Balayage-a 'sweeping' sensation - Nancy Braun & her team are
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
cover story | feature
Photography: Tom Concordia
Nancy Braun & her team are
balayage—a ‘sweeping’ sensation
124 behindthechair.com
Balayage is the hottest haircolor service in the country
today and we can probably all thank Gisele. When the
supermodel appeared on the scene, it wasn’t her mile-
long legs that got all the attention, it was her haircolor.
Sun-kissed and honey-hued, her color may have been
the natural result of long afternoons on the beaches of
her native Brazil, but to recreate Gisele’s look, only one
technique was effective. Balayage. All of the woven, foiled
highlights of the time simply wouldn’t do the trick—it was
impossible to reproduce the random patterns and the
feeling of sunlit ends with this type of technique. The best
way to “Gisele” a client was with balayage—the French
technique of hand-painted highlights.
Since Gisele, and aided by the emergence of ombré
several years ago—which also required hand painting to
get the look—more and more clients are demanding the
service, and stylists are eager to learn how to satisfy the
demand.
THE BALAYAGE LEARNING CURVE
Balayage seems deceptively simple. The word means “sweep” or
“sweeping” in French as the artist literally sweeps lightener onto
the surface of the hair. But it’s harder than it looks. Much harder. The Balayage pioneer
Placement is artistic—lightener or color can be used to complement Nancy Braun.
a specific area of the haircut or focus on a woman’s features with
pinpoint accuracy.
For stylists accustomed The honey tresses of
to performing woven, foil
supermodel Gisele
launched the U.S.
demand for balayage.
highlights, balayage requires
learning an entirely new
approach to color application,
and it takes hours of training
and practice to master the craft.
But it’s well worth the effort.
The consistency of the lightener is important—it must be malleable
enough to spread, yet thick enough to avoid running or dripping.
Body and wrist angles are critical, as is the amount of pressure
applied to the strand. The pure French method involves the use of
a planchette—which serves as a palette to hold the color, and as
a surface with which to wipe the brush so that the right amount of
product is applied. For stylists accustomed to performing woven, foil
highlights, balayage requires learning an entirely new approach to color
application, and it takes hours of training and practice to master the
craft. But it’s well worth the effort. The results can truly be described
as glorious—shimmering, flattering highlights that look as if your client
has summered in Malibu or the French Riviera. And if you aren’t sold
on balayage yet, here’s another thing to consider—it may just be on its
way to becoming the number one preferred highlight and haircoloring
method in the U.S.
behindthechair.com 125
cover story | feature
Min Kim
HIGHLIGHTING THE FRENCH WAY
To be perfectly clear, the “new” technique of balayage isn’t really that
new at all. This method of painting lightener or color directly onto the
surface of the hair—without using foil or pulling it through a cap—has
been the standard in France since the ’70s. L’Oréal Professionnel
artists, rooted in French artistry, have been using this technique for
decades. French-trained artists like Bruno Dessange and Jean Louis
David were quietly balayaging their clients in New York and Beverly
Hills, creating beautiful, natural-looking highlights that captivated
celebrities and socialites. One of those L’Oréal-trained stylists plays a
leading role in this “sweeping” story. Her name is Nancy Braun.
THE BALYage Master
Like most of the outstanding achievers in the beauty business, Nancy
Braun was born into the profession. Her mother owned a salon in their
hometown of Louisville, KY, and Nancy had obtained her own license
by the time she graduated from her all-girl Catholic high school. She
worked in her mother’s salon to pay for college, and left the University
of Kentucky with a degree in journalism.
Her first job outside of the family business was at Glemby salon. She
launched her career as a cutter, but when the colorist in her salon
left, she jumped in. It was there that Nancy was introduced to L’Oréal
Professionnel and its products for the first time. The company realized
that this young woman had something special. She was smart, she was
talented and she was serious about her work, so L’Oréal Professionnel
offered her a job.
She moved to New York, and for a year, she worked as a field technical
manager, visiting salons and teaching colorists how to use L’Oréal
Professionnel color. In 1991, the L’Oréal Academy Director position
opened up and Nancy took the job. She ran the Academy for two years,
and then took over as Corporate Director of Technical Services at the
company’s Product Development and Evaluation Center. “My mentor,
Jimmy Viera, called the Tech Center the heartbeat of the company,”
Nancy notes. “It’s what made everything tick. We were the liaisons
with France and also worked with the chemists and marketing teams
to test and develop products for the company. We tested, approved or
rejected everything based on our high-quality standards.”
