Putting yourself out there…

Today I submitted my entry to a Wella competition, called GenerationNOW. This is something that I have wanted to do for a few years, because it is a competition that is looking for new talent within the hairdressing industry. If you are one of the lucky 6 that get a place at the end, there are amazing training opportunities with some of the most talented stylists in the business.

I have entered Trend Vision a few years running now, which I have written about on here previously. With Trend Vision, although it was always very exciting to enter and a little part of me always hoped that I would get through to the regional heats. My brain was always telling me that really, when I thought about it realistically, I wasnt ready to get through to the later stages of the competition. This is because the talent is so strong and because of this, the judges are looking for pure perfection. This, in a way, took the pressure off a little. Although I was always looking at achieve the best that I could do, a part of me knew that I wouldn’t get through, so it didn’t really matter. I just enjoyed the experience, learnt from it and me expectations of getting through weren’t too high.

With this competition on the other hand, there feels like there is a lot at stake, in terms of my self-confidence, if I don’t get though. I feel like im really ready for this stage in my career and im hungry for the challenge. I procrastinated so much, about every part of my entry. Going over everything, even shooting another model, (just to choose the first one). I so nearly just handed in the towel and said, “I’ll just enter next year”. All because I was so scared for be rejected by something that I really want.

I am a firm believer in ‘the more you put in, the more you get out’, and that is why I enter all these competitions. Plus you do learn so much along the way.

I am glad that I have submitted my entry now because I would have kicked myself if I didn’t. It just got me thinking, is it always worth putting yourself out there, when you know there is a good chance of rejection, and is there only so much one person can take?

Fairytale week at the Chateau De Lisse

Welcome to the Chateau De Lisse, in the South of France. It still feels a little bit cereal that I spent a week staying here. I think it must be the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. The views are stunning from everywhere you look.

When my cousin asked my sister and I to be bridesmaids, we were obviously both over the moon. So excited to share this moment with them. Laura has been with John for over 10years now, so over the years of christmas’s and summer meet ups, we have becomes really close.  John has been a part of the family for a long time now, so it was lovely to celebrate that and their love  formally, and it was a lovely added bonus that they chose this stunning castle as the setting.

When Laura originally told us that they were getting married in the South of France, I was so excited just to go there. I had never been to France before but had always wanted to go. When we arrived and picked up the car from the airport. I was shocked at how green everything was. Everything you looked at, looked like it was straight off a postcard. I could feel myself falling in love with every mile we drove.

So obviously I was thrilled with France before we even arrived at the Chateau. I remember saying when we were nearly there, “I like France, I’ll come back here again!”. Katie (my sister) and Charlie (my boyfriend), thought this was stupid, because we hadn’t even stepped out the car yet, but I had a feeling, and it turns out I was right all along. Everything was so beautiful, leading up to the Chateau, I had a feeling that we were in for a treat, but I was never really expecting quite this much.

So now you have seen how breath taking the Chateau is, here are some snaps of the wedding day…

As you can see, that with 8 bridesmaids and the blushing bride, I had my work cut out that morning. After an, all be it, slightly stressful morning of hair. It was all worth it in the end. Couldn’t have been happier with the end result.

These are just pictures guest collected throughout the day, so can’t wait to see the professional pictures. They will be proud moments to put in my portfolio, along with very happy memories.

Pintrest Inspo…

After meeting with my Generation NOW model, it got me feeling really inspired and prompted me to look back through some of the general research I have already done. After going up to London for the Trend Vision show, I have been a little bit obsessed with the new Spring/ Summer trend for 2016 Molten Eclaille. Feel like I’m constantly looking through magazines and looking out for traces of it in the media. This is why I am going to use this as my inspiration for my Generation NOW entry.

I thought I would share some of the Molten Eclaille inspiration I have taken from Pinterest (one of my favourite pass times).

So there it is, just a very quick post. Its more for me really to, gather my thoughts and calm my excitement. Thank you for indulging in my ramblings.

 

Styles of the week..

Here are two of my clients from this week. These are their before & after shots. I wanted to show these two in particular because they are two very different clients with very different styles.

It just goes to show that whether you are having a drastic change or maintaining a classic look. A good service can make all the difference. No client is more exciting or fun to work with if you look at every style as a new challenge and try your hardest to make it perfect for the client, every time.

This is one of my regular clients. She hadn’t had her hair done for about 6 months so it was great to get my hands on it after all that time. She was happy with the service that I had done last time so it was just a case of redoing what I had done previously. I obviously still went through the consultation as I would if she was a new client, just incase she did want a change or there was anything I could improve on from last time.

We decided to stick with a full head of Blonder highlights. Started with Blondor pastel at the back and moved up to blonder 6% at the front. This meant that the lifting process was really gental at the back and I didn’t have to remove foils at the back before the front. This clients hair lifts up to such a lovely creamy blonde on it own, I didn’t have to use a toner at all.

