I have used permanent colour for years - light ash brown - and have had occasional salon highlights. I have started to grow my hair out now; it’s a dark blonde with some grey. The previously coloured hair looks a bit brassy now as the colour fades. Could I use a home semi- permanent colour to tone and even it out as it grows? I have a lightly layered shoulder length bob. I try to take good care of my hair, but at 60 it has been through the mill! I chose you as my ’expert’ because I always wanted to tell you how good and reasonably priced your products are. They do what they say on the bottle and smell divine! Thank you for making such luxury affordable.

Thanks Chris, I really enjoyed your email - I love getting feedback about my hair care range, really pleased to hear you like it! It sounds to me like you want to go back to your natural colour, which is why I would try and stay away from even adding a semi-permanent colour to your roots. As you have high lights and quite ashy blonde hair I would recommend using my Poker Straight Dry Shampoo. This product is a light-coloured powder spray that can help to knock out the appearance of re-growth temporarily. This season’s trend of head/alice bands are another great way of covering the dreaded root area. Head bands are a fantastic way to get full on sophistication and glamour with very little effort. It’s a super feminine look that requires full locks and a lot of lift at the root. A variation of the 1860’s Bardot look, head bands can be used to create big hair and big sex appeal! The band acts to create the illusion of fullness at the roots pushing hair back away from the face, making the hair kick out from underneath. Headbands will automatically transform your look from plain Jane to va va voom volume!

Chris, I’ve come up with a great tip for creating a frizz free voluminous, high glamour look, which will draw attention away from any root regrowth. First off, put your locks in big velcro rollers when it is dry. Blast your hair all over with a hot hair dryer and leave in for twenty mins. Give your hair a fine mist of hairspray all over; try Hold Tight. When that has dried remove the curlers and brush it out using a product like Messed Up Spray Wax which stops your hair from frizzing and gives it a slightly messy look. You can also use Poker Straight Dehumidifier to stop fuzzy waves. To control flyaway hair, spray a comb with hairspray and run it through your hair or simply spray some Shine Head Shine Spray over your hair for the ultimate glass like effect. Then simply push the headband from the front of your hair to the back ensuring that it is set quite far back to open up your face and so it is less severe. Pull some strands out at the front to soften the look and to get that sex kitten flirtatious feel.

My hair is salt and pepper now, not a nice colour at all. I went blonde for a while but my hair went very dry and brittle. I therefore went back to reddish brown, however my grey shows through within a week and looks awful should I go back blonde so the roots don’t look so noticeable.

Going lighter or blonder will disguise the grey however look at other colours also that can create a contrast with blonde like honeys or caramels, these will add depth and interest. Creamier blondes will look most attractive to the eye and are much softer than a yellow tone or harsh blonde.

I have a couple of questions to ask as I can’t find reliable answers online. 1. I’ve heard that you can add mousse to the roots of dry hair to add volume, will this make the hair greasy? If not, what’s the best way to use it? 2. Is texturing spray the same sort of thing as ’sea salt spray’? If not, what is it? 3. I have naturally curly hair (the curls are not too tight but they do ringlet) & I have GHD sea salt spray. Will this help add a thickness to my hair? and if so, what’s the best way for me to use this product to create thick, curls?

Ok firstly applying mousse to dry hair can make the hair at the roots greasy so I would apply it to damp towel dried hair.

Texturising spay and sea salt sprays are very similar. They both will create a textured casual look and the best way to apply it is the same as above but try to let the hair dry as naturally as possible.

Whenever I straighten my hair it goes wavy (horribly) my hair is very thin, and just past my shoulders in length. Do you have any advice as to how I can get my hair to stay straight without ’curving in’?

Try searching local salons for a treatment called the Brazilian blow dry, this will not only keep your hair straight for around 4 months but you can wash it or get caught in the rain and it will still stay straight. It may sound too good to be true ,,,,, but it works. Take a look at the Feature we did

I have naturally curly hair but generally straighten it, I would love to style it more textured and wavy but I can’t seem to get it right, if I don’t straighten it first it is too curly and frizzy to tame down but once straightened is too flat any suggestions on the best way to style it.

I think this is a case of using the right product to help tame the curl and frizz. The best product for this would be Sebastian potion 9 which is a leave in conditioner. Wash your hair as normal with a shampoo specifically for curly hair, towel dry until the hair is damp and then apply a 10p sized amount of the potion 9 through the middle lengths and ends of the hair.

As far as styling your hair is concerned try drying using a diffuser on the end of your dryer and put the speed on slow and the temperature on medium to cool and gently

I have very thick and curly hair. It looks gorgeous curly but the only problem is that it’s incredibly thick that it looks like a mop, so I have to straighten my hair every few days and keep it that way. There really is no other way to style by hair, unless I want to scrunch it with gel or mouse however after a half hour my hair literally frizzes into the same problem I had before so there is no point. Summer is on its way and I don’t know what I’m going to do when it comes to hair because I’m going to shower everyday and straightening it will damage it and the humidity will affect everything. Any suggestions?

You could try something that has been nicknamed the 3 month blow dry, this is something called Keratin Complex Treatment.

Basically this is a treatment that adds Keratin back into the hair and is ideal for people with frizzy hair as it will cut down drying time dramatically, help calm the frizz whilst still allowing you to wear your hair curly or straight.

