The Ethical Hedonist Guide to Beautiful Hair By Alison Jane Reid Welcome to The Exciting First Chapter of The Ethical Hedonist Guide To Beautiful Hair. Some girls like manicures. Others are enthral to the sin qua non of a perfect maquillage or a sublime new shade of red lipstick. Not me. Now if you were to mention a maestro of hair or tell me that Karl Lagerfeld sent haughty beauties down the runway for winter 2012 with loose, undone buns; then my heart would begin to sigh and flutter with interest. I’m sure you all want to know that ponytails, loose Victoriana chignons and sleek hair are all high on the style firmament for late summer into winter! I’ve always been mad about my hair, ever since my mother used to spend school nights washing my hair and patiently winding strips of old cotton sheets into rag ribbons to produce glorious, shining, Little Women ringlets the next morning. I was lost in the wonder of such thrifty transformation. For late summer and winter allure – hair is all about soft, period chignons and delicate ornamentation. This is nothing new. In ancient Greece women scraped their long hair back into a chignon and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning their hair with fresh flowers. So welcome to the first Ethical Hedonist Hair Guide To Beautiful Hair, super- naturally - this is my love letter to a lifetime of messing around with my hair, all the great hairdressers I’ve met along the way, and all the lotions, gels and aromatic styling potions waiting to be discovered, and what they can do for you. I’m going to open my little green book and share my verdant green and organic hair secrets with you. So what’s so special about a great stylist or having your hair coloured? – Why, if you need to ask, you haven’t found him or her yet. Let me spell it out for you - a great hairstylist offers the possibility of new, shinier more confident version of you - and a great way to loose a decade. If you don’t have the money for a swish salon visit, you can achieve great results at home too. Take a look at my features on Daniel Galvin Junior – The King of Colour and Arash at Karine Jackson; both are extraordinary hair artists who spend their days making ordinary women look extraordinary. What I found fascinating and inspiring when I was writing this guide, is that hairdressing is becoming greener and kinder to people and the fragile, rather over crowded planet we live on. After decades of using a plethora of seriously unpleasant and irritating chemicals from ammonia to SLES, perming solutions and parabens, hairdressers are throwing out the old model over concern for their own health and that of their customers. In doing so, they are discovering that it is possible to achieve brilliant, if not more beautiful, exciting, long lasting results with gentle organic colour and styling serums, gels and sprays that are made with nature’s most fecund plant extracts and dynamic oils to nourish, restore and replenish the hair. It is also worth pointing out that the big hair companies spend most of their money on advertising, hype and celebrity endorsement and not so much on the ingredients that go into their products. The organic and natural model works on a very different principle. With the authentic natural and organic hair companies the mantra is people and the environment first. That means: quality, ingredients, ethics and formulations that nurture the body and the mind, and don’t cause irritation or strip the skin of its protective mantle. Small green companies don’t have the budgets for advertising and rely on happy customers and people power. In the Renaissance aristocratic women of fashion didn’t just pluck their eyebrows, they plucked their entire hairline to create a fashionable high forehead – ouch! Do your homework, and choose ethical hair companies that are transparent and have certification for their organic ingredients and are entirely honest and transparent about their ethos and products. Companies like: Herb UK, Weleda, Faith in Nature, John Masters, Daniel Galvin Junior, Willow and Louise Galvin. You will be rewarded with colour, shampoos and styling gels of good quality, with a plethora of amazing, synergistic herbs, flowers and plants, all working in harmony to help you or your hairdresser to create sublime, tumbling, healthy locks that would delight Rapunzel! Then bask in the difference and the gorgeous aromas, and above all enjoy the transformation! The Future of Hairdressing is Organic & Supernaturally Gorgeous Meet Herb UK and Organic Colour Systems I’ve been passionate about sourcing organic and local food, recycling and doing my bit for the environment since I was nineteen, but it took a hair disaster before I realised that my hair routine didn’t quite match my organic and green ideals. My love affair with colouring my hair ended the day I experienced a very nasty allergic reaction to a well-known brand of hair dye, and landed up with a painful, red patch of irritation on my forehead which would take months to heal. I went looking for a gentle, organic alternative and