We had a great chat with the owner of the Morells, Sabrina Murrell, who shared her thoughts on popular social media hair debates, and why taking your hair care into your own hands is not always the best thing to do.
How long has Morells been around for?
Eight years – a very long time. We focus on actually producing results in people’s hair journeys so that they can see length and moisture hydration. We have strategic treatment plans that we put our clients on in order to get them the results they want fast, efficiently and consistently.
Can you tell us a fun fact about Morells?
Oh gosh! I guess that we are friendly and we offer a fun environment. Another fun fact is that we have a stylist who was on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. David is a singer and he does sometimes sing in the salon, which is amazing to listen to.
How often should we be getting hair treatments done?
In order to see results, you have to be consistent with your hair care. I like to compare hair to a rose bush; in order to maintain that beautiful shape and keep it healthy so it’s not growing all wild, you need to trim and water it. Nurturing your hair regularly is key.
At Morells, we start clients on our treatment package, which consists of three treatments over a five week period. The first treatment is usually our strongest – a combination treatment of moisture and protein – then we will see the client again two weeks later. The goal of that first treatment is to lock in the moisture, lock in the protein, and make sure we have dealt with most of the client’s current hair care issues.
It’s natural for the hair to try to revert back to its original state around ten days later. Therefore, we top the clients up with another treatment two weeks later, before it completely reverts. After that, we see the client again after three weeks, and then we carry out the final review.
We know that you’ve had the pleasure of doing Judi Loves hair. Are there any other celebrities you want to get your hands on, and why?
That’s a good question. Not necessarily celebrities. I know Judi, she’s a friend. Judi listens, so if I say she needs a treatment she will have a treatment.
I find when working with celebrities that they don’t necessarily want the hair care – they want the look, which is fine. But my goal is to work with more influencers that don’t necessarily show off their hair, and provide the healthy hair journey for people that maybe have had problematic hair and want actual help.
To be honest, Patricia Bright would be the ultimate client for me. I question the health of her hair. I want to work with people that represent the everyday issues women go through with their hair, especially women of colour who want solutions and have tried everything. I would love to showcase what we can do as a hair care focused salon.
Wigs have really taken over the hair industry
Wigs have really taken over the hair industry, which is fine – I love wigs and wear them myself. But I think wigs hide a lot of hair issues. People can go years without dealing with their problems, and by the time ten years have gone by, an issue that could have been resolved is now a life long problem because its been allowed to go on for so long. I really want to address this before clients experience traction alopecia.
In terms of protective hairstyles, what do you prefer?
I have no problem with any of them. Crochet, wigs, weaves, braids – whatever you like. My issue is that there needs to be hair care in between wearing those protective styles, because if you’re just styling your hair and not caring for it, you’re styling hair that may have problems. So then, when you take it out of its style, you still have the issue. So, whatever protective hair style you do, there needs to be an element of hair care in between, such as regular trims and treatments.
What I suggest to my clients is that they get their treatments at the salon, then install a protective style. As soon as they take out that protective style, have another treatment. This establishes a regime of hair care and protective style, rather than only protective styling.
If you are only putting away the hair and not looking after it, yu’re always going to have this battle of ‘okay my hair is still not in the condition I want, so let me just put it away again’. People often have length, but the length they have is not healthy – it’s quite dry and brittle. They have a problem deciding what to do with it once it’s out, so the easiest option is to put it away again.
We really do aim for people to understand what their hair is trying to show them, and to listen to the signs of what they hair is displaying. We use our product knowledge to find solutions for clients’ issues, rather than letting them play Russian roulette with products. With our advice, clients know that they bought the right product for the issue they have.
Do you think, as black people, we weren’t taught how to take care of our own natural hair?
I think things have changed these days. In the seventies, we were all wearing afros. I think moisture was highly recommended in those days, whereas today protein is recommended, but I believe it gets overused on natural hair. I think we need a lot hydration.
Trims are not really celebrated here. I think they are more celebrated in America; there’s a polished look I find Americans tend to have. It’s not that we’re not polished, but we achieve that more with wigs and protective styles.
People who trim their own hair tend to be bias to the length, so they are not going to cut what needs to be taken off. What we do as a salon is show you why we need to take off the amount we do. We get you to stroke through the hair strands and see how the ends are in comparison to the rest of the hair. If it’s tangly, brittle and/or dry, we will show you why.
There’s no product which will resolve that problem – you can’t use anything to disguise spilt ends. It just needs to be trimmed. Hair care at home and hair care at the salon are two different things.
