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My Recent trip to Hong Kong…

For my recent trip to Hong Kong, I must admit that I was fairly excited to go and check out the street fashion and hairstyles over there. Armed with my camera and i-phone my aim was to capture lots of different looks to show on my blog.

After all it was only 4years ago (pre-blogging days) that I was last there and spotted all these youngsters who were dressing a lot like the trendy Japanese kids, Blonde long hair, full on Goth make up and ultra trendy outfits that would fit right in in Yoyogi Park!

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But to my dismay, I found Hong Kong fashion to be very tame and conservative this time around, very ‘office like’ is how I would describe it. Granted, I did not go out clubbing and looking for the hipsters that may have been hanging out in the trendy bars and clubs late at night, for sure I would’ve come across some then, but I wanted to see normal day street fashion.

Thankfully, I did take a trip over the border to Shenzhen and my good friend Danny took us to the O.C.T. Lofts, (Contemporary Art Terminal), it was here that I at least found afew good-looking hipsters that looked abit more interesting. In amongst the nice cafes, art gallery’s and book stores, I was surprised to find that this part of China was so into their art and trendy furniture and cafes, so along with it, some creative people. I finally got my camera out and took one picture of a young girl perched on a bench with her head buried in one of their forbidden books.

Hoping to add to my photo collection from then on, I failed miserably as everywhere I went I found mainly people from Mainland China with their huge suitcases coming over to shop in Hong Kong, keeping the Prada and Louis Vuitton stores in business. This trip showed me yet again that no matter how much money you have to shop in these places…Money can’t buy you style! In fact it became abit of a game as I tried to spot the tourists from the Mainland, the biggest giveaway unfortunately was the tacky dress sense.

So out of it all came this short article to try and make up for the lack of pictures showing you what was happening in style and fashion in Hong Kong and China and I hate to report – Not much is happening, but enjoy these tourist pics instead…

 

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Interesting trip – Politically but not fashionably…Sigh, better luck next time….
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All About Layers – MHD Article

My next article for the famed English educational website myHairdressers.com covers different types of layers, and how to go about choosing what types for clients and how to combine the layers with different techniques. A great read for people who just want to know how to differentiate between layers..

To read full article click……..All About Layers

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Ballerina’s and Donut’s!

Notice how everyone around us are wearing their hair in Ballerina buns? And I don’t really mean those top knots that I said I didn’t like afew weeks ago. Slight difference in my eyes.. these are more elegant looking whereas the others looked like ‘home hair’ Anyway, I was told I needed to write a post about how best to achieve these perfect shaped buns.. Thanks Sarah Geiger for keeping  me on top of it all!

There are so many different ways to achieve these looks, including twisting, tucking and rolling and so many different positions on the head to put them too. But the one’s I wanted to talk about today is the very perfectly rounded shapes worn on top or near the top of the head.

 

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These can be achieved very easily by using hair donuts (or sausages, as shown above). First, tie hair up into a ponytail on top of the head, (or slightly to the side if you want) Once the pony is secure, choose the donut best suited for color matching your own hair, slip the pony through the center of the donut, split it in the middle and spread the hair around the donut to make sure all of the donut is covered. The ends of the hair is then wrapped around the donut and tucked underneath and pinned into place.

Here are some examples of how the the finished look could result in, good luck!

 

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Ling Tan ~ Supermodel

My good friend and journalist Stevie Wong first brought my attention to China’s first supermodel afew months back, so as I was looking into her work, I was impressed with some of the campaigns she had done and absolutely loved the hair in a lot of them,  I thought I would show you afew of my faves.

First abit of background stuff on Ling..

Ling Tan who’s full name is Tan Mang Ling was South East Asia’s first supermodel.An Malaysian Chinese model who was born in Kuala Lumpur, speaks 4 dialects of Chinese as well and Malay and English.

Her works includes absolutely ALL known top designers, brands and campaigns and has worked with just as many fashion photographers, way too many to list here, believe me its an incredible list, check our her Wikipedia page!

If all that isn’t enough she has also made commercials for Pantene, Armani Fragrances, Ford Edge and appeared in George Michaels music video Fast Love.

Lin recently came out of retirement to walk the runway for Givenchy 2010 and 2011, and was also recently signed with Wilhelmina Models in NYC 2011. Once a supermodel, always a supermodel, right?

