By Chrissy Iley
I remember the 90’s. I remember the hair straighteners and I remember Lee who practically invented the sleek haired look. One of his first products was one for how to cope with the heat of his straighteners that people would take with them everywhere, plugging them in even on trains where you’re supposed to plug in your phone. People thought they would go away but they not only defined a decade, they redefined themselves when they became used for wave hair.
This year the look is the super curl. There’s been a strange trend to bring back the perm with the slight exaggeration that these days, perms don’t damage your hair. I don’t think these days there’s room for anything that perm – in the world of hair – more than ever we like change because we can. We can go from straight to curly, from long to short and long again with the help of extensions which is maybe why Lee Stafford is doing the most incredible hair curling tool ever, the chopstick. Instead of a jumbo curler it’s tiny, like a chopstick. You wrap the hair around it and you release a tiny coil of super curl.
I went to Lee’s Soho loft because of course he is an expert ad even though he thinks I’d be able to do it myself – most people can – I’m not most people. He tells me though it’s all about do the right side, then do the left side, then swap hands. You can curl a total head or you can leave bits straight which looks very edgy, fashion forward. His loft is like being backstage at a rock concert, both ultra-modern and gorgeously retro. Lee is always divine company – funny, easy, passionate. You don’t see passion in hairdressers often these days but Lee, who started off cutting hair at his mother’s dining room table has always been tangibly thrilled by what he can create, transform and amaze with hair in his hands. He’s got several Academies now where students learn hair from his own Michelin star hair recipes.
I notice he’s got Jive Talking by the Bee Gees playing in the background. See what I mean. Classic, retro, edgy entirely in a new way. It doesn’t take him long to have chopsticked my hair into tiny curls. I think I look like Barbra Streisand on the cover of Guilty which is so amazingly pleasing for me who love Barbra. The look was admired by everyone and I can’t wait for my chopstick and I can’t wait to take it everywhere with me. I wonder if it will work in the socket they have on a plane.
Click here to find out how to get the best tight curls both with or without the heat!
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