Two directions. That’s the whole market.
perm (n.) · old word — says nothing about what your hair is doing. Retired.
UP treatments
↑ More curl
An UP treatment puts shape into the hair that it doesn’t have on its own. What it can do:
- Makes hair bigger — more fullness and width, so it fills the shape you want.
- Adds curl — where your hair has none.
- Adds waves — soft bends, from loose to defined.
- Adds volume — body for flat, fine hair, so it stops sitting flat.
- Adds root lift — height at the root, nothing else touched.
- Adds movement — the hair swings instead of hanging.
- Adds grip — slippery, straight hair holds pins, updos and a blow-dry for longer.
- Looks witty — playful, a bit of attitude.
- Makes it easier to manage — takes its shape with less work.
- Cuts your styling time — wash and go, less tonging every morning.
- Lasts — it grows out, it never washes out.
The UP treatments: Wavement Cold · Wavement Hot · all UP treatments →
straightening (n.) · old word — promises a ruler. Hair isn’t a ruler. Retired.
DOWN treatments
↓ Less curl
A DOWN treatment takes out the shape your hair makes on its own that you don’t want. What it can do:
- Makes hair smaller — less width and bulk, so it falls instead of sticking out.
- Removes frizz — the hair lies flat instead of fluffing up.
- Removes curl — a little, or most of it.
- Removes volume — the hair sits closer to your head.
- Smooths — a flatter surface that catches the light, so it looks shinier.
- Holds up in the rain — damp and humidity don’t undo it.
- Adds softness — softer to the touch.
- Makes it easier to manage — brushes through, tangles less.
- Usually conditions and adds shine — the hair feels in better condition and catches the light.
- Looks more elegant — sleek, polished, grown-up.
- Cuts your blow-dry time — wash, dry, done.
The DOWN treatments: Straightment Semi · Straightment Demi · Straightment Permanent · all DOWN treatments →
UP / DOWN (dir.) · this century — which way your hair is going. That’s the only question.
Three commitments
You choose the commitment, not the chemistry.
Simple enough to explain in one breath, and I would happily see the whole industry name things this way — no licence, no permission needed, take them. If your hairdresser starts saying Semi, Demi and Permanent, or DOWN and UP, I ask one small thing: tell them where you heard it first.
The weakestDoesn’t go deepLeast changeShortest-lastingLeast damaging
Frizz reduction, your shape kept.
Adds softness · easier to manage · usually conditions and adds shine.
- How long
- About 1–2 months
- Regrowth line
- Fades, no line
The middleGoes deeperMore changeLasts longerMore demanding on the hair
About 60% of the curl out.
- How long
- Usually around 4–8 months
- Regrowth line
- Loosens the hair’s bonds. Can permanently change the texture. Regrowth will most likely show, but usually not a big difference.
The strongestGoes deepestMost changeFor good on treated hairHardest on the hair
80%+ of the curl out.
- How long
- Indefinite
- Regrowth line
- Breaks the hair’s bonds. Regrowth will show. Hard to grow out: if you want a change, you’ll have to grow it out.
What’s the regrowth line? As your hair grows, new hair comes in from the root with your natural texture. Where it meets the treated hair, you can see a line — a change from your natural texture to the treated lengths. The weaker the treatment, the softer that line; the stronger, the more it shows.
1991 first perm · 1999 first straightening, trained by Yuko Yamashita herself · 2004 first keratin · Maddox Street, Mayfair
What I do differently
1. Keratin is not a treatment.
It’s a general word for all smoothingDOWN. One salon’s does nothing; the next is far too straight. Same word, different chemistry. Judge a treatment by its active, its strength and the hands holding the iron — never by the protein it borrowed its name from.
2. I’ve given up selling conditioning treatments in London.
There, I said it. For ten years I tried to sell the proper answer to what fashion does to hair: repair programmes, a standing hour in the chair each month, a simple treatment at home each week. Almost nobody wanted it — not the hour, not the homework. I was caring more about the hair than its owner did, and you cannot run a plan on that. So I surrendered, and built the conditioning into the appointment itself, where nobody has to remember it. When hair arrives properly compromised, the honest plan is still repair first, treatment later.
3. I choose the chemistry, not you.
Keratin, glyoxylic, cysteine, thio — every one is a chemistry, renamed and sold to you as a brand. Don’t book the word. Tell me the finish you want and what your hair has already had.
I read the hair first — pattern, frizz and condition, the Zoltan tecSture Scale™ — then mix my own systems to the head in front of me. A box is written for the average head, which makes it wrong for most.
4. The hands and the knowledge matter more than the product — in the salon and at home alike.
Heat is half the treatment: too many passes, too hot, on fine or coloured hair, and it’s the iron that does the damage, not the chemistry. On the UP side it’s the winding, not the bottle, that decides your curl. Most failures blamed on the chemistry were the hand.
Same at home: the right routine done properly beats the dearest bottle used badly.
5. Sometimes the answer is no.
Condition is a ceiling. If your hair can’t take what you’re asking for, you hear it before we start, not after. If the honest answer is “nothing, not yet — your hair needs three months first”, that’s the answer. It costs me an appointment and saves you your hair. There are things on the high street I won’t use at all.
