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The Psychology of Hair
Words Deborah Dominic
“What fabulous style she has - so effortless,” is usually a phrase uttered by us when observing our icons, peers, inspirations and female entrepreneurs. That ‘effortless’ trick is anything but and often correlates with those who make their achievements and success seem equally effortless. The trick is finding what works for you. It shows your originality and cements our identity, thus arming us with more power to succeed. Broken down: find the style right for you, it will empower you, it will empower your brand and empowerment leads to success. Hairsmith’s founder Deborah Dominic, details finding the formulas that work in hair and time efficient styling that looks polished and will set you up to conquer.
So many clients have asked: “what’s the haircut, that’s in now?” scrap that, we need to find out what works for YOU now. Finding your own identity in hair is alongside finding your direction and stating to the world how you wish to be perceived. It’s become apparent to me over the years that there are “types” of identity categories that stylish women and female entrepreneurs fall into.
The Creative
The creative type likes to look undone and effortless - the laid-back look of being wonderful by chance. The “I woke up like this” look that we all wish we could achieve without simply looking untidy. The queen of the French laidback style, Caroline de Maigret, who is rarely seen without her crumpled, tousled lengths, claims simply: “French women always want to look more smart than beautiful” in relation to the tousled lengths, she claims: “if you’re spending two hours under the hairdryer, when do you have time to read?” Note this laissez faire styling of the hair is coupled with tailoring and considered clothing - it will not work with a crumpled tee haha! Clients that identify with the creative vibes love the boho vibes but love to sneak a highly coveted shoe or Chanel piece in there somewhere. The styling will be undone, cuts and colours designed to have longevity but they love products and being shown how to achieve those loose textures and the latest laidback “look.”
The Power Dresser
The power dresser often finds a “formula” to confirm their originality. This will rarely change, it's identifiable, almost defining. Think about the iconic Anna Wintour - you recognise that bob before you’d necessarily recognise the face. Her box bob is timeless & immaculate. One can’t help seeing it as her most constant accessory. Never a hair out place, this bob is rumored to be minutely trimmed once a week (according to her Australian stylist). Clients we see with a “strong” look often book every five weeks so that they are guaranteed to always maintain the same length or colour with no sneaky split ends or root showing. They stock up on the products tailored to them to maintain their health and finish in their styling. Power dressers have their favourite designers and quite often buy their outfits in the vein of said designers to keep their signature look.
The Content Creating Chameleon
The 3C women are used to creating a million different looks, are adaptable and shine when showing their versatility. Their styling is impeccable, and they nail their look every time. Never caught off duty, the styling (even if a sneaky 5 minute hack) is made a look by pairing with carefully executed makeup and up to date accessories. Female powerhouses Huda and her sister Mona Kattan are true makeup/outfit mix up artists. Makeup artists, uber bloggers and entrepreneurs; these women mix it up regularly but the fundamental length and colour of the hair changes very rarely. The foundation remains, but the structure is rethought constantly. This client loves trying new hair tools and products and will always love the offer of “styling it up differently for dinner.” They want to try the latest trend, and they know what works for them to enable them to play around with the look.
The Trailblazer
The trailblazer thrives on the shock tactic in life (in a good way). One minute long, one minute short, faux icon, to major length. You have to stay on your toes with this one as depending on mood, outfit and event, you could be pulling goodness knows what out of the bag! We all love a trailblazer, and whilst we might think woah when we first see it, they know we’ll be wanting it a couple of months down the line. We all remember Rihanna red (stylists are still reliving trying to remove that build up when RiRi moved onto her next look). and the woman is fearless in the face of creating a style storm. It suits her purposes and it’s executed exquisitely. Her clothes reflect this too, and she is never caught downplaying an outfit when there’s a chance to go overboard! We’ve all poured over those frow pics to delight in what edgy styling has been pulled off most recently and we’ve all marvelled at her daring appearances. As a client, this mindset cares not what needs to be done to achieve the look, just that it happens and we delight as stylists in nailing it!
The female entrepreneurs mentioned influence millions of women all over the world. The types described are just descriptive behaviours in the style stakes as a result, but the key is to be influenced not copy. Be inspired not replicated and remember, these looks are worked on by teams of professionals to achieve the final result. Don’t beat yourself up if your topknot isn’t Instagram worthy. Just over accessorise and style it out. The ,indset is always: it’s meant to look like this and I'm killing it.
