Health and Beauty: Treat your tresses to a cut and colour fit for an Olympian

ATHLETICISM has been very much in the news of late. But even the likes of Jessica Ennis and Victoria Pendleton would surely agree, sport has never really done the hair any favours.

And yet style and sport have been intertwined for decades – never more so than at the 2012 Olympics, with Stella McCartney designing the Team GB kit and models and designers playing a key role in the closing ceremony.

So in creating its new collection of hair design and colour, Sassoon took the Olympic rings as inspiration to create wearable, functional but fashionable cuts – styles that look good wet or dry – with shades based on gold, silver and bronze.

Every cut and shade is designed for the individual client, explains Fraser McInnes, who is in charge of my colour at the Edinburgh Sassoon salon. He’ll be using shades of copper and rose gold in asymmetric circles – darker at the tips then getting progressively lighter towards the roots – so that every time the hair moves, different elements will be revealed.

He starts by sectioning off the roots for the lightest shade. The asymmetric circles mean styling will be more flexible – I won’t always be restricted to a fringe, or a middle or side parting – the aim being to produce a cut that is anything but formulaic. He spends a lot of time examining my hair, moving it, seeing how it falls, so the end result will be as natural as possible.

After the lighter shades have been cooking for a while, the darker colour goes on, and Fraser works it in in sections, wrapping each one in foil. It’s a time-consuming task, but soon I’m left to read magazines and to drink more tea.

When it comes time to rinse me off, the colour is shampooed, then a toner applied to bring out the pinky, rose gold tones to the lightened sections of the hair. Then I get an extra colour seal treatment to make sure it lasts as long as possible. I drift off to sleep while it works its magic.

When I wake up, it’s time for my cut. Only when it’s dried do I notice how the colours really work – a flash of blonde revealed when my hair moves a certain way, a gleam of bronze at the roots when it catches the sun. The proof, however, is revealed in the day-to-day care. And though I won’t be winning heptathlon gold anytime soon, my hair is certainly easy to manage and glowing with health.

RUTH WALKER

• Sassoon, 10 Multrees Walk, St Andrews Square, Edinburgh (0131-558 2849, www.sassoon.com)