Clients loved Nancy’s signature
“money piece”—the striking
accent that she always places
prominently near the face,
which lights up the complexion
and makes clients feel as if they
Min at work.
are getting their money’s worth.
At the same time, Nancy was doing clients. And, not just any clients,
but celebrities like Cybill Shepherd, Heather Locklear and Andie
McDowell. Jetting to Los Angeles for commercial shoots, she began
the bicoastal lifestyle that she continues to lead today.
After seven years as a corporate employee, Nancy realized she
missed the connection with salon clients. She joined Frederic Fekkai,
a successful L’Oréal Professionnel salon in New York City at the time,
and eventually moved to Beverly Hills to open his West Coast location.
It was at that time, she says, that her love affair with balayage truly
began.
126 behindthechair.com
Teressa Adams
“I always enjoyed doing balayage,” she remembers, “but when I started
doing it on my Fekkai clients, I became really passionate. I could foil for
sure, but I realized that this was the right direction for my career.”
Her clients thought so, too. Before long, her clients in New York and
Beverly Hills were spreading the word about this talented woman and
her amazing haircolor prowess. They didn’t exactly understand what
she was doing with the paintbrush, but they loved the results. They
loved her signature “money piece”—the striking accent that she always
places prominently near the face, which lights up the complexion and
makes clients feel as if they are getting their money’s worth. So they
told their friends—some of whom were very famous (although Nancy
never reveals her celebrity clients’ identities, which may be why they
are so loyal).
Theresa estimates that not
counting single process,
95 percent of her haircolor is
done with balayage and she’s
seeing her color business
grow more than ever.
In Beverly Hills, there were only three salons offering balayage
highlights at the time. Thanks to Nancy, that soon changed. Always a
master of understatement, Nancy says simply, “We brought balayage
to Beverly Hills.”
After five years with Fekkai, Nancy moved on. With a partner, she
opened the bucolic Bhava—a boutique salon tucked away on L.A.’s
Melrose Avenue. Five years later, when the rent skyrocketed, she
moved to the Christophe Salon, and last year she opened Balayage by
Nancy Braun in Beverly Hills—locking in the association between her
name and the technique she had been instrumental in popularizing.
Through the years, no matter where she was working, Nancy continued
to hone her balayage skills. She also continued working as a color
educator for L’Oréal Professionnel. After noticing the crowds that
gathered every time she taught balayage at a show or event, she
realized there was an amazing opportunity. She recalls, “I went to
L’Oréal Professionnel and said, ‘Let’s develop this. Let me teach a class
and see how many people are interested.’ At first they were skeptical,
but we had packed houses. And then my balayage classes started to
dominate the L’Oréal Professionnel Academy programs because there
weren’t that many people teaching the technique.” Now, get ready
for another Nancy understatement: “We truly formalized balayage
education in America.” Theresa with L’Oréal Professionnel
General Manager Barbara De Laere
And then along came Gisele. Clients were demanding Gisele-style
highlights and hairdressers had to bring their skills up to speed…fast!
And really the only option for modern American balayage education
was Nancy and L’Oréal Professionnel.
A few years later, celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Sarah Jessica
Parker caused a new wave of interest when they put ombré on the
map—another technique that benefitted from hand-painting. By this
time, Barbara De Laere was in place as General Manager of L’Oréal
Professionnel and recognized the growing demand for balayage
services. Barbara recalls, “Having worked in Paris and in Europe,
balayage was a widespread method of haircoloring. We saw the talent
in Nancy Braun and it was time for L’Oréal Professionnel to establish
our authority in balayage education in the U.S.”
Nancy Braun had developed the standard for balayage education after
having used and taught the method for more than 25 years. It was time
to put her company’s balayage education into high gear.
behindthechair.com 127
cover story | feature
THE BUSINESS OF BALAYAGE
It’s safe to say that balayage is a real game changer when it comes
to being a successful colorist. L’Oréal Professionnel Artist, Theresa
Adams, has been offering balayage at SoHo’s Dop Dop Salon for nine
years. “I was already well-established, doing six figures a year and
my clients trusted me,” Theresa says. “So when they saw me doing
something new—they were interested. They noticed the cotton, the
planchette that we use for balayage and they were all, ‘What’s that?
Is it right for me?’” Today, Theresa estimates that not counting single
process, 95 percent of her haircolor is done with balayage and she’s
seeing her color business grow more than ever. “People see their
friends looking great, and you get new clients all the time.”
