Why does my hair behave on holiday and fight me at home?

Short answer: it’s mostly the water and the weather, and a bit of the routine. London’s water is hard, and hard water leaves minerals on the hair. Abroad, the water, the air and your whole week are different.

It’s a question I hear a lot from St John’s Wood and Primrose Hill after a summer away: the curl was perfect in the villa, and two weeks back it’s a fight again.

What changes when you come home

• The water. London’s is hard. Minerals build up on the hair, so it feels rougher, looks duller and tangles more. Smoothing↓DOWN treatments can seem to fade faster under a mineral film.
• The weather. Drizzle and damp push frizz up; central heating dries it out again. Hair can’t settle.
• The routine. On holiday you air-dry and don’t care. At home you blow-dry, straighten and add product, every day.

What helps

1. Clarify now and then. A clarifying shampoo every couple of weeks lifts the minerals. If you’ve had a treatment, ask me which one is safe for it.
2. Stop fighting it every morning. If your hair is frizzy or curly and you’re blow-drying it daily, a Straightment Semi takes the frizz down; most of my clients come back after 1–4 months. More curl to lose? Straightment Demi: about 60% of the curl out, roots after 4–8 months.
3. Keep the good bit. If you liked the curl on holiday, you may not want less curl at all. You might want the frizz gone and the curl kept. Tell me that, and that’s the brief.

Getting to me

The Jubilee line from St John’s Wood runs to Bond Street without a change, and Maddox Street is a short walk from there. Or walk through Regent’s Park and down Marylebone High Street, if the weather’s on your side.

Before you book

Start with the online consultation: a questionnaire and six photos, and I reply within 72 hours, usually the same day. Tell me about the holiday hair too. It tells me what yours can do.

Straightment Semi↓DOWN → · Online consultation →

For men

Sides that stick out, frizz, flat or thinning hair, grey gone wiry: most of it can be sorted, and nobody will know you’ve had it done. The men’s pages → · Coming in from nearby →