Trust the Practised Expert

If you want to know how to do something, listen to someone with proven practical experience rather than an academic, as they say.

So when I decided to sign up for the London Royal Parks Half Marathon this year (something I’ve never had any previous inclination to do) I turned to my personal trainer Gaby Rosenthal who also has a sideline in running marathons; finishing 2^nd in the 2012 London half marathon, 4^th in the 2008 London full marathon in the female listings.

I told her that I was raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and what was important to me: 1. Enjoying the process and the race. 2. Not injuring myself 3. Finishing in a good time. And of course, 4. Looking good at the finish line if I get photographed!

Gaby started me off on a short book called ‘Slow Burn’ by Stu Mittleman who holds various long distance running records which make my half marathon jog around the London Royal Parks seem like…. well, a walk in the park! He ran 587 miles in 6 days. 1000 miles in 12 days and then 3000 miles from San Diego to New York in a leisurely 56 days. He also took an entire corporate team of non-runners through the New York Marathon with only 9 weeks training. Clearly he was someone to give me some insight. 

Reading the book, it's clear that Stu has taken himself into the Zen space of running. It explained a lot to me about the body's metabolic processes, much of which I've sort of heard of before but never really understood until now. Gaby also put the Nike App on my iPhone which is brilliant for tracking performance whilst running. 

Beyond 10-20 minutes on a treadmill I had never run long distance, other than an attempt at a 10k in Regents Park 3 years ago which was more of an endurance test. I finished quite well at about the midway point of 400 runners at 47m 20s but can’t say I enjoyed it and never went back to distance running. 

'Slow Burn' has changed everything: in the 3 weeks since I started I’ve run 10k four times with pleasure and relative ease, and a 13k run too. Not superfast, my last 10k yesterday morning was 52m 25s but I have 7 months to work on my fitness and stamina and am aiming to shave a fair bit off that. In last year's London Half Marathon the top 10% were within 1h 40m and Gaby suggests this would be a creditable achievement for a beginner. Watch this space...

Zappos Visit

We dipped out of our Tuesday morning Redken seminar today for a company tour around Zappos. Headquartered just outside Las Vegas, this is the internet shoe company snapped up by Amazon a few years ago for $1.4 Billion.

Tasilia, Lane, Russell and
Michael at Zappos Las Vegas

It has a quirky culture that has attracted imitators from around the world. They are dedicated to delivering happiness to their customers by keeping their staff happy. At this call centre for about 600 staff, that means allowing individuals to design their own workstations and areas which results in  a medley of student digs styles.

Whilst amusing, it would drive me nuts after a while but then none of them are in visual contact with customers and it clearly works for the company. Access to life coaches, free or heavily subsidised canteen and strong team ethic are all part of the caring culture. Underlying the apparent laissez faire paternalist approach are disciplined business principles and strong vision from Tony Hsieh.

They certainly treated us like Royalty and we took away a lot of inspiration.

Flashy & Trashy

When I first came to Las Vegas in 2010 for a Tony Robbins Business conference, I had huge prejudices about how tacky it would be – an extreme version of all the negative excesses of American culture, on steroids!

I stayed at Steve Wynn’s  recently opened Encore and was bowled over by the quality of this fantasy extravaganza. I loved the trip and returned to the Encore this year but included a weekend. Well... what a difference. Packs of testosterone filled lads strolled around with beer bottles, and no sartorial respect for the plush surroundings, along with legions of seriously overweight girls with a worryingly low fabric to flesh ratio, no doubt inspired by ‘Jersey Shore’. I booked dinner at the smart new Asian restaurant, Andrea’s, for Saturday and was reminded of the dress code – no flip-flops or shorts! I think this A-List resort’s target market has cascaded down the social alphabet a little since opening. Must be the difficult economy.

Andrea’s PR gush, promised a unique model in Asian dining; the merger of..…“exotic Asian flavours from chef Joseph Elevado and musical talent of chef Steve Angello into an unforgettable nightlife experience!” In the end it was just another Nobuesque offering but with loud clubby/retail music. Unfortunately not loud enough to drown out the table next to us; 18 Jocks trying to outdo each other on the decibel count or the similar sized party next to them who wanted to be sure everyone in the restaurant knew they were there to celebrate a birthday…all evening. The kitchen had run out of their Black Cod Miso which is always a good test comparison of a modern Asian restaurant, but the dishes we had were virtually on par with the best Global Asian offerings.

The Encore may have the biggest Ferrari dealership in America but now charges $10 to go in and many of the visitors want to buy the photo of themselves sitting in their favourite car. Disneyland came to mind; the resort seems to be becoming more of a tourist attraction.