6. Nothing is 100% — and “repair” is coating, not healing.
“Poker straight forever, zero damage” is a sales line. Every chemical service costs the hair something, and I tell you what before it goes on.
“Repair” is filling and coating: genuinely useful, but no product reverses bleach damage — anyone who says otherwise is selling.
7. The first visit, I work slightly under.
I know the chemistry. I don’t yet know your hair, or your life with it. I can add more next time; I can’t take it back out. By the second visit we both know where we are — including whether I’m the right stylist for you at all.
8. The price is the price.
Set by your hair and its length, on the page before you book. You hear the exact figure before anything is mixed, and it doesn’t grow in the chair.
9. “Organic” straightening and perming is a sales word.
In the UK there is no legal definition of “organic” for cosmetics — the industry’s own trade body says so. A brand can call a treatment organic without any certificate at all.
Even the main organic certificate, COSMOS, asks for only 20% organic ingredients in the formula, 10% in a rinse-off product — and water doesn’t count. What changes your hair is still the active chemical. A few plant extracts on top change the label, not what’s doing the work.
Straight talk: I’ve been on the supplier side of these products and the chair side. That’s why I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on your head, by name, before it goes on.
No surprises
- There’s a smell. The product can smell and the iron can smoke. I work next to an open window.
- Some systems shift your colour. Where yours is one, you hear it before we start. I spent years as a colourist.
- Some hair drops. Bouncy for a fortnight, then it sits down — there are ways round it, if I know volume matters to you.
- My “perfect” may not be yours. Tell me what you want in your own words, and tell me afterwards if it wasn’t that.
- A busy chair, not a spa. I sometimes run behind. What never gets rushed is the chemistry and the checking.
My words, A–Z
- DOWN
- Less curl, less frizz. Treatments that make hair smoother and straighter.
- UP
- More curl, more movement. Treatments that add wave, curl or lift.
- StraightmentDOWN
- My DOWN treatments: Semi, Demi or Permanent.
- WavementUP
- My UP treatments: curl built Cold (no heat) or Hot (heated rods).
- Semi
- The lightest commitment. About 2+ months, then it fades with no line.
- Demi
- The middle commitment. About 60% of the curl out, 6+ months, no regrowth line.
- Permanent
- The full commitment. 80%+ of the curl out, for good on treated hair; only new growth brings you back.
How to start
- Online consultation, £9.95 — a questionnaire and 6 photos so I can prepare, then I call you back within 72 hours, usually the same day. It covers my own treatments only.
- In person, £74.95 — for hair with real history: bleach, previous chemistry, damage from somewhere else, or before correction.
- Consultation fees are never taken off a treatment. Every treatment includes the full consultation in the chair on the day, at no charge.
I do both directions, and I earn the same either way — so I have no reason to talk you into one of them. A straightening salon recommends straightening. You get whichever answer your hair actually supports, including “neither, for now”.
Partials — fringe, roots, hairline.
Correction — another salon’s work gone wrong: consultation and strand test first, then a written quote.
Every UP changes the hair itself: it grows out, it never washes out. I say that before you sit down.
Why new names? Perm and straightening are dead words. Straightment↓DOWN and Wavement↑UP say which way your hair is going.
Questions you're too polite to ask
Can I just book a keratin?
You can book Straightment Demi, which is what most people mean. But tell me the result you want rather than the word — the word means something different in every salon.
What if I booked the wrong treatment?
No problem. I check your hair in the chair before I start. If it needs a different treatment, I do that one and you pay for what I actually did. If you paid more than it costs, I refund the difference; if it costs more, you pay the difference on the day.
It's a long treatment. Will I get bored?
Bring your laptop: most of my clients simply work from the chair. There's Wi-Fi and magazines, and something to eat Tuesday to Saturday. Or put the laptop away and talk to me: I'm bloody entertaining, and I'll fill you up with sarcasm.
Will someone else do my hair?
No. I work alone: the person you book is the person who does your hair. When I’m running behind, an assistant may do your shampoo. Every other step is me.
Do I have to sit in the window?
No. Nobody sees you from the street.
Which treatment should I book?
Tell me the finish and your hair's history; I choose the system and the strength. If you're unsure, start with the £9.95 online consultation.
Is Permanent really permanent?
On the hair that's treated, yes: 80%+ of the curl out. New growth comes in with your natural texture.
Do you do perms too?
Yes — that's UP. Wavement Cold, Wavement Hot and root volumeUP.
Why won't you just do what I ask?
I will, when your hair can take it. When it can't, I'll tell you before we start.
As seen in
All press →“The magician of the hair world”
Wavement and Straightment: my UP and DOWN treatments
New directions need new names. Wavement↑UP is my UP treatment. Straightment↓DOWN is my DOWN treatment. Both are my own systems, mixed to the hair in front of me.
Wavement↑UP
- Wavement Cold — curl built with no heat.
- Wavement Hot — heated rods, big soft movement.
- Root volume — lift at the root and nothing else.
Straightment↓DOWN
- Straightment Semi — frizz reduction, your shape kept.
- Straightment Demi — about 60% of the curl out.
- Straightment Permanent — 80%+ of the curl out.
- Partials — fringe, roots, hairline.
- Correction — another salon’s work gone wrong: consultation and strand test first, then a written quote.