What exactly *IS* Specialty Color?

In the past few weeks I have had  a lot of new clients scheduling appointments with me via my online scheduling site.  These clients have seen my work on social media and think "Oh yeah, that looks good, let me schedule a Balayage appointment because that is what she did in this picture".  WRONG!!!!  What clients DON'T know is that just because one client got basic Balayage, doesn't mean that is what will work for THEM!  There are so many factors that go into deciding on a technique (and ohhhhhh the techniques!) for each individual head of hair.  For example where are we starting?  What is currently on the hair that will either hinder the process or make my life as a stylist more easy? Hair texture, budget, maintenance....and the list goes on. This is why I require all new color clients to have an in salon consultation prior to their service.  Because, lets be honest, clients haven't been to cosmetology school and really don't know what it is they need to book anyway. And at the same time, if I am booking the appointment and I don't know where I am starting or finishing, I have no idea what the process is going to look like.  So back to the question at hand...

What exactly *IS* Specialty Color?

You could ask 100 stylists this and probably get 100 different answers, so I will give you MY answer!  Specialty color is color that is specialized to each unique head of hair.  How do you get from point A to point B to achieve the look?  If you are desiring a color that you see off of Pinterest, a partial foil (which is definitely not specialty color) is almost 1,000% not going to be the answer.  Many colors that we are seeing today on celebrities and social media, require several steps that only a trained professional can reproduce.  These colors are not basic, they are very involved and, once again, are specialized to each individual client.  What it took to get Suzy to a platinum blonde shadow root, may not be what it takes to get Pam to a platinum blonde shadow root, therefore it is SPECIALIZED to both Suzy and Pam.  

Now that we have answered the question of what specialty color is, lets talk about different techniques that fall under this category!  There are many but I have picked out a few of my own to talk about!

BALAYCOLOR 

Just as the name says, Balayage and Color = BalayColor.  This is a fairly easy technique to achieve and I typically do the most when I have a client that needs a root retouch but wants some blonde pops within the color.  You can add a much or as little balayage with this look as you like.  Even if you just want to add a few singles (we will get to that part) around the front to brighten the hairline, that will still look great with this technique!

COLORMELT

This technique plays off of the ever-popular Ombre or Sombre look.  It creates a gradual transition of dark to light.  Generally using 3 separate color formulas, the darkest will be applied at the root, the medium color through the mid shaft and the lightest on the ends.  

*Sidenote*  Lets go back to the Pam and Suzy situation.  In this case Suzy had old grown out balayage so this look was super easy to create, but Pam has a level 3 dark brown from roots to ends.  To get this look would be much more difficult for Pam as now she is considered a corrective color and will need to be lightened before her stylist can achieve this look.  Food for thought.  

BALAYAGE 

This is THE technique that all of the others stem from!  Balayage is a french term that literally means to sweep, as that is exactly how it is applied.  In a sweeping motion.  What makes it special?  There are different ways to apply balayage.  If you are looking for a more depth at the root (like the first picture), you might apply the balayage in "V's".  That adds highlights at the top as well, but focuses the color more strongly at the ends.  If you want more of a full blonde look (like the second picture) you might apply it in full panels.  That way, no negative space (natural color) is left and you are getting the full effect lightness at the top.  There are also singles and slants to name a few more.  

AMERICAN BALAYAGE

This technique is also referred to as "Foilayage" as well.  This is where you utilize tradition foils (which you get a much lighter effect from due to heat being generated within the foils) AS WELL AS balayage.  This look is going to give you maximum lift and brightness, but also has a lot dimension created by the two different techniques. 

And Lastly, 

SPECIALTY COMBINATION

Ok, I will be honest, that isn't really a REAL technique but its just my way of explaining a color that is much more involved.  This was a color correction from a dark dark brown and it is a combination of Foilayage and Colormelt.  But lets be clear, since this was a color correction, each was done several times to achieve this color.  But so worth it, right!!??

So I hope I have explained specialty color well!  Only a trained professional who has invested in education can achieve these looks!  When you see an add in a magazine about "at-home Ombre" (we like to call it "Hombre") RUN or put your stylists number on speed dial for an emergency correction!  

Happy Hair, friends!  

How-To: Platinum Pink Shadow root to Silver Metallic

Most days behind the chair can be mundane, to say the least.  As hairstylists, we are a creative bunch and the same old request for a trim and blonde highlights doesn't exactly get the creative juices flowing.  But every once in awhile someone sits in your chair and lets you have free reign, and those days my friends, are glorious (picture Unicorns flying over rainbows and glitter raining down from the sky, yes THAT type of glorious!)

In this case, that person that sat in my chair was a long time friend/old assistant/co-suite owner.  She was your usual "blondorexic" client, foils every 5 or so weeks, never any roots (Heaven forbid!) and long-ish fine hair that she NEVER wanted to cut!  I had been pestering her for awhile to let me do an all over WHITE on her hair and cut it into a bob, one day she caved.  She made suggestions of what she would like but left the rest up to me.  The rest is history!

