If you want healthy hair growth follow these five stylist-approved steps now

Growing out your hair can be challenging but with patience and dedication, you will get there!

And with our expert tips, you'll be on your way to achieving the long, healthy hair of your dreams. Simply follow our five steps, below:

1. Experiment with different styles

During the awkward phase, experiment with different hairstyles to find what works best for you. Try plaits, messy buns and ponytails to keep things interesting.

2. Get regular trims

Although it may seem counterproductive, getting regular trims can help your hair grow longer and keep it healtthy. Having a trim every six to eight weeks helps avoid split ends from travelling up the hair shaft, causing additional damage and breakage.

3. Avoid over-shampooing

Over-shampooing can strip your hair of its natural oils, leading to dryness and breakage. Ideally wash your hair every other day or every two days, depending on your hair type.

4. Use heat protection products

Using hot styling tools such as straighteners, curlers or your hairdryer can damage your hair. Protect it by applying a heat protectant before using hot tools, which helps reduce breakage and split ends.

5. Stay positive

The awkward phase can be frustrating, but it's important to stay positive and remember that it's only temporary. Keep your hair healthy and take care of it, and before you know it, you'll be out of the awkward phase and well on your way to achieving your hair goals!

Five everyday styling habits that could be damaging your hair - and how to avoid them

It’s fun experimenting with different hairstyles but the way you do your hair could have a much bigger impact than you realise. And some everyday styling habits could lead to thinning, bald patches and even long-term damage to hair follicles.

To help you protect your hair and keep it healthy, we’ve broken down five things you could be doing that are damaging your hair - and how to avoid them.

1. Tight ponytails, plaits and slicked back buns

We get it—ponytails and buns are quick, stylish, and perfect for busy days. But when they’re pulled back too tightly, they can put excessive tension on the hairline, leading to breakage and even permanent hair loss.

Styles like high snatched ponytails, tight plaits and ultra-sleek buns all rely on strong tension. If you’ve noticed redness, soreness or even tiny broken hairs around your edges after wearing these looks, it’s time to switch things up.

Loosening your style, changing where the tension sits, and giving your hairline regular breaks can make a big difference in preventing long-term damage.

2. Heavy-hold hairspprays, gels, and ‘slicking’

Using strong-hold gels and hairsprays can help achieve a polished look—but every day usage can make your hair dry, stiff and prone to breakage. Dermatologists warn that brushing or combing hair after applying these products can actually snap the strands.

Slicked-back styles in particular often mean brushing and reshaping the same areas repeatedly, which can cause thinning over time. If you love a sleek look, try alternating with softer styles and using products designed to be gentle on the hair.

3. Sleeping in rollers, clips and headscarves

Nighttime habits matter just as much as daytime ones. Sleeping in large rollers, metal clips, or tightly wrapped headscarves can put hours of pressure on the same parts of your scalp. Over time, this constant strain can irritate the follicles and cause thinning around the edges.

Switching to loose, satin sleep caps or soft scrunchies can help minimise tension while still protecting your style.

4. Aggressive backcombing

Backcombing is great for adding lift and volume—but done too often or too harshly, it can seriously damage your hair.

The teasing process roughens the outer layer of your strands, making them weaker and more prone to snapping. If you usually backcomb the same area (especially the crown), the repeated stress can make your hair look thinner even if the follicles themselves are still healthy.

For safer volume, try gentler techniques like root-lifting sprays, volumising mousses, or a round-brush blowout.

5. Excessive heat at the roots

Straighteners, curlers and hairdryers are staples in most routines—but too much heat, or using it too close to the roots, can weaken the hair and cause breakage.

Using high heat daily, straightening from the root, or blow-drying soaking wet hair on full blast can all contribute to thinning at the crown and hairline. Experts recommend keeping tools on low to medium heat, using heat protectant, and cutting back on daily heat styling where possible.

