The Colour Bar Takes New York: Advanced Hair Education 2023

At The Colour Bar, two things are very important to our team:

1. Sustainable and Amazing Quality Products

2. High End Continued Hair Education

Lorena Martinez, Cameron Lane Lugo, and I earned the opportunity to go to the Davines Brooklyn House for advanced hair education with Roch Lemay in October and it was all around amazing experience.

Being able to eat good food, learn mind blowing information, and spend quality time as coworkers immersed in the Davines culture made of an amazing weekend all around.

Who is Davines and What is the Brooklyn House?

 

Davines is a family owned, high end beauty company that focuses on sustainability without compromise. Davines started in 1983 originally as a research laboratory that specialized in creating beauty products for other brands but in 1993 they decided to create their own hair care line, intended for professional use.

Being a family owned company, Davines wants that hospitality to be present throughout the brand. This is why their headquarters in Parma, Italy is called the “Davines Village”. The different headquarters throughout the world are called “Houses”. The Davines Brooklyn House is in Brooklyn, NY and is the headquarters for Davines North America. This headquarters is also an amazing education space where top Davines artists can share their knowledge with others.

Advanced Hair Education at the Brooklyn House

We spent two full days at the Brooklyn House with Roch Lemay and Britney McCulloch diving deep into blonde color science and techniques. Being able to have such amazing quality hair education really is a gift. All three of us were excited for the opportunity.

What Does the pH Scale Have To Do With Hair?

Before this class, I had noticed I was seeing more and more “pH balancing” products on the market but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I was stoked when I found out one of the areas of hair science that we were going to focus on was the importance of the pH scale.

Hair typically sits on the more acidic side of the pH scale at an average of 4.5 to 5.5. When the pH of our hair is shifted, typically more alkaline, through a chemical process one of the 3 bonds that make up our hair breaks: The Ionic Bond. The only way to repair the ionic bonds in the hair is bringing the pH back down to the typical average.

The way you balance the pH is through the use of different products with a similar pH to what you are aiming for. This is why we are seeing all of the “pH balancing” products! All of the Davines shampoos’ average pH is a 5 and the conditioners’ average pH is 4.

We LOVE Gold!

When it comes to hair color formulation tips, we learned all about the importance of adding in gold to your formulas. Especially if you’re wanting the hair color to end up with a cool result.

We learned that adding up to 25% of your total formula of gold to your formula really polishes out the final color results. It balances the difference in weight between blue, red, and yellow hair color pigments allowing it to make the hair look extra shiny and fully saturated.

I know all 3 of us have changed ways we formulate behind the chair since taking this class with Roch Lemay which has been exciting to figure out the best way to utilize all of our new knowledge.

Don’t Worry It Was Not All Work, With No Play

We spent our free time eating good food and walking around the city as much as possible. The first day we were in New York my phone said we walked around 27,000 steps! With the good atmosphere, amazing food and talented artists I got to spend the weekend with, this was a trip that won’t be forgotten anytime soon!

If you’re interested in booking an appointment with any of our talented stylists call the salon today!

Until Next Time,

Josie 🙂