I’ve been excited for this Louis Vuitton ad to come out for months! The blonde model in the ad spent almost a whole day at my salon getting the most perfect platinum hair for this campaign with one of the owners, Victoria. My bosses are both color masters, and I love watching the process of their work. If you could have seen the color in person, your jaw would drop at how flawless it is. Not a single spot. It is so evenly white, it looks like it’s her natural color. So beautiful!

Have you ever had platinum color? I am too scared of the possible damage and upkeep, but I’ve always been a little tempted to try it. It’s so striking!

Me crying at work because I’m cold.

I got an email yesterday from some girls who are in beauty school. They have been dealing with some rude clients and wondered if a rude client has ever made me cry?

Yes, yes they have.

When I was an assistant, there was this really mean old lady who had done every plastic surgery known to man at least 15 times. I don’t know if this was the reason for her hating the world, but I just don’t know. I’m open to it. Anyway, I was about to blow dry her hair when she stopped me to ask how old I was. I answered “21″, she said “give me someone else. you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re too young. i just don’t want to deal with this today.”. I said that I’d go find her someone older (haha) and while I walked around the salon looking for someone older than 21 to blow dry her hair, she sat there muttering loudly about “someone so young shouldn’t be working here. they don’t know what they’re doing. my day is just too busy to have a bad blow dry”.

I went to the back area and started crying. I felt so bad. This lady was a repeat offender, though, and had made at least 2 or 3 other assistants cry before.

Nothing else comes to mind as far as crying, but there was another time maybe 3 years ago where a woman was equally rude. She was the kind of woman who thought she was super fabulous (but wasn’t), so she acted like a diva wherever she went. I think she probably left the salon and called all of her friends to brag about how she just yelled at the girl blow drying her hair.

Anyway, In the first 5 seconds of the blow dry, she said “Stop! Aren’t you going to do it this way?”. I said “yes, but I’m first getting these frizzy hairs in the front so they don’t dry on their own”. She started flipping out and saying I didn’t know what I was doing and ran out of the salon with wet hair. Then in the doorway, she turned around and yelled “If you want to learn how to do a REAL blow dry, try going to the Upper East Side!!”.  And that was the last time I saw her and her ugly knock-off Coach handbag.

The funny thing, is that I did learn how to do a blow dry at a salon on the Upper East Side. That is where you go for an old lady blow dry. I can do that if you want to look like a news reporter, but I would much more prefer to make you look like a Victoria’s Secret model, if you will only let me.

In both of these cases, I didn’t do anything wrong. It was just nasty people taking out their nasty attitudes on me.

So, chin up! Just make fun of the rudies when they leave. There are other ways to get your point across besides stomping around and being rude, so in my opinion, they deserve it.

Hairlings, I have really enjoyed all of your “chatting” comments. I really learned something! Honestly, it is quite awkward to ask at the beginning of an apointment “are you a chatter or do you want me to shut my trap?”, so I never know for certain if the client is a chatter or not, unless it is the most obvious body language ever. Or I guess mouth language. Either one.

So, I wanted to tell you that if I happen to be shampooing my own client, and they don’t initiate the convo, I’m going to zip it and let them enjoy their head massage. Because you guys are so great and told me you like silence during the shampoo!

Also, I had to laugh when one commenter talked about how it is so straining to try and have a conversation during the blow dry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to embarrassingly nod my head cluelessly at what the person in my chair is saying, because I can’t hear a word with the 20 blow dryers going at the same time in the background. I always feel rude saying “what?”, “pardon?”, “I’m sorry?”, “say it again, please?”. So I try my best to read lips and strain like a 90 year old to hear the gossip. (it’s almost always gossip that is hard to hear because they are talking more quietly than normal when dishing goss’.)

This is how happy I look when I can hear my clients. (also this is how happy I look when I’m dancing.)

Have a great great great fabulous weekend, guys! I’m working some hair magic for a short film this weekend. The film is about an underground music scene in the late 1950s-early 1960s. Cannot WAIT to do that hair.

My friend, Jana, did a mini interview with me about my job a few months ago. One of the questions she asked me, was how to avoid sounding rude if you want to get your hair done in peace and quiet, instead of chatting with your stylist the whole time you’re in the chair.

I only wrote a few sentences when answering Jana’s question, but it was really such an important one. The personality and social part of my job is a big chunk of it. If I’m not memorable to my clients, they might call the salon when they need a clean up and say “give me anybody”.  But I also really enjoy talking to my clients. There are times when I look at the schedule and see a specific person that I love to talk to, and it makes my whole day.

So, I try asking a few questions at the beginning of the appointment, and depending on how they answer, I’ll know if they are chatters or not. I’ll say “What do you do for work?” and they might say “I work in finance” if they aren’t a talker. And if they ARE a talker, they might say “I work in finance. I work downtown at _____. I specialize in _____” and then go on from there. Usually I try out two or three questions and if they are still just ‘yessing’ or ‘no-ing’ then I think they probably want me to shut the H up. But if it’s been 5 minutes and I already know where they went to college, how many roommates they have and what their favorite Italian restaurant is, they are probably chatters.

