story Whitney Mousseau photo Nick Vecchio
Before: Megan's hair had an unintentional ombré look
M
egan Murphy came into Balance ready to spruce it up for spring. She hadn't had her color done in a year and her previously highlighted hair transformed into the once-popular "hombre" look. Meg, like a lot of our clients, is a very busy woman: she is a mother to three little ones, wife, business owner and an autism advocate. Her days are extremely full, which means she needs a lowmaintenance style, with emphasis on the word "style" (the lady has a lot of it). Here, stylist Whitney Mousseau explains how she transformed Megan's look...
I love that the trend right now involves women embracing their natural beauty. I wanted to enhance her natural color without hiding it. I didn't want to compromise the condition of her hair with an average foil application, so I weaved fine babylights around the sides of her head using Olaplex in the lightener. Olaplex is a bond multiplier that conditions the hair as it is processing. Throughout the rest of her hair, I used a hand painting technique to gradually lighten the surface because I know Meg likes to wear her hair both straight and curled—when you surface paint the hair, it's like having two hairstyles. The curls bring out the blonde drastically, but if you wear it straight, you enjoy the “natural” lightening effect. We then added a pearly glaze in the shampoo bowl to counteract any
unwanted tones. The glaze also prevents brassiness from interrupting her blonde for a good six weeks. She’s currently in the unpleasant stages of growing her hair out, so we gave her an undercut to prevent excess "flipping" around the neck and shoulders. We finished her look by curling with a 1.5-inch barrel, and then spraying with Colorproof TextureCharge for that tousled look. The plan is to see Meg one more time before summer and do this same process. After that, she won't have to come in for a color process again until next year. We will maintain her look with a few quick glazes and hair shaping cuts. I love brilliant, busy women like Meg, and it's important to me to give them hair that fits their lifestyle and reminds them of how beautiful they are.
MARCH 2016 THEWCPRESS.COM
37