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In the Chair - Real People Real Hair - Coral

August 15, 2021

In the Chair - Real People Real Hair - Coral

These blogs look at the common mistakes hairdressers make on your hair and the solutions to fix them for you.

Coral went from salon to salon, but never got the look she wanted. She was inspired by Princess Diana’s layered haircut from Mario Testino’s 1997 shoot for Vanity Fair. It was the first time Diana had fully handed herself over to an editorial team of hair, make-up, styling and photography.

The pictures were transformational and are still as fresh today near 25 years later. Coral took pictures of that shorter layered style but hairdressers kept giving her a Bob.

Before

When she arrived, I could see her previous haircut was essentially a Bob too, but with bits chopped out in an attempt to break up the heavy line. This chopping into one-length hair is not a substitute for proper layers, just a Bob with bits missing. Correcting Coral’s hair meant removing excess dead weight around the middle that was heavy, ageing and wig-like. Vibrant hair is youthful - a leaden hairstyle adds years.

This is what we did...

1. The Haircut

Proper layering involves a fluid continuation of changing lengths over a curved surface – the skull. It’s highly skilled and sadly, little practised anymore. Most hairdressers just cut Bobs or slight variations of them. Our signature method, The Diamond Dry Cut™ is all about sculpting precise 3-Dimensional shapes in hair.

I layered a shape that was still full but could be pushed behind the ears for a shorter stronger look. I took further weight out with fine point cutting to encourage the hair to lift and be more pliable. This also helped to remove more of the heavy blonde ends which were helping to make Coral’s hair look flat.

A great haircut is a feat of structural engineering. It balances the different lengths, textures and thicknesses of 100,000 plus strands, so the hair wants to fall into the desired shape; naturally, effortlessly, even after being windswept.

In fact, at the end of a haircut I’ll often give a ‘Tornado Test’. By blasting the hair around in all directions with a hairdryer, I can see how it behaves under pressure and how easily it wants to fall back into style. This test can highlight imperfections in the balance of weight, which helps in fine-tuning the haircut. Home blow drying is simple for Coral now as the haircut carries the style.

2. The Colour

Diana our talented colourist brought in softer ash tones and contrast to break up the solid effect on Coral’s colour.

3. The Condition

We gave Coral a deep replenishing treatment that she can continue with at home. Nothing restores and maintains hair health quite like LifeSaver Pre-wash Treatment, as the thousands of testimonials from here to Australia verify.

 

“I’m so impressed with my haircut. I usually try to make the salon blow dry last as long as possible but with Michael’s cut, styling at home has been a dream. My hair falls into place even with a finger dry. Honestly so impressed.” - Coral

Prep


For Coral's hair we used LifeSaver Pre-wash Treatment to rehydrate, then Cashmere Protein UV Protective Shampoo and Conditioner.

Styling

A little Thicker Quicker blowdry and Volumising Mousse helped give body and control. We used the Medium Round and Large Round Brush. Then finally a little Ten Second Transformation to feed and smooth the hair giving a little shine and texture too.


 Michael Van Clarke

 

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