The Ins and Outs of Summer Hair

I’ve heard on good authority that the dip-dye is out. It’s had its time. So what’s next for our hair? It’s summer (touch wood) so we want something easy to maintain that won’t fade as we languish in all that sun we keep being promised.

Slightly at a loss as to what to do with my subtle dip-dye to bring it up to date, I went along to see none other than Tina Farey, London Hairdresser of the Year, at The House of Rush in Piccadilly for some much needed advice. Slightly embarrassed about my mass of forlorn split ends (I have an aversion to haircuts) I’d gone for a sneaky trim the week before. You can’t go and see the London Hairdresser of the Year with hair like Russell Brand’s.

Anyway, along I went clutching a rather tattered picture ripped from a magazine of a blonde-brown messy hair-do that I rather liked. Tina reiterated how the precision of a dip-dye was a little overly ‘done’ for this summer and much better was a smattering of blond highlights in different colours in a casual, beachy manner. Always keen to look like one of the cast of 90210 (aiming high) this was music to my ears and as she foiled me up we chatted about her hairdressing career so far.

I was really interested to hear how all encompassing it is entering high-level hair styling competitions. You have to source the right models, the make up, the clothes. And just as important as the hair itself is selecting a photographer and deciding the way in which the styles are shot – the art direction. It’s like planning and executing an entire editorial shoot.

Looking at her winning collection, Tina’s styles are cut with great precision with sharp lines and tight curls in freeze frames with models averting their eyes from the camera. The colouring is beautiful with rich red-browns and blue-greys coloured in different gradients across smooth sheets of beautifully shaped hair. She told me was inspired by a very classic, elegant look, not too trend-led and cited French film Belle du Jour as a huge inspiration.

Anyway, back to my own (slightly less beautiful) hair. After removing the foils and a stint in an excellent massage chair, I was more than happy with my sprinkling of highlights, with roots kept natural to make it easy to grow out and mess around with. I’m quite non-committal with my hair and the last thing I want to be worrying about in summer is root re-growth. Yuck.

I’d advise all you dithering, not-quite-happy-with-my-hair folk out there to take the plunge. I’ve found that with a good range of colours in my hair it’s much more flattering to my skin tone and doesn’t need as much styling. A shake upside down and some dry shampoo and I’m ready to go. Plus, it still looks good up to three days after washing, which is something of a bonus. On second thoughts, maybe my Russell Brand comparison was pretty accurate?

Tina Farey styles at The House of Rush every Friday. The salon can be found at:

The House of Rush
200 Piccadilly
Piccadilly
W1J 9HU