Before Christmas, I was lucky enough to win a competition for a vintage hair styling session by Belinda Hay at The Painted Lady in London. Belinda Hay literally wrote the book on vintage hair, so I was over the moon at the prospect! Unfortunately, due to the bad weather in January, I managed to miss my first appointment that I’d booked with her, but Belinda graciously allowed me to rebook – and so, yesterday, I finally got my hair did!

As I won the competition by professing my love for Gil Elvgren’s curly haired beauties, I thought it was only right to request a similar look for my styling session. Belinda began by curling my hair using hot tongs and allowing it to cool in curl clips. Then, after a copious dousing in hairspray, the clips were removed, and the brushing out began! This is the bit that I’d probably have the most trouble with – after all, once you’ve spent so long pinning your hair up, it’s scary to take a brush to it. Knowing me, I’d brush all those curls out! However, Belinda’s expert touch and total confidence left me with gorgeous pin-up curls all day long (and they’re still in today!).

Check out the back – such amazing waves! I told Belinda my hair only behaves for other people – but I’m getting better at giving my hair some gentle curls with heated rollers…

(In case you wondered, I wore my NW3 Hobbs Annabel dress, Miss L Fire Monaco shoes, Monty Mouse earrings from Hobbs, and Audrey sunglasses from Jeepers Peepers (via ASOS). I’ve worn the Annabel dress so many times now, it’s starting to become my uniform…)

Excuse the cheesy grin – I was pretty pleased with my hair!

I also wore my trusty old coat from Next, which I bought a year ago from the outlet store in Gunwharf Quays after I totally misjudged the weather! Good buy in the end…

In other news, I’m experiencing feelings of confusion about the upcoming summer months – on the one hand, I can’t wait for warmer weather, but on the other hand, I’ll probably have to retire my gorgeous shoes for a while… Hence wearing them as often as I can at the moment!

Visit The Painted Lady online here, or pop into the salon at 65 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, E2 7DJ. The phone number is 0207 729 2154. Vintage hairstyling starts from £45, but you can also get party packages, as well as hair dying services – and there’s a nail bar, too! TPL is full of lovely, attentive staff, and everyone I saw while I was there left looking absolutey fabulous!