she may be known for her gleaming, blonde locks, but gwyneth paltrow has made no secret of the fact she can’t style her own hair such is her love of a professional look, she invested in a chain of us blow dry bars last year the first branch has just opened in london, offering seven hollywood hairdos inspired by the actress, who is also the creative director — all at just £28 a throw scroll down for video  sleek volume: fellow blonde mandie gower (pictured) made her way to blo, in covent garden, to try out some of gwynnie's signature looks  blo, in covent garden, promises to bring gwyneth’s signature looks to busy british women the chain also has to satisfy her eco credentials, so the salon does not use styling products that contain any chemical preservatives — called parabens — or sulphates as a customer, all you have to do is point at the look you like best on the salon menu before you sit back for 45 minutes and sip a green tea as the stylist gets to work fellow blonde mandie gower went along to try four of gwynnie’s most distinctive styles, and see if it really is possible to get hollywood hair on the cheap sleek volume  sleek volume: gwyneth rocked the 'sleek volume' at the 2005 oscars (pictured) the style: the salon’s name for this look is the red carpet gwyneth rocked a similar look at the oscars in 2005 and even the shampoo the stylist is rubbing into my hair has hollywood connections the salon uses a range called unite by beverly hills celebrity hairdresser andrew dale and is free from paraben preservatives and sulphates it turns out this is the first of many products that i need to be red carpet ready there’s a conditioner, then a mousse, followed by volumising spray then a slick of another gwynnie favourite — argan oil once my pampered hair has been rough dried, my blo stylist sundya divides it into small sections, rolling each one up into pin curls and securing them on my head with a grip another blast with the hairdryer and these are gently unrolled sundya then backcombs the roots before smoothing and separating the curls and fixing the whole look with a whoosh of hairspray verdict: my hair has more energy and bounce than gwyneth after a pint of organic green juice and it feels beautifully soft and natural rather than set and brittle it’s me, but with added va va voom result! 5/5  tousled tresses  the style: this just got out of bed look, called pillow talk, is easy to achieve when you have your own beverly hills celebrity stylist on speed dial but if my pillows could talk, they would swear blind they’d never seen my hair looking like this first thing in the morning sundya reveals gwyneth’s secret — a salt water spray to give the hair that matt, slept in look tousled tresses: this just got out of bed look looks easy to achieve but is actually far from it, blo stylist sundya reveals salt water spray is the secret to creating that slept in look  once she’s sprayed this on and blow dried my hair using a medium round brush, she twizzles small sections into tight twists, and winds them individually around the barrel of a tong, holding them in place with her fingertips for about 15 seconds each ‘this gives more of a wave than a curl,’ she says she then gently brushes through the medusa like tendrils to create a more relaxed effect, before fixing it with hairspray verdict: i don’t look ‘sensual and innocent’, as promised on the salon menu even ‘messy beach waves’ doesn’t describe my hair at the end of 45 minutes far from looking like the sexy surfer girl i had imagined, i am reminded of a bowl of spiral pasta 2/5  amazing grace  the style: gwyneth is no stranger to an up do sundya says the key is ‘all about prepping the hair for a sleek finish’, and i soon discover this involves lots of products, from leave in conditioner to a ‘lazer straight relaxing fluid’ which smoothes frizz my hair is blown straight and pulled into a high ponytail amazing grace: gwyneth showed off a classic updo in 1996 film, emma (left) mandie (right) learnt that the key to this delicate look is preparing your hair for a 'sleek finish', which can involve a lot of products  to create the topknot — gwynnie calls this look the high society — the ponytail is divided into thick sections and tonged into a chunky curl to help coax a rounded bun shape out of my straight hair as sundya works her way round the ponytail, she carefully fans out each section, spreading and pinning it to create the bun verdict? forget gwyneth paltrow when i look in the mirror through the fog of hairspray, i swear i can see grace kelly the menu ‘guarantees this coif will get you what you want’, and it’s true, my bun stays firm and perky all day, even winning a few compliments from strangers 4/5  backcomb ponytail  the style: gwyneth rocked a beehive at a louis vuitton event a few years ago but as i soon discover, this is a seriously high–maintenance look — not for nothing the salon calls it the hunt club — that takes a lot of backcombing backcomb ponytail: another favourite of gwyneth's (left) is the beehive inspired ponytail mandie (right) discovered that this seriously high maintenance look took a lot of backcombing  the vigorous brushing begins after my hair’s been washed and dried and i panic at the sight of the matted bird’s nest on the top of my head but minutes later sundya has pinned it back and miraculously smoothed away the coarse texture with a brush, while keeping all the volume the lower lengths (which weren’t backcombed) are swept into a side ponytail and fixed with a minimal band sundya then wraps a small section of hair around the band to cover it — the ultimate gwynnie touch verdict: my ponytail looks a bit sparse compared with the enormous pouffe on top of my head the menu suggests it is ‘a polished look for an impromptu polo match’ sorry, but there are none of those going on where i live 3/5 
last year us just £28 gwyneth paltrow london hollywood
gwyneth paltrow has made no secret of the fact she can’t style her hair  the actress even invested in a chain of us blow dry bars last year  a branch has just opened in london with hollywood hairdos just £28 each 