Film Hair Styling Process

Filming hair styling with a selfie stick
Photo: Depositphotos
Q: I have this great idea. My hair always looks beautiful and perfectly smooth when styled at the salon but I can never copy the look at home. Now I was thinking of how I could film the entire styling process with my iPhone if I buy a selfie stick. Would this work? Would this offend the hair stylist?
 
A: Firstly, yes, you’re probably going to offend your stylist. Imagine you ask your beautician if you can set up a camera in the room so that you can study her movements, in order to copy her procedure and personal touches in the comfort of your own home.
 
Or if you ask a make-up artist the same thing, so that you can do your own make-up according to her technique. I can assure you that these people will refuse, because they’re professionals and because they take pride in their work.
 
Hairdressers make the process look easy/simple because they’ve been doing it a long time. But for someone who hasn’t been trained in the field, it’s not that easy. Hairdressing is a cutting-edge profession, full of seriously talented people who are extremely passionate about hair.
 
Secondly, I don’t think this will work. Hairdressers go to college just like any student who studies towards a profession. At college you learn the theory behind hair, techniques, chemical processes, etc. On top of this, you have a logbook that requires literally hundreds of hours spent on each and every service that is performed in a commercial hair salon.
 
Added to that, a hairdressing apprentice spends eight hours a day, at least six days a week, working with hair. The reason that stylists are so good at what they do, is that they do hair eight hours a day, seven days a week, and every week of the year.
 
Recording what the stylist does will seem rude, as well as undermining her/his qualifications and experience, while intruding on her/his personal space as well. If you want to be able to do hair as good as a stylist does, rather concentrate on practicing on how to straighten your hair until you get it straight as perfectly as the stylist.
 
You can ask her to explain the process of straightening the hair, and which products she uses. You can then buy the same products that she uses in the salon. And yes, professional products make a huge difference, so see it as an investment. It will keep the stylist happy because she earns commission from her sales and she will save your hair from unnecessary damage.
 
You should also watch videos on YouTube. A lot of hair enthusiasts and DIY stylists make tutorials on how to straighten hair perfectly, the products they prefer and the straighteners that they prefer. There are a huge amount of free information and tutorials out there, made by people who gladly want to share their experience and advice.
 
I would also suggest that you practice on your friends and family’s hair on a daily basis. The more time you spend on styling/straightening hair, the better you will get at it. Simply watching or recording someone else doing it won’t get you very far. But if you practice on only your own hair, you’ll end up damaging it, and you won’t get the added experience and knowledge garnered when working with different types and textures of hair.
 
©Hairfinder.com
 
See also:
 
How to style hair
 
On becoming a hairdresser
 
Talents and skills to become a good hairdresser