Creating great shapes

original picture from Fudge International Collection 2008

I realised today that my square layer fixation is part of a bigger issue, vertical elevation. If there is one part of haircutting that I think is under emphasised, it is layering techniques that pull out to the side, instead of always up. When I first see a new client, I start by assessing what layering, if any has been done below the crest of the head. If you think about the rules of hair travel, (how far the hair has to travel, to reach the guide line) it should make sense that any vertical elevation, will create short layers, but a heavy perimeter. Vertical elevation in this case, is any of the techniques that elevate the hair above the head, and vertical elevation itself is not the problem, but it needs to be balanced usually, with some sort of layering technique that pulls out to the back or side of the head. This would prevent the hat-like effect I see so often, where the short layers on top fall into a round bowl shape, sat on top of a solid form. Look at this on the next few clients you see. Elevate a vertical section of the layers, so it is parallel to the side of the head, but does not go higher. If there is a disconnection in length between the short top and the longer middle, then the hair will not flow smoothly throughout the shape, there will be bumps. If there is a distinct corner, then there will be an area of weight where that section of hair lands. Knowing how to control the elevation to give the result your client is after, creates hair that is easy for them to recreate, because the haircut does all the work, instead of the blowdry.

Celebrity hairdresser

I found another great blog, from celebrity colorist Louis Licari. He does a makeover segment for the Today show that he shows here as well. As these are all people pulled from the street, I find it a good inspiration for bringing the best out of our clients.
I liked this insight he gave, "Most of us eat healthy, exercise, and do all we can to take care of ourselves. Wouldn’t it be ironic to let our hair look grey and faded when this is perhaps the easiest part of our grooming to maintain?" and this one,Nothing shouts "I color my hair and do it badly" more than light roots and dark ends. Color can grab darker on the ends of your hair shaft if it is porous. This happens if you continually work the color all over your hair at every touchup.
It seems he has developed a great insight into the clients we care for. Understanding your clients is a surefire way of earning their loyalty, so I will be checking back from time to time for his insights.

Marie Antoinette upstyle

These are the pictures a client sent me of her formal night, after I styled her hair. I had a lot of fun with this hair, as the brief given to me, was to create something reminiscent of Kiki Dunst, in Marie Antoinette. Shani came prepared with some hair wefts, all sorts of flowers, feathers and a bird! Shani's hair is only shoulder length, so I used GHD's over hot sticks, to create tight curls on two wefts of hair, and pinned them into the back. I used small tongs on her own hair, and pinned the hair as I worked my way up the head from the nape. Pinning all the accesories onto one side, behind an ear finished the look. It was so good to get these photos of the finished look, as so often we are the first stop, before makeup and dress go together. It makes the hour and a half of fiddling worthwhile.

Upstyle consultations.

Jackie O's wedding hair is a popular request for brides

Still low on the neck, but with a soft natural look, gives a whole different look

Tomorrow night I am guiding our assistants through an upstyle training night. So I thought I would take a moment to recap on consulting for an upstyle. For me, the consultation is the most crucial part of the appointment. The first thing I do is assess the hair. In other words if their hair is tied up, take it out and get your fingers in there. This is so you can gauge how thick the hair is, the length of any layers, is it clean? Next, find out if they have any existing ideas of how they want their hair to look, or if they have brought pictures. Then I start to break down the style into it's parts. I do this if they have a photo or not, as often they like parts of the style, but would like to personalise others. If they have a photo of a celebrity I will cover the face while I talk through the style. This is to bring the focus right to the hair, not the glamorous image of the celeb. I ask what it is about the picture they like.
The texture- Would they like curls or straight? Messy or groomed? If curls, how tight? Maybe crimped, or afro. Maybe a wet look, or really sleek. Some girls like their hair to look like it was raked back with fingers, others like the smooth perfection of fresh brushed hair. This will tell you the tools you will need for your preparation, and also the products you will need.
Height and width- How much volume do they want in their hair? Someone with a round face will usually prefer more height than width. A tall person or someone with a long face may not want to add to much extra height. Be specific. This will tell you if you need to rewet the hair, and blowdry the roots to add volume, or maybe just back-comb the hair.
Fringe/Face frame- This is the part that your client will see the most, so they have to feel comfortable with it. Do they always part in the same place? This might not be the best time to change it. Will their hair bother them in their face? Do they want hair falling softly around their face? All brushed back? Do they want their ears covered, uncovered? Your client will probably have the strongest ideas about this aspect of the style.
Placement- The focal point of the style can be placed almost anywhere on the head. Find out if they want to be able to see any of this feature from the front. Hair can be gathered at the nape, off to one side, centred at the back of the head, piled up high, directed towards the front like a mohawk, spilling around the sides like a halo, even draped over a shoulder. This should also give you an idea of the size of the feature, in case you need to use paddings to fill out the shape.
Techniques- Within the style you can use a variety of braids, twists, knots, curls, rolls or chignons. Each will give a different feel to the style. While a client will sometimes have a bias for or against some of these techniques, this is usually the place for you as a stylist to add your own personal style to the look. Suggest a few options that your client may not have thought of, and make sure you know how to perform a variety of finishes.
It can also be handy to know where your client is going, to assess the suitability of the styles you are suggesting. In windy weather on a beach, for example, a loose chignon with free falling hair around the face will get blown away. Also, some styles are just too extravagant for a casual event. If you're asking about the dress being worn, the important questions are about the silhouette of the dress, and the neckline. If the neckline of the dress is high or very busy, you will want to lift the hair up and away to make the most of it. The shape of the silhouette is important, so you can balance the proportions of the overall look.
The answers to these questions will give you a complete picture of your upstyle. Assuming that their hair is suitable to achieve this look, repeat back to them what the finished look will entail, and get started. While you are behind the client, pinning their hair, don't forget to check the mirror to see what the client is seeing, and check in every now and then, to make sure it is coming together the way they imagined. Better to change direction midway, than have to start over once you're finished. Happy styling!

