Personal Style: Nanci Lee

This busy stylist at B2V Salon in West Hollywood, California, is best known for her extension work. As a member of Great Length's education team, she travels the country teaching the latest in application and trends.

MY PERSONAL STYLE: Funky casual    

MY HAIR RIGHT NOW: Has multidimensional layers of color in golds and deep oranges with accents of yellow blonde. I also have extensions with those shades and shades of deep wine red and cadmium red light.  

WHAT I WEAR TO WORK: B2V Salon is in a historic bungalow, so our dress code is casual. I usually wear either denim, slacks or skirts with boots.

WHAT I WEAR ONSTAGE: I try to keep my own style and just kick it up a notch. I especially love mixing masculine and feminine pieces-a camisole with a masculine jacket or a men's tie with a girly blouse, etc.

MY FAVORITE ACCESSORIES: I love jewelry-especially necklaces and earrings. I often create my outfit around one of my favorite pieces. This season, I am crazy about fingerless gloves and gauntlets.

WHY I LOVE EXTENSIONS: When I first started doing extensions, I felt like a miracle worker. The options are endless: lengthening, volumizing, altering or enhancing a haircut-the artistry is up to you.

MY FIRST EXTENSION EXPERIENCE: I was lucky enough to have a client who was a very willing volunteer. Her hair turned out great; I take it for granted now but being able to transform someone with extensions is an exhilarating experience.

MY BEST EXTENSION STORY: My work on Extreme Makeover has to be my best extension experience. Every participant's story was so moving. It was deeply rewarding to be part of a team that transformed people inside and out.

I AM INSPIRED BY: Everything from great artwork to movies and great food. By getting out into the world and exploring new things, I bring back my research to the salon so my clients can have one big sensory experience.
 
MY MENTOR: Frida Kahlo and Louise Nevelson for their strength and creativity, John Lennon for speaking his truth and Pema Chodron for her inspirational words. As far as hairdressers, I have always held Yosh as someone I aspire to be like. He developed a simple and brilliant system for treating hair as sculpture and I appreciate the way he treats others with love and respect.  

I BECAME A HAIRDRESSER BECAUSE: I was working in an office part time when one of my coworkers who had grown up in a salon environment, suggested I become a hairdresser. I chatted with my own hair stylist and the father of a high school friend who owned a chain of salons. They all encouraged me and shared with me the many advantages of working in the beauty industry. So I quit college and enrolled in beauty school, eventually finishing my degree years later. I am so grateful I had enough sense to listen to my friend-I love this fun and crazy ride called hairdressing!

Nanci Lee