I was surprised to find what I was looking for in my local farm shop, Godshill Organics on the Isle of Wight. Mamma Mia star Rachel McDowall is an inspirational eco princess- she tends her own organic veg patch and loves the effect of semi-transparent organic colour - which adds shine and subtle highlights to her molten blonde locks. Fashion credits; photography Miri Zaruba ; clothes by Beautiful Soul; Tammam Atelier; Sanyukta Shrestha; Location The Cinema Museum SE1; Hair by Karine Jackson using OCS www.organiccoloursystems.com Herb UK, was founded by a professional hairdresser after years of routine exposure to chemicals in his hair salon, which had begun to seriously affect his health, he decided to team up with a chemist and medical herbalist and see if it was possible to come up with a haircare and colouring system that was kinder to people and the planet. Together, they would become green alchemists to discover a gentler, more holistic way to colour and care for hair in the name of making women look beautiful, naturally. Today, Herb UK is a British manufacturing success story. Their vibrant colouring kits, extraordinary shampoos and masques are exported to forty countries around the globe, and as a Contributing Fashion Editor to The Lady, I have used their Shine Spray, enriched with marigold and green tea extract on actors such as Katie McGrath and Colin Morgan, the green icon who stars in Merlin. The company are trailblazing visionaries and experts when it comes to creating rich, vibrant organic colour, shampoos and styling aids harnessing the incredible, super natural properties of herbs, plants and flowers to condition and care for hair, and yet be effective enough to cover grey. The difference and benefits are instant. Hair doesn’t have that brassy, rather obvious, coloured appearance and course texture, and the wonderful ingredients taken from nature’s pharmacopeia will leave your hair lustrously soft and in incredible condition. They also smell like fruit salad! More importantly, the risk of irritation is minimal, as Herb UK use the lowest percentage of ppd, the pigment used in all permanent hair colour, which can lead to an allergic reaction or scalp sensitivity. I will also let you into a secret. The state of the art factory in Chichester, on the South Coast is super environmentally friendly, just about everything is recycled and the factory is run by a rather gorgeous man called Mark Darcy! To lighten hair in the 15th Century – bleach was made from onion skins and precious saffron Being an Ethical Hedonist! - I love the fact that while I receive many compliments for the colour and condition of my lustrous, strawberry blonde hair, no one ever asks who my hair colourist is! Sorry Herb, but that is my clever, best kept secret. I go to top hairdresser Karine Jackson in London; her friendly, tucked away salon is located just minutes away from the heart of Theatreland, just a minute from the A-listers favourite, eternal London hangout, The Ivy. Karine is a huge fan of Herb UK’s Organic Colour Systems Range, which is the brand’s state of the art colour system for professional hairdressers. In between trips to the salon, I do my own hair with their consumer range, Tints of Nature, which is very easy to use at home. Though if you have long hair, you might want to ask your best friend to help you with those trickier, hard to reach bits. Hero Product Gloss Spray – For Celluloid Goddess Locks Wow! It was love at first spritz when Arash, my favourite stylist at Karine Jackson finished another alluring bedhead blow try with a few pumps of this miraculous styling wizard from Herb UK and Organic Control Systems. The gloss spray contains calendula oil for a mirror shine so dazzling that I recommend it to all my actress pals for a greener way to walk the red carpet. To say I am an addict would be an understatement; it is my hero hair product of all time. It does what it says on the tin, only better than anyone else. Gloss Spray - £12.95, Organic Control Systems Stellar Hair Buzz…… Actress and model Rachel McDowall (pictured) says, “It’s my new, favourite product. It gives hair an instant, glossy shine, finishes any style beautifully, and is worthy of any green carpet challenge. I carry it around in my handbag for castings too, for instant glamour and allure. I’ve told all my girlfriends about it!” You might also like For sensual, soft summer waves without stickiness, I take a ten pence size slick of Glaze, run it through towel- dried damp hair, comb through, and then I plait my hair in two pigtails, fasten, and then leave to dry naturally over night. In the morning I take out the plats, run my fingers gently through the hair to reveal a shimmering, thoroughly modern Guinevere without frizz! Simple. How the well- tressed Icon dresses for court. We love Tulisa’s soft, molten, celluloid waves for her cool, articulate court appearance. Very reminiscent of Hollywood dream gal, Lauren Bacall, in the film The Big Sleep. Karine Jackson Talks Tips, Icons and Trends with Alison Jane Karine Jackson, Leading Organic Hairdresser, and the Queen of Blonde Talks Icons, Trends and Insider Tips for Lustrous Locks! 