On July 17th, the Sassoon Academy in Toronto commemorated Sassoon’s 70th anniversary with an inspiring and educational look-and-learn event, where educators showcased an array of advanced haircutting and colouring techniques.
Sassoon’s salon director, Tricia McQuillan, welcomed attendees and outlined the exciting agenda for the day. “It’s a very special year for us this year because it’s Sassoon’s 70th anniversary,” she says. “We want to celebrate this year and we thought what better way to celebrate is by inviting some familiar faces and some new faces to share some education.”
John Beeson, senior colour director, presented an ’80s and ’90s-inspired colour-block technique, using dark hues reminiscent of Tim Burton’s style. Beeson emphasized the importance of using foil to prevent colour bleeding, suggesting a foil sandwich method and to focus on applying colour to the internal layers while keeping the top layer untouched.
“There [are] different ways you can play with this,” he says. “You can put the foil on and then slide it slowly to sort of blend or bleed the colours together. Be as inventive as you choose to be.”
Lorraine McAndrew, senior creative director, demonstrated how to elevate haircuts with fringes on two models. For the first one, she created a face-framing bob with concave layers, while the second model sported a micro fringe with colour blocking. “Layers play a big role in ensuring the hairstyle has movement and volume,” she says, while emphasizing the importance of focusing on the shape of your client’s head while cutting and to prioritize your client’s needs. “When clients leave their stylist, it isn’t because they’re not good,” she says. “It’s just the same old thing every time, especially if you’re not checking in and giving them a proper consultation and seeing if they want something to change their style.”
Sassoon’s assistant creative colour director, Kimberley Wallace, showcased a rich chocolate colour and highlighted the importance of maintaining hair’s integrity during colour processing and the value of strong foundational skills to save time and avoid corrective work. “I worry sometimes, within the industry, it’s a lot of just freehand ‘slap it on’ and then just try and tone it out later as opposed to going into the process with a little bit more of a structured technique and then being able to have that freedom later on,” she says. “[This way], I don’t have to worry about doing three different toners because the lightening process didn’t seem to work out or didn’t lift properly.”
Kateryna Ginga, assistant art director, demonstrated haircutting techniques for creating the iconic Sassoon bob on textured hair, and advised using disconnected sections and layers to achieve the best results on textured hair. “I love working with texture,” she says. “A lot of times, people get overwhelmed because there’s a lot of hair and you don’t know how it’s going to react.” She also shared information about Sassoon’s new texture course, which is being offering in the fall.
Sassoon’s senior creative director, Joseph Santiago, shared his expertise on cutting the perfect bob and using the nape section as a guide, matching the natural hairline, and keeping the comb straight as a guide. He also recommended cross-checking the work to ensure precision and a refined finish. “If you want to understand precision cutting, get into the habit of cross checking,” he says. “It takes you about five seconds to do. Or it will take you about 20 minutes to do the whole bob and then find out that one side is longer than the other.”
“A lot of times, we get too far into doing our work that we forget to pre-section,” he adds. “Depending on the length that you decide, especially when working on a bob shape, what’s going to determine how short you can go with a bob shape is the hairline. Always assess the natural growth patterns of hair through the bottom and front hairline, and through the parietal ridge, as well as through the hairline to the sides. No matter how thick or fine the hair is, you’re always going to have to take that into consideration. If the hairline drops down too low, you won’t be able to get a nice clean line all the way through for a super short bob.”
The event concluded with a runway show to showcase the finished looks and Sassoon’s latest collection, Rouge.
Browse our gallery of photos from the event.
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