Modern Salon - June 2008 - (Page 60)

COLOR 911 Ceramic Straightening & Curling Iron THE ONLY ONE. – Heats up to 410º in 15 seconds – Create curly, wavy, or straight hair – One Year Warranty The Right Light Ever heard, “I don’t like how my color looks at home?” You might want to check your salon’s lighting, says Beth Minardi. A professional working in any exacting craft demands that work be done in the best possible environment. The watchmaker uses sciencegrade optics to see the fine works in a timepiece. The surgeon’s operating theater is temperature-controlled, with a variety of ambient and spot lighting so that he can see every angle. You’d never imagine that a physician would turn off the lights in a room before he began an operation. But in fact, that’s how many colorists perform their work—practically in the dark. Unfortunately, the environment most conducive to success in the rest of the salon—the soft, flattering light that really shows off a color and a style—is not the best for evaluating, performing and obtaining great hair color. My husband and business partner Carmine and I have worked for years— sometimes through trial and error, sometimes through actively searching out alternative lighting systems to create an ideal environment in which my staff and I can create the most beautiful hair color. Here’s what you need to make your salon color-right: The walls and ceilings in your color department should be white. Shades called “photographer’s white” or “decorator’s white” work very well because they are more “neutral,” neither too blue nor too yellow. A white surround will provide you with the truest environment for evaluating color. Don’t think in terms of a single “light,” AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT ARMSTRONG McCALL 800.237.2566 but rather of a lighting system. Your system should have three major components: Ambient light, which should make up about 70 percent of the lighting in the room. The light source should hang from four to 16 inches below the ceiling, and be directed up. The idea is that the ambient light will bounce cleanly off the white ceiling, walls and the floor. Ambient light is your workhorse light, but don’t make the mistake of using standard fluorescent store lighting. The gases in the fluorescent tube give off a non-brilliant, excessively cool, almost green light that makes everything (including the client’s skin tones) look ashy and unhealthy. Task light, which illuminates the client in the chair, from overhead. Skin light, which eliminates shadows and softly warms as it balances. This provides balance in the room so that the light appears neither too warm nor too cool. Finally, sinks should be white. Black sinks do not help a colorist. They suck light (therefore color), so you can’t see your results. With a white sink and with proper lighting over the sink, you can evaluate your color properly. As a point of general salon design, Carmine has told me that lighter, hard surfaces in the salon reflect light best. The more dark surfaces you have—sinks, countertops, stations and chairs—the more lighting you will need to do your best color work. Beth and Carmine Minardi discuss lighting and salon design in addition to hair color at their Minardi Beauty Focus classes, and are introducing a new color lighting system modeled after the one they’ve developed in Minardi Salon in Manhattan. Go to the Events Calendar at www.modernsalon.com or www.mindardieducation.com for more information. 60 www.modernsalon.com CLICK! © 2008 Image One. All Rights Reserved. JUNE 2008 http://www.modernsalon.com http://www.mindardieducation.com http://www.modernsalon.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Modern Salon - June 2008

Modern Salon - June 2008 Contents Behind the Cover Notebook @Modernsalon.com Contributors New-Now-Next Modern Portfolio Modern Reports Ask the Experts Color 911 Skin Care Special: In the Jar Toolbox A Night Out... Layered Color Modern Update Personal Style

Modern Salon - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.