There’s something fabulous about this – or is it just me that thinks so?!

Images taken from the German Hairdressing Awards

http://www.ichwerdeeinberliner.com/
I find it incredibly interesting how there is a site that helps you to blend into Germany using your hair! Does that really mean that if I came here as a working stylist with a tousled beachy bob I would not gain respect? Actually, I think I would change my image to work here. In the words of Jerry Devout, “You’ve got to fake it to make it!”

You know those confused, dark-haired girls who look, to the uninformed observer, like they have had a rather unfortunate encounter with a similarly confused, and possibly drunk hairdresser? Why is their hair longer at the front than the back? Why has it been shaved on the left side but left shoulder-length on the right side? What’s with all this asymmetry? And more to the point, did she actually pay for this?
Not so fast, Auslander! What you might think is the result of being dragged through a hedge backwards by Edward Scissorhands is actually a post-modern deconstruction of the very concept of a haircut – a statement so radical that it shakes the very foundations of human grooming. It’s Existentialism in a haircut. Also it’s €10 a snip. This might be 10 too much for what is essentially an accident, and clients might be tempted to do it themselves at home. Just make sure that they use the Existentialist scissors (like Occam’s razor, but without the logic bit), or failing that, some seriously ironic clippers.

taken from http://www.ichwerdeeinberliner.com/

So here I am in Germany for a week of work with a music artist. What have I noticed?

I am intrigued by the space and design here in Hamburg – the amazing buildings and architectural style. And, equally, by the lack of floaty, beachy-soft hair that I am so used to looking at back home in East London.
Sitting in my hotel room I have decided to investigate blogs on German hairstyling, and have taken this piece from a blog that describes post-modern hair:

The older women (50-plus) have the strongest of short looks. It must be all about the cut and less of the blo-dry.

 taken from http://www.ichwerdeeinberliner.com/

But in the last week I have seen haircuts that have made me do a double take; these women look strong and have an untouchable glamour

Are we influenced so much by the architecture around us? Hamburg feels a million miles away from London in terms of design, and just as far from the hair trends that I quote on regularly.

“Bouncy, blown-out Charlie girl hair.” Sarah Mower
A look ahead to autumn /winter, and here is the Chloe Blo.
This hair by Guido is polished and beautiful. It is the kind of blo that makes girls walk taller. It is so light, the hair bounces as you walk and the ends maintain their curl.
This is Seventies American hair at its best – expensive and alluring.

I heard about these scissors from Ben Cooke, who is Leona Lewis’s hairstylist. He is the Super Cutter, the man behind Victoria Beckham’s Pob haircut and many a celebrity style.
So if Ben says he loves something, I sit up and take note.
Ben has the skull versions of the Glamtechs. I love the weight of them and always prefer a longer blade in scissors. I’ve ended up with a few different pairs that I use to texture and blend – especially because I am a “soft slice” kinda girl.
Ever noticed how passionate hairdressers are about their blades?
Well, I’ve had a pair of Kasho Millennium for five years that I think are incredible. They cost as much as a Marc Jacobs handbag (£800) but I love them just as much too!
I love the price of Glamtech scissors. They’re affordable, £99 – £150, but also really good quality. I think of them as my diffusion-line handbag!

I find it really difficult to find good hairpins and hairgrips in England – my kit mainly consists of stuff bought in Paris as I can find strong hairpins there. But this website specialises in equipment for wigs and has great hairpins! I like the matt ones (especially in blonde) as I do a lot of TV and video work and these remain hidden in the hair. Also they are strong, so I do not have to use too many.
I know salons often struggle to find good Kirby grips, so this website will help solve a whole lot of issues!

If you cant see the video above, please click here

One of my friends is a super-stylish lady. Even on a hair-up day she looks so groomed and cool. She braids her hair on the scalp, to the side and all the way to the nape of her neck then twists up the back in an un-done chignon. It’s all held in place by randomly inserted Kirby grips. She uses hairspray first to give her hair grip and it shines her hair too.
I found this on YouTube to show how to do this braid. I suggest you take the idea and make it your own .
My influence is Jodie Harrison. She works in fashion styling and beauty and teams this look with a French voque meets london chic style.

Last night at the P&G awards, a beauty editor mentioned that I was the “queen of the tousled hair look”. I hadn’t really thought about it before too much, although many a client has booked me for that kinda-surfy-mussed-up-undone glamour thing that I have always loved. And when I talk to my agent, she seems to call anything textured in this way “Zoe hair”.
Well, maybe because I was at an award ceremony,  where the handsome Rick Edwards was giving out the prestigious beauty awards, I let my mind wander and imagined my acceptance speech for The Beachy Look of the Year Award.
It would have to start like this:
“I would like to thank my BaByliss PRO wand. Without it, none of this would be possible…”
The wand was launched several years ago and I now have 12 of them in three different sizes (it’s because I am a Virgo and tend to fret about losing things).  But I’m always so enraptured about how easy it is to style your hair well with them, I tend to give them away to my clients so that they can enjoy happy-hair days in the future!
I use a styling product first that is designed for use with heat tools, as this makes the wand work extra-fast and the hair holds the wave better. I wind the hair usually from the ear down around the wand and I always do one forward and one back.
Recently I am brushing a Mason Pearson through the ends for a “groomed tong” look (very this season).
I use two different sizes of wand if I want more curl but I mainly use the largest one.
You can buy them now from Amazon but I have always insisted that every salon I worked at sold them too, as I am a huge believer in salon styling lessons.
I cannot imagine my hair life without my BaByliss wand. Sad but true x