If you’re not a chatter, my best advice is to bring a prop. The best props are a book/magazine or a laptop/phone. You can just pretend to be busy with those guys even if you’re not. I used to blow dry Joy Behar’s hair, and she would bring in several of these items. Newspapers, her blackberry and a little note book to write all of her ideas in. She has the hair of pretty much 6 adult people, so she really needed all that material. I think we only said 10 whole sentences to each other ever. She is friendly and sweet, but very busy. She was a pro at getting her downtime without any mixed signals.

I had two experiences recently with this. One girl at the end of her haircut said “I love it! Plus you’re a talker, so I’m for sure coming back to you.”, and the other pulled out her book while I was getting her a tea. I didn’t say a word to her until I needed more information about how she wears her bangs.

Most people aren’t so obvious with whether they want to talk or not, so I’m curious, what do you like? Do you come to the salon excited to catch up about your vacations, kids, work/love life? Or do you want to close your eyes and have your hair combed and snipped/blow dried in peace?

[Photo: Jacob Breinholt]

I was catching up on a photo blog that I love, called Altamira:Models off duty, when I saw this picture of supermodel Alana Zimmer. It was taken in the middle of July, just a few weeks before I cut about 3 or 4 inches off of her hair! Models are constantly having their hair done for shoots/shows, and it’s hard to keep it healthy with all the heat styling. Alana wanted to get the dry guys off the ends to keep it fresh and ship-shaped. She looks beautiful with her healthy in-between length hair.

Along with being super tall and even super-y beautiful, Alana is also perfectly sweet and spunky. Here are a few pictures of some of the gorgeous work she’s done.

 Want to know the trick to cutting a model’s hair? Keep the cut as natural as possible with very few layers and lots of dry cutting to soften the ends up. Alana told me it took her years to grow out her bangs because they kept having to be cut at shoots. This is what my friend Anna has experienced with her bob. Everytime she gets it past her shoulders, her agency or a client makes her cut it. I guess that is what you get for looking so hot with a bob.

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I recently got an email with a question that really had me thinking. She was wondering how I “got so good at hair”. This question had me experience severe flattery syndrome.

But more important than posting this question so that you can all see that someone thinks I’m “so good at hair”, I thought it was actually a really good question to answer for you aspiring stylists. It could even be good for someone struggling in any career field.

Here it goes:

I started out beauty school interested in hair, but not really having any idea of where it could take me. I was in for a rude awakening when I graduated and I didn’t have a full clientele immediately. I spent a long time just doing hair on the side because I wasn’t making enough money, and I had to rely on waitressing as my real source of income. When I moved to NYC, I found out that you can’t work on the cutting floor without assisting experience. I thought I knew so much about hair, but in truth, I wasn’t sectioning the hair off right, I didn’t know the difference between a stationary blade and a moving blade, and there was so much terminology I had never even heard of when it came to hair. I was embarrassed and it took a lot of pride swallowing to realize that beauty school doesn’t count as experience in NYC. Most people assist for 2 or 3 years before getting on the floor.

I chose cutting/styling over color. I still can’t really explain why I did, but I’m glad. There is definitely more money in color, but cutting/styling feels a little more creative. I worked my ass off. I cried, I messed up a few haircuts, I got laughed at by my teacher and I worked terrible long hours handing people hairspray and shampooing clients for the real stylists. I spent so much time leaning over shampoo bowls, that I had to get weekly back adjustments by a chiropractor. But I also learned a lot. I learned which blade was my moving blade, how to section off for different haircuts/head shapes and most importantly I was in an environment that challenged and inspired me.

I still feel insecure sometimes when I watch some of the stylists I work with. I wonder if I’m that good or if I’m that professional, but I think that a little of that is important in any work environment. What if I didn’t feel slightly insecure? I’d go to work every day bored, not trying new things, not looking for constant inspiration. I don’t feel afraid of looking stupid, if a stylist I work with knows more than me, I ask them to teach me. We all have our own styles and we can all learn something from each other. I look through magazines, I play with my friends’ hair, I watch old movies and use what I already know to come up with new things.

Something I’ve learned over the years….especially since I spent over three years in a salon that didn’t challenge or inspire me…is that your talent/creativity will become dormant if you aren’t pushing yourself. If you go to work and cut/blow, cut/blow, cut/blow, without any variation, you will never grow. If you have an extra 15 minutes with client, ask if you can try a new bun or braid on them that you saw in a magazine. You’ll find out that hair is the most fun think that ever was.

My friend at work has been wanting to work on double french twists with my hair for a while. They are really hard to perfect, and are a serious accomplishment in the hair world if you can get there. It’s basically two french twists both going toward the center, so the back of your head sort of looks like a glamorous butt crack. Double french twists are very, very hard to do right.