“I knew the people
we chose had to realize we
were serious about creating
something we believe in, and
they had to have the same
amount of passion. Basically
they had to eat, sleep and
breathe balayage.”
—Nancy Braun
Over at Butterfly Salon Studio in New York’s Flatiron district, Theresa’s
fellow L’Oréal Professionnel Artist, Min Kim, also turns to balayage to
produce nearly all of her color designs. Thanks to social media and
the vast number of celebrities who sport balayage highlights, Min says
demand is at an all-time high. “Over the last five years,” says Min,
“it went from me explaining what balayage is to my clients to them
coming in and asking for it. And why not? With balayage, you don’t
hear, ‘Oh, you got your hair done.’ You hear, ‘You look great! Did you go
on vacation? What’s different?’ Balayage really enhances a woman’s
Balayage is a technique that can
natural beauty.”
be used to create a wide variety
of effects, including ombré.
THE BALAYBOOMERS
The first step in the plan to roll out balayage education at L’Oréal
Professionnel was to develop a team of balayage educators. “For
years, I was it,” Nancy recalls. “We had a few instructors but they would
fall off. I told L’Oréal Professionnel that we had to find instructors, and
my number one criteria was to make sure these people were standing
behind the chair and doing balayage at least 50 percent of the time.”
Two of Nancy’s earliest Balayboomer recruits were, in fact, Theresa
and Min. The pair had been working and traveling as color educators
for L’Oréal Professionnel when the invite came to try out for Nancy’s
new balayage education team. Ten people were handpicked to audition
in Los Angeles. The candidates learned balayage for an entire weekend
while Nancy and some of her colleagues literally stood over their
shoulders, watching. At the end of the weekend, each one was given
a critique while everyone else listened. Then they were told that the
group would reconvene six weeks later in New York for the next round,
and in the interim, they were to do balayage on 75 heads. “I’m a tough
military kid,” laughs Theresa, “so I did over 100 heads. And when we
got to New York, you could clearly see who had done the work. It’s a
different type of dexterity and you have to practice it or you lose it. If
you practice, you grow.”
128 behindthechair.com
Nancy and her balayage models.
In New York, the process intensified. The candidates worked on
models, and Nancy peppered them with questions as if they were SEEING THE LIGHT
teaching a real class. Then each educator had a solo audition with While the French may have known this secret for decades, we’re only
Nancy. “Oh, that wasn’t nerve-racking at all!” jokes Theresa. “But just ‘seeing the light’ of balayage in North America. It’s the dawn of a
luckily, I had a sweet model who thought I was funny and she gave new day in haircolor and a new opportunity to prove to clients that the
me energy.” The tough process was by design, says Nancy. “I was techniques they get at their salon can never be replicated at home.
pretty unpopular for awhile,” she admits. “But I knew that the people And, the woman that “insiders” have always acknowledged as the
we chose had to realize we were serious about creating something we leading balayage educator, the voice of painting—who coined the term
believe in, and they had to have the same amount of passion. Basically “money piece”—well, she and her team are busy getting ready to teach
they had to eat, sleep and breathe balayage.” Only four of the 10 made on the biggest stage in the haircolor world—BTC’s COLOR 2014 in
Nancy Braun’s balayage team that day—two of them were Min and New Orleans, September 14-15, where you’ll personally have a chance
Theresa. Today, there are over 40 certified balayage trainers as part of to step into the light with Nancy and her balayage education!
the program.
In the words of Picasso, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break
THE BALAYAGE CERTIFICATION them like an artist.” Mastering balayage takes time, and patience and
hard work. “But when you do master it, and you become certified,”
That word—certified—is an important part of this story. Because, as says Nancy, “you’re worth so much more to your salon and to your
the leaders in balayage education, L’Oréal Professionnel wanted to clients.”
take it all the way. A formal certification program would standardize
skill levels and create legions of balayage specialists nationwide. So
Nancy and her team members—including Theresa and Min and other
See Nancy and her Balayage Team
specialists like Joshua Rossignol, D.J. McGinley and Jessica Todd—
got busy. What they came up with is a series of courses that formalize
the technique—Foundations of Balayage, Advanced Balayage,
Creative Balayage and Live Balayage. The classes are taught at the
at BTC’s COLOR 2014,
L’Oréal Professionnel SoHo Academy in New York and the Morrison
Atelier in Laguna Beach. Each class is required for certification and it
September 14-15, in New Orleans.
takes anywhere from six months to two years to complete all of them.
Students are evaluated after each segment. /theshow
behindthechair.com 129
You can also read
