Category: Anne’s Secrets

Anne Veck continues her winning streak for sustainable hairdressing!

Anne Veck and partner Keith Mellen are celebrating after being shortlisted for Innovation of the Year, at HJ’s British Hairdressing Business Awards 2023. This sustainability focussed duo have secured their finalist place with their innovative Salon Re:Source sustainability tool kit which is freely downloadable for salons. So far it has aided 1,500 salons to take steps towards sustainable practice. Get your’s here.

Widely regarded as one of the industry’s most prestigious events, the awards recognise the names that have achieved business brilliance, helping uphold Britain’s reputation as a world leader in hairdressing expertise.

As current holders of these awards’ Sustainable Salon of the Year Award 2022, Anne and Keith have reached the finals 2023 after submitting an attention-grabbing entry, detailing the inspiration and development behind an industry-related innovation. Following an intensive judging process, they will now attend the 25th British Hairdressing Business Awards, held this year on Monday 3 July 2023 at London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.

Anne Veck commented: ‘We are delighted that Salon Re:Source has been recognised as a leading innovation, for us the only goal is spreading the word and the work to salons to help them to take those first baby steps, then bigger steps and then sizeable steps to make their businesses sustainable. That was why creating a tool kit to encourage and come alongside people was so important to us. To ensure there were no obstacles, we made it entirely free, as all we want is positive change.”

Keith Mellen added: “The awards are so respected across the industry, so just to reach the finals is a huge honour. We are up against some incredible competition but just hope that the judges see our drive and passion and mainly we hope it encourages more salons to engage with easy steps to work in greener ways.”

Jayne Lewis-Orr, Executive Director of the British Hairdressing Business Awards says: ‘HJs British Hairdressing Business Awards are an annual celebration of business acumen, and the people and companies going the extra mile to ensure that creativity and commercial success go hand in hand. Once again, our judging panel was overwhelmed with the standard of entries. To make the shortlist for this category, nominees need to demonstrate how they turned their vision into a reality, as well as proving how it fills a gap in the market. Anne Veck and Keith Mellen should feel incredibly proud of what they have done with Salon Re:Source, they are leaders for positive change in both sustainability and hairdressing.”

I have taken my years of education experience – both in the classroom and online – and created a programme of ‘old school’ face-to-face education. I invite you to escape the restrictions of the digital world and join me in a real life, hands-on educational experience. Engage and interact with other hairdressers at my workshops, seminars and shows, at a location that suits you – your college, salon, academy or venue of your choice.

I love creating those timeless styles from the roaring twenties and I would like to share my passion with you on my new course “VINTAGE ESSENTIALS!

Classic vintage styles are always in demand. Learn how to create authentic finger waves and revisit traditional setting techniques to achieve hair looks influenced by the past – all with the help of modern tools and products.

Who is the course aimed at?
Hairdressers at all levels, plus stylists and make-up artists.

What should I bring?
Brushes, combs, sectioning clips, hairdryer and heated tongs/curling wand,
plus hair grips, pins and hair elastics.

If your education requirements are more specific, I can create a bespoke package
to suit your needs – simply contact us to discuss.
For more information and all bookings call Keith Mellen on 01865 744612 or email
anne@anneveckhair.com.
To keep in touch with me for news and updates about my education and shows,
subscribe to my e-newsletter here!

Why not have a go at our “Sustainability Snail”? Sustainability what? Find out here!
Actually it is a quick (it should take you about 10 minutes) quizz based on our sustainable hairdressing tool kit Salon RE:Source .
You’ll find out how planet friendly your hairdressing business (salon, space, freelancing, it works for everyone) really is, in an engaging and humorous format. No longer any need to die of boredom or of that overwhelming feeling that this is too big for us to do anything sort of vibe.
So the BIG Q is: are you a Sustainability Snail, a Sustainability Slogger, or a Sustainability Super Hero? Only one way to find out! Here.

AWARDS OPEN DOORS OR WHY YOU SHOULD LOVE WINNING AWARDS!

