Sara Allsop from Dharma salon. Photo / Natalie Slade
Head turners
Top New Zealand hairdressers are coming together for a hair show with a difference in Auckland. Such events are usually staged by big hair companies for salons affiliated with various brands, but this is a crossover get-together, pulling together some of the industry's biggest names. The teams at Dharma and Me salons in Auckland said it took little convincing to get other award-winning colleagues on board for Hair X, a three-day showcase "by hairdressers for hairdressers" to be held at the Viaduct Events Centre from June 2-4.
"This is all our great talent under one roof, over one weekend ... the very best at colour work, the very best at cutting, the very best at editorial, and so on. We don't normally get to see them all in one year, let alone on one weekend," explained Dharma's Sara Allsop.
London-based New Zealand stylist Snowden Hill will be a special guest. He regularly works backstage at the big fashion weeks. Other participants include former winners of Hairdresser and Colourist of the Year awards, with top out-of-town salons including Bouy (Wellington), Venom (Invercargill), Adoux (Tauranga) and Sutherland Todd (Christchurch) joining the likes of Morgan and Morgan, Stephen Marr, Vada, French Revolver, Raven, Blaze, Bettjemans and Louise Pilkington.
The event is aimed at the industry, but Allsop wants it to grow and involve the public, with planning already under way for next year. A highlight this year will be an Alexander McQueen Retrospective Hair Show. For details see here.
Moroccan mix
Paris-based jewellery designer Yazbukey has brought her exotic Middle Eastern touch to limited edition bottles of Kerastase Elixir ultime ($48). The use of hair oil dates back millennia and Ultime adds modern know-how to its benefits, in a mix containing argan and other oils which are well suited to finer hair.
New arrivals on the hair oil market for styling and treatment include Redken's versatile All Soft Argan-6 ($35) which contains a protein complex to help seal the hair cuticle and Oi/Oil from Davines ($48) which uses the Amazonian plant oil roucou, said to reduce UV damage.
If you want to try an oil but don't have particularly dry or coarse hair, look out for specific light versions, including those from Moroccan Oil or Argania. (Kerastase stockists ph 0800 657 666).
Get the point
Brushes in the new range from the hair company behind Moroccan Oil not only make a colourful change from black plastic or wood, but each has a cunning little sectioning point for part lines tucked away in the handle. As well as this good ceramic-barrelled blow-drying brush with long-lasting anti-static bristles there's also a paddle brush, priced at $34.95. (Ph 0800 252 530 for salon stockists.)
Heading south
Husband-and-wife team Jock Robson and Sara Allsop from Dharma Hairdressing in Mt Eden will travel south to direct the hair teams at iD Dunedin for Redken at the end of the month. "We always take our cues from the designers," says Robson who spent time working in New York last year and plans to add "the very latest in global trends into the styles". Look out for lots of "worn" texture, which sounds suitably Dunedin.