The blurb
Vixen & Blush works with clients to create natural-looking hair extensions. They use specific techniques, developed over five years, to bring you the most sophisticated hair extensions available anywhere in the UK. They love transforming clients every day and so their salons are always filled with an air of excitement and fun. But don’t be fooled! They are serious about hair. Long live long hair!
The process
Tucked away behind Oxford Circus, halfway down Great Titchfield Street, Vixen & Blush is light, airy and charmingly retro. It might be the ceiling-height windows that give it a sort of 70s vibe, or perhaps the long mustard sofa or art deco tilted mirrors, nesting tables and chrome oval lampshades. The salon is small by general standards, with only four or five client chairs and a couple of wash stations, but—flooded with natural light—it feels spacious and bright.
I was having virgin Russian hair extensions with owner/director Sarah Mckenna. Sarah spent an inordinate amount of time and care blending several different tones to recreate the exact combination of colours in my hair, binding the hair together to be attached with micro-rings close to the root. Micro-rings avoid the need for heat application, and are easy to remove. There was no tightness or discomfort after the hair had been fitted—something I’m led to believe can often happen at inferior salons. Once a half-head of hair
was fitted Sarah whipped out the scissors to lightly taper my own hair to blend with the lengths.
The whole process took a couple of hours, or, in real terms, the time taken to catch up on important world affairs such as Katie Price’s love life and Basic Bitch/Easyjet-gate.
The result
My hair looked totally natural, just thicker, more luscious, and about two inches longer… I don’t think the colour match could have been better. Even though my own highlighted hair is multi-tonal, it was impossible to tell where my hair ended and the extensions began. I wanted to wait until my extensions had been removed to write this piece, as one of my primary concerns was damage to my hair (hard to assess with half a head of extensions still in). But, unbelievably, upon removal my natural hair was thick and healthy—there was literally no damage at all!
I was also worried I’d be left with an odd shape, as Sarah had skim-tapered my own hair to blend in with the extensions, but this didn’t show. If anything, my own hair had grown healthier, with less breakage than it would in a normal three-month period, perhaps due to the extensions taking the brunt of daily aggressors such as brushing or styling.
I really struggled with the instructions to shampoo hair daily and avoid conditioning the roots (torture for my crazy-dry and delicate hair). So, put simply, I didn’t comply. Unfortunately, this does mean the extensions are more likely to fall out before the three months is up, but it also means my own hair is less likely to break! Perhaps because I had to and did condition the roots, about 10-15 of the extensions fell out six weeks in, but the salon are happy to refit extensions if loads fall out before the three months are up and my hair looked pretty much perfect for the duration.
