Hair & colourLewesCliffe High Street
Sorrel · 24 Cliffe High Street, Lewes
Since 2017000
Unidentified artist, Japan, Woman Arranging Her Hair, 19th century

Before and after

Aftercare

What to do before you come, what to do in the first two days, and how to make a colour last the six weeks between visits.

Kitagawa Utamaro, Woman Holding a Tortoise-shell Hair-comb, c. 1795/96
Kitagawa Utamaro, Woman Holding a Tortoise-shell Hair-comb, c. 1795/96

Before you come

  1. Come with your hair as you usually wear it. A cut is a decision about how it falls on an ordinary day, and we need to see that day.
  2. For colour, hair washed the day before is ideal. It does not need to be freshly washed, and a little natural oil protects the scalp.
  3. Bring a photo if you have one, even of a colour you dislike. It tells us more than the word “warm”.
  4. New to colour with us? Pop in for a patch test 48 hours before your appointment. It takes two minutes and we cannot colour without it.
Edgar Degas, Woman Combing Her Hair, c. 1888 to 1890
Edgar Degas, Woman Combing Her Hair, c. 1888 to 1890

The first 48 hoursafter colour

  1. Wait 48 hours before the first wash, then wash in cool water. Colour sits in the cortex; the cuticle that holds it in lies flat when it is cool and lifts when it is hot.
  2. Use a sulfate-free shampoo and a conditioner every wash. Conditioner does not repair hair, it coats it and lays the cuticle scales flat, and flat scales are what shine is.
  3. Heat protection every time you dry or iron, and the lowest heat that does the job. Heat styling works by re-setting the hydrogen bonds in the hair; humidity undoes it, and nothing you buy changes that.
Camille Pissarro, Woman Arranging Her Hair, 1894
Camille Pissarro, Woman Arranging Her Hair, 1894

Blondes

  1. A purple shampoo once a week, not every wash. It deposits a little violet to cancel yellow; every day and the hair goes dull.
  2. Book a gloss or toner refresh at six to eight weeks. A balayage itself can wait three to four months.
  3. Chlorine and sun both lift tone. Wet your hair with tap water before a pool and wear a hat on the beach.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Elles: Woman Combing Her Hair, 1896
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Elles: Woman Combing Her Hair, 1896

Curls and coils

  1. Cleanse with a conditioner or a sulfate-free shampoo, and dry with a diffuser on low or a cotton T-shirt, never a terry towel.
  2. Comb only when wet and full of conditioner. Dry curls do not want a brush.
  3. Sleep on silk or in a loose pineapple. Lotte will show you both at the end of the appointment.
Kitagawa Utamaro, Cleaning Combs, late 1790s
Kitagawa Utamaro, Cleaning Combs, late 1790s

Between visits

  1. Roots show at four to six weeks because that is how far hair grows in that time. A root tint is a 75-minute appointment.
  2. Short shapes want a cut every six to eight weeks; long hair every ten to twelve. A fringe trim between cuts is free for regulars.
  3. Grey blending and babylights grow out with the softest line of any colour; both can go twelve weeks.

Questions we get asked

Before youask

No. We wash it here unless you have booked a dry cut, and Lotte prefers curls dry and as you wear them.