KCR WINTER 24:25 Magazine FINAL 1 - Flipbook - Page 81
Give your Hair the Kiss of Life
with Gustav Fouche
Just a short walk from Bayswater Station, celebrity hairstylist Gustav
Fouche has been ministering to the locks of Londoners in his sleek
Westbourne Grove salon since 2019. Originally from South Africa, Gustav moved to London in 2011, after training at the Sassoon Foundation
in 2006.
With its luxe-minimal decor, the salon makes you feel that you’re in safe
hands from the moment you enter its doors. Wooden parquet 昀氀ooring
is complemented by grey walls, bronze accents and lush greenery, all
of which contribute to a calming ambience. Invited to take a seat while
I wait for Gustav, I’m o昀昀ered a refreshment and opt for still water. If
you’ve left home in a hurry and need an energy top-up, the street has a
number of food and drink options, ranging from healthy to indulgent.
Although he’s a celebrity hairdresser (he’s worked with the likes of Kate
Hudson and Leanne Rimes, as well as with designers such as Oscar De
La Renta) Gustav, dressed in a black NICCE t-shirt, couldn’t be more
friendly and approachable. As I sit in front of the salon’s large, round,
bronze-rimmed mirrors, he works his 昀椀ngers through my hair and asks
me what I like and, conversely, don’t like about it. This is the basis from
which he’ll work.
It’s a welcome approach, especially when many hairdressers are eager to
impose their own ideas upon you and, when in a chair, gazing awkwardly at your own re昀氀ection in the mirror, it’s encouraging to have a professional give you space for your own voice. I tell him that I like my curtain
bangs, but feel that my last stylist made them too blocky, and that I’m
trying to grow my previously waist-length brown hair back - so I don’t
want to lose too much length, but do want to lose the ragged, brittle,
orange-tinted ends that my hair has developed over the summer.
He asks me about my experimentations with colour and I admit that
my hair has been through a few permutations in recent years which, he
says, goes some way to explaining the damage and unnatural colour at
the ends.
With that, I’m o昀昀 to the basins, where my hair is washed with a GF Fabulosity shampoo and my scalp is treated to the most sublime head massage I’ve ever experienced. Gustav’s secret to healthier-looking locks?
Milking: the process of working conditioner into sections of the hair in a
downwards motion (imagine milking a cow) for a good ten minutes.
The GF Fabulosity range has been created by Gustav himself, and is
all natural, organic and completely silicone-free. Its hero product? The
Hair & Scalp Recovery Elixir, which is packed with Ayurvedic ingredients and has been designed to instantly nourish and hydrate the hair,
whether worn as a hair mask overnight, or used a weekly treatment.
Next, it’s back to the chair, where my hair is thoroughly dried and
brushed. It already looks glossier and healthier than I’ve seen it look in
months. Yet the scissors haven’t even made contact with it yet: instead,
it’s about to receive Gustav’s signature 3D Dry-Cut. Dry-cutting, Gustav
tells me, gets better results than cutting hair when wet. This is because
you get a much clearer idea of how hair falls and sits when it’s dry which is, after all, how hair is naturally seen in public (unless you’re at
the beach or pool!) By working on dry hair, Gustav says, you can better
gauge how to 昀氀atter and frame your face.
After my cut, my hair is blow dried and styled with some lightweight
styling product. The result? The best and most ‘myself’ I’ve felt in ages.
To think that I was considering colouring my hair again. Turns out, I
didn’t need a new colour - I just needed the Gustav Fouche touch.
Ladies’ cut and 昀椀nish priced from £95 to £175
gustavfouche.com
82 Westourne Grove,
Notting Hill, W2 5RT
Sarah Rodrigues
