Layer Cake

For the past few years I've been hair modelling for the truly amazing team at Yoshiko hair in St Kilda. They have taken me from short hair to a bob, an undercut and back to long again; from dark to platinum blonde, caramel, strawberry blonde and red. And every time, I find myself getting stopped by complete strangers asking "who does your hair?". Unfortunately I don't always have the time to style the old locks to their best advantage - but even then I think that they still manags to look OK... The cuts are that good people.

I've gradually become used to environment of photo shooots - but it's still a pretty exciting experience. I love being involved in the process of developing a final artwork with some amazingly creative people and watching it build from makeup to amazing clothes, hair (of course!) and photography. Standing under the lights in front of the camera, surrounded by music, observing the process of wrestling every stray lock into place - of creating the perfect image - is pretty cool. I've also been lucky enough to watch some amazing professional models - the way that they move is quite extraordinary. It involves much more hard work than I initially imagined!

Recently, I managed to capture a few behind-the-scenes shots from a hair shoot which Dani (the Director) titled 'Layer Cake'. It was so named on account of the intricately layered splices of caramel, blonde, strawberry and red in through the front of my hair. It sounds quite hideous but the results were beautiful. The cut itself was quite strong and blunt. However as the hair moved the subtle layers of fine colour became accentuated, creating a softer effect. Here's the work in progress:

 Such neat foils!! (...and the process of waiting begins: lots of magazines to read and gossip to catch up on!..)

The shoot itself was fast and simple, focussing primarily on the hair cut and colour for a competition. Dani styled the shoot herself with some strong and jewelry and sleek leather pants. Here are a couple of shots of the final stages, experimenting with a flicked-up look. This is Dani at work:

As you can see, the colour was quite bold but softened beautifully over the weeks: a sign of a good haircut!