There are social media debates that create a divide between the stylist and client. Particularly, whether or not a wash and blow dry should be included in the services. Especially when it comes to braiding services. What do you think of this?
I’m glad you’ve said that. That’s such a good question. My take is on this as a braider is exactly that. She or he is a braider – not a hairdresser – they have got no interest in doing other services besides braiding your hair. If you’ve not called yourself a hairdresser and you exclusively call yourself a braidist or a wig technician, I totally agree with asking clients to come to your salon with their hair prepped. Because these services take a long time to carry out as it is.
At Morells, we are a hair care focused salon. We need to get your hair wet so that we can lock in moisture and hydration. I call people who work at Morells ‘hair carers’ rather than hairdressers. I find that a hairdresser will ensure the hair looks nice, but not necessarily deal with the health of the hair.
It’s so important to know what kind of specialist that you are going to, and to attend your appointment with your hair prepped appropriately. I will wash a client’s hair because I’m a hair carer and that’s what we do. If you want your wig laid, your wig stylist won’t want to wash, blow-dry and cornrow your hair. They just want to install your wig, because that’s what they do.
It may be controversial, but if a hair professional posts a disclaimer that they specialise in a certain area, I agree that they should charge more for other services.
Can dyed hair be healthy?
Because we install the treatment package before applying colour, we have ensured that the client’s hair is healthy before carrying out technical services. When someone has not ensured that their hair is healthy and they decide to go home and apply box colour, it can be assumed that their hair was never in the condition to be dyed in the first place. So I don’t blame it on colour. I blame it on the lack of knowledge.
Have you had any crazy experiences working as a stylist?
I’ve had clients apply relaxer and colour themselves, and you just know that their hair has dropped out.
I’ve seen people who have gone to a salon thinking they’ve received a silk press, but actually they had a keratin treatment. So it looks fine when they leave the salon, but as soon as they wash their hair, it’s not what they thought it was.
Lots of boyfriends are out here trimming hair and multitasking right now. A lot of guys have been relaxing their girlfriends’ hair during the lock down. I’ve had to fix it, but at least they’ve tried.
A lot of the problems have come from people doing things to their hair at home and coming into the salon asking us to fix things. Instead of creating a problem that needs fixing, why not just have it done properly in the first place? You think that you’re saving, but you actually double the cost, because you’ve damaged your hair and you need to pay to fix it.
Do you think that YouTube videos make us feel like professionals?
YouTube is amazing. And I’ll tell you why. I watch YouTube myself because it’s good for me to see what other people are doing. But I’m qualified, so when I look at YouTube, I understand the principles and the theories because I’ve got that education in the first place. If someone hasn’t studied this and has no idea about curl pattern or what peroxide does to the hair, you’re at risk of being bombarded with brands that try to sell you hair products, and may not understand that it might not work the same on your hair.
Our hair is very complex and we can’t just look at somebody else’s curl or coil pattern and think that the products they’ve used will work well for anyone. Even certain techniques won’t work well with a different hair type.
For example, if someone’s has a level three curl pattern, and they want a really high afro, like someone with level four texture can achieve, there’s unfortunately nothing they can do to replicate that hairstyle. And vice versa – if your hair is in the fours and you want ringlets, you’re going to have to break that texture down to a point where it will mimic it. You will never be able to recreate it with products only. You have to use a chemical in order to break down the curl pattern, or try a curly perm.
And I think YouTube gives the illusion that if you buy a particular product, you can turn your type four coils into type three curls, which is impossible.
YouTube will also make you feel like there’s something wrong with your hair when there’s absolutely nothing wrong. The issue is that you’re taking it upon yourself to diagnose your hair issue without any education behind why your hair is doing what it is doing.
What is the key step in achieving a good silk press?
I believe that you must have salon care for certain services. Don’t silk press at home unless you’ve undergone a solid hair care treatment in a salon. If your hair is dry and brittle, and you do a silk press at home, the likelihood of it lasting is going to be really low. Our silk presses can last two weeks – even six weeks with some clients. It just depends on their texture, how much treatment they’ve had and how well they wrap their hair at night.
If you want the best out of your silk press, you do have to wrap your hair every night. Even if it has got wet in the rain, wrap it. Magic happens when you wrap your hair.
I tell clients that their after care is what makes our salon care last longer. If you go home and sleep without a headscarf on after a silk press, you’ve wasted your money, whereas if you preserve your hair up until your next appointment, that style will last for weeks. And that’s where you get your money’s worth from our services.
Visit Morells at morells.co.uk
