The Perm (Part One)
Good grief and glory! I finally have a date in the diary for my perm. Two weeks from now, I shall be sporting a ground-breaking new look and it’s all rather disconcerting as the last time I had a perm, I was 15 years younger and many pounds lighter. But, what the heck, you’re only here once and life is too short not to try new things, and that includes a brand-new look for my barnet. *
The perm has come about since I had my very own personal hair consultation with top London hair image consultant, Scott Cornwall, back in March this year. He spent absolutely ages talking about what I wanted, what was possible, suggesting ideas I’d never considered, explaining the consequences of each idea, until we both agreed on a way forward - unlike a normal trip to the hairdressers, where if they bother to spend more than 3 minutes on what you’d really like to achieve with your crowning glory, then you’ve got a little angel there and you should tip them madly!
So here I am, a guinea pig, if you like, trying out Scott’s ideas. Let me set the scene for you:
- I am a dark-haired, pale-faced, and green-eyed
- I have the coolest skin tones on the planet and am the archetypal Caucasian Winter
- I look absolutely hideous in anything remotely warm-toned, and if I was ever stupid enough to waste time, money and energy on wearing peach, orange, yellow (in any form), beige, khaki or chocolate brown, I would have to be revived immediately with a large gin and tonic, and you would probably feel rather queasy yourself having to look at me
- My wardrobe is basically black, white and bright pink, although I also look gorgeous in Post Office red and royal purple
- My style personality is Dramatic Classic
- My body shape is curvy
- Physically, I am medium scale but psychologically I can do large scale too
- My psychological profile is that I see the big picture, hate detail, I call a spade a spade, and I do not suffer fools at all
- I am inspired by the clothes, hair, make-up of the 1930s and early 40s and am a romantic at heart
Got the picture?
If I had been to an image consultant, she would have identified that my style personality is more Dramatic than anything else (I can’t deny that I am definitely a drama queen) and she would have advised 2 or 3 sharply constrasting colours, sharp shapes to clothes, obvious make-up and a dramatic hair cut - but there’s the rub. I look absolutely ridiculous with a sharp hairstyle. Just ask anyone.
So, deep down and for the last hundred years or so, I have known that Dramatic has never applied to my hair and, consequently, I’ve always been very quick to gloss over giving advice to my own clients about their hair, because I’ve seen that basically, we image consultants know absolutely nothing about giving up-to-date, informed advice about hair, hair colour, hairstyles, etc.
But now - I have seen the light
From the consultation with Scott, I’ve learnt that my Dramatic look extends to my clothes, make-up, etc. but that my hair is Romantic - think of Rita Hayworth rather than Cher - and that the two ’styles’ are totally complementary. What a relief!
* Barnet - cockney rhyming slang form of Barnet Fair, meaning hair
Read Part Two of my hair journey.
Want to know more about hair, especially perming?
If you would like to know everything there is to know (like me!) about the return of the perm, Scott Cornwall has prepared 7 pages of print-ready background information plus 2 web pages which includes loads of hints and tips, plus a 6-page print-ready ebook for everyone about this current trend and how to decide if it’s for you.
If you’re also an image professional, this pro package will give you the edge with your client consultations. But you don’t have to be an image consultant; these products are available to anyone who’s interested.
We’ve also made the 6-page ebook available on its own in the retail catalogue, if you prefer.
