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Midnight at the salon: back in the awesome hands of my hairdresser after lockdown

Hannah Betts was quick to have her hair cut when hairdressers reopened today following lockdown -  Clara Molden
Hannah Betts was quick to have her hair cut when hairdressers reopened today following lockdown - Clara Molden

Someone is kneading my scalp, nape and behind my ears: long, masterful, hypnotic strokes that make my shoulders unclench for the first time since March.

It’s not erotic, but it is profoundly sensuous in the Miltonic, non-sexual sense.

I am Meryl Streep having her hair washed by Robert Redford in Out of Africa. I am all the women Warren Beatty lays hands on in Shampoo.

A stranger’s touch after months of choreographed avoidance feels curiously deviant.

It is also completely and utterly awesome – and I’m not even one of the nation's 16 million single people, starved of physical contact.

Half past midnight, Saturday July 4 – 103 days since the start of lockdown – and Britain’s hairdressers are back in business with talk of 3,000-strong waiting lists.

Most of them will wait until morning. Legions have appointments at 8am sharp.

Hannah had her hair cut byNicholas Hardwick at Josh Wood Colour Atelier in Notting Hill - Clara Molden
Hannah had her hair cut byNicholas Hardwick at Josh Wood Colour Atelier in Notting Hill - Clara Molden

However, king of colour Josh Wood wanted to race back into business the moment this became legal.

Here at his atelier in ritzy Holland Park there is a (distanced) party atmosphere as Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie, singer Katherine Jenkins, and perfumer Jo Malone are all attended to, safely enthroned in their separate zones, while coiffeurs hover about them in plastic visors.

“Safety is obviously key,” beams Wood, 53, who - 31 years since he did his Youth Training Scheme back in Barnsley - is one of the industry’s biggest names.

“This is about restoring confidence. I’ve been consulting with Government in my position as a board member of the British Beauty Council and have found them very thorough and responsive.”

Half of the salon’s chairs have been removed, appointments will be taken online, and payments made by card.

There will be longer opening hours, with shift work to reduce staff presence, temperature checks, stringent disinfecting, no cutting of dry hair, no food and drink, and PPE available to all.

The result continues to be remarkably civilised once one’s got past the landmine-era Princess Diana visors.

And, good Lord, isn’t it incredible to be talking to people, not at home, doing something in the flesh! Not just doing anything, mind, but engaged in that sublime state of being groomed.

As Christie enthuses: “Hair is an intrinsic part of our identity. It can perform a magical illusion of transforming us from one person to another. In these times of chaos, control over how we feel about ourselves is so significant.

"I have been counting the days until I can be reunited with Josh.”

So giddy about my appointment was I, I woke at 4.15am.

Now, almost 24 hours later, I still can’t believe my luck, feeling slightly sick with excitement.

My hair has been okay in lockdown, if by “okay” one means straw-like and restrained in a scrunchie (quests for said item – once scorned in Sex and the City – are up 27pc according to the search platform Lyst).

Hannah having her hair washed during her cut and colour - Clara Molden
Hannah having her hair washed during her cut and colour - Clara Molden

My last professional intervention occurred on January 8.  I scorched off a clump in February when a pair of tongs caught fire, otherwise it has remained untouched.

The result is peculiarly stripy – golden at the roots, jet black to my ear, pinky-orange in its parched lengths.

“A touch Lego heading towards the Ronald MacDonalds,” as Josh so eloquently describes it.

Still, this is better than some of the lockdown horrors he has encountered, be it green supermarket dye jobs, blue tints, or tangerine roots, as customers have resorted to DIY.

“First came sourdough, then everyone turned hairdresser,” he eye rolls.

Some proved rather good at it – Jo Malone’s son turned out to be a dab hand at tinkering with his mother’s roots. Others, alas, were not.

Hence the trend for covering up all mishaps with a shot of hot pink.

Wood has welcomed the “greater honesty and authenticity” many have revealed about dying (or “blending,” as men prefer to call it).

Demi Moore, Lily Allen and Pierce Brosnan have all shown off varying degrees of silver while social distancing.

He predicts that more natural, low-maintenance approaches will become fashionable, not least should there be cases of “pulsed” lockdown.

If so, I can vouch for the miraculous nature of his colour-enhancing shampoos and conditioners, the effects of which have to be seen to be believed.

By anybody’s standards, Wood has had a good Covid.

No one close to him has been afflicted, while - as owner of the only haute home-colouring service - business has been booming with a 2,986pc increase.

Home treatments typically make up about three quarters of all dying; under lockdown it was officially 100pc, albeit rumours about rule-breaking persist.

Hannah Betts after having her hair cut and colour - Clara Molden
Hannah Betts after having her hair cut and colour - Clara Molden

Wood’s 80-strong team has provided over 3,600 complementary video consultations.  Still, for the first time ever he has found himself in debt to cover rent, VAT and bills, and has suffered sleepless nights.

Many have endured worse.

Millie Kendall MBE, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, tells me: “There are so many challenges, not just the cost of PPE, but the new scheduling of staff and clients and longer hours, all of which will reduce turnover. I also think some clients might reduce frequency.

"Some salons won’t be able to reopen without both hair and beauty. Then you have the mobiles who have not had access to grants or furlough. I would expect to see our industry shrink by up to 30pc.”

Kendall has been disconcerted by parliament, central government and the cabinet continuing to dismiss the sector as frivolous, despite its adding almost £30 billion a year to GDP, making it bigger than the car industry.

“The sexist perception of the beauty industry is much as it was 50 years ago. Compare Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions when male MPs made jokes about the urgency of reopening, despite our supporting over 600,000 jobs.”

The good news for this most tactile of industries is that touch remains very much in evidence, despite being sheathed in a plastic glove.

There may be no hugs, but there are a lot of happy tears, not least when I am de-striped and stylist Nicholas Hardwick has given me a cracking cut.

As for wild talk about a ban on chat, Wood waves a dismissive hand: “Darling, try and stop me! Many of my clients have been coming for 20 years. I can’t wait to hear their gossip. I mean, come on!”

The psychological benefits are immediately obvious.

One client confides that she’s had “moments of barely clinging on. However, having my hair back under control will mark the beginning of being back in control”.

I am reminded of the immortal truth revealed in Fleabag’s final season: “Hair is everything. We wish it wasn't, so we could actually think about something else occasionally, but it is.”

Wood, naturally, understands this more than most.

“Not being able to practice a craft you’ve been doing every day of your life has been really odd. Wielding a comb, taking the fabric of the hair in your hand. I feel like myself again.”

As do I - a better one. Then off Josh trots to Windolene his visor.