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Monday 20 June 2011

Equus Twelve Week Blowdry

So, the last thing I invested in before my trip (tomorrow - squee!) was a Twelve Week Blowdry with Darren Eaton at EquusI'd originally headed in for a Brocato treatment, but, because my hair currently has bleached ends (I had an ombre recently, too!), we decided that the slightly gentler twelve week blowdry would suit my needs better.  It took two and a half hours, and involved two blowdrys and a thorough going over with the straightening irons.  That's a long time to sit still, but the results have been worth it.  Darren is a straightening genius, and is very patient with lightly hungover clients, to boot.

I'm very happy with it, there's nothing worse than having to deal with fuzzy hair on holiday, and I have to say that - outside of the Onix system that I trialled almost two years ago - the twelve week blowdry is the one that's left me with the smoothest, easiest to deal with results of any of the myriad keratin treatments I've had over the last while!  I have smooth hair with plenty of body, and I know it'll be easy to deal with whilst I'm away.  Well, it had better be, because I'm not taking either my hairdryer or my straighteners with me (dear Jack Howard, if you're reading this, please don't judge me)! The twelve week blowdry costs from £195 depending on hair length.

My hair is a bit delicate at the moment, and we all know that bleach, sun, salt and chlorine aren't ideal for coloured hair, so I'm going to be protecting it with Swimcap whilst I'm away.  No, not one of those, this:


Designed to protect your hair from the elements, I'll be dousing my bonce in this every opportunity I get.  I'll let you know how it holds up!


And there it is, the last of my holiday prep done, and I'm off in just a couple of hours.  But, Get Lippie has a whole host of guest bloggers lined up to treat you with over the two weeks whilst I'm sunning myself, from bloggers old and new, with some names you'll recognise, and some you won't, but they're all wonderful, so I hope you'll make them all feel very welcome.  Oh, and Mr Lippie makes his long awaited blogging return ...


See you in a fortnight!  Mine's a pina colada.

The Fine Print: Phillip Kingsley samples provided by PR - but I paid for my hair service at Equus.  Good hair is worth investing in.


This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
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Wednesday 12 January 2011

Balayage with Jack Howard at Equus


Jack Howard is a man on a mission.  Having conquered the hairdressing world of the US with his missionary zeal for Balayage, training (amongst others) the Frederick Fekkai salons, and becoming a senior portfolio artist for L'Oreal Professional along the way, he's now here in the UK and he's determined to spread the word.

Balayage is the art of painting the hair with light, creating a soft, sexy, sunkissed effect, without foils, and regimented stripes.  The stylist has to pay attention to how light falls on the hair, how the hair fall on the client, and how the colours will compliment the woman wearing the hair, and an art it decidedly is.  It's not - entirely - new to the UK (I myself had a similar treatment last summer at The Chapel in Islington), but the technique is something that Jack is very keen to bring to wider renown to hairdressing clients (and hairdressers!) around the country.



Knightsbridge isn't somewhere I'd normally associate with cutting edge hair techniques, to be honest, so I was initially surprised that Equus was Jack's new base in the UK. Situated a few minutes from Harrods, and catering to a clientele that ordinarily includes princesses, duchesses, baronesses, the odd dame and lots of names you'd recognise from the pages of Hello magazine - alongside a lot of celebrities - it actually makes an odd kind of sense.  Jack believes in soft, sexy, natural hair, and clients who are willing to invest in their hair aren't going to appreciate skunk-stripes and badger highlights, so balayage is perfect for clients who want to look natural, groomed and polished.

I popped along to Equus to see Jack, try out the technique for myelf and have a look at the newly revamped salon, and I have to say I was very impressed. The salon is an oasis of calm, and has what are probably the most flattering mirrors I've ever actually seen in a salon.  This is surprisingly important, I find. Hairdressing clients are exceptionally vulnerable, and seeing yourself in too harsh a light when you're covered in cling film and cotton wool isn't great - every wrinkle, zit and pore highlighted, who needs that? - but the lighting and mirrors in Equus are delightful, and a wonderful surprise!

In spite of his reputation and pedigree, Jack is delightfully down to earth and amusing to spend a few hours in the company of, it was great to hear that we share a lot of the same opinions on grooming (essentially that less is more, and glamour is better when it's polished rather than "in your face" and the like), I also found that he really paid attention to my hair, playing with it, deciding where to best paint the highlights for the most flattering effect, and he spent a lot of time explaining what he was doing as he went along too.

Whilst the mirrors are flattering, my iPhone hates me, mind, always wanted to know what I'd look like platinum blonde ...
Essentially, the dye (or dyes, we decided to go both darker and lighter in my case, me being brunette and all) is lightly applied near the roots and is applied slightly more heavily towards the ends to give a natural "sunkissed" effect, and is painted onto v-shaped sections of hair, but with this technique, the art is more in the placement, and it's that which is the major difference between balayage and regular highlighting with foils, as it enables a personalised look to suit any and all clients.

So, how did it turn out?  Rather excellently, as it happens, Jack's  light hand with the bleach has left me with shiny, expensive-looking hair, which glows with different shades as the light hits it, but, doesn't look anything but brunette from a distance, and Arturo gave me a fantastic blow-dry, which I was happy with for a couple of days after.  Here's the picture that best shows off the colour:


Gold and brown, and my own natural brunette. A rather "tortoiseshell" effect, I love it.  The technique isn't cheap (expensive-looking hair tends not to be, in my experience), but you can experience "face-framing" balayage from £75, and the technique goes up to £190 for a full-head of highlights.

If, however, you've read this far, and you're interested in meeting Jack for yourself, please drop an email to [address redacted] with your address details and I'll send you a gift voucher for 30% off balayage colouring with Jack, 50% off a cut and blow dry with the equally talented Arturo, alongside a complimentary keratin conditioning treatment AND a free Essie manicure.  How could you resist?  You can have a look at Jack's work on his website, but if you follow Jack on Twitter, he'll talk to you about the technique too, don't be shy!

EDITED TO ADD: This offer has now closed.  This blogpost was written in 2011.

The Fine Print: Get Lippie was a guest of the salon, but is expecting to go back, especially as it's practically on the doorstep ....
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