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Mid-life hair Masterclass with Josh Wood
“How to deal with hair when you’re not in your 20s anymore”, Josh Wood catches up with beauty guru Lucia Ferrari and shares his top tips
As one of the world’s most sought after hair colourists, Josh Wood has styled everyone from Victoria Beckham, the Royal family to Elle Macpherson. He has become even more of a hair colour legend during lockdown with his home hair colour kits offering some much needed help in our own bathrooms. His Root Smudgers, Crayons, Glosses and full on hair dye kits (with thankfully online consultations and virtual hand holding with someone from his Holland Park Atelier) means that lots of us can have a bit of the “Josh Wood effect” at home when we can’t get to a salon.
Here is his advice for ensuring glossy locks from lockdown and beyond.
Book a consultation
“Generally it’s at the life-changing moments like having a baby, a big birthday that it’s a good time to have a pause and reassess your hair. Statistics show that most of us want to cling on to the hairstyle we had when we fell in love. This can be absolutely fine, but clever tweaks can make all the difference. It’s a total myth that your hair has to go shorter as you get older. Lots of people do this for maintenance but there may be other ways around it. You just need the right advice. This is the starting process for the magic to happen.”
Thinning Hair
“Thinning can begin in pre-menopausal hair and the effects can be really devastating. You may notice your ponytail isn’t as thick as it used to be, or more hair left at the bottom of the shower. Either way it’s important to be kinder to the hair at this stage. Treating the scalp is key – with specific products or even a five minute daily scalp massage can help (I’ve got a lovely client who has just trained her young daughter to do this in lockdown!). Invest in a few new tools too. I love Aquis towels and turbans which are much gentler for drying hair than a normal towel and use silk scrunchies for ponytails instead of anything more harsh which can cause the hair to break.”
Going Grey
“Generally blondes will want to stay blonde – which is a good idea. Blonde highlights are very forgiving especially when you begin to go grey. It’s important not to go too cool or ashy. The tone is important. Your eye colour, skintone and whether you have a tan or not all have a role to play when choosing the right tone. Brunettes may choose to go a shade lighter brown and add some balyage or a face frame of highlights which can be really flattering. Ultimately it’s back to that all important consultation.”
Changes in texture
“As the hair goes grey it can become more wiry and frizzy. Generally speaking this isn’t the kindest thing to the complexion which is why so many people end up dying their hair. Invest in a good hair mask at least once a week to help with the texture. Try my Everything Mask which is specifically designed for grey, coloured hair.”
MALE COVER UPS
“It’s fascinating how there is still a stigma about men dying their hair. Probably because we can all think of a shocker when it doesn’t look realistic! The key to getting it right is NOT to do a blanket change. It’s so important to leave some grey to make it look realistic. It’s more about managing and controlling the greys – you basically want to look the best version of yourself not a ginger fox.”
Dryness
“Hair definitely becomes dryer as we get older (and colour our hair) but know the difference between dehydrated hair and brittle hair and tailor your products accordingly. During a hot summer holiday, the hair will be more dehydrated so look for conditioning products for this type of hair. After a skiing holiday, hair is more brittle, so use products which will work to strengthen the hair.”
The Darker Root
“The root shadow can look very flattering and contemporary. It’s flattering basically to have the root and the eyebrows working in a relationship. It looks very real. But if you’ve got greys coming through it’s obviously not a low maintenance option as the greys will be more visible on a brunette root so you may want to just stick with full blonde highlights.”
Josh Wood consultations and products are available from joshwoodcolour.com
With over 25 years’ experience as a beauty journalist working for titles including, the Daily Mail, Harpers Bazaar and London’s ES magazine, Lucia is the go-to beauty guru. Passionate about skincare, makeup and the latest tweakments, her many Insta followers love her honest, knowledgeable and of the moment beauty posts and videos. @luciaferraribeauty
This article featured in our Winter 2020 Magazine.
