Sydney Fashion Festival - Maria Ardino

I had the great pleasure of attending an inspirational evening at Ardino Hair Face Body hosted by Maria Ardino, the owner of Ardino Salon, a Redken Creative Director and the Hair Director of RAFW & RSFF 2009.

The event started off with a glass of champagne and some nibbles until we all made our way upstairs. Maria and her team showed some inspirational hairdo's and shared some backstage stories from the shows. The evening was guided by questions from the audience and Marias tips on the coming trends.



The updo's were loose and 50's inspired with a lot of volume at the crown of the head and tied up with thin leather ribbons and feathers.

Maria shared many tips on how to use tools and products and the importance of using the right products for each hair.

Quick Bleach Tips

The thicker the bleach mixture is the stronger it is, however, the thicker it is the more difficult it is to apply it evenly on the hair.

If your hair is fragile, thin or damaged add some strengthening treatment to the bleach mixture, this will weaken it a bit but will also help to protect the hair during the process.

To determine when the color is right scrape some bleach off a small part of your hair and have a look.

The processing time can vary from everything to 10 minutes to 1 hour depending on the quality of your hair, be sure to check every 5 minutes for the first 20 minutes. If nothing really happens relax and leave it on for longer. If it seems to happen very slowly add more bleach.

If the bleach dries up it will not be efficient.

If the desired blonde color is too yellow do a treatment with a purple/violet product. Preferrrably a colored mousse or treatment. This neutralizes the yellow pigments and creates a softer blonde. It will fade so you will need to repeat the procedure whenever the yellow intensifies.

To intensify ash blondes use blue pigments such as a blue shampoo frequently.

A healthy hair

How to get a healthy hair. Well first of all, less chemicals, less heat. The more you dye, tint, perm, color, straighten, curl, blow dry the worse the condition your hair is in. Chemicals play with the structure of your hair, heat wears it out.

Hair is dead matter. This means that once your hair has grown out it will stay as it is. We can improve it with products or destroy it with chemicals but the most important thing is to make sure it grows out strong and endurable.

Our hair, nails and skin, our whole physical appearance is a showcase of our inside. If we eat well, exercise, don't stress too much and enjoy life we are more likely to look healthy. Not only do we feel better but we look better as a result. Glowing skin, shiny hair and a smile on our lips. If we do the complete opposite we will have dull skin, lifeless hair and most likely less smiling.

It may seem simple but that's the way things are.

First of all. Eat well, eat moderately, eat healthy, enjoy your food. Add some vitamins to your body.

Secondly. Time management. No stress is the goal and if you can manage your time you will get there. Stay in control.

Exercise. Just a little walk every now and then, some fresh air. You can hear where I'm going can't you?

It all comes down to. Whatever is going on inside shows outside so look after yourself!

Jane Birkin

Blow dry your fringe with a big round brush to create this look.

Brunettes and Color

Being a hot brunette, especially a fake one involves a lot of work. First of all the color needs a good shampoo and a good conditioner for colored hair to maintain that healthy fabulous look. When the color starts to fade she can use a shampoo and conditioner with color pigments to add that little extra to boost the fading color. When the natural color starts showing close to her scalp she needs more serious work. Of course she wants an even tone all over her hair so she tints only the roots, because if she adds color to her whole hair she will end up with black ends and brown roots. Make sense?

So she adds the color only where needed, the roots, and when the color is processed she quickly rinses her hair so that it is damp all the way through before massaging up a lather from the color. This lather and that last tiny tiny bit of color from the bottle is massaged through her hair and then combed through, then massaged again. It sits for about 5 minutes before she rinse her hair again this time using shampoo and conditioner, for colored hair of course!



Why will the ends be darker if color is added on all the hair instead of only the roots?

If you think about it as simple math. Already dark color+more color=very dark color.
What most people say now is "but my ends are all faded and needs more color" well, do they need as much color as the roots? No they don't, and if they are really faded use a waterbottle to spray the hair after half the processing time and then add color to them. This weakens the color but still allows it to process chemically and therefore touch up.

leave-in treatment

My all time favourite is Redkens Anti-Snap for extremely damaged hair. It repairs and protects at the same time. Use after every wash and leave in, it protects against heat tools and makes the hair shiny, smooth and easy to manage.

by Caterina DiBiase - Hairdresser of the year Australia 2009