Hair and now

Some of the nicest people you know can often be found ogling what may best be referred to as "hair porn".

You'll find this type of thing in local magazine stores.

Those of us who are too curly, too fine, too straight, too short, too dark or too grey can only flick the pages, awestruck and amazed. Because it's here that hairdressers have worked their best scissor-magic - the models' hairstyles look modern, fresh, contemporary and either downright beautiful or just plain pretty.

And so, insanely inspired, you put the magazine down and march straight to the nearest chop shop. "Shave all my hair off one side of my head and give me an asymmetric fringe," you demand. "Like her!" you shout, holding up one of the hair porn pictures where the model has an exceedingly cool punkish do.

The rest of us, however, are not so radical. We know what we like and what suits us. And we tend to stick to it. There is a theory that women tend to stay with the haircut they had when they were happiest. Which is not always a good idea, say some of Auckland's leading hairdressers - mostly because you'd hate to think your happiest days were in the past.

"People do tend to look back with rose-coloured glasses," says Lucy Vincent-Marr, one of the directors of Stephen Marr Hairdressing.

"[But] your hair texture might have changed," Vincent-Marr explains. "It might have grey in it now which makes it coarser and more unmanageable. Or your hair might have become finer which means certain long styles just won't work anymore."

Paul Serville, founder of the Serville's salons and academy, says it is important to choose the right stylist.

"And an uninspired hairdresser would just say 'were you happy with it last time?' and never discuss their hair [style] again," he says. "[They] will talk to them about everything but what they came in for! So five years later nothing's changed. Some people," he adds, "are fortunate enough to have found the right hairdresser who just keeps moving them on."

People seldom want extreme makeovers, preferring a gradual change. "I've got clients who are loving everything about their hair but they might just want to tweak one or two things," says Brad Pepper, senior stylist at Vada hair salon. "You don't want to freak people out so the best way to do that is just to incorporate bits and pieces of more edgy looks."

Okay, so now you've decided. You want to try some of those things you've seen in the hair porn and you do want a change. But you're not ready to shave all the hair off one side or slash out an asymmetrical, pink fringe - well, not today anyway. Happily it turns out that these days hairstylists have cunning ways of updating your look which don't require you to take the radical approach.

Cut

All of the hairdressers Viva spoke to agree the easiest change to make is the fringe. If you haven't got one, they'll cut you one. And if you have, they can show you how to start growing it out.

"This can create a real change without removing any [overall] length," Vincent-Marr explains.

Or you can just fiddle with your fringe. "Say you've got a blunt fringe, we turn it into a sweeping one," Pepper suggests. "So you can hide your fringe or use it."

If you do want to go from long to short, Vincent-Marr believes one of the best ways to decide is simply to pull your hair back. "If they [the client] look really good with their hair back off their neck, I personally think that's a good way to see whether short will suit them."

Layers also help, says Pepper. "For instance you can take gradual steps. You could stay longer in the front so it still feels like you have long hair and you can still tie it back and slick it down for work."

"I always think the best way to make a change is to look at the haircut someone has at the moment, then think of the simplest way to create a change," says Greg Murrell, creative director at Ryder Salon. "If someone's got a shaggy layered cut, put a blunt line around the bottom. Or you could bring the length up and let the layers start growing. In fact," says Murrell, "letting hair grow is as big a part of inspiring a change as cutting it off. And it's also important to remember that a change might need to evolve over two or three haircuts. At which stage you let the client know 'this is going to be a project - in three haircuts, you'll have what you want."'

And what of instant growth, a la Charlotte Dawson? Interestingly none of the top stylists Viva spoke to wants much to do with extensions. They all prefer natural hair for several reasons - extensions are high maintenance (you need special shampoos and conditioners), you can't run a comb through them and they can get tangled and dirty-looking quickly.

Colour

Forget the pink streaks. This century it's all about more subtle changes in tone.

For example, if you're blonde and loving it, yet want a bit of a change, Vincent-Marr proposes a deeper, caramel blonde. "It's still quite a change," she says, "but you just play around with variations within what you've already got."

