Josh Wood Atelier

Nestled in a quiet cobblestone mews in Holland Park, is where you will find the hair heaven that is the Atelier. Josh Wood, the industry’s colour supremo has created a salon like no other.

After going through the living-room styled reception you enter a dark, mirrored passage way which leads into a light-filled styling room. Gone are the usual rows of mirrors and work stations that make you feel as if you are in on a conveyor belt in a biscuit factory. Instead you are seated at a long glass table. Neither are there the ubiquitous lines of basins. It’s more like being in a modern art gallery than in the hairdressers.

My stylist was Jack Haley-Buckley. “Hair should have movement. It’s not about volume now,” he said. This sounded promising as I hate big hair. So many stylists puff it out so much that all you want to do is run to the nearest ladies room and flatten it before anybody sees your helmet hair.

Jack believes that hair should look effortless and not like you have just spent hours in a salon. His take is that everybody is an individual. “The trends should work with you, your hair texture and lifestyle.”

After rough-drying my hair, using his fingers to lift the roots, he took a round bristle brush to smooth it out. Jack’s blow-dry was one of the best I had in ages. Glamorous, done but not done.

By Daralyn Danns

Josh Wood Atelier, 6 Lansdowne Mews, London W11 3AN. Tel: 020 3393 0977.

A blow-dry starts from £30.