W e’ve moved on from the fifties’ men’s trend of the past few seasons, evolving the faded sides and contrasting crowns into something that’s a little edgier, almost punk in nature. This style, which I created for the latest collection for Italian brand Oway, is choppy, messy and slightly longer than the recent Pompadour styles that were big news last season. I’ve pulled the front section forward, chopping quite deep into it, leaving a good three or four inches of length through the back section of the crown to create the height, texture and movement. A strong-hold texturising gum or gel, such as OW MEN bungee fiber – an elastic fibrous hair paste – is needed to style the look – and don’t be afraid of using a product that leaves a wet-look finish. This is a bold style that works better on straighter hair, and if you’re growing your hair out, this is the perfect cut to make it through that awkward in-between stage.

EUROPEAN UNION

Last month the Westrow Artistic Team travelled to Bologna, Italy to launch the Owayans collection to an international audience. We crafted the collection for Oway with an organic, undone feel, showcasing our work on seven female and two male models, each of which had a very different hair colour, type and texture. We created a softly side-swept style on the men, giving them a scissor cut, where the front and sides were left long and gently parted to one side. By contrast, we gave the women far less structured looks, full of flow and contrasting textures. The styles we created ranged from wispy waves to tight corkscrew curls, from waist-length and flowing, to cropped and choppy, yet every look was united by that same raw, ethereal quality.

GILT TRIP

Make some waves with the newly launched, gorgeously golden Hot Tools Professional CurlBar. With an opulent, sleek 24K gold styling surface, the curling iron provides a super simple, functional and showstopping way to create amazing curls that last all day and night. But that’s not all, the CurlBar reduces the time it takes to achieve perfect curls, volume and movement and features a Vibrating Curl Timer that allows you to choose the time needed for the type of curl. What’s not to love? RRP £100

NORTHERN LIGHTS

My business partner, Marc Westerman is no stranger to pulling on his running shoes in the name of charity: he completed the Great North Run in 2014 and 2015, and last year successfully encouraged many of Westrow’s staff members (including myself) to join him in completing the sporting event again. This year was no exception as he took on last month’s London Marathon completing the event in just 4 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds – despite the record-breaking heat on the day. So far, Marc has raised an incredible £5,143 for Diabetes UK, making him the highest fundraiser for the charity at this year’s event so far, and he continues to welcome donations through his JustGiving page. Donations can be made at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ marc-westerman4.

ACADEMY WINNER

We’re super excited at Westrow HQ as construction of the new UK Revlon Academy headquarters – housed on the 2nd floor of the 5,000 sq ft Westrow Academy in Leeds – is now underway. This exciting project will offer a range of Revlon Professional and American Crew courses to the hairdressing industry, delivered by the Revlon Professional and American Crew technical education team alongside National Artistic Ambassadors and American Crew All Stars. Welcoming Revlon into their new hairdressing home means so much to us, as it proves that our dedication to education has been recognised by brands we are proud to align ourselves with.

DAKS THE WAY TO DO IT

At Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 hair was effortlessly undone – which rather ironically, takes a little bit of effort to achieve. We went backstage, courtesy of L’Oréal Professionnel, to find out which show truly nailed ‘cool girl’ hair, and how you can achieve it this summer…

KINKY BOOTS: The hallmark of this emerging trend is a very natural, almost gutsy texture, and an abundance of soft kinks. Two styles stole the show at Daks SS18, one up and one down, both of them equally abundant in texture and ‘undone’ in appearance.

GET THE LOOK: To recreate the long loose style seen at the Daks show, rough-dry hair forward, tong large sections with a medium-sized barrel and part down the centre. To create the second look – an undone twist – twist hair up at the crown and loosely pin with a handful of Kirby grips, leaving soft wisps to escape at the front.

INSIDER TIP: L’Oréal Professionnel Tecni.ART Beach Waves was key to creating both styles backstage – this wonder product is what gave the models’ clean hair that ‘three day old’ lived-in texture.