hello magazine double spread interview with Zoltan

If, like Nicole Richie, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman, you are one of the growing army of frizz fighters, the washout summer will have been a challenging time. From serums and smoothing hair oils to straighteners and keratin treatments, women will try almost anything to tame out-of-control locks, which behave particularly badly in damp, humid conditions.

“The most common request I get is for smooth, frizz-free, low- maintenance, shiny hair,” says Zoltan Vargyai, whose Compton Hair salons specialise in the Brazilian blow-dry. “If you use straighteners every day, you are making your hair naturally frizzier. So you have two options: to give up straightening your hair or to have its texture changed.”

This may sound drastic, but with the latest permanent and semi-permanent solutions it is easier than ever, and Zoltan is at the cutting edge of the new treatments. One of the first to bring the Japanese permanent hair-straightening technique Yuko to the UK, he offers high- tech digital perming along with Brazilian blow-dries that mix and match formulas sourced from Brazil, Korea and Japan.

His couture straightening process can include a mix of semi- permanent and permanent treatments with varying levelsof formaldehyde, as well as formaldehyde-free formulations, chosen depending on hair type and the level of colour processing or damage. “The art is in assessing each head of hair, customising the formulations, steaming them into the hair and deep conditioning as you go,” he explains. It works on all hair types except bleached, white hair, which is too porous to hold the process – although Zoltan is working on a solution for this.

A perfect pre-holiday treat to leave you with shiny, well-behaved hair, whatever the weather. •Zoltan Vargyai couture straightening.