PAINT A/W19

Casey Coleman
CHAIR SALONS
Ja Gray
AKA KARBON KYD
HERE’S A DOOZY… about nine years ago I had a client that
I used to colour for my boss. She was a base 1 on top of
resistant white hair, so you can imagine the build up!
She decided that because she was naturally so light
and her son’s birthday was coming up, she wanted to go
light. We had about 10 weeks to try and get her to her goal
(which we all know is HIGHLY unrealistic). We lightened it at
week one, then again at week six. We were left with a very
warm 7, which we had to tone to a 6 to eliminate the brass.
Two weeks later, she called to request that she have
it redone because she wanted it a base 10 for her son’s
birthday. I refused to do it several times, but my boss
ended up booking it back in as she was very persistent.
So I gave in. Predictably, once we started rinsing her
colour her hair started coming out with it. In chunks. It was
the only time that something had gone so horribly wrong. I
convinced her to cut her hair shorter to go with the colour,
which she was up for. But there was no saving it. I had a
ball of hair in my hand at the end of the appointment and
nothing but regret, even though she was happy!
I let a client dictate what I was going to do to her hair.
That’s a mistake that I will never make again. Don’t be
afraid to say no!
I WAS AWAY DOING a show
back in the early days.
We were working on a big
presentation in Spain and I
had done all the prep work
leading up to show day and
coloured all the models who
were to be presented minus
the three demo models, who
were due to be coloured
onstage the next day. So off
to dinner we went.
The next morning, as I
prepared one particular
demo model, it dawned on
me that we had not had time
to analyse her hair properly,
and find out all the hair
history… and there was no
time now.
So, off I went to the
stage and proceeded to
demo my look. As I started
my technique and began
applying a lightening
product to the lengths of
the hair, the funniest thing
started to happen. The
hair started to smoke and
combust right in front of
me. I felt sick instantly, but
decided the show must go
on! I worked quickly and
started to talk and make
gestures with my hands,
and the translator had my
back, and also joined in and
made hand gestures, and
remarked on how fabulous
my technique was.
This was literally smoke
and mirrors, as we really
trying to waft the fumes and
smoke away from the stage.
We managed to present
the technique without ‘an
incident’, and got the model
off the stage and rinsed
ASAP. I did save the colour
and managed to make it
look decent in the final
presentation. No-one ever
knew what happened that
day, except the translator
and I… until now!
08 | PAINT