It goes without saying that winning industry awards is a huge personal boost, offering ‘official’ confirmation that you are excelling in your field and achieving your goals. But have you considered the benefits to your business as a whole and the opportunities that can arise from claiming one of hairdressing’s most coveted trophies?

Current holders of the British Hairdressing Business Awards Sustainable Salon of the Year title, Anne Veck and Keith Mellen, co-founders of Anne Veck Limited, believe that their win, and the associated press coverage, have helped their sustainability mission reach a much wider audience, while also creating new business leads.

Amongst these are educational contracts, as well as endorsements of green initiatives such as their role in helping to develop the Nature Positive Business Pledge which has been created by the UK Business & Biodiversity Forum (upon which Keith Mellen sits); the launch of their own educational programme and bookings galore from global hairdressing giants Davines. Keith comments, “We are also having some interesting conversation with other brands who want to genuinely improve their sustainability offering, so watch this space for exciting next news.”

Anne said, “One amazing surprise was that we were contacted by academic Dr Katherine Sugar, a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Oxford. When Dr Sugar read of our awards success in sustainability in hairdressing, she wanted to include us in her academic study to demonstrate how SMEs across the UK can reduce their carbon emissions and help to tackle climate change.”

Keith and Anne’s unwavering commitment to sourcing eco alternatives for every area of their salon business has seen them become authority figures on the subject and led to the creation of their Salon RE:Source downloadable toolkit, which provides practical sustainability advice to other businesses.

“Every opening for us is another way and another audience with whom to share our ideas for making positive sustainable choices – and much of this has come about as a result of our awards success and the consequent media coverage” commented Keith Mellen. “The results show in the constantly growing numbers of salons and hairdressers downloading our Salon Re:Source toolkit to help them on their way; currently 1,650 hairdressers have chosen to use the toolkit for positive change, which is incredibly rewarding. Entering awards does often require a little time, effort or cost, but the opportunities that can arise from the experience makes it so worthwhile.”

To see Anne Veck’s awards and accolades click here.

Spring is on the way and 2023 is in vogue for wedding extravaganzas!
Anne Veck loves everything sustainable and eco friendly, and she wanted to share with you some tips to make your wedding better for our planet!

Number one (obviously), come get your hair done by Anne Veck!!! She is based at Kelly’s Hair Oxford and the whole salon is designed with “its good to be kind” in mind! Anne uses Davines: an eco friendly and also carbon neutral all natural hair care range! Their packaging is made from recycled material and is recyclable again, and they have undertaken a tree planting initiative to help offset carbon emissions worldwide.

Number two, if you are still looking for some wedding rings, head on over to www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com, Anne’s favourite jewelry designer. An independent craftswoman, she makes everything herself locally to reduce her carbon footprint, and can design you the most beautifully bespoke wedding rings!

Number three, confetti! looks pretty, but a bit of a culprit when it comes to littering! We recommend buying a heart shapes hole puncher, and collecting leaves. Then when you’re chilling in the evening at home, binging some Netflix, get your hole puncher, get your leaves, and start punching away to your hearts content! You then have some beautiful heart shaped confetti that is totally environmentally friendly!

Number four, location location location! It is no secret that cars, planes, boats… vehicles of all kind are not great for our mother earth, so if you can choose a local venue that is easy to get to for yourself and your guests and keep that travel distance and time down!

Number five, if you haven’t decided on a decor yet, maybe go for the shabby chic, reusable, DIY look. Use potted plants instead of cut flowers, and try to plan what happens to said plants after your wedding day. Use things such as crates, jam jars etc.. for decoration. It might be a bit more work atn your end, but the end result is gorgeous and our planet will thank you.

I could carry on all day about tips and ideas to make a wedding more sustainable, but I’ll stop here. Anne hopes to see you for your special day, so we can make it extra magical.

To book your trial session, including consultation, with Anne, call Kelly’s Hair Oxford on 01865 727077.

by Chloe Mellen aka Dirty French Girl

How many of you heard of Veganuary?

“Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. During the 2022 campaign, more than 620,000 people took our pledge to try a vegan diet, while more than 1,540 new vegan products and menu options were launched in our key campaign countries.

Throughout the year, Veganuary encourages and supports people and businesses alike to move to a plant-based diet as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of people.”
https://veganuary.com/about/about-us/

I am aware we are well into January at this point, but the idea is interesting. Being entirely vegan may not actually be the best solution for the planet, but drastically reducing our meat consumption would definitely give mother earth a breather! So why not Feganbruary? Or just give it a go for a week, and then see if it can become part of your daily routine? (Editor’s note. DFG, have you tried saying Feganbruary out loud? Fegan’s Brewery? What’s their IPA like?)

Anyhow, veganism can actually be good for your hair IF done correctly (in the past I was a lazy vegan, my diet was not very well rounded at all, and it caused hair loss. However this would have been the same whether I had been eating meat, been veggie, pescatarian etc).

Having a healthy vegan diet helps lower blood pressure. FGF5 (Fibroblast growth factor 5, a protein) is the major contributor to deciding hair growth and length in human. But it has also been implicated in the development of hypertension. There is a link between hypertension and hair loss and one fabulous way to reduce hypertension is through a healthy plant based diet.
On a similar vein, a plant based healthy diet reduces cholesterol (no more fatty dairy products!), and cholesterol is also a main villain in our hair loss fairy tale.
Many of us do not realise that fast, healthy hair growth is down to healthy food, and vegetables provide a lot of the vitamins we need for our hair. So munching on all those gorgeous colourful veggies could be just what we all need to be rid of our winter breakage and have rapunzel-like hair in no time.

You can even get yourself some vegan pro hair tools for when you may need to style your hair in between appointments. Denman has taken the Veganuary vibes and developed a range of items perfectly in line with it’s ethos.

So how many of you will try being vegan for a week? a month? forever and ever? 🙂
Let us know!

Have a great day.

xxxDFG
www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com

Hello to all our lovely Anne Secret’s readers. Hope you all had a wonderful festive season: celebrating whatever and however you wanted with whomever you wanted (or no celebration at all!)
For many this is was a period of (not so) slight (over) indulgence, and we start 2023 full of resolutions to eat better, exercise more, and generally be a healthier human being (it is the most popular New Year’s resolution by 51%!) But if, like me, you have decided you are a beautiful disaster and exercise is not your choice of self improvement for the next 365 days, may I interest you in another, less sweaty way, to keep a part of you healthy and looking fabulous?!
I have amalgamated some unusual habits to keep your hair looking its finest, and maybe by implementing some of these in your 2023 routine, could get that hair looking as fresh as a summer’s day!

1.Don’t fall for the supplement hype!
We all want to! Packaged so beautifully, advertised so wonderfully, and oh so easy! But no.
They are convenient for sure, but not always effective.
There is no real regulation in the dietary supplement industry. So even though biotin, zinc, and even protein are all essential for strong hair, it’s much better to get them from food than from a pill. So waste not your money on little pills, and just treat yourself to yummy quality food!

2.Bone Broth.
So, no supplements, but yes to natural quality foods! And an odd one that is very good for your hair growth and health is Bone Broth! My inner teenage emo loved this discovery: there something rather cool in saying you are brewing some bone broth, like a wicked modern witch, making a potion for beautiful hair!
Bone broth is one of the best food sources for collagen, a digestible form of protein that is vital for hair. Bone broth is also rich in gelatin and glycine, both of which contribute to hair elasticity. The healthy fat found in bone broth also helps absorb Vitamins A and E and your body uses Vitamin A to produce sebum, the natural oil that’s released from your hair follicles.

3.Figure out a post-workout hair routine that works for you.
We think this is obvious but it is actually a bit counter intuitive.
Go gym –> get sweaty –> wash everything, including hair –> we are sparkling clean and healthy!
Well NO (not for your hair anyway!)
Your hair can suffer from constant shampooing, so limiting the post-workout shower shampoos is ideal. Try dry shampoo, exercising at times that don’t need perfectly washed hair after, test out different ways of holding your hair up to avoid too much sweatiness.

