Percy & Reed

Welcome to London’s hippest hair destination

Monday, 21 January 2008

You know you’ve made it when you get superstar session stylist and the Sugababes’ personal coiffeur Paul Percival calling you on your mobile and asking when he can do your hair.

Paul’s an old friend. We’ve been working together for years on fashion shoots with the likes of Rachel Stevens, Liberty X and Girls Aloud, and he’s just joined forces with Adam Reed - who tends the tresses of Sophie Dahl and Anna Friel – to open a super-salon that’s set to become the last word in celebrity hairdressing.

Percy & Reed is a low-key, intimate 12-chair affair with elements of a home-spun 70s feel juxtaposed with sleek modernity in the well-heeled part of London's West End.

Yes, I have the job a million girls would die for but a hair appointment with Paul Percival is an honour by anyone standards, and it wasn’t till the night I premiered my new See by Chloe sequin-sleeved LBD that I’d bought in Rome over New Year, that I decided the time was right.

The look I was going for was ‘just been shagged’ yet able to survive a certain degree of rough and tumble, and the only style that would do the dress justice was a come-to-bed, Brigitte Bardot beehive scooped up into a tousled ponytail.

Paul unpacked his suitcase-sized styling kit, pulling out all manner of pins, grips, real hair extensions and a bun mesh ready to personalise me a hairpiece Amy Winehouse style, whlle calculating how much pressure my beehive could withstand.

At one point Adam even popped in proffering a hairnet, so knowing I had the A-list’s A Team on the case made me pretty confident I’d be leaving the salon with the best barnet in London.

An hour and a half of teasing later – and that was just my hair - I emerged from Percy & Reed a super-sexy 60s siren, and I hadn’t laughed so much in ages.

Find Percy & Reed at 157C Great Portland Street, London W1W 6QS. For an appointment call 020 7637 4634.