Fundamental hair cutting guide

I found this website while looking for pictures to demonstrate a square layering technique. From the different cuts I have seen so far, this site explains quite clearly the basic cuts that form a foundation of hairdressing. While most hairdressers will have small deviations from these cuts, they look like a good resource to have available while learning the fundamentals of cutting.

Why square layers really bug me.

the right way to use a square layer.

image of square layer from toni&guy's Australian website

Anyone who has trained in the salon with me, will tell you I have a thing against square layers. Mostly about using them in long hair. I had a client find me again 9 months after I moved to a different location in my salon group. She drove for an hour, and paid at least a third more, because I can get rid of her square layers, and she is one of many. I have rarely heard any long hair client in the last 10 years, ask me for a haircut that would require a square layer, yet I see so many coming to me with exactly that cut into their hair.
I have two main problems with the square layer technique. The first is the shape around the face. This haircut only really works well with a centre parting, as shifting the part to either side creates unwanted asymmetry. But even when styled to a centre part, there is usually a large gap left below the layer, because the hair around the ear is not thick enough to compensate for the hair that has been cut away. This is very noticeable on fine hair where it sometimes seems like only 10 hairs are left to define the face frame. On thick hair this cut often results in a mushroom shape. The layers on top lift, thanks to being cut shorter, and fill out till they fall into a strong weight area at the bottom of the layers. Below this layer there is now less hair to reach the base line, hence the mushroom. Curly haired girls are very often the victim of this one. The second problem is the back area below the crown. Most of the hair below the crown is not cut when the hair is overdirected upwards, but the hair above the crown, usually loses quite a bit comparatively. The result is a rounded area at the top of the head which then drops to a solid base line.
My solution to this problem is usually to do a version of an increase layer, or natural inversion. By overdirecting the hair from the sides to the desired parting, and elevating as much as needed, I can maintain weight over the ears, and get a more fluid distribution of weight throughout the layers. At the back I often connect long layers in the area under the crest of the head, with the inversion, by overdirecting the crown backwards to a vertical layer. In the consultation, I ask if the client feels top-heavy in their cut, and if they would like to see more strength in the line of hair falling in front of their shoulders. Invariably they say yes, and I tell them I am going to give them classic flowing layers that blend seamlessly throughout the shape. Because square layers are such a common haircut, some clients do not even know they can ask to fix these problems, and are usually grateful to you for fixing their hair problems.
The times when a square layer really works, is when doing a version of the lioness or a chick-mullet. It will give you lots of volume on top and leave you length in the back and remove a lot of weight in the face frame to allow for the jawline to be opened up. If this is what your client is asking for then the square layer is your place to start. The cut is definitely worth learning, as every style will eventually come back into fashion, and someone less mainstream will be wearing it anyway. The trick is in learning when to pull this one out of your trick bag, and when to leave it alone.

Skills still most important.

It's official, and here's the results to prove it. Someone on Bellasugar had the idea to ask which was more important in choosing a hairdresser, the personality, or the skills. The skills have it! So don't go relying on your great fashion, flirting skills, or chit chat to build a clientele. Most of the results show that customers are happy enough to not be friends with their stylist. That doesn't mean you can skip on service though. I feel better knowing that it is ok if I don't want to make small talk, and let them focus on their magazine or just relaxing.