I then cut the hair using a club cutting technique, on a one length cut with no layers. This works on my clients hair because her hair is quite fine and she likes to see a lot of weight around the bottom, this makes the whole hair cut feel thicker.

This client is also one of my regulars, but obviously has a much edgier style. I love doing her hair because she one of my more daring clients and is open to lots of suggestions. Every time she comes in, we do something different and that is very exciting.

I started the colour by applying 4/0, 3g 0/66, pastel to all the roots. I then took a diamond section from the front and clipped that out the way. I then coloured the rest of the hair around the diamond section in the root colour. Taking small pieces of the diamond section, I applied magma /56, 12% freelights to the ends. I continued to do this until the whole diamond section had magma on the midlengths and ends. We wanted the diamond section to be a real statement because in the past we have used a similar technique with a more subtle overall look. This time she wanted a really statement, so that is what we did. I love the contrast between the colours, it really suits her style and cut.

Again, with the cut, we vary it every time she come in. I don’t think I have ever done the same cut twice on this client.

I started by undercutting a section that followed round to the left. I then undercut a little wedge on the right side, which I love, such quirky little touch. Cut all of the top using a razor to create a very soft finish. I didn’t want there to be any hash lines through the top section. I finished off the cut by creating a sharp line around the hairline that leads into the fringe. I really like the juxtaposition between sharp lines and rough texture, in this hair style.

So there they are. My two favourite styles from a very busy week in the salon. Both very different but equally enjoyable for me.

Beginnings of Generation Now Mood Board…

Leafing through magazines this morning, collecting images that inspire me for my up and coming competition. I have my model now I can start putting ideas to a face. Hopefully will be doing creative colour and cut next week, along with taking the photos. So that means that I have a busy week ahead, putting together ideas and coming up with a final look. All exciting stuff, so lets see how it goes!

These are some images that I have found in correct magazines. Not put together on a mood board yet, cause I’m still in the thinking process’s of it at the moment.

Hope you enjoyed looking and the beginnings of my mood board. Still a long way to but have some exciting ideas flowing already.

Feeling excited. In general.

Today Im feeling partially excited about life, in general, because I passed my driving theory test. I am hoping that this will give me a lot more freedom to do the simple things in life, along with the more challenging things. Hopefully I can pass my practical in the summer which will mean that I can sign up in September, to do my ‘assessors award’. Which would mean that I would be one step closer to one of my ambitions of being a trainer within hairdressing. I love learning all new techniques in hairdressing and passing on that information. I started passing the on information, that I had learnt at college and training course’s up in London, onto my clients in that salon. I realised that I could create much better work by passing on my knowledge of styling and aftercare, and all round, give my clients a better service.

This carried on when my boss asked me to do some styling training with our current apprentice. I really enjoyed the couple hours that we spent doing training and realised that by training someone else, it made me stop and think, about everything I do in the salon, whiteout even thinking about it. I realised that by training someone else, you can learn so much.

I believe that if you are passionate about something then you should never stop learning within that field. That is one of the things that I love about hairdressing and fashion, it is constantly changing, keeping us on our toes and keeping us learning.

In January, we had one of the Wella professionals, come into the salon and do some training with us. I found it so inspiring, not only because of the new techniques that we learnt, but also finding out that there was another avenue of my career could go down. I was so impressed by how much the trainer knew about Wella and colouring in general. There was no question that we could ask that she didn’t know the answer to.

We finished the training morning and went on with our normal working day. I couldn’t shake the thought that there might be something different in my future then what I had already imagined. Of course I have always had the dream of being a session stylist. Which I will always keep in mind and keep trying to get fashion work were I can, to build up my portfolio. At this stage in my career though, wanting to be a session stylist feels a lot like aspiring to be a pop star. Completely beyond my wildest dreams.

It would be wonderful to, one day have a job where, I could constantly train about new techniques and trends, pass on that knowledge and get paid for it. Im used to only being able to do that once, maybe twice a year, and paying for the privileged.

Maybe I will get there some day, but for now, I’m happy not to wish my life away and enjoy the moment. I work in a wonderful salon with a great team, that encourage me to dream big.

Sunday look back to the 60’s

 

Spending my Sunday, half nursing a hangover, half trying to be productive with something inspirational. Sitting on the bed, with ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ on the TV, large water and diet coke to one side of me and an old favourite book to the other. I love to look back over the era’s to get inspiration for my work in the salon and inspiration for whats in my wardrobe. Although I do love collecting clothes from high street chains, there is nothing better then leafing through vintage clothes rails. I must admit that I have my favourite and a lot of the clothes that I pick up from vintage clothes shops and charity shops are from the 60’s. Although I can not resist a bit of swede ATM.

