Mindblowing Color Tips and Formulas from L’ANZA

When L’ANZA Healing Haircare took our COLOR, Cut & Style 2016 stage, they had a big task. As the first group to kick off the show, they HAD to deliver—and deliver they did! We got great info from L’ANZA Global Creative Directors Ammon Carver and Matt Swinney on styling, but this IS our COLOR show, so we were thrilled that L’ANZA Global Color Director Leah Freeman and L’ANZA B.I.G. Believers Christopher Dove and John Simpson came armed with amazing color tips. Check it out! 

First thing’s first—BTC On Paper cover star Ammon says when it comes to styling, braids are not going anywhere. The difference this season is that the braids now and in the future are going to be detailed and tight (think the Kardashians’ boxer braids), not the fluffy, pieced-out braids we’ve been seeing. 

Then Matt gave us the deets on creating the perfect pony. A couple secrets: Backcomb your base, tilt her head back before tying the pony (to let gravity help, not harm, your work) and use elastic thread, not an elastic band, for more tightness.

Now let’s get into the color!

3 Color Tips from Leah Freeman

Shake Your Head Feather
Remember those rooster tail feathers it seemed like everyone HAD to have a few years ago? Leah gave us a new take on that trend, with no roosters harmed in the process! She creates that striated feather pattern with medical adhesive tape. First, flat-iron a section of hair, then apply the tape to the hair, making sure it’s flat to the foil. Paint on the lightener or color and use a L’ANZA Color Film on top to watch the processing.

Make Your Melts Meltier
We all love a good color melt. Here’s a tip to achieve better blending: paint the hair with bands of your color, then lay a L’ANZA Color Film over the section, but about two inches higher than your foil. Press the film down onto the foil, then slide it down to line up with the foil, giving you that perfect blur.

Color Her Curls PERFECTLY
This is one of our fave tips from L’ANZA’s presentation. Coloring naturally curly hair can be difficult, but Leah has a great idea! You know those bendy rods (aka flexi rods)? For her curly-haired clients, Leah paints lightener directly on a rod, then wraps a curl around the rod! “This technique lifts from within,” Leah says.

2 Color Formulas from John Simpson and Christopher Dove
This part of the presentation was so energizing! Chris and John are B.I.G. Believers, meaning they support L’ANZA’s mission to Believe.Inspire.Grow. The pair used L’ANZA VIBES to create some truly extraordinary color, and we’ve got the formulas for you!

Red Duality

Melted Contrast

Check out all the photos from L’ANZA!