If you can’t see the video above, please click here

I recently had a girls’ night out with eight women. As you might expect, much of the fun was had giggling and telling stories in a hotel suite while styling our hair and applying make-up. One of the girls turned up with a side braid. She had been to four hair salons that day and not a single one had been able to style her hair in a fishtail braid. This made me slightly cross and also a little bewildered. After a blow-dry appointment in the final salon, she left with a simple braid that was not at all like the Miu Miu picture or the Fearne Cotton reference that she had taken in to show the stylist.
Undeterred, my friend had gone home and looked up “French braiding” on You Tube. She ended up doing the look herself.
With the side braid being one of this summer’s hottest trends I have decided to post this video I found on You Tube (I tried to shoot one myself in my bathroom, but it was too comical to watch).
I would prep the hair with a mousse and thickening spray (I love Frederick Fekkai Volume and Sebastian Thicken -up). Then, after the braid is complete, pull it out to give it a “rolling in the heather” looseness about it.
A hairdresser who can’t fishtail braid? Tut, tut!  That’s like an Italian chef who can’t make pasta!

Red, red hair… Ellen Burney is my colour muse. I may have the hunch, but she makes it real – she’s like a style endorsor for me. We have a colour relationship that has fluttered along with many a shade romance. We have happily been everything from a soft blonde to a bleachy mussed-up, and all the way through to a Gothy matt-brown. Most of our looks have been written up and documented for Elle and her blog http://vagabondiana.blogspot.com/.

Recently, we have been playing with tones of orange and red. We swoon over images from Lula magazine www.lulamag.com/, where she is now contributing editor, and from a zillion fashion images – but mostly of Karen Elson. 
So for me, living as I do in a half hair world (advising stylists what trends they should embrace) and half fashion beauty world, deciding on which shade of red hair colour is a bit like choosing a red lipstick. There are so many tones! There are so many methods!

My final choice for Ellen is a blend of colours: a permanent colour with a vegetable glaze. After the permanent (I’m happily floating through Wella Professional’s Koleston range), I mix up a vegetable tone – Ellen and I are using different tone on tones over the top when she feels like changing hues. I’m leaving her with a bag of vegetable colours so she can just be who she feels…
Maybe these are broken colour rules but it’s working for us. After all, doesn’t a woman have many different personalities? I am sure she has many a different red inside her, too!
 Anyway, if I were at a salon I would be making up a red fashion board right now! Using beautiful images of redheads! Ellen NEVER gets it wrong!

So I am halfway through my “practise what you preach” month. I am applying to myself every piece of advice I give unto others. This includes – in a big way – hair condition.
Superbly conditioned hair is the holy grail. If your hair is dry and damaged, your colour will fade, and you will suffer from frizz and flyaway and many an early-morning style dilemma.
I am a hair product whore. I walk around with half my head covered in one product, and the other half in a different product – testing, testing.
This month I have applied no less than 15 conditioning products – so far. I quiz my clients on what they’re using and watch how their hair changes texture as they go along.
I am having a very happy love affair with Wella Professionals’ SP Repair and Hydrate Mask, which I mix with their Infusions range. It was easy to use and I could play with the Infusions to customise them to my hair type. I have been carrying them around in my kit, mixing them up like some hair witch doctor for each client.
I think the Infusions are fabulous and have had some amazing results. I send them for the models to use a few days before a hair shoot – the result is hair with an incredible natural shine.
And on a personal level, my beachy/messy/over-lightened locks are looking positively groomed!
Infusions have moved on from mere hair lust to major “It’s a keeper” thing .

So the celebration of hair roots is far from ending, and how happy am I? I spotted some pictures of Sienna Miller last week and if I am not mistaken, she has had her roots toned down to give her that grown-out rooty colour. I think it’s way more edgy than her normal beautiful nude/ beige lights (equally cute, I just love this more right now).
A year ago, when I was at Hari’s, I launched a colour menu featuring fashion techniques, and one of those was called “Cobaine chic” – it was featured in Vogue in October. I know the Hershesons also have a rooty technique that is loved by many.
My main inspiration at the time was from a 1996 shoot by Juergen Teller of one of my all-time favourite models, Annie Morton.
My other inspiration was of course the legendary Kurt Cobain. To me, the root god. As I was launching the look for a tres chic salon in Chelsea, I called it Cobain Chic (not wishing the name to put off the clients!).
Anyway, I spent the afternoon with Jemima French of Frost French fame, and I coloured her hair with this technique. I back-comb the sections and use three shades of colour in each meche, going from a light blonde tint to a super lightener. I then wash it through with an ashy tone. It suits Jemima’s strong bob and great clothes.
Cobain Chic is a trend that’s here for a least another season, and I think it’s a great way to give a modern edge to a client’s look.

