Erick Orellana (@erickohair), a colorist at Cristophe Salon Beverly Hills, has a roster of clients that includes social media superstars who are very into change. They love to experiment with the newest trends in hair color and Orellana helps fulfill their desire for dramatic color transitions while also maintaining hair integrity.  

 This is one of his favorite formulas for work he did on Christen Dominique 

"I always fully highlight her hair doing a combination of balayage and classic highlights with L'Oreal Platine Lightener," Orellana says.  Here's the rest of his process: 

STEP ONE: "I like using a 30 volume at the end and 20 volume at the roots to get that super light effect at the ends.

STEP TWO: "After that I usually blend the highlights at the root with a L’Oreal Richesse 6N with a quarter of 5.01 to make it as close to her natural color as possible. This way some of the highlights still peek through in a blended way.

STEP THREE: "Finally I like to tone the whole thing with Redken Shades Eq 9at and 9T diluted with a little clear to allow the right proceeding time so the toner sticks. This is usually around 10 minutes. This gives me a transitional highlight with a color melt effect of darker at the root and super light at the ends, with an ashy finish. More natural looking." 

Part of delivering for his clients involves coaching them on what is reasonable to expect when making color changes, back to back.  We asked Orellana how he consults with his clients so that they are both on the same page.

"When dealing with clients with unrealistic expectations the best thing to do is empathizing with the results they want, don't just knock their idea out of the table," he says. "Sometimes doing this can make them become a little more on the defensive and they can hang onto that idea more than ever. Not to mention you might turn them off wanting to see you again. I always like acknowledge their idea and maybe work with it to help customize it on how to suit them. Most clients really like the idea of feeling that you are creating something more unique for them. I always keep pictures around on my iPad or phone to show them a reference to what I am talking about so they get the idea instead of trying to guess what you mean." 

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