Selfie Does Hair Talk with Sarah Garner
Sarah Garner is a long-time hair stylist and my...long-time hair stylist and friend. Besides being amazing at her job, her enthusiasm and joy is infectious! Her lifetime love of styling is evident - from running a childhood barbie salon complete with perms [read: water in a bottle] to abruptly changing gears from selling data software to follow her dreams of working as a stylist. This conversation was so eye-opening from talking about following your dreams, not getting stuck in a job you hate, to the mechanics of networking as a young professional and its importance. While a profile on your favorite stylist may be thought of as an opportunity to get tips of products or trends, this conversation was so much more universal and inspiring to me as a woman who loves all things beauty and as a female professional.
Thus, we have part 1 of 3 on our Sarah Garner profile. Have you ever wanted to ask your stylist all the questions: Is me asking you to cut my bangs super annoying? What should I do if I don’t like the cut or color? What should people know before they make a big change? Sarah answered all these questions and more.
What’s the biggest mistake (in general or specifically) you’ve seen*?
Maybe two things: First, never try to dye your hair with henna. It’s a metallic color, right? But when a hair dresser tries to remove it with chemicals, it creates a chemical reaction and it burns the hair off. You have to wait for it to grow out and cut it off. Our chemicals can’t really get it out and to make it worse it creates a chemical reaction and it’s horrible for your hair. So, never dye your hair with henna unless you just want to be stuck with it until it grows out.
Second, sometimes blondes decide that they think they want to be a brunette and they’ll get go get box color and put it on. And they don’t want to be a warm brunette because they don’t like red or warmth, they’ll just get a cool brunette color and when you put a cool color over blonde, it turns green.
Have you done a bunch color corrections on that?
I mean it definitely happens and the problem is that the person used to blond so the color under that green is blonde. As soon as it starts to pull that color off, you have fragile blonde hair so it’s super damaging. No blonde really ever wants to be brunette I don’t know why they think they do.
Most annoying thing a client can do (besides interviewing their stylist while they’re trying to work) or something stylists wished people did but they normally don’t?
A challenging thing that clients do is not have realistic expectations of what their hair can and cannot do. It’d be like me who has fine straight hair finding a picture of someone who has the opposite hair type or someone who is wearing extensions - there is only so much I can do to make your hair to [look like this]
I had [a client] come in that had a very similar look as I do: Similar coloring, fine straight hair, medium brown, lighter eyes. She sits down and says “I have the perfect picture. This is exactly what I want.” And she literally showed me a picture of Beyonce with...extensions and stuff. I had to be able to say “That’s not really her hair”. [As a client], you have to have realistic expectations.
What should clients think about before making a big change?
People come in with a picture that’s very styled. Sometimes, the hair doesn’t look styled because it’s tousled and looks super easy and messy but it is still very styled and very product-ed…Not even a word *laughs * [However, that person says] “I want to do this but I don’t really do my hair. I just let it air dry.” The hair in the picture doesn’t look like that because the person let it air dry. You have to do these steps to make it look like that. So, it’s important to manage the expectations. If you want your hair to look like this, you’ll have to cut it this way, color it this way and style it this way and use these products. No ifs ands or buts about it. You gotta pony up if you want it to look different.
[Sarah asked me 19 times before I cut off my hair “Okay why are we doing this? Is it because you’ve been thinking about this or you’re under a lot of stress]
*Nods * I always ask too if [the client] wants to cut bangs. That’s another one that is hard because the grow-out is not super fun. You have to want to commit to them for a while because you know that the grow-out is going to be painful. Also, do you really want bangs if you have cowlicks? Are you going to style them if you live in a place like Texas where it’s hot and humid all the time and you have super curly, frizzy hair? You’re going to have to style and smooth them out and do things every single day. Then, the second you go outside or get sweaty, they’re going to frizz up.
Anything you’ve ever talked someone out of? They were fired up and you were like “Girl, NO”?
Bangs and if the hair if too damaged and you wanting to be super blonde I literally can’t do it because I’m afraid your hair is not going to make it through the service.
How long does it legitimately takes for someone with dark brown hair to be blonde? Clients see makeover shows where they get that in one episode?
Oh my God, I don’t know if it could even happen in one day and if it did it would be a 10-hour process. That’s the other thing that can be really challenging in this industry is that people come in with these pictures of Kim Kardashian that look like she went blonde in one day. Well:
A) That may be a wig;
B) It maybe took a few days; and
C) That hairdresser literally spent 12 hours straight doing her hair.
So, if people want to be platinum in a two- and a half-hour time slot, [it’s important to realize] it takes many hours.
“We love our job, we love the industry and we want our clients to be happy. We want them to love their hair. ”
What do stylists want people to know if they walk out of here and they don’t like their cut or color or service or they come in to correct a different stylist’s work?
People totally do feel uncomfortable with that. What clients should know is that all hairdressers do [the work] because they love it and they legitimately want you to be happy. We don’t have to look at you in the mirror every day - you have to look at your hair in the mirror every day. And I know that I would feel if I was like “Ew! I hate my hair!” I would want it to be fixed. And I think as long as it’ s not super aggressive. I have people text me all the time - *laughs* I guess not all the time - I have people text me where they’re like “I wish it was just a pinch shorter” or “This lowlight, I want it a little brighter. I’m so sorry! Is it okay?” And I’m like, I’m so glad that you told me I don’t want you to live for the next six weeks feeling this way. Please come in and let’s fix it. It’s usually an easy fix and I don’t know any hairdressers who wouldn’t be happy to do it. We love our job, we love the industry and we want our clients to be happy. We want them to love their hair. So, I always think that people should reach out to their hairdresser.
As far as correcting other stylists’ work, that’s the only thing, it can be challenging because you don’t know what all has happened on that hair prior to you touching it. So sometimes things come up in the middle of you trying to fix something that you didn’t necessarily know because you don’t know what’s been done. So it’s just a matter of being patient knowing that they are doing the best that can given that they don’t know all the history and it’s work in process.
I feel bad sometimes when people text and they are so apologetic that they are texting to alter or change and I’ve worked with a fair amount of hairdressers and I really don’t know anyone who isn’t more than happy to change it. As long as it’s within an adequate window, hairdressers are more than happy to.
What do you suggest if someone is trying to learn a new way to style their hair, but they don’t know where to start?
I mean Instagram has so many videos, tutorials. There are so many hair dressers on there posting how to do this, how to curl that way. Youtube has great tutorial videos.
Most popular request recently/trends?
A lot of lobs and bobs. People are still loving the long layers and the beachy flowy hair with the lived-in color where it’s natural and rooted and there’s still brightness throughout and down at the end. Here in the last year, the shag has really come back in.
A product or practice you think everyone should use?
Don’t wash your hair every day. Dry shampoo. That I would say - I used to be a religious, wash-my-hair everyday person and I feel like my hair is just healthier and it’s just time-consuming.
Favorite products right now?
There’s a lot of great dry shampoos. I love gritty ones, so I like Aquage and Big Sexy Hair. Another product is this brand called Amika and they make a texture spray that I like. It textures the ends when you curl them [Selfie Note: It also smells AMAZING]. Kenra makes this leave-in conditioner that’s has like gold flecks in it, so it makes your hair look shiny and amazing. Aquage makes this ultra-straightening gel that I think is the best for people that have frizzy hair. It has an anti-humectant in it and it just helps keep hair smooth and gives you a nice blow out. I love that product for frizzy hair.