Short, Medium And Long Hair. Stuart Phillips And Team Style Hair At The Ideal Home Exhibition – Hair Blog 41

For the very first time the Ideal Home show at Christmas were going to incorporate a catwalk show and hair demonstrations into their exhibition; the idea was to choose a well known hairdresser and team to demonstrate on stage their latest hair trends!

The PR behind the Ideal Home contacted me and asked if I was interested in being their celebrity hair partner, considering the exhibition was over a hundred years old and probably the most famous in the UK, I was honoured to be part of this!

Although I was very happy to work at the Ideal Home Show, I wasn’t really interested in doing the actual fashion show, reason being, I’ve worked on so many of these before and these days I prefer something more challenging, like plucking people out of an audience and re-styling their hair. I would personally be performing haircuts and my other two artistic members, Caron-Ann Beaumont and Lara Clark would perform hair-up’s and styling hair, this would make up a complete range of different hairdressing skills. We couldn’t unfortunately demonstrate with colour because that would take too long and besides there wouldn’t be anywhere to wash the hair!

My team and I were asked to do two slots on Wednesday 16th November and two on Sunday 20th November 2011.

Picking people out of an audience and cutting their hair isn’t an easy task, reason being, the 30 minutes that we had on stage would be cut down to about 15, this is because while I’m cutting I would also be interviewed by a presenter and a Q & A from the audience, well you know what us men are like at multitasking!!!

Lara also loves this type of challenge but Caron-Ann not so much, thing with Caron-Ann although she’s a top hairdresser by every sense of the word, she prefers to do hair behind closed doors rather than in front of camera, with a few pretty pleases, she said OK! I love to show off her artistic flair, really proud of her work! Then there’s Lara who’s very artistic and loves new challenges, in fact she’s very similar to me and we end up doing lots of different hair stuff together.

A week before the exhibition the three of us got together to discuss what we were going to do on stage, the only problem was we wouldn’t exactly know until we saw who the chosen person was, I just knew we’d have to make a very fast decision, this is where our experience would kick in, from the time people put their hands up we would probably have about 10 seconds to chose and get it right, the worst thing that could happen is to disappoint our chosen model and then get them to sit back in the audience!  that’s just too embarrassing, as professionals getting it right first time is very important.

On the morning of November 16th I was really enthusiastic in getting to Earls Court a little earlier, to soak in the atmosphere and get confident as quickly as possible. I had so much on my mind, one being the few thousand leaflets to hand out, I was working out the best way to do this, I physically couldn’t do it myself but was hoping the staff who worked for the exhibition wouldn’t mind helping, also was thinking  how we were going to set up our equipment on stage, this was difficult because there were all different artists performing prior to our slot and would only have a minute or two to set up, I just took a few deep breaths and thought we’re all professional here so it should run pretty smooth!!!

From left to right, Catherine (who is one of my apprentices, would be filming and taking snaps) Lara, me and Caron-Ann.

It was about an hour to go before we were due on stage, the first thing I did was meet the team behind the exhibition and also the presenter, the team couldn’t do enough for me, they also said that they would hand out the leaflets, PHEW. The presenter was really cool and the great thing was, as soon as I approached her I recognized her from my social circles, her name’s Lisa Nash and has a great personality, fantastic choice of presenter.

About 15 minutes to go and the artists on stage before us were dancers and were really good, they got the crowd going with good dance music and fancy moves, generating a big crowd before us was probably a good thing, my logical thinking was hopefully the audience would feel so comfortable and wouldn’t want to move! Although after their performance was finished I did think my team and I had a lot to live up to!!

The dance act just before the Stuart Phillips crew!

We were all waiting back stage, there was about 2 minutes to go and Lisa was first on stage, she was explaining to the audience what was about to happen!

Lisa announcing us to the audience!

The next second I heard the words “Ladies and gentleman please put your hands together for Stuart Phillips and his artistic team” I was first out followed by Caron-Ann, then Lara, as we walked out people were clapping, Lisa then approached me and asked what sort of haircut I’d be performing on stage etc, then Lara and Caron-Ann were interviewed.