 

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Some other campaigns:

 

 

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Nina Khazani

I found this artist From the Royal College of Art 2012, who works with cut hair and thought her work was very unique.  Whether you think of it as slightly creepy, you cant help but admit it is very creative. Strange to think that many people think of their own hair as their crowning glory but detached and to actually wear someone else’s on you, I think a lot of people might not want to go there.. right?  Here are some great images that shows hair used as a different  art form as shown by Khazani.

Here is an intro from her own blog/webpage:

A hairy tale

I believe that hair inherits power and beauty and is the ultimate garment growing from within us. It is part of our body,
and therefore part of our identity, it helps us to differentiate ourselves as individuals yet at the same time it is changeable and detachable.
It is beautiful and soft and yet stubborn to work with. It likes to go its own way but so do I.
Sometimes the perfect hair seems to last only for a moment.
Its always in movement and undergoes various transformations. I gain pleasure of controlling it and transforming it into living objects and jewellery.
Through my work I intend to tell stories and evoke emotions by capturing a moment of beauty and making it last longer than a glimpse of time.

 

ninaKhazani

 

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MyHairdressers.com ~ Digital Perms

Very recently I wrote my 3rd article for UK based Educational Website MyHairdressers.com

 

For this one I interviewed Same from Zippy’s Hair Studio in San Francisco about her techniques and tips on doing Digital Perms (Hot Perm) Huge Thanks to my business partner Jodi Ninomiya for letting me document her while she tried out the perm ; )

 

Follow this link to read what Same had to say.. Digital Perm Article

 

 

Continue reading “MyHairdressers.com ~ Digital Perms”

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Fake Fringes (Bangs in the US)

I have always wondered what it would be like to use one of those fake fringes that we see around. Do they really work and how real do they look, if at all and how do they work?

I used to wear my hair with a fringe but having grown it out for quite some time now, I was beginning to miss my ‘fringey’ look, so I decided to go and get one to try out and review while I still have my own long fringe.

I picked one up from a local wig store but they didn’t have my color, slightly warm brown, so I asked them whether they could be colored as they were made from 100% real hair. The lady assured me they could be bleached colored and styled. So I ended up not taking Jodi’s (our color pro) advice to get a lighter shade to dye it darker, instead I got a darker shade to lighten up!! Wrong!  Jodi lightened it up 3 times and all it did was lift it half a shade lighter.. so, always listen to the experts and not the shop keepers people.

Anyway, this is how I sectioned off my own fringe before attaching, notice how I tuck the front bit behind the ears leaving the top section to hang over the hairpiece..

 

 

Then I tried out different lengths to see what it would look like… 1. Original fringe 2. Longer look 3. Short look

 

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The piece itself has a little comb sewn onto the top of it and this is how you attach it to your own hair, how high/low you attach it determines how long/short your fringe sits.

 

 

And one of the important things is to Remember about the joining at the top of the head, this is the true giveaway and you want to make sure that its sitting at the right place and also not sticking/bulging up from the side view:

 

Anyway guys, what do you think? Would you try one? Does it look real? Personally I was shocked to find that they actually work well, it looks pretty real (even with the color difference) and I wore it to work one day and most people thought I’d cut my fringe off! I ended up keeping my long fringe knowing I can just get a change and stick the ‘fakey’ on anytime.

You can find many styles and colors online but most of the good ones are from Asia.

My only warning is if you move around too much, the whole thing moves with you so watch out in the wind or when running/dancing or doing any activities : )

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MyHairdressers.com – London

Just wanted to share my 2nd article that I have written for UK’s professional educational website – MyHairdressers.com.  Proud to have been asked by this team of talented and creative group of people to join them as one of their features writer specializing  on things happening in the US or in San Francisco where I reside.

Just so I don’t end up doubling up on my articles, I keep my features different to my blog posts, so follow this link to take you to the article… this one is about ‘Celebs Hair that influences Clients in the Salons’.

Enjoy : )

 

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A Tribute To The Man Who Inspired Many – Vidal Sassoon

To my first real boss, a legend who inspired and influenced many many hairdressers by revolutionizing the way we cut hair… Thank You for your vision and passing it down to the rest of the family to develop and create lives that have been just as creative as you were. My life as a haircutter would not have been as fulfilling without your inspirational existence on this planet!

RIP Vidal, you will never be forgotten.

 

Thanks Stephanie for the pic : )