Achieve blonde perfection with edward james

Tone

The secret to the most flattering and flawless blonde is to choose the right tone. It is all in the eyes and skin – your iris colour will tell you what will suit you best. Cool tones indicate you can go for pastel ash, platinum, mink and creamy blondes. Warmer tones mean you are best to go for glorious golden, caramel and buttery tones with your hair. For darker eye and skin tones you can break a rule breaker. If you want to go for more dramatic lighter tones opt for more muted caramels that do not scream out on dark hair. For more subtle highlights closer to your natural base colour rich golden browns and sun-kissed bronzes will look stunning.

Condition

Ask your stylist to use a strengthening bond builder in your colour mixture. It magically protects your hair during colour by adding new bonds, leaving your hair stronger as a result. Flawless colour can only be achieved when hair is fortified and shiny to reflect the tones, so all of my celebs clients need this insurance for their hair as it makes such a dramatic difference over time.

Maintenance

Match your fabulous colour to your lifestyle. Managing maintenance is a big part of it, so if you do not have time to get your re-growth done every 5-6 weeks then consider opting for brightening babylights (super fine highlights) on your parting and hairline as this will grow out more seamlessly. Having a bold balayage blonde which freehand paints colour through the hair allows you to add dramatic brightness to your hair without the dreaded demarcation line appearing.

3 things to avoid for the perfect blonde

Firstly, love your blonde but do not become a blondorexic! The initial hit and excitement of when you first get your fresh flawless blonde is addictive for many and you want that same feeling every time you walk out of the salon. Sometimes to have the perfect blonde you need to take a step back and introduce some depth to the colour each time by adding some base colours or mid-tones in there to make your hair look fresh and screen siren blonde not basic brassy blonde. Remember more is more, so the more lightening more frequently risks more breakage. You hair is like a canvas with a masterpiece painted on it, so blonde perfection requires your tresses to be in the finest condition at all times.

Secondly, do not chop and change. Blonde this week and red the next? Expect your hair condition to take a hit. Even using “temporary” blue for Coachella (or because you are in lockdown and bored) you are going to can wreak havoc. Many of the “wash in wash out” pastel toners stain the hair. This can be a challenge to remove from the hair even in the salon and will often require a bleaching agent. If you do want to make changes, do it gradually and consult with your courist. Often my clients will require a big colour change for a role they are playing but may have to change it back quickly for another role within a couple of weeks so we use wigs, hairpieces and hair extensions, many of which cost upwards of £5000. They know how important their hair is to their image and that is why we do not chop and change. For many I plan a colour change over 6 -12 months to ensure their condition is red carpet worthy.

Thirdly, avoid chlorine and sea water at all costs! Possibly two of the worst things you can do to your hair. Chlorine will remove toners, dehydrate your hair and will also lift any darker lowlight colours and warm them up. Sea salt will also play havoc as the salt letches moisture from coloured hair making it more brittle, faded and more likely to break.

Edward James 3 essential blonde products:

Bond Strengthening: Olaplex’s range of bond building products is a game changer. I insist my blonde clients use Step 3 treatment at home to maintain their condition and Step 6 is a leave-in cream that smells simply divine and adds further de-frizzing protection, especially when clients have constant heat styling.

UV Filters and Maintenance: Use a maintenance colour shampoo to reduce colour fade. Ideally you want something with a built in UV protector such as Aveda Colour Conserve. For bright blondes, use a violet shampoo to add colour reflectors and neutralise warm yellow tones. For golden blondes use a gold boosting shampoo or conditioner, which is particularly good if you have a lot of grey hair as it takes the edge of the greys. OSMO do a great violet shampoo, however I prefer a conditioner for golden blondes as it deposit colour better. My go to is Aveda’s camomile conditioner for adding gloss and shine to golden blondes and it smells sensational.

Swimming Protection: If you are addicted to swimming, your hair colour will be screaming for help so use a hair barrier like Phillip Kingsley’s Swim Cap. Also another top tip is to rinse your hair before getting into the water as it will reduce the amount of chlorine/salt your hair absorbs before putting on the barrier cream.