1. What is hair made of? It’s a fibre that grows from a follicle - there are 3 main parts to hair, the cuticle, Cortex and the medulla which is not present in all hair. 2. How often should you wash hair, without stripping oils for the hair or scalp? Everyone is different and it also depends on where you live. City dwellers are recommended to wash their hair every 2 days as the pollutants will build up on the hair and this will dull, dry and damage hair. It is best to use a shampoo and conditioner to replenish moisture as you cleanse. 3. Any natural, home remedy tips for shining, lustrous hair? After washing your hair give it a really cold rinse. Add Olive oil on the mid- lengths and ends a few hours before washing your hair for a natural conditioner. 4. What are the key hair trends for late summer/AW 2012 , Big full fringes quiffs and heavily back combed hair: we are moving on from the pretty blow-dry 5.Who is your favourite female icon with great hair!? Keira Knightley. She has a natural beauty, changes her hair regularly, giving her a constant fresh look, and she also plays with her colour but goes for shades that suit her, steering away from fashion errors or becoming a fashion victim, but always staying in fashion. 6. Which historical figure to you admire for their hair and sense of style? Nefertiti - she was known to perm her hair using twigs and coating the hair she wound around the twigs with heavily alkaline mud, she wore amazing clothes that made a truly huge statement: beautiful fabrics and with jewellery to match, her influence on hair and fashion trends are still interpreted in today’s fashion she really had it all going on and naturally too! Karine Jackson, Colour Specialist and The Queen Of Blonde Shares Her Step By Step Tips On How To Go From Dark To Killer Blonde Going from dark to blonde is always going to be difficult on your hair. If your hair is already coloured you will need to do a complete colour change, and this will entail stripping the colour from the hair as tint will not lighten tint. It might be easier to lighten up in stages, so start with some highlights. This also gives you a chance to get used to being lighter. Use a gentle colour that contains organic ingredients where possible and contains no ammonia. I recommend Organic Colour Systems – it uses heat to open the hair’s cuticles to absorb the colour instead of ammonia so is much less drying. Generally speaking, going lighter is more damaging than going darker, so you need to give your hair lots of replenishing treatments. Hair either lacks moisture, protein, or a mixture of both. To test the condition of your hair, you can do the “stretch test”. Take about 10 strands of hair and spray with water, hold the hair firmly between both hands and gently pull the hair away from the head, healthy hair should stretch about 30% of its length and then return like an elastic band showing no signs of damage. Hair that stretches and returns is healthy, hair that stretches and does not return to its previous length is weak in protein, hair that doesn’t stretch is low in moisture. Make sure a full blonde change is practical to upkeep. If you have an all over blonde, your roots will need doing every 4 weeks or so – have you got the time and money to do this? If not, go for highlights that are more broken up at the scalp – regrowth is disguised for longer. Blonde hair needs to be cared for properly or it’ll go brassy. Wash once a week with a special blondes shampoo, such as Organic Care Systems Silver Shampoo. Look out for shampoos that are tinged blue or purple – these are best for counteracting any yellowing. Where To Find An Organic Salon Near You London/South East Karine Jackson 24 LITCHFIELD ST LONDON Competition – Win a Divine Organic Hair WC2H 9NU Makeover! 020 7836 0300 www.karinejackson.co.uk Leading hairdresser Karine Jackson offers the best blow dry in town (and it's organic),plus sublime hair colour using OCS Organic Colour Systems to a starry clientele including - actresses - Shelley Conn and Rachel McDowall. It is also the editor's favourite salon for a big hair blow dry! Karine Jackson, London’s stellar organic salon in Covent Star Stylist – Arash Garden is offering one lucky Ethical Hedonist reader the chance to win a transformative colour, cut and blow dry with Arash, using Organic Colour Systems Styling products Top Secret worth more than £100. There is no cash alternative, and the editor’s decision is final. The Finest Big Hair Blow Dry in London - To enter please answer the following questions – Don’t Panic, it’s Organic Too! Arash at 1. Where does the editor, Alison Jane go for a Green Karine Jackson, Covent Garden, London Carpet big hair blow dry, and what is the name of her favourite stylist? 