I am one of those that hate to get my hair cut regularly and avoid it as much as possible, I know and read that people say that if you cut your hair regularly avoid heat and products then it will be amazing but I am a guy that likes to grow my hair and have it quite long (For a guy) and want a full and thick look- currently I think my hairs not in the greatest shape although when I wash it daily I am currently using Tresemme 24hr body because it apparently helps build volume. I feel it is quite thin though specially the fringe I notice that when I do go to hairdressers my fringe ends up being less than it was regarding coverage - I cannot seem to get a fuller fringe anymore where as when I first started growing my hair this length I could pretty much cover the full forehead with it then after I decided to go to a proper hair stylist to style it (as it wasn’t really styled after it grew a lot more) I just seemed to start getting less of a fringe and now its no where near to fully covering my forehead.

As time goes on our body changes as does our hair. It maybe the case it becomes thinner, greasier, fuller, thicker or dry and frizzy. This needs to be accepted in how we grow and change. As for your fringe problem if it’s possible ask your stylist for a fuller heavier fringe this should become thicker and fuller. A good hair cut leaving you with a style (not a trim) should help

I have naturally dark brown hair, about 5 years ago I had it highlighted blonde, after a few years I went back to brown and for the past year I have been dying it brown myself at home. I decided I wanted to go red and put in henna, I was disappointed as the colour did not show up very well. I want to go back to having my hair done at a salon but have been told I would need to have the colour stripped out before they can do anything as there is a lot of colour on the ends of my hair. I am a bit worried about the process as it took quite a while for my hair to recover from the dryness and split ends caused by the blonde. I have bought a protein treatment to use before getting the stripping done but is there any other way I can reduce the damage it will cause and how long should I use the treatment before having the process done? My hair is in quite good condition now but it is thin. It is a few inches past my shoulders and I only used the henna 3 months ago so growing it out would take me years and I really don’t want to cut my hair.

To be honest regarding your colour it does sound like you will have to have your hair stripped because of the amount of colour and henna in your hair.

The protein treatments are a good idea but you could also try an Alchemy treatment from Wella. This is a in salon treatment that will help keep your hair in the best possible condition before colour

I am white British, but my hair resembles an afro, but blonde. I would like it to be curly, but it is straight/marginally wavy, with some curls at the back, and instead of lying flat, it sticks up in a spherical ’gravity-defying’ shape, even though it is nearly five inches long. It isn’t frizzy, but I can’t make it lie flat and it gets incredibly dry very easily. I would like it to be more curly, and less unruly, and want to stop it from sticking up in all directions but don’t quite know how to go about it (it can become very tangled and difficult to keep knot-free). How would I best go about making it curlier, and solving the problem of it standing on end?

Curly hair has a tendency to be dry and brittle, and as you know, very hard to control. Curly hair needs moisture so make sure you use products that lock in the moisture, but are light enough to keep curls bouncy. Try using a moisture shampoo and conditioner like my Lee Stafford Climate Control Shampoo and Conditioner, which are light but help to lock in the moisture and create and an ‘umbrella’ to shield hair from humidity and dry weather conditions.

Before blow drying hair smooth my Climate Control Serum from the root to the tip, massaging it into the hair ends. This super hero serum melts into the hair, nourishing from root to tip and will keep hair in check, beautiful, silky and smooth. Repeat when hair is dry in case you need more of a moisture boost.

Always use a cool or medium heat on your hairdryer as well as a diffuser pointed downwards to keep curls look defined. Otherwise if you use a thin nozzle and a high heat hair will look dry and frazzled! Also, never brush curly hair while you are drying it as this will break up the definition of the curl and cause major frizz and zero shine. A quick and easy tip – wind hair around fingers to keep it in a spiral, and you can repeat this throughout the day.

It is also worth doing a deep conditioning treatment 2/3 times a week to get your hair feeling supple and soft again. Try my Lee Stafford Hot Shots which are self warming treatment shots with pro repair formula to strengthen, replenish and restore hairs moisture balance and will keep your hair tangle free.

When you have time, using tongs is the fool proof way of getting fabulous curls. Try using my Poker Straight and Kinda Curly Styling Iron. It has curved plate edges so will create smooth, silky curls in a flash.

I have Remington Wet 2 Dry straighteners - they have impregnated and ionic plates - is this as good as the FHI ones and if not what’s better about the FHI ones? Can’t afford to buy another set of straighteners that claim to be fab but don’t do much better than my GHDs! Interested to read that using serum boils the keratin out of the hair? I wash 3 times a week, use keratin shampoo and conditioner with regular deep keratin conditioner too. Once every 6 weeks I use Brazilian keratin ’straightening’ (non chemical) product. I thought this would make my hair less porous and thus less dry/individual hairs look bent and don’t lie together. I straighten full head of hair 2 - 3 times a week and quickly once over in between just on any hairs that are out of shape from sleep. I just do NOT know what to do with my hair - I have an asymmetrical (from back to front) bob and getting finer all the time hair (I’m 43). I have spent FORTUNES on conditioners and salon shampoos etc and nothing will work. My hair when wet from washing is soft, sleek, smooth, all keeping together but as it dries the ends wisp up and look bent and have no movement. I just do not know what else to do. I either have salon Wella colours or at home colours and don’t mess my hair up with colour. What do you suggest? I fear if I go into a salon and say oh my ends are dry I’ll just get given more conditioners and be told ’this is the one that will solve your woes’ - but I’ve been told that so many times before...

I think all your problems come from heat damage!

You NEED a hair straightener that has a temp control on it. If you notice steam coming off your hair when you straighten it that is moisture being taken out of your hair.

What I ALWAYS do when using any iron is:

Adjust the temp so that no steam or very little come off the hair and slowly glide the iron down the section. This ensures you keep as much of the moisture content as possible and you hair WILL stay in better condition.

Keep using all the conditioning products you are using at the moment and try an iron with a variable temp setting. You will notice a massive difference.

Take a look at the Revlon colour crème it’s fantastic to use in-between colours