a little makeover

before...

after!

My cousin Melinda is amazingly hilarious and always down to have fun (i.e. her before picture is after a visit at a local NYC Irish Pub on St. Patrick's day, hence green lips). She is from our hometown of Holland, MI. A Dutch town known for its tulip festivals and clogs. What I am really trying to say, it is so VANILLA out there. So when we met up in Seattle for our cousin's wedding not too long ago, we both concluded that we have to desperately give her a makeover!

Haircut:

To give her a subtle glimmer of color, but not go crazy, we gave her nice chocolate brown highlights (using Matrix Soco Color 4A with a 20 volume developer). You have to understand, that Melinda has super thick and coarse hair. So we had to eliminate some of the bulk with thinning shears and I then came back again and did a twist cut (twisting a lock of hair and cutting downwards). I gave her high layers as well, so when she curled her hair, that the curls wouldn't be weighed down. This is part of the misconception; tons of girls want big voluminous hair but are not willing to put any layers in. It takes more than just teasing and hair spray.

I then do the bangs last, by sectioning a deep triangle on the top of her head to make thick and dramatic bangs. The bangs aren't necessarily blunt bangs, but more of a fringe. I accomplished this by point cutting the bangs in a rainbow like shape.

Hair Style:

Apply some mousse while the hair is towel damp. This will help the curls last all day. Give a quick blow dry. With a 2 inch barrel curling iron, curl the hair away from the face. Make sure to start from the bottom up.