As I walked through during Saturday, coach-loads of day-trippers were taking in the sights as they would any other National Monument, like The Tower of London or Notre Dame Cathedral. 

“Okay ladies off to The Venetian now!” screamed one tour guide. I can enjoy the buzz of the crowd but when it’s incessant and reminds me of the rush hour for the London Underground, I start to question if I’m in the right place. The hotel remains luxurious but it no longer feels exclusive. I guess that’s hard with 2000 rooms. Thankfully the wonderful spa was still quiet and tranquil (clearly the hordes don’t do Zen) and I could retreat to my generously proportioned suite which is incredibly good value by international standards.

They do a great job of keeping it fresh and clean. The interior finishes look better after 4 years than most new buildings after 4 months, a creditable achievement in a resort this size. I definitely recommend it, but avoid the weekend. Moving on now to The Hotel at The Mandalay for the Redken Symposium.

Loving Buenos Aires

Yet again I’ve landed in a capital city and been metaphorically grabbed by the scruff of the neck to appreciate what a wealthy beautiful and dynamic city London is.

So many other capital cities look third world in comparison.

People here in Buenos Aires are friendly and there is a vibe but it’s so achingly obvious in everything you look at and feel, that this is a country on its knees economically. Sad, considering only 80 years ago they were the 5^th biggest economy in the world. It’s clearly had little investment in the last 40 years.

The low ceilinged airport terminal has worn linoleum tiles on the floor, with buckets everywhere catching leaking air conditioning units. Walls panelled with cheap melamine over chipboard sheets, are chipped and broken. Outside, small, old beaten up cars fill the streets, and there’s a pervading sense of things not working.

My hotel is lovely though. The Faena is an old refurbished grain store, built just over 100 years ago with bricks from Manchester, in a pretty regenerated area around docks. The main city square is just a pleasant 10 minute stroll across the water.

Good staff, pretty surroundings and views over the river from my junior corner suite. Philip Stark’s playful witty design hasn’t replaced functionality unlike some of his early offerings. Everything in my room works. Downstairs, the breakfast restaurant has a strong underlying theme for the interior, “What Granny sent to the car boot sale”. A kitsch collection of housewares from Victoriana through to Art Nouveau. It’s fun.

The outdoor pool is beautifully contained in a walled terrace garden and lounging and lunching here competes easily with sightseeing. They have a Tango theatre in house where you can dine and then watch a cast run through an hour of classic dance routines. The bar had good live entertainment which runs ‘from’ midnight. The gym is surprisingly large and well equipped and they also have a decent sized yoga room. In fact it was all so accommodating I didn’t want to venture out too often and would happily have spent another week there. Premium haircare doesn’t see too advanced here in Buenos Aires, probably down to the poor economy of recent decades, but I expect things will be better in Brazil tomorrow.

Cotidie

I rather miss Cafe Luc, the Belgian Brasserie at the top of the High street. I turned up one day for an impromptu lunch and they were moving out. The manager told me they’d been bought by an Italian. Bruno Barbieri, a Michelin starred Masterchef wanted to “join the wealth of restaurant talent in London”.

Several months later (surprising, given the decor’s barely changed) the new restaurant Cotidie has opened. It’s a serious restaurant, with complex dishes and rigid staff - an all Italian crew behaving like the French. I expected something more relaxed and engaging from the menu and exuberant chefs shouting risotto recipes at each other.

Instead the tables have thinned out, and in a half full restaurant, a church like ambience seems too precious for the High Street. My partner’s suggestion of a jazz piano in the corner was possibly more than required but I think the atmosphere and format may have to be tweaked to work in Marylebone.

Food was elaborately precise, at times overly complex, but well worth a try.

Cotidie - 50 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HN T: 020 7258 9878

New Look: Colour Studio

We’d been having some problems with insufficient lighting in the studio in the dark winter afternoons. The 17ft vaulted ceilings had confounded more than one lighting designer. It was finally decided that chandeliers would probably be the best option to complement the spots and we are delighted with the new look. It’s stage one of several small changes to the layout and design of the salon which will make it an even more pleasant space to while away the time. Watch this space!          

New Feather Extensions

Try this for Spring. A few super fine feathers weaved into your own hair. Very eye catching and a lot of fun.

See Violeta for a consultation 0207 224 3123

Hair Transplants Explained

I’m flying back from Dublin, having spent a day in theatre with the talented Dr Maurice Collins – probably the world’s leading hair transplant surgeon.

Many clients have enquired about the procedures and I too have a few less hairs on top than in my youth, when my full swinging Bob would attract ‘is he or isn’t he?’ comments as I strode along, a Mickey take on the ’70s Harmony Hairspray ads for those old enough to remember; my brother Nicky was practising on my hair at the time and hadn’t yet moved onto full layers!

