Most of you will know by now that I have three fabulous daughters who I love to bits. (two step-sons too as a matter of fact but as this is a ‘girly’ topic, we’ll leave them out for now….)

There’s Helena, the oldest and a design engineer in Aberdeen, over at Helena’s Blog, Megan, the free-spirited travelling one, in Malaysia at the moment, over at Wanderings of a Welsh Girl and Maddie, the middle-one, who has just started work as a Junior Doctor. Helena is ‘allergic’ to hairdressers after a bad experience with a stylist who cut her extremely curly hair when wet resulting in a bit of a trim becoming 6 inches off all round once her hair dried! Megan has managed nearly a year in Melbourne and now Asia without a hair-cut – paying rent and buying food is significantly more important when you’re travelling. Maddie has been wanting her hair sorted out for a while now but because of the ridiculous hours she’s having to work (Jeremy Hunt, take note!) she has had very little time to fit things in. Anyway she has taken three days holiday this week and needed to fit in the opticians, doctor, hairdresser and a visit to the bank to apply for a mortgage with her other half! As her unpaid PA (her words not mine!), I helped her make appointments as she has to have her phone off in work and never gets home until everything has closed!  As I have been so impressed with Ken Picton’s every time I’ve been, I asked them if they could squeeze her in and hey, they did…..

Read below what Maddie thought of the Ken Picton Hair Salon……….

“I’ve never really been someone who looks forward to getting their hair done. Making small talk with a stranger whilst staring at yourself in a mirror for hours on end, feeling nervous about the end result , is not really something I’ve ever found enjoyable before. I’ve never found a salon that I’ve returned to religiously – I tend to shop around on Groupon where I canget a full head of highlights for tuppence. However, after my experience at Ken Picton this week I think I may have changed my whole outlook on the hairdressing experience and I may have actually found THE ONE…

On entering Ken Picton’s Hair Salon in Mermaid Quay Cardiff Bay I saw a modest but swanky-looking salon all shiny and black with trendy looking staff dressed fashionably with (as you might expect) perfect, stylish haircuts. I was made to feel welcome immediately while someone took my coat and scarf to hang up. Then I was taken upstairs to where the action happens. I was surprised at the vastness of the space upstairs – it no longer seemed quite so ‘modest’.. There was a nail bar, treatment rooms and a bar where you could order hot drinks, cold drinks, alcoholic drinks, whatever takes your fancy! After spending five years at university and only getting my hair cut twice a year when the trainees from the local college offered free cuts I had no idea salons like this even existed!

Whilst waiting for the colour to ‘set’ I was offered further drinks and magazines. Whilst tempted by the offer of a glass of wine, I reminded myself that I was driving and opted for a latte instead. So, coffee on it’s way I took my book out and settled down to 40 minutes of reading and relaxation.