So, this is where we started

This was actually after a few months of doing color melts instead of highlights.  Washed out blonde and lifeless stringy ends (Sorry, Laura)

SO, to get started we lightened, twice using Wella Blonder and 10 and 20vol.  I lifted her to a pale yellow and used Olaplex both times.  

Next, snippety-snip!  Laura got a haircut and 2 rounds of Wella Color Charm T18 toner.  This is my go-to toner for my platinum blondes.  It is a permanent-toner, which means it lifts AND tones.  So that yellow you see there, will magically turn to WHITE!  And once again, Olaplex was used both times!  T18 is on the strong side, so if you have never used it before, you want to make sure that you aren't using it on someone with compromised hair.  T18 + damaged hair = more damaged hair.   

One of Laura's only requests were that we do a soft pink shadow root, so that's what we did!  Using Joico Intensity Light Pink, I applied it to her root and blurred it down a little using clear.  

Fun, huh??!!  It sure was, for about a week (whomp whomp whomp)!  It faded super quick, but that is what we expected.  This just gave us an opportunity to switch gears and try something else and up next was Silver/Violet METALLICS! (yayyyyy, I FINALLY got to try this!) Unless you live under a rock, you know who Guy Tang is and you have seen his work with the Kenra Metallics line. So naturally, I am thinking if I use this line, my work is going to turn out just as flawless as his.  

Who knew I would be right!  F-L-A-W-L-E-S-S!  I used 9VM + Blue and Violet booster at the root and melted it down into 10SM on the ends.  And lets not forget that Olaplex!  

This transformation took about 8-10 total hours (I lost count) and happened over the course of 2 weeks.  It was so much fun and I learned a lot along the way!  My best piece of advice to any stylist trying to achieve any of these colors is that you MUST tone any remaining warmth out of the hair before you start!  That means lift, maybe lift again, tone and then maybe tone again and THEN you can proceed with your desired formula!  Don't be in a hurry and take care of the hair a long the way!   And if your clientele isn't exactly the type to come in and request silver hair, search out a model!  Use social media to post what you are looking for and take a willing participant!  Its up to you whether you charge for product usage, but for me personally, if I am wanting a model to try something on, it will be free of charge.   Let those creative juices flow!

Happy Hair, Friends! 

The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

Several weeks ago I read an email from Modern Salon challenging their followers and fellow hairstylists to keep a month long journal of their life behind the chair.  I kept thinking about this email and the thought of keeping a "work journal", if you will.  Good Gracious, every stylist KNOWS that what we deal with on a daily basis is worthy of its own reality show and we also know that when the last client is out of our chair and the last little bit of hair is swept up off the floor, the last thing we want to do is go home and talk about our day!  What we really want to do is lay on the couch in a semi-vegetative state and hope that by staying still enough, our significant other and/or children won't notice we are there.  And lets face it, would our husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends/wives realllly understand (or care) about our daily battles and victories?  NO!  So with all of this in mind, a blog was born!  My Inner Hairstylist; The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful! 

WELCOME!!

This is a blog dedicated to stylists.  It will be one third daily journal, one third how-to's with technique/process/formulation of clients that sit in my chair, and one third pity party for my professional defeats and struggles (ok, maybe not quite one third pity party, but you get my drift).  We all have stylists that we look up too.  Our favorite celebrity stylists, the super successful social media stylist with 300k followers.  I may not have celebrities as clients, nor a huge following, but one thing that we do have in common is good days and bad days. Days where the hair Gods were with us and we created head after head of Pinterest-worthy hair, and then days where everything just falls apart.  This blog is a place for all of that!

So to start us off, I will share a bit of my background and struggles that got me to where I am today.  I have been a stylist for 12 years.  5 years ago after I have my son, I decided to quit the salon I was working for and go into booth rental.  A year after that, I decided to become a Suite Owner.  After the birth of my daughter, I came back to work after maternity leave and my books were DEAD!  D-E-A-D!  Silently panicking, I was worried about what I was going to do.  I knew that there were a lot of new color techniques that I honestly couldn't create.  People were starting to ask for them and my response was "that's not possible" (cringe!!!!!!)  So during this time of super humility and the reality that my business might be failing, I decide to begin learning new color techniques.  I joined new stylist forums that changed the way I was doing color and opened my eyes to a whole new world of products that I had never taken the time to educate myself on.  Out of this, I learned the art of Balayage and if I have branded myself as a specialist in anything related to hair, its Balayage and lucky for me, that is what clients want!! 

Fast forward to now, my service sales are up 55% over what they were at this time last year.  That is GROWTH!! Of FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT (holy cow)!  This growth didn't come free, though!  It came at a price of hundreds (more likely thousands) of dollars in education, TONS of new tools and products and just as many screw ups.   You can't master something until you have screwed it up...Over. And. Over. Again!

So this is where I stand today.  Hoping to help other stylists along the way, sharing my weaknesses, my strengths and my knowledge!  ENJOY