Salon professionals need to know they can count on a supply of quality, professional-grade products across the beauty spectrum—in hair, nails, make-up and accessories—just around the corner, whenever they might need them. That’s where Sandi Arensman comes in.

Arensman, a master colorist, former salon owner and NAHA-winning artist, is based in the SALLY Beauty Supply headquarters and support center in Denton, Texas. Her role is to test products and tools to make sure all meet salon professional performance standards and to develop techniques to deal with some of the most pressing salon situations.

“I have to know how these products are going to best serve the SALLY Beauty Supply customer,” says Arensman. “I test these products while applying to hair, using new, interesting as well as tried-and-true techniques.”

Arensman selected two models to showcase professional techniques and approaches to client challenges: xing home hair color gone awry and creating color and cut excitement. “The goal of this session is to demonstrate that SALLY Beauty has always committed to staying modern through 50 years of serving the professional,” says Jan Roberts, director of corporate communications, SALLY Beauty. "We are looking forward to the next 50!"

Here Arensman discusses how to create this "brilliant blonde" hair color.

To banish the bands resulting from home hair color experimentation in this look, Arensman added depth at the scalp and created a color veil to camouflage the model’s color history.

“By applying proper tones toward the face, warm in middle headband to cool just below the crown, we neutralize the color wheel while complementing the client’s skin tone,” says Arensman, who used the new Blond Brilliance line, a 15 SKU line that includes spray-in lighteners, demipermanents and conditioning toners. “The hair must reflect natural sunlight, otherwise it will look flat and degraded.”

STEPS:

1. Apply ION Color Brilliance Porosity Equalizer leave-in to prep the hair.

2. Section the hair: one at each parietal, one at crown, isolate temples, nape and face frame. Apply Blond Brilliance Platinum Toner at temples.

3. At the nape, continue with the toner from base to ends.

4. Now apply to two parietal sections: Blond Brilliance with 2 parts Platinum and 1 part Golden Wheat with 3 parts dedicated developer for a controlled warm violet with a touch of gold.

5. Add another shade to the remainder mixture in bowl: Champagne ½ ounce and ½ ounce developer to make a bit warmer, apply to crown and process for 5 minutes.

6. Begin the cut at the fringe. Direct forward and cut straight across, at the eyelid.

7. Bring all the hair down to the back and cut straight across.

8. Blend the lengths to a face frame, all cut at natural fall.

9. For internal texture direct the hair to the top of the head. Take large sections, twist and cut along the twists from mids to ends.

Dark Drama: Emphasize Color Placement With a Handful of Foils

Updated: 05/12/2014 1:53:00 PM
As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, SALLY Beauty commissioned editorial stylist Sandi Arensman to create a special occasion collection, including hair color how-to’s. Here she discusses how she created this "brilliant blonde" hair color.
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