Explaining to the audience what type of hair I was looking for!

I then asked the audience who would like a makeover, quite a few hands went up and one particular young lady caught my eye, so I asked her to join me on stage, she received a massive clap from the audience and then I explained what I would like to do!

The chosen model looking very excited!!

I made this an open consultation, meaning the audience were listening to my professional consultation at the same time as my model, her name was Alice btw. I explained to the audience that Alice’s layers and overall hair shape was too square and flat for her face and by leaving most of the length and cutting a few inches from the layers, this would give Alice a little more roundness and softness to her face and also give her hair a lot more texture and movement. I further explained that you don’t have to cut a lot of hair in order to make a big difference to the shape, it’s about rearranging the weight in such a way that it can have drastic effects to the look of the hair, (without losing too much length for this particular haircut). Alice felt happy that I wasn’t going to chop too much off the length but very excited about me changing the shape, think she was just curious about how I could make this change without cutting much off the length, all will be revealed soon Alice!!

Giving my hair consultation to Alice and the audience!

As I only had 30 minutes this would need to be a dry cut, which is the fastest way, It was lucky that Alice’s hair was freshly washed! I did the majority of the haircut with her standing up, this gave me a more accurate cut and also easier for the audience to watch. I did mainly freehand cutting, which involved slicing and chopping into the hair, this adds tons of texture and movement.

Taking my first snip as Lisa interviews me!

Cutting vertically up into the fringe, this will soften the front of Alice’s face.

Have layered heavily by chopping into the hair, the texture has already changed!

With Alice standing up I’m creating lots of debth and texture by slicing and chopping into the hair! Cutting very fast, so the photo looks a little blurred!!

Working the products into the hair and with her head forward creates lots of movement!

Finished look.

Finished look.

Caron-Ann’s chosen model Naveena looks very happy, while she works her way onto the stage!

Discussing the style she’s about to create.

Caron-Ann explains to Naveena what she was about to do, which was to place a beautiful curl in using heated rollers and then a twist to one side.

She explains to the audience that when the heated rollers come out, she’ll work the curls to one side creating a beautiful hair twist.

Have created the beautiful curls!

Starting to create the twist!

Pinning the hair back to one side.

Showing Naveena her finished hair, nice one Caron-Ann!!

Lara styled a lady’s hair also chosen from the audience, her name was Annika and I remember she had a  fantastic personality, Lara was lucky finding her. Annika had very straight fine hair, so Lara added movement, texture and a slight wave, not that easy when the hair’s that fine!

Presenter Lisa talks to Annika just before she makes her way onto the stage!

Lara explaining to the audience how she’s going to add lots of wave and volume to her hair. The thought of having fuller and textured hair seems to please Annika!

Any moment she’s about to add her first soft curl, using a pair of straightening irons!

Wrapping the hair around the irons, this produces a soft curl. Once Lara finished she added a product to help create more volume, she then roughed it up with her hands to create even more fullness and texture!

Annika’s hair now looks thicker, with lots of texture and movement, lovely Lara!

All three of us managed to finish on time, otherwise may have been embarrassing, we had to be cleared off the stage in 30 minutes as there was a gospel choir about to perform straight after us!

Once we walked off the stage we had two hours to relax before we were back again. Things should get easier now as we were familiar with our surroundings and importantly how it would play out. Two hours seemed to pass very quickly and before we knew it we were back on stage and picking more models from the audience, the second time around was definitely easier.

By the end of the day we were all pretty tired, it’s not that easy to get on a stage and cut hair, it zap’s a lot of your energy but was great fun!

Four days later we were back with a vengeance , all pro’s at this stage so we definitely knew what to expect and therefore didn’t need to get there early as before.

