Edgar Morneo
For 2008 the biggest hair trend is a heavier bang
North of the City
May 05, 2008 09:31 AM
By: Lindsay Kyte
Jeffrey Andrew Barkley may be the only steady man in the lives of many women.
“I’m there telling them how beautiful they are and making them look as beautiful as I can,” Mr. Barkley says. The owner/operator of Yellow Orange Salon Spa in Aurora has made it his mission to make each woman in his chair the most beautiful and enchanting person she can be.
For 2008, he says the biggest hair trend is a heavier bang. “But it’s cut wider and not necessarily straight across. It’s more of an arc where the centre point above the nose is the highest point,” he says. “Then it arcs down toward the side of the eye but it’s still cut quite wide so it opens up like drapery around the face so you see more of the cheekbone.”
As for colour, “Everybody is going lighter. Even the brunettes are starting to go up at least two shades. And people are doing a combination with a lighter tone as a solid base and are also putting in not just a highlight but like a slice of colour underneath. They’re called ‘peek-a-boos’, where you get these little pieces underneath so as the hair moves, you see these little flashes of highlight underneath.”
Mr. Barkley keeps up-to-date by participating in competitions and fashion shows, such as L’Oreal Fashion Week, in March. This year, he was chosen as hairstylist for clothing designer Salem Hibibe. “For hair shows, we work out styles on mannequin heads. We find out what their outfits look like, what their feeling is. Is it feeling punk rock or is it classic?”
For this year’s show, bigger and better was the mantra when it came to hair, Mr. Barkley says. “We had a lot of crazy looks. It was a combination of smooth and backcombed looks. The frizzier, the better down near the back, like a low ponytail backcombed so that the frizz would just overpower the back. You would see it bouncing as the model walked and the front would be smooth, pulled back tight with maybe a part from the side or from the centre. But everything was off the face.”
They also used extensions in bright tones. “We headed into some purples and pinks. Salem likes to see a lot of big hair with his looks. The hair gives the outfits more of a couture feel because it wouldn't be something you would normally see just walking down the street.”
Mr. Barkley’s Aurora salon features awards and trophies won by himself and his team. This year’s grueling competition for the L’Oreal Color Trophy selects the best of the top 10 out of international field. He’s thrilled with the fifth place his team earned. “I did three different colours of blonde in the hair. The overall look was a very light blonde but there were three different tones, including violet.”
However, Mr. Barkley says not all styles work for everyone. He often suggests alternatives if a client requests a style that might not suit them, and that depends on what stylists call a weight line. “You can do a beautiful haircut but if the weight line sits too low on somebody with a heavier face, for instance, or a heavier jowl line, it won’t suit them and it will just make them look like a big triangle. You have to bring that weight line higher so that the cheekbones are brought out and you want to make sure that the eyes stand out.”
Change is good, Mr. Barkley says. If you look at photos of yourself from five years ago and your hair is the same, he says you need an update.