Jamie stevens’ x factor diary – semi-finals week

As official hairdresser on The X Factor, Jamie Stevens and his team have been responsible for creating all of the contestants live looks – and we’ve been going behind the scenes with him. Here, he shares his latest backstage diary…

Not only was the Fellowship for British Hairdressing Luncheon the ideal way to kick off the week, but it’s always my favourite way to see in the festive season at The Dorchester Hotel with some great industry friends. Hosted by my old boss and Fellowship President, Errol Douglas and chancellor Karine Jackson - who both did an amazing job - I was honoured to receive the Media Personality award from the Fellowship for a second consecutive year. The Fellowship gave me the biggest platform with the F.A.M.E Team, so I’m excited to be working with them on a special event next year - more details to be announced in the new year! After the awards it was back to the serious business of the X Factor semi-finals. I can’t believe how much the contestants have grown and evolved in such a short space of time. As the hair styling team, we’re so proud to have witnessed and played a part in not only their physical transformations, but also in helping their confidence grow as they progress through the show. With Rough Copy, they came into the show with a strong sense of style so everything has just become more enhanced and exaggerated as they have more opportunity to explore fashion looks. Luke also has a strong individual style and though he doesn’t want to cut his hair, he’s totally up for experimenting. Working with his natural texture by adding some wax in and ironing out his dreadlocks to make them more defined, we’ve flirted with braiding and hair accessories to taking his hair back into a ponytail to show off his cherubic face! On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve taken Nicholas from a young teenage boy that never really thought about fashion to someone that now loves his hair being styled and changing up his look from messy and textured to sharp and slick. Sam has certainly been the biggest transformation that has resonated with the show’s fans. Prior to the show, Sam’s day job was a prison warden where hair and make-up was always played down. Now on the X Factor, she’s enjoyed getting glammed up and her confidence has blossomed by the week. She’s aware of how certain ways of wearing her hair make her feel good and has even been recreating some of the how-to looks I’ve filmed on her such as the topknot that she styled herself for an appearance on Soccer AM! On Saturday we’d originally had an updo for Sam in mind for her first song ‘If I Were a Boy’ but with the styling being quite androgynous, we agreed that the hair looked better down to avoid it looking too hard, whilst for ‘Candle in the Wind’, we did a quick change into a low dishevelled undone bun with height at the crown to complement the glamorous dress she wore. With the Saturday show done, the X Factor team helped me celebrate my birthday in style at a karaoke bar. Let’s just say after that experience that I don’t think I’ll be entering X Factor as a contestant next year! Sunday brought the toughest results show so far as it’s always hard to say goodbye to an act that has made it so near and just missed out on the final hurdle. Rough Copy brought excitement, edge and the fun factor to the show so they will be sorely missed at the Final but just like I had a huge platform with the Fellowship F.A.M.E Team back in 2006, so they have had with the X Factor and I’ve got a feeling it isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of them! Delighted for Sam, Luke and Nicholas as they’ve all worked so hard and are all incredible in their own individual ways. This year the Final has come back to London to Wembley Arena in front of 10,000 people. We’re so excited and can’t wait to bring you the final instalment of my X Factor weekly diary for HJ.

Take a look back at Jamie - and the contestants' - journey over the last few weeks in the archives...

Jukebox Week | Great British Songbook Week | Best of British Week | Big Band Week | Disco Week | Movie Week