Leo Valencia, an Elite Stylist at Ulta Beauty in Houston, Texas and a member of the Ulta Beauty Design Team, was so happy to see his client, post-quarantine, and the feeling was mutual. She needed a hair rescue and he knew he could help her.

“We had planned an appointment but it was a month out (because we were being careful about no double booking) and she went somewhere else, in the meantime.”

The other salon struggled to get her to her desired platinum.  She went through two chemical services, back-to-back, and her hair showed it.  It ended up with a lot of banding and breakage.

“Yes,” he laughs, “she had cheated on me.  She had three to four inches of new growth and they did the ‘bleach everything and hope for the best’ approach.

"But I’m not trashing the other hairdressers and I’m not going to chastise my client—I was so happy to see her and was glad she trusted me to fix her hair. ”

HAIR HISTORY

“She has been coming to me for some time. She likes to keep platinum, as much as possible. If it’s summer, we do platinum and pretty much a global retouch.   In the winter sometimes we go to a shadow root.  She’s usually really great about using purple shampoo and taking care of her color.”

PRE-APPOINTMENT

“A week prior to her coming in, she got a haircut,  an assymetrical bob, and I applied a Redken Extreme CAT Treatment to prepare her hair.  She had fragile baby hairs so I did the treatment twice, and the second time I concentrated the treatment on those fine hairs.”

Redken Extreme CAT Anti-Damage Protein Reconstructing Rinse-Off Treatment helps strengthen distressed, damaged hair without adding weight; contains patented taurine technology and cationic proteins. 

CONSULTATION

“I told her that the only thing I was going to attempt was to lift her base. I told her we probably wouldn’t get as white as we actually ended up getting—I didn’t think her hair could handle it.”

THE PROCESS

"She came in with her hair clean and no build-up (which I think can get in the way of the color).

“I put a lot of love into this color. I took my time, I did treatments in between every single step that I could, I used cotton to make sure the lightener didn’t expand."

FORMULA

• Redken Flash Lift Bonder on Zone 1 with 20 vol for 30 minutes

• Remixed and dragged down to lift through her banding

• Cocktailed Redken Extreme+ Color Extend Chem Shot treatments

• Redken Chromatics Ulta Rich .5oz 10p + Chromatics 10Av + 20 vol Zone 1 for 20 minutes, Zones 2 & 3 for the last 10 minutes.

• Finished with Ouai Leave-in Conditioner, Hair Oil and Heat Protectant Spray

MAKING A CLIENT COMFORTABLE DURING COVID

“All the members of the Ulta Beauty Design Team created a video that helps us share with our clients all the measures we’re taking to keep them and ourselves safe.

 “I tell clients about our temperature checks, our screenings and questions we go through everyday, and how we wipe down everything with Barbicide.  We change our gloves, everything is laundered after every guest and, of course, we’re enforcing masks.  If a guest is not feeling well, we will reschedule. 

“If I have a guest who is still uncomfortable, Ulta Beauty allows us to take care of our guests by coming in an hour early, before the store opens.”

FINAL WORDS

“People need to feel good, right now. When she comes to the salon, it’s her getaway. She wanted to feel like her old self again and I was so happy to help her get there.”