How to keep your hair strong and healthy

A little redness or a few broken hairs might not seem like a big deal at first, but these early warning signs mean your hair is under stress. The good news? Small changes to your routine can help prevent long-term damage.

Here are some easy ways to protect your hair:

• Loosen tight hairstyles and avoid constant tension

• Give your hairline regular “rest days”

• Choose gentler products and avoid heavy application every day

• Limit heat use and always use heat protectant

• Opt for silk or satin at night to reduce friction

Healthy hair starts with mindful habits—and we’re here to help. If you’re worried about thinning or want personalised advice, book a consultation with one of our stylists.

We’ll help you find styles and routines that keep your hair looking gorgeous while protecting it for the long-run.

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Three things to think about before you change your hair colour

Fancy a new colour? Our hairstylists share how to get the look that suits you best.

1) Your complexion

The colour of your skin tone is actually one of the most important aspects of choosing the perfect hair colour. The correct colour will compliment your skin and make it appear even more beautiful, while the wrong colour might make your skin look dull and dreary.

2) Your eyes

To really enhance and intensify your eye colour, we might recommend a contrasting colour. For instance - if your eyes are blue, a caramel or golden blonde tone will make them appear even bluer. If they are green, a fiery or soft red tone could be the perfect colour for you.

3) Personal style

Once the hair colour has been narrowed down to suit your complexion and eye colour, your personal style should be considered - and this is where you know best. Do you want to be noticed or blend in? Do you need to be more daring or does your outfit say enough? Make sure the shades you and your hair stylist choose is one that will make you feel confident and yourself.

Having a haircut is good for your health, according to research

Having a haircut is good for your health according to research.

That’s right, sitting in the salon chair doesn’t just give you a new look, it lifts your mood and helps you feel better about life in general.

A study by Tamika Roper and Dr. John Barry asked men and women about what they loved about going to the hairdresser. They found that a trip to the hairdressers could boost wellbeing in the same way as talking with friends or watching your favourite TV show.

It’s a really lovely bond between trusted hairstylist and customer, which adds to a feeling of being safe, as well as seen and heard, that boosts wellbeing.

Then there’s the added bonus of feeling good about our new look - we leave feeling like a different person, lighter, happier and healthier in mind.

How often should I wash my hair? The experts wade in

How often should you wash your hair? It’s a question we get asked a lot at the salon, and the answer depends on a few different things.

What happens if I wash my hair too much?

If you wash your hair too much, you can remove the sebum (the natural oil your scalp produces). This is vital to healthy, shiny hair. But don’t be scared of oily hair, because despite what shampoo brands want you to believe, washing your hair a lot can turn your good hair day into a bad day.

Most people don’t need to wash their hair every day or even every other one, and how often you do it depends on quite a few factors. The simplest answer is that you should wash it once it’s oily and feels unclean to the touch.

What other factors influence how often you should wash your hair?

Sebum (hair’s natural oil)

Oil is probably the biggest culprit behind what most people consider dirty hair, and it can leave hair limp and clumpy. How much oil you produce will depend on your age, genetics, sex and environment. Children and older adults don’t produce as much sebum as teenagers or 20-30 year olds.

Hair type

Straight and thin hair will need to be washed more often than thick or curly hair. This is because straight hair is easily coated by sebum, so it’ll look greasy faster. Thick, wavy or curly hair tends to be dry because the oil doesn’t coat the strands as easily. Sebum is actually a crucial part of well-defined curls, because curly hair needs more moisture to stay soft and prevent frizzing.

Sweat

As you might expect, a sweaty workout does your hair no favours. How much you sweat is a big factor in how often you ought to wash, or at least rinse, your hair. Sweat can spread sebum and make your hair look and feel dirty. It can also cause your hair to smell.

Bottle blonde? Here's how to keep your hair healthy

Bleached blonde hair needs some special care and attention to prevent it from getting dry and damaged. With our expert backed styling tips, below, you can keep your colour and your hair healthy.

