-I'm most fearful about doing my hair.
I feel like every morning, I'll just, like, put it up.
So I really want to get out of that phase,
but I'm really nervous about actually, like,
waking up in the morning and styling it.
Hi. I'm Alexa.
And today, I'm getting a blond bridal look.
Today, I'm leveling up
because I'm getting my engagement photos done.
I've rescheduled my wedding twice,
and I really just want these invitations
to be special.
Over quarantine, I've pretty much been wearing my hair up.
This is the way it is.
I tried to get a little middle part going
'cause I really want to keep up with the times.
But this is me.
Hair means confidence.
It can really set the tone of your outfit, of your day.
I feel like this year,
since I've been wearing my hair like this,
I don't really look at myself in the mirror anymore.
I've really let my confidence kind of slip,
but I want to feel beautiful again.
I want to feel right and blond
and just ready to take on anything.
-Hi. I'm Liana. And I'm the owner
of Salty Mane in Santa Monica.
Our specialty here is long, beachy, effortless hair.
And we do a lot of blonds.
I've been doing hair for probably about 15 years.
I come from a long line of hairstylists.
So, my mom, my dad, my aunts, my grandma.
Like, it's a whole line of hairstylists.
It just was something that I loved being around,
and it just came naturally to me.
Hi. How are you? I'm Liana.
-Good. How are you? I'm Alexa.
-Nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you, too.
-Okay, so what are we doing today?
-I'm a little bit of a hot mess.
I really want to get, like, some face-framing layers,
you know, feel more blond again,
and just have some body and action to it.
-We'll definitely do, you know, a pop piece in the front
with, like, a root shadow,
pop all your ends,
give you a little trim because we like it really long.
Um, but I think, you know,
focusing on the front of your hair
to highlight your eyes or cheekbones
and just make you feel bright and sunny.
-Amazing. I'm so excited.
-So when she first came in,
I took her back to the shampoo bowl,
did two purifying shampoos.
And I also used the Malibu Blondes treatment.
And it kind of gives you a clean slate.
It also brightens up the blond
if there's anything underneath it.
♪♪
Then I brought her back to the chair.
I blow dried her rough-dry.
♪♪
And then I precut her hair
to get kind of the big dead ends off
so that she was ready for me to lighten those ends.
♪♪
We started with highlighting.
I used lightener, and I used two formulas of lightener.
One was a regular with a stronger volume,
and the second one was the lowest volume
with Olaplex and Brazilian Bond Builder.
That's to make sure that her hair, on her ends,
is not compromised.
I did multiple layers of foils and end pops
and then targeted the front for bright pop pieces.
Then we took her back to the shampoo bowl,
and we wash out in sections.
Then I applied Olaplex in between
on each section that was done.
♪♪
-I met my fiancé when I was 16 years old.
He went to my rival high school.
And we grew and evolved together
and have been together for over 10 years.
And now, you know, we finally get to have our wedding,
hopefully in November of 2021. Fingers crossed.
But whatever happens, I'm just so excited to marry him.
♪♪
-I used three different toners on her,
so a root shadow, an in-between shadow
to kind of melt the two toners together,
and then an end toner.
That kind of gives a natural grow out
blended just, like, waterfall effect.
We leave out the front piece kind of till the last minute
to give her that extra pop.
We put the Brazilian blowout B3 treatment on her
for 5 to 10 minutes
just because she had a little bit of breakage and dryness.
♪♪
And then I finish off the cut in the face framing.
I blow dried, and then after the blow dry,
I finished off the front pieces and texturizing.
♪♪
And then I styled with a 1.25 T3 curling iron.
♪♪
Are you ready to see your final look?
-Yes.
Can I open them?
-Yeah, open your eyes.
-[ Gasps ] Oh, my.
Oh, my God.
I'm obsessed with it.
♪♪
I am so excited with my new look.
I can't stop looking in the mirror.
I feel beautiful, blond, radiant, alive again,
and I'm just so grateful to The Salty Mane and Liana.
♪♪
-When Alexa looked in the mirror,
I just love that reaction. It's the best.
It's just what we're here to do
is to make everyone feel like
their best version of themselves.
For her engagement shoot, we're going to do some braids
and kind of like a boho natural vibe.
-Internally, I feel like I can take on anything.
I feel like I can also do my job and still look good.
So that is very reassuring to just wake up tomorrow,
I'm going to style it.
I just can't wait to mess around with it.
-That's the best part of our job,
honestly, is making people feel good again.
It's just like bringing out their confidence.
When you get new hair, you're just like,
"Ooh, girl, I'm ready.
-Well, before I show anyone,
I am so excited to show Tyler today on the beach.
I cannot wait to see his reaction.
I feel like he's been hearing about this for so long,
and I can't wait to see what he thinks.
This look levels me up, and I've been pinning
a bunch of hair inspiration photos on my Pinterest,
and now I feel like my vision is coming to life,
so I could not be more thrilled.
I am definitely going to maintain this look
by coming back to Salty Mane and letting Liana
and their amazing stylists work their magic,
because this is so great.
I highly recommend getting your hair done,
especially if you are a bride planning your wedding.
It really does give you the perfect amount of self care
and makes you feel like you can take on anything,
even wedding planning during COVID.
No matter what happens,
I am so excited for these engagement photos today
because these are memories that I will have for forever.
If it doesn't work out,
I will just get eloped on a cliff or something.
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