Blowdry that claims to make you a glossy goddess for two months! Could a new treatment be the answer

THERE are some things I never want to live without again. Top of the list comes a cuddle with my mum, Joyce. She’s in her 70s and has an autoimmune condition, which makes her particularly vulnerable.

Next comes the school run. I have literally been skipping to the car every morning since the schools reopened, even more excited than my three young passengers.

Then comes a good blowdry. Call me superficial, but one of the key lessons I’ve learnt from this pandemic is the curative power of soft, swishy hair.

I’ve always loved a good blowdry. One of the nicest things my mum ever did for me was to babysit all three of my children when the youngest was a baby, so I could escape to a salon for an hour or two. If my hair doesn’t look right, I feel angsty.

Of course, even the very best blowdry doesn’t last long. And with the threat of a second lockdown hanging over us, I’m dreading a return to my untamed tresses.

So I was very eager to try out a new de-frizzing treatment that apparently takes just 90 minutes to apply — but lasts for up to eight weeks.

Memory Forme Original Formula Express has all the benefits of a Brazilian blowdry, but with a far more natural, and instant, result.

Where the much-hyped Brazilian leaves your hair super-glossy but poker straight, and requires you to wait three days without washing it, so that the chemicals used in the treatment have time to take effect, this — I’m told — lets you walk out of the salon perfectly primped. I can’t resist, so book into hairdresser Richard Ward’s London salon to try it.

Just like a Brazilian blowdry, Memory Forme rebuilds and restores the hair by sealing in keratin — the protein that keeps hair glossy and easy to style.

Technician Ryan Hauxwell explains: ‘Keratin is a natural protein in hair, which helps make it soft and manageable, but gets reduced over time through ageing and chemical products.’

So exactly how does keratin smooth your style? Think of your hair like Swiss cheese. Individual hairs contain air pockets which fill up with water molecules as you wash or expose it to the elements. The more there are, the weaker and frizzier your hair becomes.

But, by applying keratin and then heat to the hair, you can seal the air pockets — leaving your strands smooth and straight. Not too straight, though.

‘Traditional ‘Brazilian’ keratin treatments can be very strong,’ explains Ryan. ‘They are left on the hair for 45 minutes and then you wait an additional three days to ensure the product ‘hardens’.

‘The result often leaves hair looking flat and poker-straight — a sort of one-size-fits-all style that might not be remotely appropriate to your hair type.

‘But Memory Forme, while also containing keratin, is a completely different formula.

‘So, instead, you get a more natural ‘just blowdried’ look. Even better, because the treatment makes the hair so manageable, it’s not only much easier to style your own hair, but it takes half the time,’ Ryan says.

‘Simply rough-dry your hair, then blowdry it as usual — your hair should be so malleable it will bounce back into shape every time you wash it.’

Wow!

I know I’m not the only woman in Britain to have spent the last six months developing a look that bears more than a passing resemblance to an old sheepdog.

Left to go its own wild way, my thick hair — once my pride and joy – has become untameable. And home-dyeing it hasn’t helped. When I first noticed greys coming through early in lockdown, I corralled my boyfriend, James, to help. Brave man that he is, he had agreed to spend lockdown with me and my kids: Croyde, 16, Kiki, 11, and Trixie, nine.

An eco-property developer, James — who, at 32, is 14 years younger than me — is a dab hand at all things technical. Dyeing your beloved’s greying locks isn’t usually on the job spec, but that wasn’t going to put him off.

I normally pay around £70 every six weeks for a cut and colour at a salon, so I was nervous about using a home-dye. Still, I gave James a pair of rubber gloves and a couple of mixing bowls, and crossed my fingers. The result was such an unexpected success that I don’t think I will ever go back to getting my hair professionally dyed.

But, while there’s not a grey in sight, my hair has suffered. So I’m intrigued at the prospect of a chemical helping hand that could save me countless hours huffing and puffing with a hair dryer in front of the mirror.

My Memory Forme treatment at Richard Ward starts with a lovely stress-busting spell in a massage chair while my hair is washed with three different kinds of clarifying shampoo to prepare it for the ker- atin treatment.

While my hair is still wet, Ryan appears with what looks like the silicone pastry brush Mary Berry uses to glaze her apple puffs, and then starts coating my hair, section by section.

The product smells faintly of wet dog and shortbread biscuits. But its chemical powers are evident in my slightly stinging eyes.

The keratin needs heat to ensure it stays fused into the hair. With the product still on my hair and using special straightening irons heated to up to 180 degrees, Ryan meticulously ‘irons’ my hair in segments, from root to end. Don’t worry, I can assure you that it’s completely painless.

My hair is long and thick, and I have a natural wave. But, even so, we’re done in the promised 90 minutes — barely longer than a traditional blowdry. My tresses are gloriously glossy and perfectly styled.

Ryan says that clients have been stampeding into the salon for the treatment since its launch.

I can certainly understand why. This is the kind of hair-do that takes you straight back to that glossy pre-lockdown you, but also takes on board the lessons of the last few months. These days, we want to look good without too much effort. Going cold turkey has made us realise just how much time, money and energy we were spending on treatments we didn’t really need.

And this could also be the answer to the looming threat of ever tougher measures from the Government this autumn.

When I arrive home, the kids narrow their eyes suspiciously. ‘Why do you look so fancy?’ they ask, which tells you something about how I’ve looked recently.

I only realise at bedtime the following night that I haven’t brushed my hair all day. Unheard of, but it’s stayed so smooth and untangled it didn’t occur to me.

Now, a week later, the most thrilling aspect is that the keratin treatment really has left my hair much quicker and easier to blowdry. It’s just like my normal hair . . . but, somehow, deliciously better. My hair looks so shiny and healthy, it makes me look and feel younger and sexier.

The price tag is a rather eye-watering £185. A regular blowdry might set me back £40, so it will need to last me as long as four or five of those.

But if it truly does keep my thick, wavy hair looking great for up to eight weeks, I reckon that’s money very well spent. 

• A Memory Forme Express treatment costs £185. To book, call 020 7730 1222 or richardward.com