Sally Hershberger is the kind of woman who isn’t easily forgotten.  When I met her a few years ago at beauty central (Claridges, again!) I was beauty director at Tatler, and she was working with John Frieda with a salon in LA.  She told me I looked like Heidi Klum, a comment which I have gratefully carried around with me ever since, and was such a character that she inspired me with my novel Face Value.  When my heroine Kate goes to the hairdressers, the comment: “People always ask me, what hair did you do for the fucking Oscars, and I always say, oh you know, yadda, yadda, yadda, boring, clean, straight, whatever, blah, blah, blah, natural crap!”  was not too far removed from what Sally actually said to me that day. 

John Frieda is also someone you don’t forget in a hurry.  He is very handsome, very charming, and even though he hasn’t cut hair for years and years, still has his eye on the talent.  Nicola Clarke, who colours my hair in London, is a genius colorist and looks after Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett to name but a few.  She’s popular because she’s funny, efficient, and tells it like it is.  Her colour is always spot-on.  (I met Louise Galvin the other day from the Daniel Galvin hairdressing dynasty and she commented on how perfect it was).  John has always championed stars and put them in key salons. So when Sally left his salon in Melrose Place he was quick to put another seasoned stylist in charge, and Serge Normant, whose clients include Julia Roberts, is now heading up the salon. 

What’s it like there now?  The LA TIMES described it as being clinical and put a lot of emphasis on chrome finishes, saying that Serge Normant had brought a little bit of New York to LA, as if this was a bad thing.THe LA Times reports that there was a mass exodus of staff, loyal to Sally, which is not uncommon in this industry.  

But some little birds over from Melrose this week  (not from the salon itself, but from a nearby store) told me that the atmosphere in the street is a little friendlier.  That there wasn’t much interaction between the salon and the other stores prior to Sally’s departures, and that things are hopefully going to be better now.  

In the salon itself - well, it was my first visit so I can’t compare it with how it was before -  the infamous pool is still there, infusing the light-filled space with grace and tranquility.  The rest of it is a fairly subdued creme and yes, a little bit of steel, lots of mirrors, nothing hugely different from what you might expect, clean lines, all very calm.

It’s very much business as usual; the staff are still a formidable team.  Heidi Stanton sat me in the chair and was about to give me the blow-dry I’d asked for, when she said… “and would you like to sort out these greys?”   “Can’t they go a few more weeks?” I asked, thinking of all the things I could be doing in LA on a sunny day - hair colour wasn’t one of them.  She ushered over Abbey, the colorist,  who was chic in clompy, buckled, biker boots and had long, wavy, beautiful hair.   Abbey took one look at me:  ”Nah.  These can’t wait.”  And 40 minutes later she’d got rid of the grey.  I had my eyebrows threaded by their beautician.  Heidi gave my hair a few layers it was needing.  And off I went on my merry way, really pleased to have had all that done in the limited time that I’d had. 

Heidi Stanton: 323 653 4040

Serge Normant at John Frieda: 8440 Melrose Place, Los Angeles, CA 90069