can create.’
The Process
My hair (and much else besides) was starting to go full cavewoman when I was offered the Gina Conway at Aveda review – my first salon experience since before lockdown. God was the offer welcome. Since regretting a Lady Di cut when I was fourteen, I have stubbornly (possibly stupidly) held on to my long, thick, unmanageable mop; sensible short hair is not for me. I’m naturally brunette but since grey has not so much crept in as invaded with panzer tanks, a semi-blonde thing has been more flattering and easier to maintain than harsh brown dye with obvious roots.
Well, there’s easy to maintain and easy to maintain. Have I mentioned lockdown? I’m allergic to home dyes – really nasty reaction, even to the semi-permanents: full-on blistering, weeping, itchy scalp and stinging eyes, simply not worth it. So, pre-Neanderthal it was. And always up in some kind of ponytail or messy bun (which kind of defeats the purpose of hanging on to your ‘youthful’ locks in the first place).
After having my temperature taken with one of those weird zapping devices that go nowhere near tongue or armpit, I’m allowed entrance. I like what I see. The salon is large, airy and full of light, with the requisite two metres between customers; staff all wear proper PPE visors (apparently uncomfortably hot). It’s a bit weird, but huge kudos for getting back to some sort of functionality.
Gina Conway herself is doing my colour. She is a delight, originally from Lake Tahoe, chatty, friendly, professional, absolutely brilliant at what she does. She runs her fingers through my yellow/grey tangles with difficulty and diplomatically suggests a neutral (neither warm nor cool) beige blond overall tint to suit my skin tone, with lighter highlights around my face to ‘lift’ the whole look. I concur enthusiastically, starting to fall in love with her a little.
The tint and foils are applied, I’m offered a choice of herbal teas (staff apologise that I have to make the tea myself, but it’s one of the new, seemingly arbitrary rules). I tell them there’s no need to apologise and relax with my iPad.
The Results
Once the dyes have been washed off (a separate area downstairs, with plastic screens between the basins), I am re-introduced to Elanor, who is to do my cut and blow-dry. She is Irish and another delight (I’m starting to suspect that delightfulness is a prerequisite of employment here, up there with being very, very good at your job).
She absolutely gets what I’m after – sort of long fringe, slightly messy, sixties vibe – and when Gina comes over to check out the transformation, post-blow-dry, and says, ‘Wow, great job, Elanor, so Bardot’, I love them both just that little bit more.
The colour is perfect, really flattering (which can be difficult when a brunette goes blondish), the cut ditto. Also, Elanor gave me some really good tips about making it look nice when down without having to blow dry anything except my fringe – fantastic as I really am much too lazy and easily bored for that time-consuming malarkey.
All in all, this was a brilliant experience, with great results. Many thanks to all involved, and I hope Gina Conway at Aveda continues to thrive in this strange new word. I couldn’t recommend it more.
