Guy Tang’s Surprising Confessions: Hair, Health and Social Media

Guy Tang’s got a few new tricks up his sleeve! 

The place: a photo studio on a hard-to-find street in Hollywood. The occasion: a shoot for a super-secret new haircolor product from Kenra. The players: #hairbesties Guy Tang and Rebecca Taylor. The scoop: read on!

We can’t reveal much about the new Kenra color product yet, other than to say it’s INSANE, and that Guy and Rebecca will tell you ALL about it at the BTC COLOR, Cut & Style Show in September in Ft. Lauderdale. But we can share a heart-to-heart that we had with Guy, during which he revealed some surprising things!

Surprise! Guy’s Making Some Big Life Changes
“With so much going on we’re moving faster than ever before,” Guy said. “And we’re forgetting what’s important. We’re forgetting how to make real connections with people. We’re forgetting etiquette, how to treat people, how to build relationships.” So Guy has decided to focus on the people who matter. He’s taking care of his parents, who, he says, “came to the States, didn’t speak English and worked their asses off to raise us.” He’s coming home early and spending more time with his partner Almar, including weekly “date nights.” He explains, “Almar is a nurse in a cancer research department, and he deals with people who are dying. It makes us realize what’s really important—relationships. Like me and my #hairbesties. We are so close. It’s about more than doing hair. It’s about understanding where people are coming from. It’s about listening and supporting each other.”

Take care of yourself so you can indulge in your passion
for hair for a long time, Guy advises.

Surprise! Guy’s Getting a Grip on His Health
“Health is everything!” Guy declares. “So now it’s my priority. I work out every morning. I eat healthy. We take our bodies for granted, but it’s all we have. As hairdressers, we’re all so driven and passionate, we forget about ourselves. We work late, forget to eat, then throw a cheeseburger down our throats at the end of the day. But if you’re not healthy, you can’t do hair. We have to increase our longevity so we can enjoy our passion for a long time.”

Surprise! Guy’s Got a New Point of View About Social Media
“We’re living in a day and age where it’s all about ‘tag me, tag me, follow me, follow me.’ But you could lose your legs in a car crash or go surfing and have your arms bitten off by a shark, and it will be the people you care about who care for you. Not your followers. You have to focus on what’s real and who will really be there for you if you lose it all. People ask me about social media all the time. I never planned any of what happened with my social media. I just made and posted videos for fun and to fill a void and make a difference in people’s lives. Everything fell into place. So don’t worry about social media so much. Let’s sit back, chill, build relationships, enjoy life and worry about the people who love us.”

Guy Tang hearts curls!

Surprise! Guy’s Into PERMS!
“Have you seen my YouTube perm video? I love curls. I love perming. It’s my favorite thing to do. You create movement and texture. I like the character that texture brings to hair. It tells a story. We’re using bigger rods and gentler formulas, and the perms are for body and volume, not curl. When people think perms they think ‘80s, frizzy, damaged, fried, puffy, clown. I’m here to break those stereotypes.”

Surprise! Guy and Rebecca Are Going to Blow You Away at COLOR
“I’ve been showcasing balayage for a long time, but we want to show something different this year. We’ll be teaching people about metallics—how to lift correctly for these shades, when to use permanent vs. demi-permanent formulas, whether to apply the color on dry or wet hair.  We’ll talk about overlaying creative colors with metallics; using Clear and White and Charcoal to change the character. And of course, we’ll tell everyone about the new colors we’re working with today! And who knows? Maybe next year, I’ll do a cutting or perming class!”

We saw this at the Kenra shoot,
and Guy’s going to tell us all about it at COLOR!