Celebrity Stylist Karl Plewka is finding the perfect blonde hair colour
There is nothing more subjective than the perfect blonde. I should know, I’ve been searching for this Holy Grail since I first used Sun-In at age thirteen. I then graduated to the ‘cap & crochet hook’ method until eventually arriving at the more high-end ‘babylights with balayage’ technique I favour today.
I’m as obsessed with being blonde now more than ever. It’s my identity. It’s who I am. It’s a state of mind. Wallis Simpson once said, “You can never be too rich or too thin,” and, in my opinion, one can never be too blonde either. But how to maintain my voracious quest for blondness?
Well, behind every blonde lies a secret weapon: the colourist. And I’d like to introduce you to a very special entry in my Little Black Beauty Book; the wonderful Hair Colour Specialist, Shari Reynolds, at the Fitzrovia based George Northwood Salon.
I was lucky enough to get an appointment with Shari — she’s worked on everyone from George Michael to Cate Blanchett – just before Lockdown and boy was I happy. The thought of spending three months cooped up at home with a carb addiction, dodgy Wi-Fi and dishwater roots was not an appealing one and I needed a colour refresh.
This visit Shari went for a four-pronged process, as she explained, “I’m going to do some soft lowlights to add dimension and so it doesn’t look as drastic when it grows out. Then we are doing babylights, with a soft volume bleach, which keeps the condition of the hair intact.
Then we will do a ‘Scandi hairline’ which softens the edges around the face. We will finish with a clear toner, with a drop of violet, to get rid of any rawness and make the hair super glossy.”