2. I am going to share one of my biggest In no more than 40 words –please tell us how an organic secrets with you - my amazing hair makeover at Karine Jackson would make a difference hairdresser. Arash at Karine Jackson is the to you and your life. Good luck! – The winner will be announced in August. most important man in my life, after the [email protected] man I come home too. Although he thinks Closing date September 30th 2012 he comes a poor second. The truth is my hair is very important to me. I interview icons for a living, love beauty and aesthetics and my hair is everything. I have beautiful hair, and Arash is the reason. I adore him because he is simply the best stylist in all London for a goddess, Rita Hayworth Blow Dry - the John Galliano of the hair world, a professor of hair who truly appreciates and understands women. His speciality? – Big, gloriously decadent, slightly naughty, boudoir hair with movement, luscious, natural curls and with that all-important ten out of ten, swishability factor! Arash goes to work with such precision, artistry and patience, taking time to carefully dry and curl each section of hair – creating a blow dry with staying power that won’t flop the moment you leave the salon. He says – ‘I learnt to blow dry hair with two classical hair stylists. They taught me that you can never rush a great result. The key is to section the hair and use the spiral brushes to build body and curl and volume into the hair. The right professional organic products for the job are important too. For big hair I use OCS’s Volumising Mousse and the amazing Shine Spray for a lustrous, celluloid goddess finish.’ Bardoesque, swishy, siren curls and waves- and once again I am ready to go out and face the world. I swear fabulous hair is almost better than sublime sex! It also beats a week in a health spa, meditating every day or talking to a therapist. Looking good will make you feel good, and switching off for an hour, with gentle heat on your hair is wonderfully calming and therapeutic. Top Tip But we warned, not all hair stylists are equal or as amazing as Arash. There is nothing worse than paying for a blow dry that doesn’t last. Avoid the stylist who only books you in for a speedy half hour appointment if you have long hair, and says they will use irons on your hair. Irons are seriously bad for the condition of your hair. They should be used sparingly. Lazy and bad hairdressers are only too happy to coax clients into having their hair ironed to speed up appointments and make more money. My Best Hair Anti-Ageing Tip Once you hit 30, there are far too many hairdressers who will make you look forty. Go for the youngest, friendliest and most creative stylist in the salon. They will give you more time. At 17, they have no idea how old you are, and they are not jaded. They love to be creative, and will listen to you and give you a style, which is youthful and pretty, and if you are really lucky, will make you look ten years younger. To book a Red Carpet blow dry or colour consultation and treatment using Organic Colour Systems Products - Call Karine Jackson, 24, Lichfield St, Covent Garden, WC2 Tel – 0207 836 0300 Website www.karinejackson.co.uk Daniel Galvin Junior Knightsbridge – Best for High Octane Colour Artistry –The Matisse of Hair “I don’t make my clients beautiful; I show them that they already are – Daniel Galvin Junior Have you noticed how elusive perfection can be? Did you think that organic hairdressing is going to be all hair shirt and no fun? Let me tell you that the world has turned. Organic, sustainable and ethical is the future of luxury. I spent a tranquil, blissful, life- changing afternoon at Daniel Galvin Junior’s serenely alluring colour salon in high octane Knightsbridge. There are hair salons and then there is DGJ. Who do you think looks after the swishy, waterfall locks of modern goddesses, Holly Valance and Kelly Brook? If you are a discerning A-lister, and you want head–turning hair, and to arrive there using nature’s supernatural helpers, this is where you go. Daniel, an organic colour alchemist who formulates the Duchy range for The Prince of Wales says – ‘ you apply makeup to the face, so why not hair too?’ During an exciting, twenty-five year career at the top in hair, Daniel has perfected a colour technique that he describes as ‘cosmetics for hair’. Slivers of hair are carefully selected, and then painted with an array of high and lowlights using semi permanent washes and vegetable colours formulated by Daniel. Together, they illuminate the face and bring movement and light to dull, one- dimensional looking hair. What an amazing anti-ageing device! The result is stunningly natural. Hair appears lit from within, and has a wonderful sense of movement and is designed to complement the skin and eye tones of the wearer. Genius! Within a minute of skipping out of the salon, and feeling an irresistible urge to swing my hair like a prize pony – I received my first wolf whistle! Best Treatment – The Hair Detox- Anti-ageing Shampoos, Conditioners and Treatments As we age, alas so does our hair. Hair can become brittle, dull and frizzy and harder to manage. I was interested to find out if supplements and shampoos with special moisturizing agents can put back what stress and life takes out?