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Let’s talk hair. I’ve been every colour under the sun thanks to those good old teenage years of the Scene. If you know, you know – our poor hair! Despite this, my hair is in pretty good condition apart from a little breakage on one side which I’m convinced is down to the way I sleep. Right side of my head only, always.
Throughout the past 5 ish years I’ve kept it simple going between dark to blonde and back again with a few flirtations with grey and pink! I went back to brunette last September after our visit to Dubrovnik seeing so many girls with amazing dark hair and the reality was for me that I’m not naturally that dark, I was blonde before and all I bought myself was a one-way ticket to Fade Town! I liked it originally but I feel like I just love the blonde highlighted life, it’s how I feel like me these days.
But, if you’re a fellow blondie you’ll know that it’s tricky to maintain. We have roots and brassiness to deal with as well as breakage from the bleach. I wanted to go back to blonde but I needed a little help. Luckily the newest SAKS franchise near to us in Newark got in touch to see if I’d like to trial their brand new salon and I snapped up the chance.
Zoe, the amazing franchisee, has only just been able to open her salon on the gorgeous Castle Gate in Newark due to the pandemic and bless her I know it’s not how she envisioned her first few months. She’s been a stylist with SAKS for years and took the plunge to franchise her own business with the salon. She is honestly so friendly, she has that hairdresser vibe that just makes you feel like you’re besties instantly and I love that.
The salon itself is beautiful, just look at some of my Instagram stories when I popped in for a blow dry and my patch test for my colour – it’s interior design goals! Girly, modern and chic.
I had already gone slightly lighter from my faded brunette since lock down but I wasn’t loving my colour and I think I preferred to look a little bit more highlighted so I chatted to Zoe about the aim and said that I wanted to keep some of the natural roots I’d lovingly grown out in lockdown because I quite like a natural root with blonder ends and it makes you learn colour last a bit longer than highlights straight to the root – you don’t get a ‘grown out’ line.
We added in some face framing highlights and toned everything down and I am loving the end result. I couldn’t believe how little highlights we actually put in my hair. I didn’t even have a half head! Not even a quarter – Zoe was so precise with where she used the lightening and it’s honestly so clever how much she lifted my hair with about 10-12 foils.
SAKS use Kérastase products with their shampoos and treatments and have the amazing Fusio-Dose wall where you tackle your primary and secondary concerns in your hair. So, you could be blonde and dry, coloured and brassy, whatever – they’ll mix you a magic potion to sort it.
We treated my breakage with the amazing Resistance and Ciment ranges and Zoe took so much time to try and work out why the right side of my hair is a little thinner. I have some Kérastase products from the range to try to keep my hair healthy which smell amazing and I’ll be using religiously. I went for a shorter chop to help everything feel thicker too and it’s definitely helped.
One of the products I’ve got to try is the Kérastase Resistance Ciment Thermique 150ml which “repairs and protects hair with its heat activated properties” so it’s perfect to blow dry into your hair once you’ve washed it. “The best-selling leave-in milk contains the brand’s trademark formula Vita-Ciment® Topseal, working to strengthen and rebuild hair from the inside out whilst also repairing the outer layer leaving a protective topcoat.” Plus, it’s meant to speed up your blow-dry and support less breakage in the hair. The other is the Kérastase Resistance Therepiste Serum 30ml which “transforms very damaged and over-processed hair to leave it hydrated, conditioned and healthy-looking.” This also adds heat protection so is perfect if you like a blow dry and then to use heat tools like straighteners like me.
Let me know what you think to my new hair over on Instagram!
