In 10 short years, Adam Livermore has become a driving force in the hairdressing industry. After working behind the chair as a master stylist and education director at Spalon Montage in Minneapolis, and as an educator with Wella Professionals and Kevin Murphy, Adam relocated to New York City and began traveling the world as an educator with Oribe Haircare, and working side by side with Oribe himself behind the scenes at fashion shows in Paris, Milan, and New York.

Adam is also a competitive stylist, having competed in the North American Hairstyle Awards, and the Wella International Trend Vision Awards. He was the 2007 recipient of the Wella National Trend Vision Gold Award, and went on to compete in the International Trend Vision Awards in Barcelona that year, representing the United States.

When he's not working behind the chair at Muze Salon in New York City, or working on the education platform, Adam is collaborating with top photographers to create inspiring new imagery. His creative work has been seen in countless magazines, including Vanity Fair, Elle Asia, Vandals, Creem, Ladygun, Fantastics, Vision, and Ozon. Adam has also worked with such style icons as Tilda Swinton, Naomi Campbell, Molly Sims, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meg Ryan, and Cher.

MODERN SALON: How long have you been in the beauty industry?
ADAM LIVERMORE: About 15 years

MS: What’s your favorite hairstyling/haircoloring technique?
AL: When it comes to color, I've become a big balayage/painter purely because I like the freedom of it. My favorite styling technique right now is sewing. I keep discovering new ways to use it, and it gives me a lot of flexibility. Sewing is to updos what balayage is to color; it's much more fluid.

MS: What does it mean to be an Oribe Educator, in your own words? 
AL: For me, being an Oribe Educator means two things. First, it means I have the incredible privilege of working with visionary artists like James Pecis, Ronnie Stam, Kien Hoang, Coby Alcantar and the rest of our wonderfully talented team. They've helped me grow in ways I could never have anticipated, and I'm grateful to them every day. Secondly, it means I have a responsibility to share the knowledge and inspiration I gain from them openly and faithfully. As educators, we don't keep good ideas close to our chests and use them to grow our own book and our own business; we share everything with everybody, and we hope that we can all grow in the process and create a richer and more vibrant creative industry for everyone. That’s a responsibility that I take great joy in executing, it makes my brain light up, and it makes my heart happy.

MS: What’s the best thing you’ve learned from a mentor?
AL: To stop viewing my mistakes as failures

MS: What do you see trending in hairstyling/haircoloring right now?
AL: I’m seeing short, one-length bobs on all kinds of cool girls around New York City. It’s the Oribe Classic Bob exactly how we teach it—no layers, no graduation, nothing. It always looks good even when it's a complete mess.

MS: Who would you love to makeover?
AL: She doesn't need a makeover, but I'd love to work with Björk. Her boundless imagination and conceptuality fascinate me, and I know we could do something narrative and very cool together.

MS: What’s your beauty must?
AL: Sunblock. Every day. I want to convince Oribe Beauty to do a super-light silky SPF with the Côte d'Azur fragrance. Wouldn't that be great?

MS: What’s your go-to tool or product? 
AL: I'm very low tech. I do pretty much everything with a metal tail comb, a boar round brush and a French pin.

MS: What’s your favorite Oribe product? 
AL: At the moment I'm pretty obsessed with Straight Away Smoothing Blowout Cream. It makes any hair texture feel incredible, and with it, blowouts are much easier. I'm really getting into straight hair these days. Straight Away has given me a reason to take a break from doing beach waves all day, every day.

MS: Why should stylists choose Oribe products?
AL: Oribe products were born behind the editorial styling chair, so they actually do what they say they do. We create products that stylists actually need. They also offer more than just real performance; they offer a truly elevated experience of performance. It's high performance with luxurious treatment-level ingredients, cutting-edge technology and packaging and a gorgeous fragrance. As a stylist who works on set and with salon clients, Oribe covers all my bases.

MS: Are you performing at any upcoming shows or teaching any classes? If so, which ones? What will the topic/s be?  
AL: I'm working pretty much all the time these days. I was just in Denver for our Oribe Atelier, I'll be in Salt Lake City this weekend, Taiwan next week and Honduras next month. Of course, during this time, I’ll also be doing plenty of domestic in-salon trainings. We offer in-salon education concurrently with what's happening at LBP Studios in Miami and the Ateliers, so there's always a lot of cutting and styling workshops going on. Visit www.oribe.com/journey to find out what's coming up, and if you'd like to know what I'm up to in particular, it's Adam_Livermore on Instagram.

MS: What’s your mantra?
AL: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

MS: What’s the single, most important piece of advice, in your opinion, that you can offer other hairdressers who are looking to become successful in their own careers?
AL: Go to class. A funny thing happens when we become successful hairstylists . . . Usually the busier we get, the smaller our repertoire, tool kit and list of go-to products gets because we don't have time to take risks and try new things. We need to guarantee gorgeous results, so we stick to what we know and do what we do best. When you reach that point, you must regularly set time aside to learn and try new techniques and ideas. Give yourself room to struggle, make mistakes and learn how to fix them. So go to a hands-on class that scares you a little bit. If you keep cruising in neutral with a packed book doing the same repertoire every day, you are very likely going to burn out.

Follow @oribepro or visit www.oribe.com/ateliers for the latest on Oribe education.