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If you want to help your clients update their styles, a great place to start is at the finish. Making even small changes to final touches like blow-outs can create instant makeovers. The best part-they wash out with a squirt of shampoo, so even your most timid clients won't be afraid to try them. Plus, you might get a whole new look for your sales totals. Little updates can inspire clients to schedule major services or make big retail purchases. So boost her style, and your profits, with these quick makeover ideas.Product Cocktail
"Often a client gets stuck using just one product," says Jason Yates, creative director, Farouk. "It does an okay job, but mixing a customized cocktail can give a better finish." For example, someone with straight, fine hair might be using a gel that controls frizz and offers strong hold but leaves the overall style looking forced and unnatural. With a blend of a glazing gel and a shine-enhancer, hair can take on new volume and shine.
"Talk to your client and describe why you're mixing particular products as you do it," says Yates. "It will show you're customizing something just for her. She gets tailored treatment and a more glamorous finish-and you sell more retail."
Parting Shot
"Changing the part-line makes a huge difference," says Kim Sensinger, master stylist at the JCPenney Salon in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. She takes clients from boring, straight lines to dynamic diagonals. One way she does this is to combine a part change with a ponytail to create a look she's seen on Hollywood hotties like Kate Hudson:
1. Apply a cocktail of styling cream and straightening formula to damp hair. 2. Work through with a paddle brush. 3. Take a diagonal part from the left eyebrow to above the right eyebrow. 4. Slick front layers down. 5. Place the rest of the hair in a pony. Hide the band by wrapping a strand of hair around it and pinning below. 6. Finish the pony with a flat iron.
"Clients love the neat, sexy look," says Sensinger. "And we sell a lot of irons this way."
Play Chopsticks
A chopstick or other modern set creates a contemporary finish and gets some young clients booking regular shampoo sets as often as their grandmothers did. Donna Hebert, senior hair designer in Plattsburgh, New York, uses chopsticks on clients with shoulder-length or longer hair. Take just three or four rectangular sections 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick from the crown. Wind hair around sticks, set under a hood dryer and finger-comb. Or do a bow-tie set, pinning hair in figure-eight shapes all over the head.
"Customers come in and get these for weddings, or just when they want to look great for a night out," says Hebert. "I see them in my chair more, and it gets them interested in perms."
Detail Work
Give your client the supermodel treatment. After completely finishing her hair with a blow-dryer and any other hot tools, use a technique that Yates has perfected on photo shoots to make models look even more camera-ready. Just place a small amount of product between your first finger and thumb. Take a step back and look for areas of the hairstyle that you would like to make stand out. Then go in and piece-out or separate hair in these sections. The extra detail you create draws the eye, so choose based on a client's best features. The method works the other way around, too. Distract the eye from a problem feature by leaving hair soft in that section.
Changing Seasons
Sensinger finishes hair differently depending on the season. In summer, go for slick looks with a paddle brush, and try an add-on ponytail. "We sold a lot of those for clients who wanted to wear them at the beach," says Sensinger. Out door barometric conditions in midwinter tend to flatten locks. So go for round brushing to add fullness to hair. Use volumizing products. To add interest to winter updos, finish some of the hanging pieces with a crimping iron, and let others fall naturally.
Silhouette Switch: Changing the overall shape of a style can be done easily and goes a long way toward creating a new look. Curls especially get stuck in a rounded-shape rut. Yates suggests skipping the scrunch-and-diffuse approach for waves or ringlets. Instead, create a less predictable outline and add variety by smoothing down selected sections of the hair. Take a low angle, side part. Slick the root area to flatten it, and let curls flow naturally toward the ends. Or take a higher part and add just a few sleek sections.
Roller Derby
Selecting a different roller size or curling iron barrel width can create a new mood for hair. "Sometimes people need to get out of the medium-roller habit," says Hebert. She offers two options for changing the look of someone with a basic bob. For a wedding r ot
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