What's shaking, bacon? My name is Nova.
I have been in the barber industry for five years,
and today I am doing a hair-art color design
on my client Romeo.
So, right now, the first thing I want to do
is take down all the bulk to get it to his desired length.
So I put a three guard on my BaByliss Pros,
and I just make sure all the hair is even.
I would describe my style of haircutting
as creative and confidence boosting.
It's more than just a haircut with me.
All of my clients, or anyone who sits in my chair,
immediately feels welcome and at home.
They feel comfortable.
So, the black bottle is Dye Defender.
Not only does it protect the skin from the chemical,
it protects it from staining.
So where I put excess bleach or excess color,
it won't stain that area of his skin.
So, right now I'm just applying the bleach onto his hair,
making sure I'm not missing any areas,
making sure it's fully saturated.
It lightens anywhere from one level to nine levels.
When Romeo came in, he wasn't a level at all.
He had no kind of lightness to his hair.
But using the 40-volume developer combined with the powder,
I took him from, like, a level two to a level nine.
I chose to get it to a level nine
just because with vibrant colors,
you want to get it as light as possible
in order for them to be as vibrant as they could be.
In this process, yes, you can start to experience
that kind of tingly sensation coming from the chemicals.
But that's just when you need to monitor
how long it's been on.
Especially with a 40-volume developer,
you don't want to leave it on longer than 30 minutes.
I put the shower cap on to accelerate the process.
The heat that's trapped in there
will help it process faster.
Heat tends to make bleaching go a lot quicker.
So, once I know that his hair has reached
the desired level of lightness that I want,
I rinse it out with a color-protecting conditioner,
just because I want to add a little bit more oils
and natural softness to his hair
before we apply the color.
I used the Pravana ChromaSilk Vivids color,
emerald and black, and they're a deposit-on-directly color,
so I don't have to use any developer or anything.
I just take the color directly and put it on his hair.
So, right now I'm dispensing the black onto his hair
from an actual paint palette.
It's a basic artist brush,
something small, because his design is pretty intricate.
I didn't want to use a brush that would be too big.
So, when I'm doing the green,
it's the same kind of brush, but it's brand new.
I don't use the same one that I used with black.
I go over it a couple times,
making sure all the spots are filled in.
And then I get more dye
and I just go over those spots all over again
until they're completely saturated.
It's kind of like when you paint a room.
You go over it once
and then a second time until everything's nice and even.
For the design that Romeo came in for,
we used semipermanent colors.
And with semipermanent colors,
they tend to get lighter as you shampoo them.
So the more he shampoos his hair,
it's eventually going to fade.
So I'd say it lasts for maybe a month or two,
depending on how often he shampoos his hair.
Really any hair-color design
or any clipper design, I freehand.
All I need to do is look at a picture,
and then I can pretty much recreate it.
Fun fact, I mess up all the time.
All the time.
The fun part about messing up is just figuring out
how to make it flow into the next step.
So while I'm doing his color,
there were a few times where some black went too far.
And I was just like, OK, well, I guess I'll just
make it more green right here or less green there.
It's just about making sure
it looks good at the end of the day,
even if it's not exactly what I wanted.
So, now that the color has been sitting
for at least 25 minutes,
I feel like it's fully set in there.
I'm just rinsing off the color
with nothing but purely cold water,
because it keeps the color from bleeding,
which is when the color keeps running off.
So, now that we've rinsed all the color out of his hair,
I'm just going to give him a edge-up
with my BaByliss trimmers.
And it's just going to give him a nice C-cup,
line up the hairs on his neck,
and then go for his hairline in the front.
When my clients see the color designs
or any design after it's done
and I give them the mirror, they're like,
"Wow, Nova, you did this."
They're like, "I love it."
And that just makes me so happy.
Because in my suite, you can write encouraging words
on my wall of encouragement.
When you leave, you can grab a positive affirmation.
I feel like that's what makes me stand out.
I give you a good haircut,
but you also get a good relationship.