I am officially in Hair Transit. I have left the realms of Near-Brunette-dom and am now en route to my true hair home, the Kingdom of Blonde. I don’t know what possessed me to go quite so dark in the first place – I always go a little darker in the winter, but this year I think I stepped over the boundary. I got carried away, lured by the dark side, and then regretted it. It’s not that it didn’t look nice, it’s just that I feel better as a blonde. More…sprightly.

And so I’m in transition. A transitional blonde. Because I had lighter ends and much darker hair at the crown of my head, John Spanton, my Hair Colour Wizard, is blonding me in two steps so that I get a beautiful final result, rather than trying to do too much at once. Therefore I am, for now, a dark blonde all over – Mr AMR calls it an “expensive” blonde.

I asked John how I could help to extend the life of my new colour and he maintains that it’s all in the haircare. “No matter how well your hair’s coloured,” said John, “if you’re not looking after it properly then the colour can deteriorate very quickly.” John likes the whole Pureology range (find it here) because it caters for coloured hair as a given, rather than treating it as a standalone concern. You can then pick the right shampoo for your needs (volume, smoothness and so on) knowing that your colour is taken care of. I like the “green” one – I reviewed it here.

Interesting fact: I have to wear quite a considerable amount of extra bronzer on my face now that my hair is darker. I may do some experimenting and try to put together a video, if I can finally locate my boxes of makeup. (Around fifty bronzers have now been added to the AWOL list that is pinned to the wall of the beauty room. They join the box of foundations, my collection of volumising masacaras (which, to be fair, are all probably dried up by now anyway) and my white cotton shirt from GAP. Which isn’t a beauty product but does seem to have gone walkabout. So.)

You can find John Spanton at Trevor Sorbie Covent Garden – and thank you to Samuel “Twinkle Toes” for my excellent blow-dry!