five favorites – february

Post-Valentines, midwinter slump getting you down? Sine Qua Non has the perfect February pick-me-up, and it comes in the form of a rejuvenating edition of our Five Favorites! These gorgeous ‘do’s helped spice things up in the style department, and have our seasonal blues all but banished!

First on the list this week is Rachel, client of Josie at Sine Qua Non Salon in Lakeview! Josie’s creativity is always abuzz with Rachel – she generally puts her faith in Josie completely and lets her do whatever she wants! This season’s point of inspiration was red, and Josie did not disappoint. Rachel had had a more copper to blonde ombre in the summer and it had faded, but she wanted to continue in this boisterous and fun color family! To achieve this, Josie started with deepening her red tones, and glossed Rachel’s whole head with a copper to give the blonde more golden tones and more dimension. From the roots, Josie painted down and melted this coppery gold  into the already existing ombre sections from last summer. What’s great about this technique was that some of the pieces of red in Rachel’s quaff stand out as brighter because of the lighter blonde pieces they’re covering. Josie took advantage of R and Co‘s Park Avenue Blow Out Balm to ensure shine and smoothness in styling. The result is a fiery head of hair that’s impossible to miss!

And the color creativity was just beginning! Over in West Town, stylist Jessi took her client from an extreme ombre to a lovely, beachy blonde that looked natural and lived in – perfect for easing into that spring season. Emily’s service with Jessi was technically a color correction: she needed to come from the harsh ombre to her natural color again. This instantly adds a level of wellness and shine to the hair, despite it having been color treated! Emily’s own unaltered color is a more ashy blonde, which is exploding in trending hair choices for 2016 currently. At the risk of having that ashy blonde look too flat, though, Jessi added a balayage effect to bring in movement and dimension! The subtle, hand painted highlights leading to lighter ends is far less dramatic and more relaxed than the ombre Emily began with, and is extremely easy to maintain. Jessi styled Emily’s gorgeous locks with R & Co‘s Chiffon Styling Mousse, which is great for adding body and lift without weighing finer textured or delicate (read: color treated!) hair down. To finish the masterpiece, Jessi incorporated R & Co‘s infamous Badlands Dry Shampoo Paste on Emily’s ends to hold the curl and help sculpt while adding grit and grip.

On the opposite end of the spectrum (literally), Sine Qua Non saw some dramatic color changes this month over at our Lincoln Park location! Stylist Joseph took his client Miranda’s slate grey bob and utterly transformed her to day-glo purple! Joe said he lifted Miranda’s beginning color with enlightener and 20 volume developer mixed with Olaplex; this does wonders to preserve the integrity of hair when pre-lightening (aka bleaching) is necessary. He then followed by adding Pravana‘s Luscious Lavender color with a drop or two of violet at Miranda’s base. Joe worked this through her strands, but left Miranda’s ends straight up lavender! This creates a super subtle day-glo balayage effect.To style, Joseph went for R and Co’s Park Avenue Blow Out Balm, which is especially useful for protecting a killer ‘do against heat damage. Joe incorporated just a few drops of R and Co‘s Tinsel Smoothing Oil to help cut down on any remaining frizz or static. Miranda is always up for exciting changes, and plans on having Joseph take her back to slate grey in the upcoming weeks – stay tuned for further dazzling updates!   

And February pick-me-ups are not only for the bold of heart! Over in West Town, Mischa‘s client Jessica landed herself a lovely, low-upkeep ‘do that can serve as an introduction to colored hair! Jessica tends to opt for color about once a year, which means that the end results of her appointments must be as low maintenance as possible. Rather than a dramatic change, Mischa helped Jessica go for warmer, richer golden tones incorporated into a balayage, which is traditionally very forgiving with growing out. This technique is especially great for folks just getting into coloring their locks – in the event that Jessica wishes to go back to her natural color, the difference will be subtle and easy.  The trend this year for balayages has been cooler tones, but Jessica requested that Mischa warm her color up, which is a wonderful technique if you’re feeling pale or pasty from that wintertime cloud coverage. For the finishing touches, Mischa used R and Co‘s Chiffon Styling Mousse (a favorite salon-wide!) and Bumble and bumble’s brand new BB Curl Pre-Style/Re-Style Primer. This new product is sweeping Sine Qua Non, and Mischa has found that it’s great for moisturizing (especially with color treated hair).

 And let us not forget the transformative magic of a haircut! Sine Qua Non‘s New Talent member Rachel helped her model kick the old midwinter blues by giving her an adorable bob cut! Sonia, Rachel’s client, was ready for a colossal change, and Rachel delivered. Sonia had been working on growing out her lovely locks for a couple of years, but this past week decided she was ready for an overhaul. She had dreams of an A-line bob, and even brought in photos showcasing tons of texture as inspiration. Sonia’s natural hair texture was more flat, thick and straight. To combat this and still develop the texture, Rachel cut Sonia’s perimeter in a classic A-line, and then added decent amounts of layering to include the volume and movement Sonia was craving. Rachel cut in layers framing around Sonia’s face, and then went in and intensified the texturizing around the nape of Sonia’s neck. This was a great strategy in case Sonia decides to grow her tresses out again – the textured back affords a more seamless transition in that event, and prevents the cut from feeling too heavy. Even better, this cutting technique creates an incredibly low maintenance setup as far as styling goes! To top it all off, Rachel used Bumble and bumble‘s All-Style Blow Dry balm, an all-in-one moisturizer, styling aid, and provider of oomph! Rachel also incorporated Bumble and bumble’s Hairdresser’s Oil Primer, which aids in setting hair up for styling and protecting against heat damage. Rachel gave Sonia a lived-in style with a large curling iron, lending her those relaxed, fun waves that make this cut so wearable.