Everybody has their happy dance depending on what makes them feel like dancing. For me, it’s my hair and anyone who knows me well, knows that when I am having a good hair day, all is right with the world:-) The reason for my happy dance, and amazing hair is all due to the Byu-ti Salon in Santa Monica, California. Just saying the name Byu-ti puts a huge smile on my face, and I can feel my hair smiling too!
My love for my hair began almost a year ago when I was invited to check out Byu-ti and meet Natasha Sunshine, celebrity hair stylist, and owner. I am not even sure where to begin, since I love everything about this place, and I mean everything! From the moment I sat in Natasha’s chair I noticed one thing that stood out from all of the other hair stylists prior, she actually listened to what I wanted. A shock I know, but that is true of every stylist who is a part of this salon, which leads me to my next story about Color Guru Extraordinaire, Andi Scarbrough.
What can I say about this gal without seeming a bit psycho, but my color looks absolutely amazing even just rolling out of bed. Jealous? Well you should be, because I have finally found the colorist of my dreams, so when I say Andi Scarbrough is my new BFF, as crazy as that might sound, it is true! Also I must mention Sheila who worked along side Andi to give me my gorgeous new color and who is amazing and soooo sweet!
Probably the longest article I have ever written, and more questions than I had promised to Andi but this next part is gold, and should be bookmarked, xeroxed, cut and pasted to a word doc, and printed, because gems like Andi Scarbrough don’t come along that often and her advice will have you singing your own happy dance just like me:-)
Q: At what age did you know you wanted to pursue hair as a career?
I was four years old the first time I packed a bag and told my mother I was moving to California. While I didn’t know what I was going to do there – or even who was going to give me a ride – I was drawn to the West Coast. By the time I was 14, I was setting all my sisters’ (and their friends’) hair using the tools at hand: hot rollers and a LOT of Aquanet. When I was 17, I packed up my pickup truck like a country song, wrote “woodstock or bust” on my back windshield, and rode the 10 west ‘till I hit water. All I knew was, whatever I wanted was here.
Q: What was your first big break after graduation from beauty school?
The most fortunate thing happened to me right after beauty school, I failed at assisting. I tried in earnest three times, I did, but didn’t find a fit. What I encountered instead gave me the resolve to be the educator I am today; I strive to be the mentor I wish I’d had at that time. I ended up taking the long road – working with a hustle from commission to booth rental in a shop in the High Desert. There, I was blessed to have been lead by a master colorist who hand fed me a solid education in color theory. I learned by using a color line that mixed like paints; if I wanted a certain shade, I had to create it from scratch. Falling in love with the why of hair color set me on the trajectory I am today.
Q: How did you end up at Byu-ti Salon?
I was teaching a men’s hair color class in Studio City where the salon manager was a good friend of Byu-ti’s founder, Natasha Sunshine. She gave my information to Natasha, who had just opened Byu-ti and was scouting for stylists who would fit the dream she was making reality. When I first met and interviewed with her, I spent the whole time trying to talk her out of hiring me! I told her I had my hands in a lot of cookie jars, and I liked it that way. I asked for booth rental, even though Byu-ti is a commission salon, and in so doing stating my independence like a mouthy over-grown teenager – which I basically was.
Besides, she had white leather styling chairs. As a colorist?! But I’ll never forget the sign hanging above her desk that read “well behaved women rarely make history.” I remember looking at her and thinking, this gal’s really plugged into something, let’s give this a solid listen. I’m so happy I did. Byu-ti has an incredible pulse, the beat of which calls an artist to desire their highest state of being. I’ve experienced five amazing years of personal and professional growth and success, navigating closer to dreams I never knew I had, and I am still unfolding.
Q: What is the biggest request in hair color for women over 40? Over 50?
Hair color is a numbers game. The statistic reads 40% of women over 40 are 40% grey or more. So that being said, most women is this age range are coloring with a desire to cover those greys being an absolute. For women with very light brown or natural blonde hair, a color-depositing conditioner like Redken Blonde Glam in Rich Vanilla, that stains the hair helping blend grey hairs into dimensional natural highlights. This is what I refer to as “starter-color”, for women who may have never colored their hair, or are just hesitant to commit.
The next gear up would be a color depositing glaze like Redken Shades EQ color gloss. The new Shades Cream Plus for additional grey coverage is as close as one can stand to permanent hair color while hesitating to totally commit. At this point, a woman can sustain for a few years, but eventually you have to admit that like being “a little bit pregnant,” you don’t just have a few grey hairs, you have grey hair. Commitment-phobic and resistant to permanent color, in need of a regularly scheduled appointment and no longer attached to your time honored natural, you have now become my dream. I love it when women, especially women in their 50s and 60s come to me with flat, inky color, feel like they’ve been hitting the panic button every 3-4 weeks and dosing the whole thing in rit dye.
