VAIN Blog

Check out this video from MSNBC on how Barack Obama is inspiring new hairstyles. We like the “Yes We Can” cut:

Style in Still Life. Photo by Genevieve Pierson for Seattle Sound magazine.

Check out the September issue of Seattle Sound magazine for an awesome Fall fashion spread featuring hair by VAIN downtown + Ballard senior stylist Jenny Slay and makeup by VAIN’s resident makeup artist Christine Cherbonnier.

The photo shoot took place at some of VAIN’s favorite independent art spaces (including, you guessed it, VAIN’s gallery adjacent to our downtown salon), and the result is a series of striking images + sculpted style sure to inspire your next hair or makeup appointment, appearance at an art gallery event, or city night out this Fall. So take a look and witness VAIN’s hair.makeup.art power in print!

Seattle Sound’s “Style in Still Life” Fall Fashion spread is in the magazine’s September issue, currently on newstands around Seattle.

VAIN note: due to a completely avoidable typo/brain lapse on our part, Jenny Slay’s VAIN start date was incorrectly listed in the issue by, oh, ABOUT NINE YEARS. Jenny Slay has been with VAIN since 1998. An actual decade. That, along with her amazing hair skills, is why she’s our senior stylist. Duh.

Greetings from Portland, where I’m on post-birthday holiday (I’m old, I’m over it), enjoying my new brownie hair color (thanks, Erika), and plotting some tax-free shopping. I’ve done pretty well so far: amazing palazzo pantsuit, check. More books from Powell’s that I won’t have time to read, check. MID-PRICE DIGITAL CAMERA TO TAKE PICTURES OF HOT HAIR HERE AND AROUND THE WORLD WITH, CHECK (ok maybe not around the world but up and down I-5 for sure. Roadtrip!). So look out, all you DIY divas, hot-haired 9-to-5-ers and weekend crimpers: I’m coming to take your picture for VAIN Blog infamy. Get ready.

-Rebecca P.

Let’s take a minute to sit down with Scarlet, our fabulous stylist at VAIN downtown, to learn a little bit about the process of glazing hair.

What is glazing, you ask? We asked, too, and Scarlet has answers. Technically, glazing is the application of a demi-permanent (i.e. long lasting semi-permanent color, which should last 6-8 weeks with a proper product and care regimen), sheer color with a hint of tone. It’s gentle and, because the glaze is translucent, the results are very natural. Variation in your hair color shows through the glaze (even with dark coloring), and the new growth looks much more subtle since there is no solid line where your color application ends. The benefits don’t stop there. Glazing is rich in silk protein and helps improves texture and manageability by smoothing the cuticles of the hair strands.

When is it used? Scarlet loves to use glazing in all kinds of applications because it is so versatile and foolproof. She gradually blends in gray hair, and with all the sunny weather we’ve been having she’s been treating faded highlights by refreshing their color. She also glazes to correct the yellow that can occur after bleaching by subtly bringing in more natural tone or warmth. Or if clients want more kick in their color, glazing can pump it up! “Glazing is a good way to introduce color to clients who would normally be apprehensive to color or are commitment phobic,” Says Scarlet.

For those who want shine and manageability without the addition of color, there is even clear glaze. Fine hair, which tends to become greasy under the weight of most smoothing products, is an excellent candidate for this process. And the benefits are lasting.

Thanks for chatting with us, Scarlet! Glazing sounds awesome and the cost is the same as a normal coloring job with a quicker process time. So if you’ve been waiting for the right excuse to try some color with more natural and gentle results, glazing is perfect for you!

Scarlet and other color specialists offer glazing at VAIN. Call VAIN downtown at 206.441.3441 or VAIN Ballard at 206.706.2707 to book your appointment.

VAIN stylist Jake (with son Christian) shows that you’re never too young to get your foils + personal hair style on.

I’m not sure what day it was exactly when I cut all my hair off. I do remember this: it was eight years ago and I had just quit a job that everyone thought I was crazy to leave. But sometimes you need to do what’s right, even if it means you won’t be in the cool job, the fun job, and in my case one that was very much the former but not at all the latter. You know the old saying- who cares if you get to stamp Eddie Vedder’s wrist if you’re not happy.

I walked out of the place that day and headed towards downtown. I’m going to admit right now that I didn’t go to VAIN. It was still early on for me as a VAIN client and besides, I didn’t even know that I was going to get my hair cut until I walked up to the other salon.

When I walked out an hour later my shoulder length hair was gone. And I mean gone. I did have that little duck tail spikey action in the back that was big then (but that I knew, always in my heart and the minute I saw it on my head, was really just a mullet. No amount of Bumble and Bumble’s going to change that), but otherwise gone. Super short. “Wow what did you do” short. “Boy” short.

