90. Ara Gallant. Hairdressing Hall Of Fame.

Twiggy- flying hair.

Ok, so you watched the video on the previous post called "flying hair" now you can see where the idea came from.

Ara Gallant was born Ira Gallantz in 1932 in the Bronx, but later changed his name because he felt Ara Gallant sounded more exotic. And the life he led was, indeed, an exotic one. Gallant started his career in fashion as a hairdresser, working at Bergdorf Goodman as one of New York’s top colorists. By the mid-1960s he was approached by Vogue and began working exclusively as hair-stylist on photo assignments. In fact, he was the first hair stylist to be paid for such work. Today we call that a "session hair stylist".

Gallant worked with many of the great fashion photographers of the period, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Bert Stern, among them. His most notable contribution was the introduction "flying hair" a visual gimmick he first used on an Avedon shot with Twiggy in 1966. The effect is still widely copied today.

Angelika houston

Sophia Loren

By the early 1970s Gallant began shooting picture himself. His first assignment was celebrity portraits for Interview magazine. His work often juxtaposed classic Horst-like compositions with contemporary scenarios. In the early 1980s Gallant moved to L.A. to lead with his friend Jack Nicholson and to pursue a directing career. It never happened, in the 1990's he committed suicide in a hotel room in Las Vegas.

Sissy Spacek

Drew Barrymoore

Ara Gallant

Buy this book. Ara Gallant by David Wills.

89. Thousand Frames Per Second.

In this amazing video internationally renowned hairstylist Sam McKnight teases out the unseen calm in two seconds of a thrashing blonde mane in this slow-motion film shot by photographer Matthew Donaldson. As his model daughter Lily Donaldson spins 360 degrees, her hair buffeted by four wind machines, Donaldson stretches two seconds into two hypnotic minutes, capturing every exquisite movement at 1,000 frames per second. In a world where technology is increasingly maligned for encouraging us to hide from reality, there is a welcome irony here: Using the super-high definition Phantom Gold HD—a camera initially developed for monitoring missile flights—Donaldson distills a hyper-real tranquility. The film is also a paean to Ara Gallant, one of the great session hairdressers of the 1960s and the inventor of the “flying hair” technique.

Watch the video here.

88. One To Watch- Arizona Muse

Introducing Arizona Muse

So I’m not the only one jumping on the “A. Muse” bandwagon, but for me, it's about the simplicity and versatility of her haircut.

After all isn’t that what a great hair is all about?

Arizona Muse started her career as a fashion model in 2008 as a long-haired blonde. However, she did not receive any significant attention from the fashion world until 2010 when she returned after her bady was born as a brunette with medium length bobbed hair.

The term MILF springs to mind.

High praise from American Vogue editor Anna Wintour stating in the February 2011 issue: "When I look at Arizona, I see shadows of Linda Evangelista and Natalia Vodianova but most of all I see her, a gorgeous, smart, grown-up. And how could anyone resist someone with that name?"

Further reading bob hair.

87. Know Your Product- Eugène Schueller

Those of you who have been following HEADS WILL ROLL will know I'm a sucker for hair-history. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Eugene Schueller, he's like the Godfather of modern hair color.

Eugène Schueller (20th March 1881- 23rd August 1957) a French chemist and a graduate of the Institut de Chimie Appliquée de Paris (now Chimie Paris Tech), discovered p-phenylenediamine and develops a synthetic formula to color the hair in 1907.

This formula is nicknamed “Auréole“.

On 30th July, 1909, Schueller registers his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux ( literally "French Society of Inoffensive Hair Dyes"). The guiding principles of the company eventually became L’Oréal as we know it today.

Controversy.

During the early twentieth century, Schueller provided financial support and held meetings for La Cagoule at L'Oréal headquarters. La Cagoule was a violent French Fasict-leaning and anti-communist group.

*This was extensively researched by Michael Bar-Zohar in his book, Bitter Scent.

Further Reading-

History of Hairdressing.

86. Best hair Paris Fashion Week A/W 2011

Best hair for Paris Fashion Week A/W 2011 goes to Guido Palau and Josh Wood, the later dyed the hair for Jean Paul Gaultier towering beehives.

Guido Palau prepped the silver strands the day before the show with loads of Redken Forceful 23 Super Strength Finishing Spray. “It’s the sixties Hitchcock feeling that’s been around a lot this season, but we’re taking it to a Gaultier level,” which mandated a precise attention to structural detail mixed with a touch of humor -fun hair swirls were sculpted above bangs and molded into sideburns.

Read more about Gray hair.

Best hair at Fashion Week.

Guido Palau.

Hair colour.

Photos by Luca Cannonieri for GoRunway.com

85. Carousel.

I've been thinking a lot about this shoot I did way back in 2001. There's a bold simplicity in the hair that I have been trying to recapture.

