StraighteningDOWN & perming · Maddox Street, Mayfair

Hair straightening and perm treatments in Mayfair

Ten-minute mornings, for months at a time.

Straightening and perming is the whole of my work — sleek straight, bouncy curls, and anything in between.

What does your hair do?

“The undisputed king of Brazilian blow dries”

— HELLO!

The brief I work to

Ten minutes, not forty-five

Wash, towel, shake into place.

Weather stops winning

Frizz-free and shiny through damp streets and heated offices.

Volume, either way

Too much, taken down 60–80%. Too little, lifted at the root.

Curls redrawn, not fought

Root lift, body wavesUP, or your own curl restructured into a pattern that behaves.

Picture-ready on holiday

Pool, humidity, no tools in the bag — and the photos still look like day one.

Anywhere on the spectrum

Sleek straight to defined ringlets.

Everything here travels in one of two directions

DOWN — less curl

Volume, frizz and curl taken out. From a light polish that lasts a season, through to permanently straight. StraightmentDOWN is my system for this.

UP — more curl

Curl, movement or root volumeUP put in — whether the hair has never held a shape, or has simply gone flat. WavementUP is my system for this.

Because I do both directions, I earn the same whichever one you need — so I have no reason to talk you into either.

Why my treatments are not called keratin

Ask for “a keratinDOWN” in one salon and you get one thing; ask in the next and you get something else. Brand names and country names tell you nothing about strength or commitment. DOWN or UP is the direction. Semi, Demi or Permanent is the commitment.

Called elsewhereHere
Keratin, Brazilian, nanoplastia, botoxDemi
Japanese straightening, rebondingPermanent
Perm, body wave, root permWavementUP

Read this before you book

No surprises

Five things I’d rather you heard from me than found out in the chair.

  1. There’s a smellThe product can smell and the iron can smoke. I work next to an open window.
  2. Some systems shift your colourWhere yours is one, you hear it before we start. I spent years as a colourist.
  3. Some hair dropsBouncy for a fortnight, then it sits down. There are ways round it, if I know volume matters to you.
  4. My “perfect” may not be yoursTell me what you want in your own words, and tell me afterwards if it wasn’t that.
  5. A busy chair, not a spaMost of my clients bring a laptop and simply work from the chair: there’s Wi-Fi. It’s just me, so some days I run behind. What never gets rushed is the chemistry and the checking.
Read the full version

There is a smell

The product can smell during application, and the iron can smoke — anything heated to 200 degrees does, think of food — plus whatever styling product is already on your hair joins in. And at home, for a day or two, when your hair is wet you might catch yourself looking around for the wet dog. That is your hair. I work next to an open window, it passes, and you will have been told first.

Some systems shift your colour

Not all of them, but some lift or warm what is already on your hair. Where yours is one of them, you hear it from me before we start, not at the mirror afterwards. I spent years as a colourist — we plan it rather than suffer it.

Some hair drops

Bouncy for a fortnight, then it sits down. There are ways around it — roots left alone, a lighter strength, different tension — but they only work if I know beforehand that volume matters to you. Say it at the consultation, not afterwards.

The first two visits, we are getting to know each other

I know the chemistry. What I do not yet know is your hair — or your life with it: your mornings, your expectations, what it has been through. So the first time I work slightly under rather than slightly over — I can add more next time, I cannot take it back out. By the second visit we both know where we are — including whether I am the right stylist for you at all. I am not saying I am. I am trying.

My “perfect” may not be your “perfect”

I might see a result I am pleased with — even, healthy, doing what the chemistry should. You might want it flatter, or curlier, or with more root left in. Neither of us is wrong. Tell me what you want in your own words, and tell me afterwards if it was not that — not to complain, so I can adjust it next time.

And I am not a perfect experience

I run a busy chair, not a luxury experience. Sometimes I am running behind, and sometimes there is more than one client in at once. What does not get rushed is the chemistry and the checking. If you are on a hard deadline, tell me when you book and I will say straight away whether it is realistic.

Since 1991

Why I know what’s in the bottle

  1. Factory visitsI’ve walked the floors where professional haircare and tools are made, and sat down with the chemists who formulate it.
  2. Two trade shows a yearI go to the big international exhibitions twice a year, every year, to meet the manufacturers face to face.
  3. Testing never stopsNew products and systems get tested before they go anywhere near your hair.
  4. My own productsI’ve launched my own products and systems, and built my own digital perming machine.

Consultations

Included with every treatment, at no charge — in the chair, on the day. If you want a steer before you book:

Online

£9.95

A questionnaire and six photos, from anywhere: history, colour, upkeep, plan. Paid in full when you book. The fee does not come off a treatment.

Book an online consultation

In person

£74.95

For hair with real history — bleach, previous chemistry, damage from somewhere else — or before correction work. Your hair in my hands, the honest answer and a plan, before you book a treatment day.

The fee does not come off your treatment.

Book in person

Where

Maddox Street, Mayfair W1. A minute from Oxford Circus, Regent Street and Liberty. By appointment only, no walk-ins.

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