Sleep on a silk pillowcase

If you’re not familiar with silk pillowcases, they are a great way to maintain hair’s integrity and prevent breakage. They also help to prevent split ends.

Invest in purple shampoo

Purple shampoo can help take the brassiness out of bleached blonde hair, just don’t use it too much - every few washes is enough.

Use weekly hair masks

Alternate between a protein and moistures place of your normal conditioner. We recommend L’Oreal’s Professionnel Absolut Repair Mask (£36, 500ml), which boasts a nourishing and reparative formula that leaves hair feeling soft and looking shiny.

Prioritise regular haircuts

Ideally have a haircut or trim immediately—or at least within a week—after getting your hair coloured to seal the ends. Then if you can, every eight weeks.

Five budget face serums that feel premium

If you’re looking for a product to give your skin a real hydration boost, serums are a great place to start.

Use a few drops before your moisturiser for fresh-faced, happy skin. Here are five of our favourite products that cost under a tenner but feel premium.

Do these three things to get salon style hair, say the experts

Want salon style hair at home? Here are three of our salon-approved tricks.

Trick one: Make your own sea salt spray

If you love the tousled beach look, and are already a fan of sea salt spray, did you know you can make it at home?

Simply mix together 500ml of sparkling water and a teaspoon of sea salt in a spray bottle. While your hair is damp, spritz the mixture onto the ends of your hair, and use your fingers to scrunch them up.

Trick two: Ue your straighteners as a curler

Learning how to curl your hair with your straighteners is great especially when you’re going away and don’t want to take loads of different styling tools with you.

First, grab a small section of hair. Then, hold your straighteners vertically with the open end pointed upward. As you clamp the hair, begin rotating it away from your face. Don’t slow down or stop - the key to getting consistent curls is to keep the movement fluid.

As you keep rotating the straighteners away from your face, allow your hair to slowly slide through the clamp until you reach the end. For looser waves, lower the heat on your straighteners and brush them out after you’ve finished curling.

Trick three: Level up your ponytail

This ponytail trick is the fastest way to make your updo look professional. After you’ve secured your ponytail, grab a small bit of hair from the pony and wrap it around the base of your ponytail to cover the hairband. Coat the very end of the section with hairspray, and smooth it against the base to seamlessly secure it.

Winter hair care you need to know about

When it gets colder, our hair can really take a hit.

Throw in central heating, cold winds, friction from wearing hats and a lack of sunlight and it can be a recipe for flyaway, dry and damaged hair.

But the good news is the secret to sorting winter hair is starting from the inside out and that means feeding the body with the right nutrients.

Here are the top foods and nutrients we swear by for healthy hair (and skin):

Oily fish - Salmon, mackerel and sardines are packed with omega-3s which can hydrate your scalp and make hair bouncier. If you’re plant-based, chia or flax seeds are a great alternative and it only takes a few weeks to notice a more natural shine.

Vitamin C - Citrus fruits, kiwis, tomatoes, red peppers and berries all have a ton of Vitamin C in, which boosts collagen and can repair dry and damaged hair from the inside out.

Protein - Our hair is full of protein so eating more of this can help keep it healthy. Think eggs, lentils, mushrooms, tuna, Greek yoghurt and peas.

Iron and zinc – For particularly weak and brittle hair, upping your iron and zinc intake can help. Either buy a supplement or eat more spinach, pumpkin seeds or lean red meat for healthy hair growth.

Water - We often forget that dehydration can cause dullness, especially in hair. Keep a bottle by your side to remind you to drink, little and often.

These are the best products to calm static hair

Fuzzy, flyaway hair can be a nightmare to deal with and there are lots of different reasons why it can happen.

You could be over-styling, brushing your hair a little too aggressively, wearing your ponytail too tight, have hormonal hair thinning or fragile hair after having a baby. Fix it with these five anti-frizz products…