We lose our minds when we start to go grey! We want those greys COVERED, Bless it all!! I love to transform these unflattering shades into a multi-tonal slice of wood-grain-like dimensional color that her 17 year old self would have coveted. The great thing about dimensional or tonal highlights is that you should not have to do them every time, which is easier on the hair. You may be able to go up to two retouches before it’s necessary to do them again. If you feel like there is too much contrast between your highlights and base, put down the bottle of rit dye, and think about lightening your base a little.
You fulfilled your obligation to the brunette world! Try life as a blonde! Still, lots of women over 50 remain salt and pepper colored, and a good set of natural colored highlights, a shade or two lighter than your darkest strands, and a colored conditioner or glaze can be a really low maintenance way to have glossy, natural looking haircolor. Pureology NanoWorks Shampoo and conditioner are seriously like time in bottle. With ultra concentrated botanicals, this hair treatment restores hair to a more youthful state, a difference tangible after just three washes.
Q: What colors would you suggest to compliment a woman in her 40′s with pale skin and blue undertones? What about a woman with yellow undertones, and a warmer complexion?
Most women with dark hair have had a negative experience with highlights in the past and have seen their hair that nightmarish shade of pumpkin that women and stylists alike fear. Okay, but it’s time to get over it. Women with warmer skin tones should embrace that glow! Hello ladies! J-Lo? Giselle?? Put down the blue shampoo and try adjusting your perspective: Brassy or Bronze Goddess? Stretch your comfort zone! The great thing about hair color is, as long as the integrity of the hair is preserved, it can be an ever changing fashion statement, and I am of the opinion it should be.
Pink or blue undertones in skin do better with velvety beige or mauvey blondes and true neutral or cool browns. I think the right style can pull off that snow-white statement of blue-black, but a color like that needs an extra posh cut and finish to make it work.
Q: What is the biggest mistake you see women making when it comes to their hair and is it difficult to persuade them to try something new?
Every single woman I’ve ever met has something about themselves they dislike. The truth is, every face and head (neck and shoulders, knees and toes) has a shape that fits it best. Where I see women struggle is when the shape that best suits their hair triggers a self image snare, or is contrary to what they define as beautiful. Like a girl with fine, straight hair that she wants to see looking like Kim Kardashian, when the hair just won’t do that. But a sassy shag, or sculptured bob is what the hair WANTS to be. I’ll agree though that sometimes there are things about a style finger-print that are non-negotiable. I have a client with the aforementioned hair identity association who said I could cut it however I wanted, as long as I kept her blonde light and bright. We shook on it. Now, when I want to give her lowlights she tries to make me skip a haircut! But we have trust and a working collaborative relationship with the purpose of making her feel her most beautiful self – a relationship everyone should have with their colorist. We are specialized in creating accessories you don’t take off.
Q; What do you love most about Pureology and Redken for color and hair care?
What I love about Redken is the infinite possibility of color combination’s. With more than half a dozen color lines, each with its own signature sheen, it’s like dressing hair with a variety of different fabric textures and colors. Redken has an answer for any color trend and creative explosions waiting to ignite.
Pureology then takes care of each and every part of the hair and hair color. These folks have set a new industry standard in haircare. The zero-sulfate formulas prevent drying and color fading, and every product from shampoo to the the stellar Strengthening Control hairspray contains the signature AntiFade Complex, protecting your hair color investment long after you leave the shower. In fact, the new Colour Stylist products contain an extra boost of fortifying goodness with the ingredient keravis, a supple vegetable protein that leaves hair stronger after styling than it was before.
Q: Going forward into the cooler months which colors do you see as strong trends in hair?
I love reds for fall! All of them! Okay…I’ll be honest, I love reds all year long, but there is something inspiring in the autumn leaf. When my clients come in for their fall downshift into a deeper hue, I love to take the scenic route through a super golden or coppery lowlight before arriving at our deep winter tone. Pair porcelain pink skin with raspberry or scarlet tones. Take ivory, olive, or brown skin tones into vibrant orange/copper tones. Just try a strawberry glaze and walk on the red-side. Why rush the changing of the colors?
Q: Last but not least…….Grays!!! Ugh! What is you best advice for women like myself who are a bit tweezer happy:-)
No one will deny plucking a grey hair now and then, the kind that sprouts up, wiry, on end, and excited for life, appearing from nowhere. But think about this: have you ever gotten in your car, fresh from the salon, feeling extra hot with your hair all bouncy and perfectly polished… And as you are admiring your self in the rearview mirror you spot that little grey hair poking up, insolent and white. The truth is, the hairdresser may have not missed it in the color application, but that the plucked hair had grown in too newly to be saturated by color. And when we pluck out other hairs (like eyebrows) aren’t we doing it in hopes it won’t grow back? Plucking any hair damages the follicle and may not allow it to grow hair again. A better idea would a be a spot treatment color like a cream or powder that is applied like mascara. Rita Hazan’s root concealer spray is another great temporary solution between salon visits.
So, there you have it, Check out this gorgeous color! Yay!!! And if you are one of the lucky ones who lives anywhere near Byu-ti I suggest carving out sometime to see Andi, because she is super busy and once she does your color you’ll be hooked for life!
Stumble It!
