Jack Howards 3D Colour

Neville Hair & Beauty's International Colour Director and the UK's leading Balayage expert Jack Howard is the master of 3D colour that softens the face and makes hair look thick and lustrous. Jack is colourist to Poppy & Chloe Delevingne, Suki Waterhouse, Gillian Anderson, Donna Air, Ola Rudnicka, Ana Beatriz Barros, Vanessa Kirby, Clara Paget, Mollie King, Aluna Francis of Aluna George, Chloe Hayward, Georgia Salpa, Hofit Golan, and the official colourist to Next Model Management.

Jack is widely credited with bringing the Balayage revolution to the UK and has a number of clever techniques for making hair look thicker, healthier and more vibrant. Moving away from time-consuming, generic foils, Jack's techniques are quicker and fresher and include:

Micro BabyLights: As worn by Gillian Anderson, BabyLights are superfine strands of colour running throughout, done with meche or plastic wrap. Jack says, “You can either go heavily or lightly depending on the finish you want but the idea is they're micro to look super natural (if you go heavier it's a stronger look but still lovely and soft, if you go lighter it's so fine it looks like you were born with it). This technique makes the hair look multi dimensional because they're so fine.

“My go-to lightener is L'Oreal Professionnel's Platinium, it lifts beautifully but leaves hair shiny and in good condition. Always care for this colour with Shu Uemura Silk Bloom shampoo, conditioner and mask. Maintenance wise, you'll need to retouch every 8 weeks on heavier Micro Babylights, but you can go longer (12-14 weeks) on more gentle microlights. This technique can be done on any shade, not just blondes, but I love the impact it has for blondes.”

Ponytail Highlights: These clever freehand placements of colour under the hair mean hair doesn't look two-tone when worn in a ponytail.

Balayage: As worn by Poppy Delevingne and discerning A-listers everywhere, Balayage is de rigeur in the states and Jack's go-to staple technique. Jack says, “Banishing foil highlights in favour of Balayage is the perfect way to keep hair looking youthful and fresh. It allows for a sun-kissed natural looking hair colour with less obvious regrowth (think of celebs like Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Aniston as the poster girls) Balayage is applied on the surface of the section and not saturated through the section until the very tips otherwise you would have a streak of colour that isn't very soft at all. It can also be called a freehand technique because no foil is used to create the highlights”.