4.Try using a t-shirt to dry your hair, especially if you have curls.
I won’t pretend to understand this one, I have a shaved head, but even before that when I had a bob, I would get the tiniest waves at best on a hot and sticky day! But this blog article is all about unusual techniques, and to me this seemed very unusual (sorry to all my curly haired readers if it is actually super obvious :/ )
SO (apparently) curly individuals know that using a towel to rub wet hair dry is the quickest way to end up with frizz. Instead, keep an old t-shirt in the bathroom and use it to squeeze and blot excess water out of your hair. This method will keep the hair cuticle flat and smooth. Even those of us with flat hair could use this technique to keep baby hair at bay, and our locks looking like Rapunzel!
AND make sure 100% sure you steer clear of micro fibre towels, yes they may be soft, but they are the utter worst for the environment and our planet!

5.Minimize breakage by sleeping on a silk pillow case.
My friend Camille, who has the most beautiful curled afro, told me she wraps her hair up in a silk scarf at night, and when I saw this tip, I thought it was a fab original (maybe alternative) tip for all types of hair.
SO you may be thinking this sound a bit boujie, you have a lovely 100 cotton thread pillow case, BUT cotton absorbs moisture so it dries out your skin and hair, whilst the silk pillow case does not.
So many things that can cause hair breakage, from tight hair bands to metal hair clips with sharp edges! But you can also snap your strands if you’re a wild sleeper. The friction created between your hair and the pillowcase can cause frizz to flare up, freak out and break!
But get yourself a silk pillowcase to minimize the wear-and-tear on your hair while you snooze.
And if you want to go one step further, we recommend the gorgeous Davines Detox Shampoo!

And just because I can not repeat this one enough: Get trims on the regular.
Even if you’re growing out your hair!!!
The trim only removes the split ends and allows healthy for quicker healthier growth! Like weeding a garden!
It avoids hair getting overly tangled in the shower and causing more breakage!

Hope you enjoyed the read, and have a fabulous week!

xxxDFG
www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com

HOW THE PERFECT HAIR CUT CAN SHAVE YEARS OFF YOUR FACE AND SAVE THOUSANDS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

It is no secret that certain hair cuts will suit certain face shapes, and that a mismatch can be unflattering. But did you ever think that coining that perfect hair cut and style, could help you look ten years younger?

Personally I turn 30 in a few weeks, and a year or so ago I was panicking a bit as I straddled my thirties, and decided to go for a fringe, to hide the wrinkles I thought I could see appearing on my forehead. I have since realised I am actually 30 years young, and the wrinkles I believed I could perceive were actually just the marks of an unhealthy society making me believe my life ended at thirty… so I shaved my head and now have a fabulous pink buzzcut. And as it turned out, that was the perfect hair cut for me. Depending on how I am dressed, and the vibe I want to give, I can look younger, or mature and sensible, and it instantly gave the impression I had lost 5kg. And it actually did, in some instances, make me look ten-ish years younger, as on an evening out meeting some new people, some thought I was 22 (I decided to take the vino lensed compliment, and did not question it!).
So this got me thinking, we must all have the one perfect haircut, and colour: that one look that will make us feel a million dollars, avoid us going under the knife (and I say this because sadly it is becoming more and more normal, and then we all end up looking like a Kardashian) and just love ourselves the way we are!

The first step is to the figure out which face shape you have.
Well no, first step is to come into the salon for a consultation and figure out with us which face shape you have 😉

Your fabulous stylist (who is trained for this obviously, in French it is called being a visagist, which sort of translates to face designer) will then help you look at different hair styles that match your face shape. You choose, then we cut and style!

If it is the forehead wrinkles you feel most self conscious about, fringes can help! Perms are making a big comeback, and wavy voluminous hair always have a great youthful vibe to it, and long hair cuts always offer more coverage. But it is essential to remember that we are working with what “god” gave you, so this is all accentuating your natural beauty, and making you feel fabulous, NOT making you question your worth because of what society says we should look like .