Anyway, my only understanding of hair transplants was the old dolly head plug version which left a lot to be desired and I wanted to be updated on just how refined this process could now be.

The purpose built centre in Dublin is state of the art, and oozes a sense of excellence and caring. The underground car park with lift allows total anonymity for high profile clients.

We started at 7.45 with a full boardroom briefing on the patient who had flown in from Asia especially. The meeting involved the whole team of about 15 surgeons, nurses and technicians. It’s vital that everyone knows the exact programme, as with this sort of surgery you don’t get a second chance.

Everything is carried out under local anaesthetic and the procedure ran like this:

1. In the operating theatre a strip of scalp is removed from the back of the head between 1 -2 cm high and 26 cm across. Maurice was previously a head and neck surgeon. This is the donor piece. This wound is closed with staples and stitching, and the patient moves to the TV room beside the labs where he can sit upright and relax.

2.    The donor section of scalp is then taken to the lab where a team of highly skilled technicians working at banks of Nikon microscopes slice the flesh into 'single hair wide rows. Another group of technicians in the adjoining lab then separate these into the individual hair follicles.

3. The harvest is graded into single hair, double, triple and quadruple hair follicles. The average works out to about 2.2 hairs per follicle, so 100 follicles will yield approximately 220 hairs. 3000 hairs is a fairly standard procedure. This is of course dependent on the thickness and quality of the donor hair at the back. Everything is recorded, counted and posted on the wall for everyone to see. It’s important to know the numbers.

4. Another surgeon has prepared 3 micro scalpels tailored to the depth of the scalp and in 3 thicknesses depending on follicle size. In the TV room he then sets about making incisions into the scalp taking care to adjust the angles so that the hairs lay in a natural direction. Only single hair follicles are placed around the hairline and some are scattered with a deliberate irregularity to mimic nature’s way.

5. A further team of technicians then begin planting the individual follicles one by one into the prepared holes. The full operation can take 10 hours and the patient must stay upright, so cannot go to bed, for 12 hours after leaving.

I sat in on two post op consultations from yesterday’s surgery and I was amazed to see how quickly the healing was taking place. One man was in his 30s the other in his 70s.

I also attended a consultation with a female patient who had been taking Regaine to thicken her hair. I personally don’t like the idea of lifelong drug use but this is mild and externally applied. The results were dramatically different from earlier photographs I saw.

I know as a hairdresser the amazing difference hair makes to self esteem and Maurice is a real artist who’s created an amazing centre. I feel comfortable now recommending clients to him.

Actor – James Nesbitt before and after treatment

Ibiza Cycle Challenge

I consider myself reasonably fit in the old fashioned sense of the word, so quite nonchalantly accepted a 185km mountainous cyclathon invitation thinking it would be as easy as....well..… riding a bike; which I remember doing about 20 years ago. Clearly not! All activities or sports seem to require a specific type of fitness as does mountainous road cycling. Two activities rarely cross exactly. My first 15 minute test in the gym started to get difficult in the first minute.

I insisted the readout must be displaying MPH but the trainer was equally insistent that it was the considerably slower KPH. Oh well, I have 4 weeks to get bike fit for the round the island challenge, all in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Sam, Lane and Ronan are joining me for this worthy cause on 5th & 6th May 2012. If you can spare a few pounds to sponsor us I would greatly appreciate it.

www.justgiving.com/ibizacharityride

The Diamond Dry Cut

Our unique Diamond Dry Cut Method is the finest way to cut hair, to get the most flatteringly precise look. The diamond refers to the sections that are used to divide the curved surface of the scalp. The prolific inventor, Buckminster Fuller discovered this in the 1920’s with his Geodesic Dome and it’s a principle that architects also follow when building curved structures. Hair cut this way works with the natural texture and fall of the hair so it’s personalised for you, is much easier to handle at home and stays looking its best for much longer.

When I meet a client for the first time, I always see it as a lifelong relationship; that I’ll continually be able to create a better haircut and service for them than any other hairdresser. Our Diamond Dry Cut method helps give me a 99% return rate and clients that stay with me for decades.

Make-Up Service

We have a great make up service in salon. Our team are very experienced at fashion shows, weddings and with salon clients. For casual or formal events we can give you that extra special look and feeling. Pit stop make-up refresher in 20 minutes for £30, and New Season Lessons just £60 for one hour.

New Premium Waxing

Being fair haired and sensitive skinned, waxing hasn’t featured in my life personally. Though I was pinned down about 15 years ago for an enforced chest wax by my partner at the time who thought it would be a good idea, or amusing at least. It was agony, and the redness lasted for days.