As for whether you go for permanent or semi-permanent colour, the bottom line is how much grey you want to cover and how much you're lightening your hair. "If you're going darker, then semi-permanent has a bit more gloss and shine," Vincent-Marr says .

Pepper has a slightly wilder suggestion: a few flashes of a different colour, but in carefully in selected areas. "Everyone has a parting they love to wear so we do a colour a few inches away from that parting, underneath it. Then if you move your parting over slightly, you'll be able to see the colour - you can put it under your fringe or flip it out. So it's easy to hide during the week and it grows out well."

Other techniques

If you prefer a non-permanent change, a brilliant idea is to make an appointment with your favourite stylist for a blow dry or straightening session. Then while you're there, ask them for tips on new ways to put your hair up, or to style it.

"If you have a good relationship with your stylist, you can prepare them beforehand," Vincent-Marr says. "You could just book in for a blow wave but let them know you also want them to give you a lesson on how to blow wave and how to wear your hair up.

"They could help you change your hairdo just by showing you how to position a couple of hair slides - that could be enough to get you the kind of looks you see on the runway at Balenciaga or Dior.

"For instance, instead of washing and wearing or blow drying, you could hot roller your hair once a week, and then sleep on it. That can be very transforming," says Vincent-Marr. "I do that myself. And it doesn't need to be complicated. Just put the rollers in just before you go to bed, like on a Wednesday night, and that will see you through to Sunday."

Pepper suggests using GHD hair irons, to straighten your hair or perform other miracles of styling. "There are so many tools," he says, "and we can show you how to use them."

"A good hairdresser might also be able to help you bring out your curl," adds Guy Roberts, director at Vada Hair. "We get people telling us 'I didn't know I had wavy hair."'

Vincent-Marr says just changing your parting can also have an impact. "If you part your hair in the middle, that can look very 60s or 1920s,' she says. " And if you part it on the side it can be really 70s."

In particular, if you've gone all the way and just had a cut or colour, don't be afraid to ask for advice. All of the hairdressers we spoke to agreed that a good stylist will always instruct you on maintenance of your new do after you leave the salon.

So, if after reading all that you still want to go and get half your hair shaved off for that mohawk look, or something similarly radically, our erstwhile cutters have some further advice that will help ensure the change is for the better.

Firstly you should probably go to the best hairdresser you can afford - don't just wander in off the street. You need to trust your stylist.

Secondly - and perhaps most interestingly - it's important to assess why you want such a big change. "We do get a lot of people coming in post-break up wanting to go short," Vincent-Marr says. "And to be honest, I'm usually pretty reserved about doing that. You have to be really intuitive about what the client really wants." If she is unsure she will often give her client a couple of options, one being less dramatic than cutting their hair off. Haven't divorced recently and still determined? Then begin your research. "If they [the client] have a good idea of what they would like they need to find somebody who has a hairstyle like it," Serville says, "and ask where they got it done. Or if they see it in a magazine and it has been done by someone in their town, go and see that hairdresser."

"Contrary to popular opinion I don't think any of the top hairdressers mind if you bring in some pictures,' says Murrell.

"And you could also bring in pictures of what you don't like," Pepper notes. "Tell them, "I hate that, don't do that to me"."

Bear in mind also, that "if they're a really good hairdresser they will continue the consultation until they have a strong feeling for what you're going for," Murrell adds. "They should ask lots of questions - it's all about the consultation."

"When you get the people who are not quite sure, you've got to get into their life a bit more," Pepper says. "How do they do they prepare their hair? Do they need to look slick and professional?"

Another tip - when you go to the salon, wear the kind of clothing and make up you would normally wear, says Vincent-Marr. "Some people will come in wearing jeans and an old T-shirt and the hairdresser might think 'oh, they're quite conservative, I'd better not go too far'.

"But if you want something extreme, show your personality and the way you dress. Then your hairdresser gets a really good sense of what you want and who you are. And you'll leave the salon feeling really good."