Back in March 2020 I was truly honoured and fortunate to be named ‘Keuxtie of the Year 2020’

This meant that a whole year of adventures, photoshoots and exciting days at the Salon in Birmingham.

This was literally JUST before COVID-19 hit….

Well, we all know how that panned out and certainly that meant no adventures and no exciting days.

I am The Keuxtie!

Fast forwarding to March 2021, my ‘reign’ would be over and sadly there had not been many opportunities to be ‘The Face’

Lynsey Le Keux, the wonderful owner of Le Keux made a lovely decision. That decision was to carry the year over to March 2021 which hopefully meant I would get my year of adventures and excitement.

Of course, we are still in the middle of a Pandemic and certainly up until the 12th April, hairstylists were still shut. However, as soon as the Prime Minister announced the re-opening of salons, Lynsey got me booked in so I could get a vintage cut and style.

Fast forward to Saturday 24th April, I hopped on a train and got myself to Birmingham with the intent of doing a little shopping, getting the works at the Salon and taking a few photos for my Social Media.

On the Train

Of course one can hardly pop to Birmingham without going into the biggest Primark in the UK.

Now, I only wanted to have a look for some little cardigans which they usually bring out every year around now. I have them in several colours and wanted to try and get a few more.

Sadly, I couldn’t find them, probably as the store is just SO big. However I did manage to spend a few pennies on various bits and pieces including shower caps, sleep masks and hair bobbles!

Eventually it was time to take a slow walk down to Digbeth and the Zellig Building where Le Keux is based. I say a slow walk as my knees have been a bit problematic recently and I was in a little discomfort.

Thankfully it was a glorious sunny day and I was enjoying every bit of it.

People Watching at Starbucks

To my surprise, a beautiful lady walked past me at quite a fast clip. She turned and gave me an absolutely wonderful compliment, saying I looked amazing in my outfit!

Thanking her I continued my slow walk, not realising I would be seeing her again rather soon.

Ten minutes later I arrived at the Salon  to be greeted by a couple of warm smiley faces. They recognised me straight away and offered refreshments. Choosing a lovely Raspberry Lemonade, I sat and rested my sore knees as I was actually very early for my appointment.

Diner and Delights

Katie came over to introduce herself as the Operations Manager for Le Keux and we had a little chat and then the Stylist who would be doing my hair came to say hello.

Surprise!!!!

It was the same lady who had  complimented me on the walk to Le Keux.

Sharleen was as surprised as me, but was as equally excited as I was to be working together.

Taking a comb to my hair, she looked at the length and discussed what I wanted to do. I explained that I usually wet set my hair, but it hadn’t been cut for over a year and it was different lengths from where I had damage and snapped it.

Before Shot

There was also a large amount of grey in my hair which I was quite liking, and although I felt like it needed a colour, I didn’t really know just what I wanted to do.

Stripy Skunk

Sharleen wanted to know if I wanted the grey gone or was I planning on letting in come in naturally.

Well, actually I seemed to be getting a bit of a white stripe at the front which I quite liked, so we discussed putting in some highlights and blending the colour to compliment the colour I already have.

Grey coming through….

Which brings us back to what colour I did already have…

If you recall I totally messed up my hair several months ago when I stuck bleach on it to try and go lighter. What I did was ruin my hair and also this has left me with lighter ends and darker, mousy, grey, browny colour roots.

WHAT did I do?!?!

Simply put, I absolutely hate it.

Sharleen said we would sort out the cut and then in a few weeks, sort out the colour.

Before we started

So, what did exactly did I get done?

Firstly Sharleen took me through to wash and treat my hair. She was a lovely. chatty, welcoming lady and I really enjoyed getting to know her. She was a sparkling breath of fresh air and also took the time to explain everything she was doing.

She asked what products I normally use, and gave me some tips to get the most out of what I was using and not damage the hair I currently had, any more than necessary.

Yeah…. erm……

We had a discussion on back-combing (which I try not to do that much of) and also using t-gel for my dandruff. This was all done whilst having an Olaplex treatment to repair some of the damage that I had done to it.

Resting my head back on the hairdressing sink, Sharleen washed and conditioned my hair with Olaplex 4 & 5 before wrapping it in a hot towel for around 10 minutes.

Hot Towel Treatment

Talk about luxurious, it felt absolutely amazing!

After rising it off with cool water, Sharleen took me back to the styling area and we discussed how she would cut my hair and give it a vintage style.

Sharleen doing her thing

Taking lots of before and during photos, we had a good old natter whilst she was cutting and soon she had achieved the style that hopefully would make wet-setting a whole lot easier for me.

All Cut and blown out

Already I could see a huge difference to my hair. It actually looked like my hair had already been coloured.

It truly was quite bizarre.

Where did all that colour come from?

My hair was a golden blonde colour and looked so light and glossy. The cut was stunning and it literally looked so very different.

And it look sooooo Healthy

Sharleen got out the straighteners and started to curl my hair before pinning each one to allow it to cool down. Finally she took each clip out and combed and teased it in a Marilyn Monroe kind of style.

Making me Marilyn

My hair looked outstanding.

Primping and Preening

And if I thought the front looked great, the back looked even better!

So Pretty

It was full, silky, golden and bouncy. I genuinely felt like a vintage vixen.

What a difference!

Of course, given that the Custard Factory car park is next door and there is a lot of wonderful graffiti, it made total sense to have a few photographs taken there.

Feeling on top of the World

I particularly liked the little vampire/ghost character with the sharp teeth!

I love the shadow on this too!

After taking a load of photos in front of some great art work, I cheated slightly and ordered an Uber back to the station as my knees were too sore to walk back to the station.

Strike a Pose!

Now all I had to do was wait for my train home. As I hadn’t eaten yet and there was a Five Guys inside the station, it would have been rude not to. One cheeseburger, fries and Dr Pepper later and I was as fat as a badger.

Amazing Artwork

Eventually I made my way along to the platform that I needed. Thankfully the train was there waiting and I dragged my tired self onto it ready for the journey back.

Loving the artwork

All in all, a pretty wonderful and highly successful day.

Back on the train

Till next time,

SPSG xxx