Victory lap

Winner of Twincare International’s Hairstylist of the Year (HSOTY) Award, RAEESA DAWOOD, tells Salon International how she went about creating her triumphant looks. T his was my first HSOTY. By participating in awards events within your industry, you show your clients and your colleagues that you are passionate and committed to your career. It’s about stepping outside the box and getting your brand out into the market. One should immerse oneself in the industry, as each hairstylist has something valuable to showcase and share. ‘Silk Road’ HSOTY was the first competition I’d entered as a solo stylist since opening my own salon in 2019. Twincare gave us criteria to enter models and to showcase our own capsule of hair. Given my own roots and passion for Middle Eastern and Indian women’s hair, I thought that the ‘Silk Road’ theme would capture my skillset best, especially with regard to the texture of the hair and the techniques used. Arab and Indian women have seen their hair as a symbol of beauty for centuries. They focus so much on the quality and texture of their hair. And this is what I wanted to bring to the show.

Creating looks for me is far more than styling or colouring hair that becomes something to gaze at and then move on. To me, hair is a living work of art that should inspire beauty every day. When I decided on the Silk Road theme, I thought of women across the Arab and Indian peninsula, with hair like silk, traditional beauty and natural movement capturing the very essence of the hair styles I wanted to create. The hairstyles It took me between three to four hours to create the looks for each model. For all the hairstyles, I washed their hair and used a Biosense leave-in treatment, as well as L’Oréal Mythic Oil to create the shine and sleek texture the ‘Silk Road’ theme was meant to capture. While colours are an important part of the show, I believe that hair texture is just as important and this is why I always focus on texture and colour as a combined effort on any hairstyle I create in my salon.

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Look 1 Model: Micaela Govender About the look: This look was my way of showcasing the on-trend, backwash balayage. Created by a painter, this signature colouring technique is a firm favourite of mine. The technique: Her hair was coloured a Color Sense Chocolate Brown with a backwash balayage. The hair was cut into a blunt, one-length styles and pre-lightened with L’ Oréal Professional | Smart Bond. For the style, I used traditional rollers, as well as a GlamPalm curling wand, and gently blew the curls with my Dyson with a blow wave after spraying her hair with Redken’s Volumizer spray.

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Look 2 Model: Georgie Keschner About the look: This look was a showcase of a traditional French “Balayage a Coton” technique. The technique: Balayage colouring technique with Color Sense colours. Hair was pre-lightened with L’ Oréal Professional | Smart Bond. I cut round layers into her hair and styled it by blow waving her hair our straight, then curled it with a GlamPalm curling wand. I then brushed out the curls to create her look. quality of the hair was managed first. Prior to the show, the model was brought in for a series of treatments on her hair to ensure the texture of the ponytail was sleek for the show. Hair was styled with a GlamPalm straightener.

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Look 3 Model: Ajency About the look: Ethnic hair is a great passion of mine and I loved creating this reverse ombre look in a red that is currently trending in Europe. The key to rocking red is to find the right shade to match your skin tone; in Ajency’s case this was a burnt copper red. The technique: Her hair was pre-lightened with L’Oréal Professional | Smart Bond. The color technique, using Color Sense colours, was a reverse ombre, given how short her hair was. I used serums and texturing products from Biosense to style her hair.

Look 4 Model: Mickey Bux About the look: Pop and movie stars are obsessed with the super sleek ponytail with a tight hairline. It is known to be like an instant facelift, accentuating your cheekbones. The sleek ponytail with added gold leaf brought our ‘Silk Road’ theme to life. The technique: A sleek ponytail was created by ensuring the

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Look 5 Model: Cailin Brown About the look: My clients have dubbed me somewhat of a blonde specialist, which is why I made sure I added a blonde look into my capsule collection. For Cailin, I wanted to showcase a new technique from Russia. The technique: Her hair was pre-lightened with L’Oréal Professional | Smart Bond. The color technique, using Color Sense colours, was to add highlights and tone the blonde she had, to add a golden hue to the hair. The technique, by Russian master Georgy Kot, was taught to me two weeks before the event. PB

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