The haircut didn’t look that good on me. I’d love to report otherwise, but there were no two ways around it- it just didn’t look right. I don’t think I got a single compliment on it as I painstakingly grew it back out over what seemed like the next ten thousand years. Just a lot of “look at yoooouuuu”s. If you’ve had a similar experience then you know what I mean. But looking back, I can call it the best haircut I’ve ever had. It was an exercise in self-conciousness, made me think about my own gender perceptions when it came to hair, and most of all it was a symbol, or probably the symbol, of my independence from a lousy situation that I was afraid to leave because of how it might look. Hair’s not so different from life sometimes. Sometimes you just have to take it all off.

-Rebecca P.

VAIN downtown stylists Bijou and Kelly with Poison frontman, Rock of Love star, and goldie-locked rocker Brett Michaels. Yes, that Brett Michaels. Speaking of extensions, Kelly does some of the best around, whether you want them completely subtle-looking or backstage big. Call VAIN at 206.441.3441 to find out more or to schedule a free consultation with Kelly.

Editor’s note: Kelly could not confirm that Brett had extensions… they were just that good.

Check out pictures of VAIN in action at last weekend’s Bend-It Extravaganza, starring stylists Bash, Aubrie, and Aiko, soon-to-be stylist Sam, the notorious ELI Blu, VAIN owner Victoria Thomas Gentry, and others making hot hair and makeup happen at Cal Anderson Park on a summer Friday night.

Photos by Lindamy “My” Vu.

First haircut becomes a lesson on how pretty embracing your natural hair texture can be: VAIN downtown stylist Alexis and her new client… also named Alexis. Front desk ace + VAIN photog My said, “I’ve never seen a client leave the salon looking so happy.”

The VAIN downtown hair product wall: so embarrassing when you run into your exes.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m currently in a deep, committed relationship with the Kevin Murphy line of natural hair products, but the truth is that there have been others… many others. Some of my favorite formers, in no particular order:

Tigi Bed Head After-Party
The name says it all: if you’re walking home in last night’s shoes, at least your hair can look good. The hot pink After-Party container/pump looks like a mic and the product itself smoothes flyaways and tames hair-of-shame like a champ. By far the best-smelling hair product I’ve ever used.

Pureology Hydrate Shampoo
Great for color treated hair. This is the one in the light purple bottle and my hair always drinks it up. It just feels luxurious to use Pureology products in general, and VAIN has just about all of them.

Redken Outshine
This anti-frizz polishing milk doesn’t have the scent or pizzazz packaging of Bed Head After-Party (yep, I said pizzazz!), but it’s a light n’ lovely product for soothing your hair. Truly one of my favorites. Use After-Party casually; take Outshine home to your parents.

Murray’s Pomade
What can I say? I like a nice tin.

VAIN’s Dirty Boy, Dirty Girl
I told myself I wouldn’t cry! Like listening to PJ Harvey (a LOT) and making completely avoidable life choices, this amazing, magical purple goo was an essential part of the dawn of my 20s. I don’t even know what it did, exactly, but my hair always looked better and smelled really good when I used it. AND THERE WAS A TEENY PLASTIC PIG AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH CONTAINER. So random, so great.

So there you have it. As Kevin Murphy and I explore new ground in our relationship together (I just met his Fresh.Hair dry shampoo and Body.Guard smoother and I think they liked me!!), I can’t help but take an occasional visit down hair product memory lane. Your firsts and favorites are always the hardest to forget, I guess.

-Rebecca P.

One of our nearest and dearest clients, Paige, recently left Seattle for some fancy job in New York. After years of seeing Carly and Jenny Slay, she was worried about finding another salon that felt like home sweet home.

Luckily former VAIN stylist Shaun Surething has created Seagull, our unofficial ’sister’ salon. Paige recently went for her first cut with Shaun to update her look to something a little less formal. Though we’re still waiting on ‘after’ photos, I love this shot mid-cut:

Please note the shoes: Hot Pink Nikes! Snakeskin Marc Jacobs! If this isn’t New York, it’s heaven.

Photo courtesy of yet another VAIN client, Andrea “Shiftercars” Chapman.

So I’m sitting here watching Entertainment Tonight, eating dip, and all of a sudden I see my haircut (or a slightly overdone version of it) in a segment called “Hollywood’s Top Hair Trends.” It’s on Katie, Rihanna and Renee, and it’s supposedly “causing a commotion” with its crazy short style. It’s called the Daring ‘Do, and I think it came in at #2 after headbands. Look out!

I don’t know about you, but I think a daring ‘do is going from full-length to fauxhawk, from platinum to jet black, hot pink for the hell of it, or that one time when I quit my job and all but two inches of my hair on the same day. Don’t get me wrong: my current cut looks great and it’s shorter than it’s been in a while, but it’s no brave leap into the hair unknown. But I’ll take the compliment, ET, and hope to see even stronger examples of adventuresome styles coming out of VAIN downtown and VAIN Ballard this Spring. Let’s show ‘em how daring a ‘do can be.

-Rebecca P.