Hairdressers on crack

I'm still not convinced that this is not a joke. Please do not try this at home. This came from an article at popsugar explaining the latest trend in one salon group, which I am embarrassed to say is an Aveda salon. They recommend shaving a strip of hair right up the back of your head as a feature. If you check out the shots, there is one photo of a girl with pinned up hair, and the "feature" is feathered and dyed red which looks ok. If you're into that sort of thing.

How NOT to do upstyles

picture found on Mahalo Fashion

This is Eva Amrri with Chris Benz. Those names mean nothing to me, but what I learn from this picture, is that runway hair does not usually work on real people. I can't look at anything else in that picture except for the thing on her head. It might work in platinum blonde, and on Gwen Stefani, but mere mortals? No. Even as hairdressers, I don't think we should want all the focus on the hair. Though there are situations where it can be more of a focus. For me, the idea is to put the finishing touch on the entire look, and pull it all together.

Kate moss hair

image from popsugar

Kate Moss has cut her hair again. I like that she has moved away from the one length and fringe that she has had for a while. There are more pictures here . Rumour has it that she cut it herself. I hope that doesn't catch on, or we are going to see some serious fix up jobs. Interesting to see if this becomes one of the looks for 2009. People are going to need somewhere else to go with their posh bobs.

Spring/Summer trends

image from salon 52

Even though this article from salon_52 is a bit old as far as the celebrity images go. The trends we see in the Northern hemisphere spring/summer often translate well to ours. Check out the looks some of the big names in hairdressing were predicting for the season they just finished. A return to signature haircuts, that show the hand of the stylist, and a more natural colour palette, seems to be continuing.

Online image inspiration

Pictures found of real people on facehunter and the sartorialist

Celebrity photos and blogs can show new trends emerging

Behind the chair has been one of my most visited resources for hair pics, Salon_52 was another. They both show some of the latest picture collections being put out by todays stylists. A lot of the pictures I have collected have been sourced from one of these sites, or at least have alerted me to the presence of someone's work to explore further. I have found that the photographic collections don't interest me as much as they used to a few years ago, when I used to search this stuff voraciously. Not that the quality of work seems any worse, but the images just aren't as relevant to the type of work I am doing in the salon. While I have fun occasionally doing what I think of as "hairdresser hair", I prefer to focus on creating beautiful clients, and the fluidity of the sections of hair within the haircut. In photographs I see lots of work I just could never recommend. Nowadays I am influenced more by celebrity, and street images from blogs like facehunter and the sartorialist. Of course there is a fair bit of repetition in these styles, but I am quite happy to work with variations on the classics, interpreting how they work with current trends and individual personalities. Also these images all show hair as they are being worn in real life situations, as opposed to unachievable looks created in a studio. European/British fashion tends to be the first to reinvent a look, and as it filters through to the magazines and stores over here in Australia, we interpret how that trend will influence hairstyles and colours.
In fashion there is rarely anything new, only reinvented, and hair is no different. The styles will usually stay the same, but as products and tools advance, the way we create them can be different. So having access to collections, past and present, is an advantage. Especially early in an apprenticeship. When you just start out, you are usually only aware of the styles currently being worn by your generation. Don't be misled into thinking that you don't need to learn to create a style that is not currently in fashion. One day that look will be back, with a twist. I always thought that mullets would never come back, and I ended up wearing one! CuratorUK is a site that highlights the collections of past masters in hair as well as the current, which is worth checking out.

Resources for hairdressers

I often find myself repeating the quote about apprentices, "you are only as good as your master". I use this as an explanation for the number of unhappy customers coming to me, to have their haircut fixed. The idea being, that if the person teaching you didn't learn it, then they are never going to be able to teach you. I find that unless you have found the "Guru" of all haircuts, like a Vidal Sassoon, then you need to have a variety of masters, or resources , from which to learn your craft. Hairdressing seems to be a young mans (or woman's) job. I am a mature hairdresser at 31, despite the likelihood that I will need to work for another 40 years. Every time our industry loses another experienced stylist or colourist, without that person passing on all their knowledge, the information pool gets smaller.
One of my clients mentioned the other day , that she hadn't realised the depth of her knowledge on a topic, until she had to teach someone else. I find that true for me also. I can be quite analytical and have lots of rules, but I always have a reason for the way I do things. This will be my attempt at compiling some of the things I have learned in my 11 years in the industry. Also, I will be able to list all my resources for inspiration and information.