Specific hair colours with different skin tones can also give more or less radiant skin vibes.If your skin has warm undertones, warm, golden, honey and chocolate tones will make you radiate. if you have neutral skin undertones, you can get away with anything, (lucky bugger!), and cool pale skin usually looks good with with icy colour, ashy ones too, and crazy colours!
But do not discount your own confidence and confort! If you have warm undertones, and want to rock an icy white blond, and that will make you feel confident and beautiful af, talk to your stylist about it, because making you feel your best is what we are all about, and when you do it shows!

So this festive season, let us help you release your inner beauty by ccentuting what you already have going on!

Hve a lovely day!

xxxDFG
www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com

A style usually associated with the 80s, overdone down to the bone til it was deeply out of style, the fuzzy mullet perm was a bit of a traumatizing look for a while.

However, this throwback style is making a come back. No longer considered gauche, and probably thanks to shows like “Stranger Things” and Netflix’s love for vintage vibes, The Perm is quietly re-emerging in salons.
Technologies and products have evolved, to leave the hair softer and healthier, and the look these days is less fuzzy mullet and more soft beach waves, with volume and texture. The soft waves and natural curl pattern is such a leap away from the tight controlled curls we associated with the term perm with, “perm” may not even be the best name for it anymore!

Celebrity Julianne Hough recently got a perm and posted on insta “Today, I woke up like this…bye bye straight hair, hello sexy beach waves!”.

Old school perms used thio and ammonia to break hair bonds to restructure the shape of the hair. This treatment was aggressive, abrasive and left the hair super dry and overly crisp. These days the “perm” products are ammonia and thio free, they gently seep into the hair nourishing it rather than sucking it dry. The treatment is applied and the hair gently wrapped to achieve the level of curl you desire. Davines have a wonderful product for perms: The Balance & Bouclè line. These relaxing, curling and perm treatments are formulated to ensure the best professional result respecting hair health and like always they smells nice, feel nice, and is nice for the environment!

So if you’re craving some curls this Christmas, book your appointment now!

Bizous

xxxDFG
www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com

Dry Shampoo, or as it was originally known as Hybrid Shampoo, has been around a lot longer than we may think. I seem to remember it hitting the shelves and becoming the latest new thing we all needed to have to style our hair about ten, fifteen years ago.
Hairdressers of course never not used it. But did you know it has actually been around since the 15th century- research suggests that people in Asia used a clay based powder to clean their hair. So safe to say, we’ve had time to fine tune the formula.
Now just because we have refined today’s dry shampoo, does it mean never to wash your hair properly again? If you only use and over use dry shampoo it will itch – a lot – which will result in scabby scalp and breaking hair, clogged hair follicles that can stunt hair growth, and potential dandruff. But like I said this would be a result of mega over usage!

When used properly, dry shampoo is a excellent styling aid for those with naturally greasy hair hair, it can help desired style stay in place, it helps add texture and volume for those of us with flat locks, it can give us that ever so desired fresh outdo bed sexy look, and always give us a gorges matt finish!

And to prove our point, Davies have recently released a new utterly fabulous dry shampoo: “More Inside This Is An Invisible Dry Shampoo” : Enriched with rice starch to help absorb excess sebum to prevent greasy roots and promote a volumised effect.

The benefits include (taken from Davines’ website)
-Cleanses and refreshes hair without water
-Gives body and volume without weighing hair down
-Rice starch helps absorb excess sebum
-Non sticky, doesn’t leave white residue on the hair
-Invisible feeling in the hair
-95.5% of biodegradable ingredients
-CO2 neutral packaging

And as usual here at Anne Veck we love Davines or their 100% sustainable brand, where professional quality meets respect and love for the environment!

So next time you’re shopping for your hair styling tools, do make sure to drop by the salon and ask for our advice, were always here to help!

xxxDFG
www.dirtyfrenchgirl.com