So, after loads of products, probably a hundred Japanese pins (which are like regular bobbi pins on crack), and not a single hair out of place, I felt like I had had a face lift. It was so tight!

Well, 3 or 4 clients into the day, and I started getting a headache. It was fine at first, but then it was getting worse by the minute. Soon I was feeling a little dizzy and shaky and nauseous! It was insane. I actually excused myself from a client, asked an assistant to start blow drying her, and ran to the back room in a panic to take out the pins.

After getting most of them out, I felt a little better, but my headache was there for good and it caused me to lose the entire content of my stomach. Can you believe that? It was so crazy to go back to my client like “Hey, sorry about that, my hair was hurting so much that I threw up. How do you want your bangs today?”.

I kept thinking about the girls that get tight tracks all over their head for weaves and the models that wear crazy hair all day long in photo shoots. I could not believe how sick my hair made me!

Anyway, all I have to say is that my friend has serious skills if she is able to do my hair sosososo tight. Talent!

 I was hoping to wear my hair home so Jake could take some real pictures of the back. Double frenchies are so beautiful!

P.S. I said crack twice in this post! Now three.

Also, I have really only felt semi-painful hair from headbands or the occasional high bun/pony. Have you ever had that experience?

I asked Jake to take my picture when I got home from work tonight, because I felt like I had a good hair day today. It’s not that it was anything special, or that I did anything special with it..which is how it ended up feeling so nice. I felt like it looked good just being it’s own-natural but slightly enhanced with product-self, which doesn’t happen every day, am I right?

Before I went short last spring, I had thought about going short for a long time. At least over a year. The thing I worried about most was the awkward in between length I had heard such terrible things about. I knew I would want to grow out my long hair again soon after cutting it, so I felt really conflicted for a while.

One day I decided I was ready to cut my hair short. So what I did before the big chop, was have a little pow-wow with myself and my hair. This pow-wow was to decide the mood for the next year or two. I vowed with my hair and myself that day, that I was only going to cut it if I was going to like it. Not just like the short cut in the beginning, but like it at each length as it grew out. Liking it all along the way. Not complaining that it’s not long..not regretting the cut…and not letting the unknown in-between stage get me down.

I’m not sure if that pow-wow has worked, or if I just really have loved my hair over the last year. I loved it short, I loved it shoulder length and I’m sure I’d love it during the awkward in between stage if I knew when that was. I feel like it’s supposed to be now, but it can’t be, because I love it now too.

So, before you all think that I’m just bragging about how awesome and glorious my hair is, let me tell you this. The reason I like it, is because I do things to it. I cut it when it’s losing shape or the ends are getting dry, I color it when I’m bored of what’s going on, I play with it by braiding and bunning and fat twisting it, and I appreciate the fact that I have hair on my head at all.

So many times I think we get lazy with our hair. I meet people who say “I never do my hair because it is ____”, then I look up at the messy bun on top of their head and see healthy/lush hair that could literally do anything I tell it to, and I know that they’ve never even tried. There is always something you can do to make your hair look good. Which will always make you feel a little better and prettier in the end.

This is kind of a weird post, but I think what I’m trying to get across to you all, is that if you want to love your hair, you can. By deciding to like it and spending time (even a little!) on it despite what you find wrong with it..awkward lengths or frizziness)…you can eliminate one less thing in your life to stress about, and add one more thing to be happy about.

Let’s stop making excuses and just have awesome hair, ok? Yay!

I love you guys and your hair muy mucho.

(ps, this post was inspired by my friend Jana Mobley. who i found out is the first person I’ve ever known who likes the awkward in between length as much as I do!)

Last week at work I showed one of the colorists a picture of a beautiful golden blond girl. It was pretty light on the ends, but the roots were a rich dirty blond. It was hardly different from my current hair color, which is darker than usual right now. I just wanted more blond at the ends and ribboned into my bangs. We decided we would do it this week.

Yesterday when we were about to get start with my color, she said “I’ve been thinking about it, and i think we should do more reddish tones on your base”. I got excited about that, thinking of kind of a light carrot-y color. We had a totally different idea pictured in the two of our minds, because this is what the “reddish tone” came out as….

Lucky for my colorist, I love it. It is the prettiest red I’ve ever seen and I can’t believe how much it suits my skin. I always feel like I look terrible with dark hair, but maybe it was just the wrong tone? This will fade quite a bit since she used a semi-permanent color, and the pink highlights at the bottom (hard to see in the pictures) will turn more blond.  I love it just the way it is, but I’m excited to see it fade along the way into a new look each week!

I’ve never even thought about being a redhead, it’s so fun to do something so dramatic! Just one of the many reasons working in a salon is like having a sleepover as your career. Loves.

What about you? Do you go bold with your hair color changes?

PS I think I’m a bit Florence and the Machine?

Photography: Jacob Breinholt