Jessica Tiddes of HAIRT Beauty has been announced as the grand prize winner of the Living Proof “Flex Your Styling Power” contest. The Chicago based Tiddes, who calls herself a hair artist/guru with a passion for updo's, runway and editorial hair, is now invited to work alongside Ward Stegerhoek and Chris McMillan at a photo shoot to be featured in MODERN in 2014.

Jessica Tiddes Wins "Flex Your Styling Power" by Living Proof

The contest, which kicked off on August 19th, challenged stylists to impress Living Proof co-founder and editorial stylist, Ward Stegerhoek, and Living Proof celebrity stylist and Jennifer Aniston’s "mane" man, Chris McMillan, with their creativity and artistry using Living Proof’s hotter than hot flexible shaping hairspray, Flex.

To enter, each stylist had to style a model – choosing one of 3 different looks (red carpet glam, rock n roll and fashion) and send in a photograph with a brief explanation about the finished look. I was one of the judges, along with Ward Stegerhoek and Chris McMillan.

When Tiddes was asked about her “Hollywood inspired” look, she said “I wanted to create a red carpet glam look. As we know, dry finger waves have flooded the red carpet, but we mostly see them in a look when the hair is styled down. I created a cocktail by blending together different techniques. I styled the hair using shapes integrated within the waves to give the updo a fresh, modern look while still keeping it Old Hollywood. I used Flex while I was setting the hair with a curling iron. I also used Flex to help create the dry finger wave. I sprayed it on a boar bristle brush to help mold and smooth the finger waves at the same time." According to Tiddes, Flex was essential to her finished look because of it's flexible hold. "It gave me the control I wanted while styling without being too firm or tacky. I noticed that is a firm hairspray with a light feel. It has great control and flexibility for prepping the hair. Flex can also be used at the end to lock the finished style in place with immense shine. Essentially, it is one spray that does the work of both a prepping spray and a finishing spray.”

Chris McMillan was asked to comment on the finished look: “I liked that this is a modern take on an updo. It looks effortless – even though I know it wasn’t! I like that she incorporated a braid in there, but it wasn’t so obviously a braid – it was more about the folds of the braid. It looked modern and elegant – it wasn’t messy but it wasn’t too neat. Sometimes updos can look sprayed into place and it didn’t have that look, which is one of the things I love about Flex. The hair looks so healthy – it doesn’t look stiff or sticky at all. Hopefully on the shoot we may be able to get some tips from her! I love being inspired by the young hairdressers. I’m inspired by the young, up-and-coming hairdressers in my hair salon.” Adds Ward Stegerhoek: "I like her approach – from both a creative and technical perspective. The stylist is clearly working to master her craft and I can’t wait to see what comes out of the shoot with Chris and me."

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