Creative HEAD shoot in partnership with Wella Professionals

The brightest sparks

Let’s go behind the scenes on the Creative HEAD April cover shoot, as we shine a light on the power of blonde

To celebrate the launch of the new BlondorPlex Cream Toners – which give you perfect tones in just five minutes – Creative HEAD partnered with Wella Professionals to shed some light on the building of beautiful blondes, the creative and commercial opportunities they offer, and why our love of all things light is everlasting.

We needed some serious blonde ambition to get our glow on. Enter two of the industry’s best blonders – Christel Barron-Hough and Daisy Goord, both painting a picture with two terrifically tailored and toned blonde finishes each. Let’s illuminate the possibilities…

  MEET THE ARTISTS  

Christel Barron-Hough
@christelbarronhough 

Swedish born Christel is the colour genius behind the hue heaven that is Stil, with salons in Notting Hill and Chelsea. Her innate talent for creating flawless colour means she’s often leading education for Wella Professionals, as well as creative projects that include shooting campaign imagery, research and development for new product launches, and colour trend forecasting. Oh, and she’s often the bowl and brush behind catwalk colour for some of the hottest up-and-coming models. Expensive-looking, bespoke blondes are a speciality…

Daisy Goord
@daisy_goord 

Daisy always knew hairdressing was her future, even when school told her it was a waste of time and a ‘dead end job’. Now with more than 10 years in the industry she’s managed to establish herself as one of the UK’s leading blonde experts, adored for her one-day platinum transformations or her artistic take on back breaking sets of foils. Based in Plymouth, Daisy has a fervent Instagram following, where her pale pearls and platinums have won more than 118k followers. 

  THE LOOK: LIGHTEST PEARL  

The artist: Daisy Goord 

Clean and pure, this has a radiant pearlescent vibe that is spot on for those all over lightened lovers who stick to the cooler side of the street. 

“This is my favourite look that I do every day. It’s that perfect sort of blonde. It hits the light, it’s so bright always. You don’t lose that brightness in any lighting…”
The formula: BlondorPlex Cream Toner /16  

“Do I have a pearl of wisdom to share? Find your work/life balance. It’s made me love my job more.” 

I first fell in love with all things blonde… 

Christel: “…from my early days starting hairdressing. The beauty with blonde is that you can create anything. As a colourist I love things to be quite feminine, iridescent, multi tonal and when working with a blonde, that’s exactly what you can create using different tones. It’s endless really what you can create – it’s the most creative palette.” 

Daisy: “I initially hated blonding, it was really scary to me. I’d seen so many things go wrong. I thought: ‘No, I’m just going to stick with regrowth tint, I’ll go where it’s easy.’ And then I had so many clients saying ‘I want to be blonde, I want to be blonde!’. So I decided to do some education, invest in this… and I fell in love with it! I came back to the salon, people were asking to go blonde and my confidence was there. It grew and now 99 per cent of what I do is blonding.”

My favourite blonde is… 

Christel: “Because of my roots, a Scandi blonde will always be my favourite. It doesn’t suit everyone, so when you get the perfect model or client it’s such a joy to create. It’s also technically quite difficult because you don’t want it to be too cool or too warm. You just want it perfectly smack bang in the middle, which is difficult. My secret tip to getting the perfect Scandi blonde? Lifting it to the correct level is so important because you need it super clean. It’s in the lift and it’s in the application.” 

Daisy: “The pale platinum. That sort of pale, not too icy, not too warm, that perfect in-between blonde that is just timeless. You’ve had artists like Lady Gaga who have gone between that over the years, I’m obsessed with Miley Cyrus right now with the dark panel underneath. That’s my vibe.” 

What lights up your life? 

Christel: “Anything to do with colour. I’m obsessed with colour anything – hair, interiors, fashion. I’m very into meditation with crystals and that’s all about colours and vibrations – anything with colour.” 

Daisy: “I love doing things like this shoot, getting out of my comfort zone or my safe place in the salon back in Plymouth. Equally I’m a homebody, and love just going home to my dog, Peach. She’s ginger, she’s got the fire!” 

  THE LOOK: PALE SILVER  

The artist: Daisy Goord 

Always cool, this precious metallic vibe is perfect for those colour clients who want a finish that’s always bright and fresh.

“This is a look that is timeless, through all styles.”
The formula: BlondorPlex Cream Toner /81 with a dash of /16 

“My favourite piece of silver jewellery is probably my scissors necklace. It’s like a good luck charm. If I get to work and I’ve forgotten it, I will drive home and get it. That is real attachment!” 

  THE LOOK: SIENNA BEIGE  

The artist: Christel Barron-Hough 

For lighter clients who want a little change, something a little more experimental, without any of the commitment. A delicate dusting of pink to shake things up…

“Sienna usually has a little bit of pink in it as a Pantone colour, and that’s exactly what Sienna Beige has as well. It’s perfect on blondes if you want to see that iridescent tone.”
The formula: BlondorPlex Cream Toner /36 and /96  

Tell us why beige is never boring… 
“Beige is on the flip side of boring. It’s interesting. It’s quirky. You never know what you’re going to get with beige. It’s a little bit of a hidden gem.” 

These toners are going into my colour kit because… 

Christel: “I love the performance behind the toners technically, they’re incredible to work with. They make things super even. The condition of the hair feels fantastic. The shine, quality, the tone quality, it’s all 10 out of 10, top marks on all the technical aspects.” 

 Daisy: “It’s the speed. Adding 20 minutes on to a service is a long time for us in the world of hair! The pure speed with these – toning in just five minutes – that’s huge. For many stylists who are booked and busy? It’s going to change the game and add so many extra minutes onto the day. That’s so precious.” 

You’ve got five minutes to do anything. What would you do?  

Christel: “Definitely meditate. I would get my head into a clear positive state of mind because I’m more creative that way. I love rose quartz, I love a moonstone…” 

 Daisy: “I would probably go back in time in my DeLorean time machine to when I was training and tell myself to chill out! All those days going home crying because my toner or my cut hasn’t gone right. Don’t focus so much on the small things, it’s going to be okay.” 

The secret to styling blonde hair? 

Ryan Humpage was on styling duty with Crystal Vanilla and Sienna Beige: “The blow dryer is key, says Ryan. “The preparation, the product. I always use a leave-in conditioner on wet hair and a serum on dry. Take your time when you tong, go through smoothly and making sure the hair really has enough time to heat up and set.” 

Angelo Vallillo was on hand to style and finish Pale Silver and Lightest Pearl. “It’s very much about focusing on the colour and shine, maximising that using a directional blow dry,” says Angelo. “You’re going over the surface, directing the hair in a certain direction, which emphasises the hair shine. You’ve got to be careful. If you create too much texture, you lose the depth. It becomes really dusty, and you don’t want that, you want to keep it really high shine.”  

Ryan Humpage

  Can’t fight the moonlight 

Gorgeous day to night and in any light, here’s a little extra once the lights went down.

Find out why YOU should focus on toning >

Get the lowdown on BlondorPlex Cream Toners >