Philip Kingsley, London: Prescriptive hair-healing treatment
Helen Warwick tries out a Prescriptive treatment at the Philip Kingsley Trichological Clinic in Mayfair
My hair is my thing. And that's not because it's gorgeous, thick and free-flowing. It's because it's fine, thin and flyaway, and I'm always looking for ways to boost its volume and general va va voom. After more than 15 years of highlights, periods of incessant straightening and cheap and nasty brushes, it's had enough of being my plaything. Even on a ‘good day', you can catch all the broken cuticles running along the shaft of my hair, in certain lights.
I've tried masks of olive, avocado and coconut oils. I've even concocted a homemade treatment with raw egg. But when cold, thick egg white ran down my neck and into my eyelashes, I decided full-on au naturel remedies weren't the way to go.
Hopes were high, therefore, when I booked in for the Prescriptive treatment at the Philip Kingsley Trichological Clinic in London's Mayfair. Performed by professional trichologists, it's said to ‘help diagnose, treat and prevent stressed or damaged hair where it really matters, from deep inside the hair'. It's ideal for dry, irritated, damaged, over-processed, coloured, limp or simply unmanageable hair. Yes, yes, yes and yes!
My trichologist ran her fingers through my locks, inspecting both the strands and scalp. I explained my concerns and my beauty routine, and cringed as I told her I hadn't had it cut in more than five months.
My problem, she surmised, was a lack of protein, although she said, I'd exaggerated much of my concern. And while I might aspire to have thick, long, flowing, blonde locks, I was never going to be Farrah Fawcett. However, my hair's condition could be improved with a number of product and styling tweaks.
After a pre-shampoo treatment, where my scalp was blasted with steam to allow for deeper penetration, and a heavenly scalp massage, she shampooed and conditioned my hair with the Philip Kingsley range, and gently blow-dried it.
I didn't quite leave with the super-voluminous hair I've always hankered for — I need extensions for that — but I did leave with a soft, shiny mane, a new brush, and a little more know-how for my poor, endlessly experimented upon hair.
philipkingsley.co.uk
