It might be nearly June, but the weather wasn’t particularly nice on Wednesday for the Percy & Reed blogger event in Spitalfields. Pretty apt then that they’d decided on focus on festival hair, as we all know how much rain usually falls over Glasto weekend!
The Percy & Reed Ladies
Now, I love hair, and I’ve had many a different cut and a ridiculous amounts of colours over the years, but styling it has never really been something I’m very good at. It’s either down and straight, ocassionally down and curly or up in a ponytail – adventurous I know. Since having my hair chopped last summer (due to some seriously stressed out locks after my extensions were removed) I haven’t even attempted a ponytail, even though my barnet is about shoulder length now, so I was really interested to find out what ideas the Percy & Reed team would recommend for the Summer months.
Percy & Reed Salon
It isn’t possible to start this post without talking about the Percy & Reed East salon itself. Although I’ve paid what some would class as ridiculous money on my hair in the past, a pretentious salon is just unbearable! Thankfully, as soon as you walk into Percy & Reed, just outside of Spitalfield Market, you realise you don’t need to worry. The original features are still in place from when it was a tomato and banana store for the market – that means the wood panels are actually real, not “distressed” with a hammer to make them look cool! The wash basins are situated in the old office, so towels are stores in the original safe, and the whole salon has a really bright, airy and contemporary feel, making it easy to relax.
Some hanging flowers in the Percy & Reed Salon
Every where you look, there are little touches from Percy & Reed themselves (Paul Percival & Adam Reed, in case you were wondering). From the hanging glass flower planters, to the lending library and uber cool prints and pics everywhere, you get the impression the salon has been a real labour of love for them. Normally a photo of a loo (or The Jimmy Choo should I say) would never grace the pages of this blog, but this little lav is something else! Have you ever seen such a cool loo? And like it says – p*ssing everywhere is really not very Chanel!!
Yes this is the door of the Jimmy Choo….!
Is this, or is this not one of the coolest toilets you’ve seen?
After having a little nose around and sampling a glass of fizz, it was time for Creative Stylist Lacey Hawkins to show us how to create easy, fun festival hair. Now, I’m going to admit straight off, I’m a little bit in awe of Lacey! Her enthusiasm and creativity was infectious and you could see she loves all the Percy & Reed products and really “gets” the ethos behind the brand. Lacey talked about how she loves texture in hair, and most of all likes up do’s to be easy and achievable, using your hands and not faffing with brushes, combs and hair ties all the time. “Yeh Right” I thought to myself, it really can’t be as easy as that!
Lacey creates a “Beret Bun” using just backcombing and Percy & Reed products
A simple yet effective fishtail braid
Unsurprisingly, I was proved wrong when Lacey managed to create four really effective looks, spending no more than ten minutes on each one and only having the brush in her hand about twice! The “Bearet Bun” didn’t even use a bun ring, and the pinned under braids were secured without a hairband in sight. Once she’d pulled together a cute fishtail braid in about three seconds flat, I had to pipe up and ask what could be done with shorter hair. After all, the looks were great but what about girls who aren’t blessed with longer locks? Lacey seems to relish a challenge, so I parked myself in a chair and let her do her magic! Within 10 minutes, my shoulder length, very safe bob had been converted into the biggest, funkiest beehive I’ve ever sported! Other than back combing, Lacey didn’t use any tools, just her hands and lots of Percy & Reed products. Impressed isn’t the word, everyone, myself included, loved the look and despite feeling a tad too cool for school on the tube home, I couldn’t take the grin off my face!
The Percy & Reed products might be quite familiar to you. Their bottles are simple and chic, with a Percy & Reed lady on each one. Inspiration for the P&R ladies comes from well known beauty editors, celebs and models, if you look closely you might be able to guess a few. As well as the packaging, Percy & Reed products are almost instantly recognisable from their distinctive floral scents. It was clear that the products were a staple in all the looks, dry shampoo can be used as a volume booster/texturising spray, hairspray should be used liberally and the smoothing/shine products will give you some gloss.
Do you recognise any of these Percey & Reed products?
I walked away with a rather cute goodie bag, so will tell you more about the products once they’ve been properly trialed, but in the meantime, check out the wide list of stockists here. If you’re looking for a new hairdresser, that’s relaxed, contemporary and lots of fun, you can’t go wrong with Percy & Reed.
Visit Percy & Reed (East) at 1 Fournier Street London, E1 6QE or call 020 70780780. If you’re more of a West side kinda person, visit their other salon 157c Great Portland Street, London, W1W 6QS or call 020 7637 4634 .
Original article: Fab Festival Hair with Percy & Reed….
©2013 The Beauty Obsession. All Rights Reserved.
