Behind the Look: Rita Hazan

Meet the Celebrity Colorist who's responsible for Beyonce's highlights, Rita Hazan. Most recently she brightened the songstress's hair with honey and platinum shades.  In this interview, she proves you don't need to spend a lot of money to have good hair.

What’s your beauty philosophy? Healthy hair keeps color longer.

What are the top five must-haves in your kit and why?  a. Root Concealer b. Weekly Remedy c. Shu Umera Shampoo and Conditioner d. Ultimate Shine Color Gloss e. YS Park Y3 brush

Have you discovered any new products lately that you find impressive? Deesse’s Elujuda (Mo) Mellow Oil. You put it on hair while it’s wet, and it makes it easy to blowdry and keeps your hair shiny.

Spill your best beauty advice. Take care of your hair, use good products, and if you’re spending a significant amount of money, do so on your color because your hair is the focus of your look. If it’s not right you can’t take it off and put it to the side – it’s part of you.

What’s the one tip or trick that you think all women should know? If you have gray hair, you have to try the root concealer. Spray it around your hairline and you’ll never have roots again. This is amazing for women with brown hair especially.

Describe the most exciting project you’ve worked on lately. My newest launch, Weekly Remedy. It took a long time to create a conditioning treatment that is strong enough to make a difference without going to the salon.

Redken Reader Makeover: From Sorority to Society

Inspired by Cameron Diaz's hair color on the August cover of Harper's Bazaar, BeautySweetSpot reader, Adrienne, underwent a makeover with Redken Color Consultant, David Stanko at the Angelo David Salon in NYC. "The Fall 2010 blonde will be a California blonde with the base a shade darker to give some dimension to the look," remarked Tracey Cunningham, who transformed Cameron Diaz.

When David met Adrienne and her "washed out" blonde hair he spoke with her about her likes and dislikes of Cameron's color and inspected her locks like a doctor.  His diagnosis – it was fine in texture, below average in abundance, she uses retail hair color and suffers from sun and chlorine damage, which lead to porous hair.

Shape & Prep

Before getting into color, David did a rough cut to rid Adrienne's dead ends in order to achieve a successful color story.  "Because the ends are the oldest and most pores, they will either soak up the most color or reject it," he commented.  Then, he used Redken Chemistry with shots of extreme and protect, which is a treatment made up of ceramides and proteins that fill in gaps in the hair's structure, leaving it smooth and shiny.

Color

Since Adrienne's hair was already in a fragile state, David used extra TLC when coloring and instead of darkening her whole head and then re-highlighting, he saved some of her light blonde hair color, keeping strands as highlights and worked around them.

First, he wrapped about 15 strands in foil using Redken Shade EQ 000 Crystal Clear to provide extra shine (like a top coat for your nails).  While those pieces were being preserved and perfected, David poured a glaze made up of shades EQ 09AA Papaya and 09G Vanilla Cream (the same shades used on Cameron Diaz) over the remaining hair to add tone and deepen the blonde.

End Result

After shaping her ends and blowing out her locks Adrienne looked like a true Upper East Sider.  "I just took you from sorority to society," David exclaimed.  I couldn't have said it better myself.

If you're thinking of going blonde for fall, go for it.  It's all about the shade and how you place it.  If you want to try Adrienne's blonde (the new Cameron), visit a Redken salon near you.