t a dinner party the other evening,
a friend of mine was canvassing
A opinion: had karma played a role
in her hairdresser getting hit by
a car (OK, tapped by a car) shortly
after giving her a bad haircut? One thing’s for
sure: nothing can make you feel more betrayed,
confused and helpless than when a hairdresser
spins you round at the end of a session to reveal
your new self-esteem problem.
But how can hair have the power to make
– and break – our day? “It’s a secondary sexual
characteristic,” explains Philip Kingsley, a
leading trichologist who was first to coin the
phrase ‘bad hair day’. “But most importantly,
it’s the only one we can (decently) display in
public. There’s a vital link between our inherent
sexuality and scalp hair. We use it to attract,
flaunt and seduce.”
No wonder we spend over £191m a year trying
to guarantee as many good hair days as possible.
But while we wash and blow-dry with zeal, what
do we do to prevent hair getting old, like we do
our faces and bodies (one in every four skincare
products bears the promise ‘anti-ageing’)?
“Usually, we don’t worry about our hair till we
spot an outbreak of grey or notice it looking
a bit dull,” says Glenn Lyons who’s worked
alongside Philip Kingsley for 45 years, “but the
way hair ages – in extended cycles rather than
bit by bit – means these things creep up on you
quite suddenly. Your hair may look OK until one
day… it doesn’t.” In other words, it’s never too
soon to think about age-proofing your hair.
“While natural ageing doesn’t normally start
to affect hair till women reach their mid to
AGE-DEFYING HAIRCARE
ANTI-AGE
YOUR HAIR
We age-proof our faces with serums and creams, and our bodies
with green tea and exercise, but what about our hair? Your locks age just
like your skin, but here’s how to turn back the clock
WORDS: ANNABEL MEGGESON PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG CONRAUX
“Genetic ageing
means many women
are predisposed
to thinning hair”
late-40s, genetic ageing means scores of women
are predisposed to thinning or greying hair in
their 20s or 30s,” says Lyons. “In fact, so many
women inherit this disposition, it’s almost the
norm. Add to that environmental ageing caused
by heat and chemicals, as well as exposure to
sun, central heating and pollution, and it’s not
surprising some 20-year-old women have hair
that looks twice their age.”
How can you tell if your hair is old before its
time? “Healthy hair is very elastic and should
be able to stretch to more than 30% of its
‘resting’ length,” Kingsley explains. “Take a hair
from your head and pull it between your fingers.
If it stretches easily, it’s healthy; if it snaps, it’s in
poor condition. Or compare the diameter of one
strand of hair taken from the front of your head
with one from the back. If the first is smaller, hair
may be starting to thin, as when we’re very young,
hair at the front is always the thickest.” But whether
it’s loss of volume, lack of brightness or the onset
of grey, lots can be done to keep hair looking
its shiny, bouncy – youthful – best.
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