Ok, this is exciting. My first haircut in three years and the first time I’ve worn my hair down since, oh, the 1990s… (All those years in between I was a pixie cropped gal!) But after getting a bit bored of my bun, I booked in for a cut at George Northwood…

My stylist was Roi, who immediately knew what to do – he totally got my funny-shaped head and explained how I needed to flatten the front section and heighten the back section with blow-drying – easier than it sounds, just use a round-headed brush – and then generally do a very rough dry (head upside-down at home). He took away a lot of length and weight and then surprised me with tongs at the end which is how he created this lovely 70s-homage soft wave.

The tongs I need to learn to do myself (in fact the salon will be holding lessons soon, so totally planning on going along!) but the key things are for the front sections wrap your hair away from your face and only do the middle of the length, so not the roots or tips. Roi pinned my hair up and did layers underneath as well as on top, but explained the messier and more haphazard the better. Um, still gonna take some practice, I reckon.

And guess what, I then had some colour! But in a surprise kind of way… Colourist Amy suggested I keep my overall colour and just darken the top of my head to match the lower part as it was looking a bit faded and sun-worn. She then put a gloss on to make it look extra shiny and healthy. And then I had my hair dried & tonged all over again by the lovely Elliot, who gave some more advice – only hold the tong in for a few seconds, give the strand a very gentle tug as you release and alternate sections front-wrapping and backwards-wrapping as you work around the head. Sorry, I hope that makes sense!

At first I was a little in shock, having hair around my face felt strange, but I slowly acclimatised and just prayed that I would be able to recreate the look at home. This sounds crazy but I really have given my hair so little time since Gus was born, even the thought of blow-drying until dry scares me, let alone tonging. But I’m gonna give it a go. Although I’m popping back into the salon for a blow-dry and tongs tomorrow as I’ve a bit of a special event with LK Bennet and well, you know, wanna look nice!

So, how much? It wasn’t cheap, the cut cost £175 but with colour, gloss and blow-drying came to £275. It’s a lot, I know, but given I cut & coloured every six weeks to keep my hair short for years pre-pregnancy… I decided for this occasion, to give myself the best chance of getting out of a hair rut, to visit one of the best salons in London; George Northwood is responsible for one Miss Alexa Chung’s hair, which is basically ’nuff said!

Anyway, more pics coming soon! I really just wanted to revel in having hair to swing about but ended up writing up my whole experience. Did I mention the sweet potato juice and Green & Blacks, btw? My kinda place. And, of course, the service was exceptional, from phone-carrying to charging and general loveliness from everyone who worked there! If you’re in need of hair help, planning a big change, have money to blow, then I couldn’t recommend George Northwood more!

And if you want to see a photo that doesn’t involve hair everywhere, check my insta. And check out Life of Yablon’s review post which is what motivated me to go – thank you Emma! Now, shake it…