The 60’s is also my all time favourite era for hair inspiration. With it being such an iconic era for fashion and hair, thanks to idols like Vidal Sasson and Mary Quant, there is so much to get excited about, when looking back over the 60’s.

‘London In The Sixties’ by Rainer Metzger, is a book that I have had for a long time, but somehow I dont tire of flicking through it.

Over the years it has not only been through vintage clothing, that I have shown my love for the 60’s. Throughout my hair dressing apprentaship I quite dramatically changed my hair. Gradually loosing more and more hair, as I became more and more enthusiastic about different hairstyles. I think it was because I couldnt experiment on clients yet, I dedicated 2 years to constantly changing my look, until eventually, the only thing to do was to grow it back. Here is a bit of a timeline of all the hairstyles I have had over the past 5 years….

 

 

 

 

Although I still like to change my look, it doesnt happen quite so often now. Mainly  because I dont feel the need so much, because I get to try out my ideas on willing clients.

If you have read this post all the way through, I hope you liked it. Mainly the ramblings of a slightly hungover, over enthusiastic, hairdressing geek. Follow me if you want to see the on going work that I do in the salon, along with competition hair and the odd bit of session styling.

Mood Boarding for Spring/ Summer

I spent some time over the bank holiday weekend, leafing through lots of magazines and finding images. Creating a mood board of the up and coming trends for S/S 2016.

I love the change in the season’s anyway, because there is always a sense of hope and excitement looming. I know that I like a change in my life and get really excited about looking at new up and coming trends. This inspires me, gives my clients the chance to change up their styles and get as excited as me about their hair.

Fashion had always been a big inspiration in my life, not that I can always afford the amazing designs I see flicking though Vogue. This is why it is so nice to be able to use the trends that I see, come and go season by season, as my inspiration for my day to day work in the salon.

Here is my initial mood board for S/S trends 2016…

I began by pulling out pictures that I liked from current magazines, always keeping in mind what I had learnt, at the Wella Studios London, in February this year.

Some of the notes that I took from the event:-

• Background- The faster daily life becomes, the more precious are moments of stillness and quality. Oneself experiences time- consuming the ultimate indulgence and taking the time to create, transform a away to affirm oneself as a craftsman.
• The Trend- Beauty we create, creates us true craftsmanship and perfect concentration. Quality versus Quantity. That is the beauty of slow.
• Aesthetics- From raw material valued precious objects, be inspired by jewellers, art, enamelling, forging, shaping, creative, oxidation.
• Trend Evolution- Natural current sophistication
• Colours- Molten metal palette, burnished bronze, rose gold, black pearly, rich copper, tortoise shell, polished platinum, verdigris.
• Fashion & Design- Metallic coated pleating, naturally personalised shapes, light reflections captured in gold, deliberate but fluid patterns, living metallics.
• Art & Architecture- Malleable organic material, inside and out, living metallics. The beauty of oxidised metal.
• Craft & Iconography- individual messages, 3D effect. the shapes of nature, heightened.

Here are the two models that were shown as examples of the S/S trends 2016 created by Sanrizz…

Both amazing representations of the up and coming trends for this spring summer. Great talent from Sanrizz.

Really looking forward to using the inspiration that I have found on my clients in the salon. Hoping to get a few models to photograph my more commercial representations, so stay posted x

 

Trend Vision Entry 2015

Thought I would just share some of my TrendVision 2015 entry shots now that the results for regional head have been released. Unfortunately I wasn’t sucessful this year. I got the letter and sort of knew before I had opened it that I hadn’t got through. Just had quite a strong feeling. I am so proud of the images though, and that is why I wanted to share them. I think these images really show my progress from two years ago.

   

         

I have been looking on the internet for entries that did get through and the standard is just amazing! It really shows me that I just am not ready to be taken through in a competition that is this prestigious yet! I’m so pleased that I did challege myself to think out side the box and push my technical ability that bit further! I have a long way to go but looking at some of the successful images makes me so  excited for is to come. 

I intend on entering some different competitions this year but for Trendvision… See you next year 😉

Here are just a few of my favourite entry’s of 2015, Hob Salon…

  

The Shoot!



Here are a few little teaser shots from my trend vision shoot. I don’t want to give away too much before I know if I had got through to the next round. 

Everything went to plan so I was chuffed with that. I have an amazing team helping me with everything. Just can’t shake the feeling that I’ll be letting everyone down if I don’t get through. I don’t think that I have wanted anything more!

So fingers crossed for regional heats! I’ll keep you all posted on the shoot photos nearer the time! Exiting! 



Hair- Annie Sherry, Make up- Kia Hansen, Styling- Maika Crampton, Photography- Lambie Brothers