More hair by Jean-Paul Rosette, click here.

84. Holiday in Cambodia- Street Barber.

On a recent trip to Cambodia I passed by a barber on Street 240 Phnom Penh near my hotel. I approached him and pointed to my camera, he smiled and nodded while pointing to a sign saying “$1 haircut”.

I love the simplicity of his operation; it’s like a “pop-up store” that can be taken down at the end of the day. No appointment books, no computer screens, no garish hair products on display. It’s just him on the street armed with some scissors and a mirror.

Further reading on barbers and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

83. Prema Love- A modern salon.

Meet Francesco Ruggerino as we talk about his salon Prema, the Australian Hairdresser's Council and what a modern salon should be.

This article was publish first at Style Street.

First of all congratulations on being nominated “best new salon design 2010”, could you tell me a little bit about the thoughts behind the design?

Unfortunately we did not win it, but we were finalists. Prema Salon was built to house all of our Education and Creative work. We have a large salon at Bondi and the new Surry hills salon is designed to facilitate the career path growth of our people through Education, Photographic and Management. The salon is a full working salon, Education space and Photographic studio. All our Website, Communications and Production are done in house through this salon.

I have noticed the use of raw and recycled material in the salon, how important is sustainability to Prema Salon?

We use raw materials to promote not only environmental sustainability but also our career and business sustainability. Everything we do is centred on sustainability and how we can continue to make thing work successfully time and time again over a long period of time.

Francesco, your not a hairstylist, how did you get involved in the hairdressing business?

I met a hairdresser and bought a salon with him. Over time we went our own separate ways but I learnt that my strength was in bringing hairdressers together successfully and contributing organisational skills to creatives and helping them with numbers, figures and money.

What advice would you give people who are about to open a salon of their own? What advice would you give to those who are opening their second salon?

First Salon – open somewhere where you can build a clientele quickly, make the salon look hot so people notice you and give people extraordinary service.

Second salon – Know exactly why you are opening the salon and remember why when things get tough, promote your good staff and get rid of any problem staff before moving onto salon number 2.

A salon in today’s market needs to be more than just functional and a place where you can buy shampoo. What is your opinion are the key ingredients to a modern salon?

You have to offer a point of difference in the way it looks and feels and the way that you perform hair, the service needs to better than anyone else’s and you need to do extra for people so as to give them a reason to come back to you. Also, you need to look after your people so that they want to be there, this will give your salon the edge it needs.

You run two salons, how do you keep and motivate staff? What do you look for when recruiting new staff members?

Keep staff by creating a warm and friendly environment and culture, focus on their career growth and help them to become better at what they do.

When recruiting new people I look for people who love hairdressing and people who no matter how good they are they still want to be better. I also look for people who not only talk the talk but also walk the walk. I like humble people that are really good at what they do.

You’re a member of the Australian Hairdressers Council, could you tells us a little about that and what your involvement within the council is?

I spoke to Anthony Wynn-Hollscher, the founder and chairman of the A.H.C about 3 years ago re the A.H.C Immediately I was inspired by the concept of bringing us together and creating a more successful industry. I have been incredibly lucky to be able to work alongside some of the most admirable people in our industry whose dedication and commitment is contagious. I currently sit on the board as the Vice Chairman and together with other members of the working committee we are now rolling out the AHC pilot programme.

What do you feel are the problems facing the hairdressing industry right now?

We are not attracting enough good young kids to the industry. This is the main thing we need to address. If we can attract more people that have a strong desire to do hair then we can excel as an industry.

Your web page, Facebook, twitter, how has the Internet helped your business?

It has helped by creating a more widespread awareness of what we do and also it has helped attract great staff and clients.

Prema

Bondi Junction p 9389 8080

Surry Hills p 9360 8080

82. One To Watch- Tao Okamoto

Tao Okamoto's first agency was Elite to which she signed on in 2006. She made her first runway debut on the Emanuel Ungaro and Martin Grant shows in Paris that same year. The next year, she walked her first New York Fashion Week shows for Marc Jacobs and Cynthia Steffe. Marking her first work for a fashion magazine was her Glamour editorial in 2007.[

Teen Vogue called her a "rising star" in September 2009, and featured her as "Girl of the Moment" in its December/January 2010 issue. Vogue Japan dedicated its November 2009 magazine cover and all of the magazines editorials to her, noting her as a supermodel-in-rising. She has appeared in advertising campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Benetton, HM, Gap and Zac Posen. Clearly one to watch.

81. Heads Will ... Be Illustrated.

As a hairdresser I spend most of my time staring at the backs of pretty girl's heads. No seriously, think about the time you spend in the salon getting your hair done telling your hairdresser all your secrets, the hairdresser stands behind you right? Anyway, I found these beautiful illustrations from Maria Gil Ulldemolins. The details are sublime.

Check out her blog here.