Last night I watched this film, directed by Mika Ninagawa, a famous Japanese photographer who works in fashion and advertising and who is known for her incredible, bright images.
It blew me away with the sets and the costumes – wondrous.
Here are some of the stills and a little of Mika’s work

How beautiful is this hair? It’s taken from a shoot in Harpers Bazaar. Great style. So many women would love to leave the salon with this very do. It has just the right amount of wave with exactly the right amount of sheen. It’s the glaze on top that modernises it. Classic meets modern.
Luuuuurrrrrrvvvve!

I found this on my favourite blog of the week with other beautiful hair pics. I love this and thought you might too…

I’m often asked about celebrities – actresses, presenters, models and pop stars. Friends will ask, often while flicking through magazines or perhaps at a dinner party, “How do they look so good?” or, “Do they really look like that?”.
In the interest of finding out just what it is that gives that “wow” factor, I challenge you to live for a week like you are a celebrity. With the paps on your tail, waiting outside your home to get a photo of you on your way to the corner shop or when you go to a restaurant. I put it to you that based on this fact alone, your outfit choice would change. If you had Heat magazine quoting on your look, threatening to put you in the “ring of shame” or maybe rate your hairstyle or even feature you in “Who wore it best?”, would you really wear that dress you weren’t too sure about but threw on anyway? (Or is that just me?)
Beauty-wise and hair-wise, living like a celeb can do wonders for your look. As a hairstylist, to give advice on these very lines will mean you are giving a better service.
I decided to live a month like this. I am calling it “practise what you preach”. I am following every bit of advice and how-to quote that I give .

The women I meet who are in the public eye take so much care of themselves in every way. They are women who apply a hair mask three times a week and dry brush in the shower! Yes, they have people like me to help them get ready for a special occasion, but mostly they keep an amazing beauty regime.
After just one week my hair is super-soft! I am doing my final rinse with bottles of mineral water after applying a mask and after a night’s sleep with a treatment in my hair!
The thing that’s surprised me most is how much I have been amazed by the results! Of course we know these beauty regimes could work, but do we ever really keep them up?
As you swoon at Alexa’s glowing skin and wonder how models go from blonde to dark then back to blonde with shiny hair – remember this blog.
Now, I am no Alexa, but hopefully I will keep the Rehab Britney look safely at bay!

How I love this blog! I wanted to share it with you. Daily doses of things this lady loves. Images that make me smile on a windy London day .

This week I met Cecile Cassel. I must admit I was very excited. A true French starlet. She did not disappoint!
Cecile was attending the Love Ball and I styled her hair in an un-done super-shiny chignon. She was dressed in Louis Vuitton, in the coolest dress and jacket.
Cecile was really relaxed and played French songs from her iPod as we helped get her ready for the night ahead. She was laughing and joking and was one of the nicest actresses I have ever met. I over-sprayed her hair to make it Gothic shiny and pinned it up in a random manner. She made it all seem so effortless to be that beautiful and looked so pretty.
J’adore Cecille Cassel!

The week I lost my lashes.

Have you noticed how lash-obsessed we have become? Lash-obsessed and hair extension-obsessed? We just keep on adding hair… Of course, the lashes are nothing new. In the Sixties, girls put them on as readily as we apply lipgloss.
I was working with a make-up artist last week who informed me that girls used to put them on as they travelled to work on the bus. On the bus?! I’m lucky to get my concealer on right in the back of my Addison Lee car to work, what with all the speed bumps in the road!
With salons offering lash extensions that last up to four weeks, lashes are big beauty business, nowadays. It’s like we have upped the ante so much that a natural lash seems so, well, inadequate sometimes in the world of modern glamour.
Last week I sat in my local nail bar having a deep grey polish applied to my nails in readiness for a shoot the following day where my hands where being featured in a “backstage get- the-look” piece . They were advertising lash extensions, as are most beauty places, so I asked about them and they offered to pop a few on as I waited for my nails to dry under the ultra-violets.
Now, looking back, I should have been wary at this point as whenever my lashes have been done in the past it has taken at least an hour. I closed my eyes in readiness, and thought they would pop on a few in the corners.
Ten minutes later I knew I was in trouble. My eyes were stinging and I could feel glue all over the lids. I couldn’t really open them but squinting into the mirror I could see that I looked like a Priscilla Presley wannabe – gone very wrong. One hour after that I knew I was in big, big trouble. I shall spare you the details but this episode has led to me spending the night in A&E at my local hospital then going to visit an eye specialist and now, four days later, with no eye lashes bar a lonely bottom set. It will take six weeks or more for my lashes to grow back, and my eyes are so painful .
As I sat in A&E I felt vain and stupid. My boyfriend is from Argentina and has the thickest, longest lashes I have ever seen. I gaze longingly at them daily! (He thinks I am just extra-dreamy right now!)
The point to my sad lash tale?
As big as all these beauty trends are, and as quick as salons take them on in response to demand, training and professional care must come too. I’m all for lash-laws now! Check that beauty licence before you step forth!