DISCOVER KENRA COLOR: Blonde Horizons

Format: A presentation with models, demonstration and hands-on class with mannequins

Awarded: Certificate of completion and CE hours if applicable to hairdresser’s home state.

Duration: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Cost: Early booking bonus ticket price $125 (ends 2 to 3 weeks before event), $195 thereafter. Lunch and mannequin included.

Student to teacher ratio: Roughly 25 students, along with 3 Kenra Professional Experts including Robb Dubre, Senior Artistic Director, Laken Rose, Senior Technical Trainer and 1 Kenra Professional Technical Educator from the class territory.

Bring with you: Clips, sheers, dryer and styling tools.

Skill level recommended: Beginner to Advanced

Kenra Color is only three years old but growing up fast. The line is on tour, offering colorists around the country the opportunity to Discover Kenra Color and its portfolio of permanent and demi-permanent shades. I recently joined a stop along the way in Newport Beach, CA. Kenra Artistic Director Robb Dubre was joined by other Kenra Team Members to teach around their Blonde Horizons color collection. This Spring/Summer 2014 launch showcases three blonde color finishes—Champagne Sunrise, Golden Sunrise and Strawberry Sunrise—and the formulas and techniques to achieve glowing results. Focus, too, was on ‘blonding’—lightening hair two or more levels and ranges from levels 6 to 10—and the Kenra products, tools and application that will take you there.

“I’m going to demonstrate things that are very replicable and something you can do on your clients every day,” Dubre said. “The final result of any haircolor service relies on a blend of the color selected by the stylist and the contribution of underlying pigment. And it all begins with the consultation. Take that extra minute, drape your client, ask her to take off her makeup if necessary, so you can discover her skin tone. “

Dubre and team shared their best blonding practices:

COLOR FORMULATION: Discover their natural level. “This will influence what you put in the formulation to neutralize that underlying level of pigment and what developer you’re using. It’s important to fan out the swatches so you can’t tell the difference between the Natural Series swatch and the natural level of the hair. You need to know where you’re coming from and then where do you want to go with the color.”

BALAYAGE BASICS: “I like to be very loose with my brush and this sweeping motion is what creates my connection. I’m only doing the top layer and I’m not saturating all the way through. I do it in a v-shaping so it is nice and diffused and it’s not straight lines coming all the way from the scalp. It also created depth at the scalp. Then I connect them at the end by saturating from mid length all the way through the ends. “

KENRA HIGH LIFT SERIES: “It creates maximum neutralization. What is more important—lift or control? 30 volume gives me more control and 40 volume ensures I get those four levels of lift.

BLONDING CREAM: “It’s a high lift with no color that can be incorporated into other colors. It’s great for green hair from chlorine or murky ends when hair takes on that dingy deposit.”

KENRA COLOR LIGHTENER: “I love doing double process, it gets you there. Some stylistst like to use a 40 volume with a lightener but while it will get you there really fast, it exhausts itself and end up hanging out in Orangeville.”

THE PERFECT DOUBLE PROCESS: “Application is key for the perfect double process. it is all about getting that perfect end result all the way through. It takes time. I like to take eight-inch sections so everything comes out even and controlled. Typically they come in with a line of demarcation. I work with two sets of lightener. If she has a line, I will paint that one and then work that through. I always work from the bottom up and making sure it touches at the line of demarcation, feathering if you need to.

ACCENTING: “Anytime I do any kind of foil placement, we are working with a slice for maximum contrast and maximum diffusion of light. If you really want to see it you will slice it.”

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN: “I refer to highlights as accents. That is what draws the eye. I like to leave the hairline out. With this, you get that nice contrast of natural colors.”

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