Caron-Ann, Lara, Marley (who is one of my juniors at the salon and would be filming for me) and myself all met at the salon the morning of Sunday 20th November, unfortunately our car was late so we all arrived with only 5 minutes to go, I did panic a bit because everything was timed and you couldn’t be late, it’s so annoying because when you’re running behind everything else around seems to slow you down, that’s life I suppose! When we arrived at Earl’s Court we all rushed to the first floor, trying to dodge around as many people as possible, we literally got there with about 10 seconds to spare, as soon as the organizers saw us they looked very relieved, bless them, then almost immediately Lisa was on stage introducing the next guest artist, which was us! Without much of a breather we all walked on stage and Lisa immediately approached me for an interview, following  that I started to look in the audience for potential  models, (the audience seemed twice the size today) I chose a lady called Luda, she had long out of shape hair and I knew I could improve it, although I was being brave picking her as her hair was quite dry and I would have a bit of a task trying to improve the quality of her curl, I knew for this to look good I would need to dry the hair using a product for frizzy, dry and damaged hair and would need to be dried with a diffuser. Thirty minutes didn’t seem enough time for this particular look, I really must love a challenge!!

Caron-Ann was the first to finish but that didn’t surprise me as she’s so fast when it comes to hair up, Caron did a great job of making her hair look pretty. Lara was the next to finish, I really like what Lara did, it made her look quite funky. I was last to finish as I had to do a cut and blow-dry, I finished with  literally seconds to go, I was very happy with my cut as the hair quality did look a lot better and so did the shape.

Explaining to the audience about how I was going to improve Lydmila’s hair. You can see that the hair is a little damaged, so I was looking forward to improving it!

A closer look at Lydmila’s hair!

Think I’ll need to cut around 4-5 inches, then after I’ll add some strong hold mouse mixed with a serum, I’ll take half inch sections and twist the hair around numerous times, the twisting helps improve the look of the curl. To finish off I’ll hold the diffuser on the hair for a frizz free look!!  OK enough hair talk, let’s see the finished result!!

Lydmila’s ‘s hair is now a nicer shape for her face and just as importantly a much better quality curl!! Lydmila takes a lovely photo!

Caron-Ann chose a lady what seemed to me as fairly difficult to put up, as her hair wasn’t that long it was about bob length. I think Caron also must love a challenge in front of a few hundred people!

In the world of “hair up” this would be classed as fairly short and difficult, although she seems very relaxed while having a laugh with the model. “Go on Caron-Ann show us what you can do”

While Caron-Ann starts her magic, the ladies interviewed!

Caron-Ann moulding the hair into place.

Well done for putting this short style up, never doubted you one bit!

Lara chose a really funky lady with orange looking coloured hair, she would change the texture of her hair using curling irons and products, as soon as Lara chose her, the model seemed very excited to be on stage!

Lara starts to add texture to her models current style!

Nice funky shape! The two ladies behind seem to like it as well!!

We had one more slot to go, this also went well and after we finished we all headed to the champagne bar and relaxed.

It was a great two days at Earl’s Court, I met some lovely people and had a great time working with my two talented hairdressers.

I almost forgot to mention, in my two hour break after I finished my 1pm slot on stage, I decided to go for a walk and see what I could find for around my home. I wasn’t looking for anything particular but the last thing on my mind would have been cosmetics! I noticed a really nice setup from a company called Orogold.

There was something about this product that caught my eye and draw me in and before I knew it I was sitting down being pampered by the lovely crew of Orogold. I’m always interested in new technology, whether being a gadget for your home, car or even a cosmetic I suppose, anyway they told me a little history of their product and what fascinated me was the fact that each product had 24 carat gold laced inside, they explained that the gold helped deposit the ingredients deeper into the skin, of course I was very sceptical and was fairly pricy too but decided to buy a few of the products as they seemed really good.

Cutting a long story short, four weeks later and the products do actually work, skin definitely feels a little smoother and I’m now hooked, thanks Orogold, you were true to your word!

Just to mention, I’ve now been invited back to the Ideal Home Show in March 2012 (which is their main event of the year) to do more hair but this time in front of a larger audience, my team and I very much look forward to that!

A few minutes of video on stage at the Ideal Home Show – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_A-vhP3XMk

“LIKE” Stuart Phillips Professional Facebook Page  – www.facebook.com/stuartphillipsfanpage

http://twitter.com/StuartPhillips

http://www.youtube.com/user/Stuartphillipssalon

Thanks to photographer Natasha Charles who provided some of the photos for this blog!

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