My Hot New Haircolor? Christina Hendricks Red.

For years now -- basically, since birth -- I've wanted to be a redhead. Truth be told, I've always been a bit jealous of my best friend, who's a natural redhead and has the most perfectly colored hair on the planet. Luckily, thanks to an amazing colorist (read: Lawrence Wesley, head colorist of the Antonio Prieto Salon), the perfect shade of red wasn't far behind.

So this past Saturday, I took the plunge and became a full-fledged redhead. I’d been playing around with the color throughout the past year, mainly staying on the auburn side of the fence. (Though in college, I went through every red box of L'Oreal Feria known to man, so I've definitely been on the crazier side before.) I landed on Christina Hendricks -- the redhead whose locks I've been coveting almost as much as my best friend's -- and, after several months of obsessing, went to Lawrence to make my dream come true.

 
While in the beginning I thought I'd want my hair the exact orange-y shade of Christina's, after my consultation with Lawrence I changed my tune. We looked at the pictures of her from her Harper's Bazaar photo shoot, where her hair was closer to a cranberryish auburn, and Lawrence thought that hue would be more flattering for my skin tone. I liked the deepness and richness of this color, so I went with his expert opinion.

 
After five long hours -- yes, five! -- the process was complete. Along the way, Lawrence performed four steps to take me from brown to red:


1) Lawrence began by painting highlights into my hair for dimension. He did this very deliberately, so it would catch the light and show an even deeper richness.

2) Lawrence then did a single process color, which in the bowl looked like pumpkin pudding! (See above photo for proof.)

3) I then had a gloss applied all over my hair to really let the color set and be even more shiny and vibrant.

4) Lawrence's assistant, Ben, finished by giving me the Kerastase Chronologiste treatment -- a luxurious treatment that enhances shine and softness.

After an amazing blowout with Ben -- honestly one of the best I've ever gotten -- my hair was RED. Fiery, gorgeous, RED! I'm so in love with what Lawrence did -- it's exactly what I wanted, and I just couldn't be happier. Now I just have to maintain it!






Photographs by Kyle Gross.

Disclosure: Services were provided gratis for potential review.