When I first heard I was going for a, ‘hair facial’, I was confused for two reasons. The first, was the seemingly obvious reasoning over what on earth that could involve. A facial for the skin usually incorporates a cleanse, extraction, exfoliation and good moisturising treatment – all of which I thought I managed to do to my hair, just with my shampoo and hair masks at home. What more was there to do? The second, was slight annoyance. If you have read me talking about hair before, you’ll know that I am deeply into my treatments, both at home and in the salon. But I had never heard of this. I was intrigued.
The treatment in question uses Nioxin products, but is offered in salons by Vidal Sassoon. I was treated by Mia, head of colour at their Covent Garden salon, who explained the process to me. It transpired that, though the treatment was going to do wonders to my hair, it was focused on my scalp. In fact, it was a scalp dermabrasion. And they were going to begin with taking some seriously up-close photos of mine, just to see what damage I had inflicted.
It is at this point, as I browsed the types of scalp one could have – from healthy to fungal ridden, good lord – that I suddenly wasn’t sure if this was for me. I rather pride myself on my locks. They are thick, and shiny. I did not want to suddenly find out that something was terribly wrong with the pores from which they sprouted. However, as Mia returned with the camera, I felt that my moment to flee was too late. I sipped my tea and prepped myself for the worst.
The camera itself isn’t offensive (albeit slightly phallic), and is hooked up to a laptop. Mia placed the lens at the back and front of my head (where hairs regularly grow thicker and thinner respectively), and I was allowed to take my own photos. I will put it out there – scalps aren’t pretty. Mine, for example, seemed slightly grey, with a forest of slick hairs. Thank goodness though, that it was apparently also incredibly healthy. I have since kept the photo to show to friends, a trophy of my follic health. But I digress.
What the camera also picked up on was, unsurprisingly, given that my bathroom is a beacon to leave-in conditioners, and I can’t blow dry without Moroccanoil, I had some product build up going on. I was aware of this before, though not that too much of it can actually block follicles and prevent new hair from growing. Which actually makes sense – I wouldn’t use thick products on my face every week without exfoliating, so why do the same to my scalp?
This realisation seems to be the point of the consultation. It is all well and good that we constantly focus on how the ends of our hair looks, but there’s no good in it if we don’t also look after the roots. If thick, glossy tresses is the end game, then scalp care is the preliminary stages. And dermabrasion, like this one, is one of the best options.
Unlike facial dermabrasion, tools aren’t used on my scalp – just a gloopy liquid not dissimilar to shampoo. This is applied with a massage and left for half an hour, before being washed off with Sassoon shampoo. A Nioxin deep treatment mask was then lathered into my hair for good measure, and I had a bouncy blow dry to go with.
I won’t pretend I walked out of the salon feeling 10lbs lighter. This didn’t necessarily change how I looked. However, my scalp did feel tended to, and my hair light with plenty of bounce. Two weeks down the line, and I can feel product washing out easier, as well as my hair drying more quickly. You may not be able to see my scalp glow, but I can definitely feel the difference – which is what a facial is all about.