My passion for Crayola-hued hair is no secret; I even documented my transition to pastel pink on this site just a few months ago. But all good things must come to an end, and as that color slowly faded to dirty blonde and my natural roots began to show, I found myself becoming a little bored. In a moment I can only describe as an act of divine providence, I stumbled across this video on Youtube. Sand art hair? I just found my new look.
I put my hair into the trusty hands of Luis Payne, the brilliant artistic director of NYC's Hairroin Salon. Together, we set to work on a very particular vision. I wanted to steer clear of warmer colors like red, orange, and yellow, which I associate with bad dye jobs. Inspired by this editorial in Grazia France, I decided on a palette of blue, green, purple, and pink, with a little pastel thrown in for good measure.
Before he could get to work on the fun part, Payne needed a clean palette. Using Pravana bleach and Olaplex (a salon-only wonder product that keeps hair from getting damaged during the color process), Payne took my hair—a mix of old highlights and my natural color—to light yellow before toning it to a silver-platinum shade. I was feeling very Daenerys Targaryen-esque, but not for long.
Instead of straight lines, Payne separated my hair along the diagonal, into triangle-shaped sections. "This way there's no starting or stopping point [with the color]," he explained. "It flows and doesn't look too dated, too '90s-esque."
For the transformation, Payne used Pravana's brand-new color system, Vivids Locked-In. The new technology allows stylists to apply several different shades to strands without the colors bleeding into one another.
We started with six main colors—pink, blue, yellow-green, a bluish-purple, violet, and a pastel purple-gray. As Payne worked, he mixed in Pravana's Vivid Clear formula to produce lighter shades and pastels—perfect for creating a more muted palette around my face.
After the application process, Payne let the color sit for 30 minutes before rinsing it out.
Payne used approximately 12 different shades to achieve this dramatic effect. The best part? Depending on where I part my hair, a completely new range of colors reveals itself.
After a fresh blow-out, we decided to try out some traditional Hollywood pin curls on the decidedly non-traditional hues.
Though I knew what I'd signed up for, I never imagined this as the end result. Payne exceeded my expectations by far. Reactions to my new look range from, "You're the only person who could pull that off!"and "Is it a wig?" to "Do you hate your face?" (the latter coming from my 92-year-old grandfather, so he gets a pass). But I could not be happier—and for once, I'm not even thinking about what my next look will be. How could I ever top this, anyway?
From: Harper's BAZAAR US
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