So when our Beauticians asked to demonstrate a revolutionary new waxing to me and on me I didn’t jump at the chance. They claimed it massively reduced the pain to something bordering on pleasant and eliminated the post redness even on sensitive skin. It also left the newly bare skin soft, glowing and polished. After some resistance I tried it and now I believe it. It is quite amazing.

Vanity or Social Responsibility?

I remember as a kid my dad dressing up even when going out to buy a newspaper. He’d always put on a suit and tie. I always admired his sartorial self-respect, but in today’s dressed down, dumbed down society he’d be seen as quaintly old school. He came from an era where communities regulated themselves and front steps were scrubbed religiously.

Chatting to a friend recently, an ex eco-warrior, I was accused of not having a proper job, but just appealing to people’s vanity! I’m not sure what a ‘proper’ job is, but I suggested that one person’s idea of vanity is another’s sense of generosity and consideration for others.

I think we’re all public presenters of sorts (hermits excepted) and cannot help inflicting ourselves on a defenceless society. Hence I feel it’s socially responsible to make the best efforts we can with our personal grooming. The positive health benefits of good self esteem are also well documented.

How we feel about our hair has a big impact on our moods, confidence levels and self-esteem. So I also pointed out to her, the positive health benefits of good grooming and it being a pillar of proactive self-care; others of course being a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise. So it’s not about vanity, but more about social and personal responsibility. “Hmmm”…said my friend, and changed the subject.

Local Restaurants This Month

Le Relais de Venise L’entrecote , 120 Marylebone Lane W1, 020 7486 0878

The landlords are putting a lot of effort into Marylebone Lane and it’s developing as a quirkily interesting little shopping street. Of the many small restaurants, one offers a French version of fast food……..a sort of Michelin star McDonalds, on the back of a formula that’s worked in Paris for 50 plus years. This is a useful local restaurant though not one I rush back to despite the lengthy queues that form around 7.00pm - you can’t book.

It’s a set meal of salad – with a secret dressing recipe, steak with a secret sauce recipe & chips, and one of those meals that despite enjoying it whilst eating, at the end I feel no desire to repeat it. That may just be because I forget to decline the second helping they hold off to the side. Service is Parisian.

Invisible Haircuts?

A full page article in last week’s Evening Standard talked about a ‘new’ way of cutting which avoided the chunky lines and choppy steps created by most ‘try hard’ stylists these days. The Invisible Haircut. Initially I thought someone was at last catching on to something we have stood by for years, just beautifully refined and understatedly perfect haircuts.

When the article continued on to say how it was vital to hold some hair and make quick upward snips at three times per second and miss bits out to achieve the ‘metodo’ (Italian for method), I knew I was reading yet more gimmicky marketing by someone that doesn’t understand the principles of a achieving a great haircut.

Great hair never has screamed, ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ at the expense of the owner. Great hair helps the wearer look beautiful and feel confident, and an observer shouldn’t instantly know why. It may occur to the observer that the hair looks gorgeous. It may then appear that the haircut and style is just right. If they continue to wonder, they may conclude that a very talented hairdresser has been there. In that order it shows good taste. Less professional hairdressers want their creations to shout from the rooftops. The very best hairdressers are happy for their work to play a vital supporting role to the real star, the client.

One of my high profile television personalities, whose diary doesn’t always link in with mine, once said to me, “You know Michael, when other people cut my hair it feels like I have something on my head. When you cut my hair, it just feels like it’s part of me.”

I thought that summed it up rather well.

LFW: World Peace Through Personal Beauty

I often find myself in the middle of a conflict between prospective apprentices, desperate to go into hairdressing, and their concerned parents wanting them to take a more serious career path like law, medicine, accountancy or banking. “Well let’s face it…..isn’t the fashion and beauty industry along with those other creative types, a bit……… shallow?” My feelings of indignation passed years ago. I feel what we do with personal grooming and visual health is important individually and socially, and exceptionally skilled. It engenders higher self esteem and is aligned to proactive self care and wellbeing, so also links in with the healthcare aims of medicine, but without the gory bits. People who look good feel good. People who feel good do good. I rest my case m’lud.

As for ‘serious careers’….being able to express ourselves in our own version of beauty is also vitally important to a healthy self image which in turn affects how we relate to others. When this freedom is suppressed, it can ferment a deep discontent with potentially tragic consequences. You only have to look at the world’s war zones, where there is no formally established fashion and beauty culture. As far as I’m aware there is no Iraqi Cosmopolitan magazine nor Afghanistan Vogue and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Perhaps the UN planes should be flying teams from London Fashion Week into the world’s conflict hotspots.