00:00I'm Lucy Fink. I'm a video producer at Refinery29, but every so often I like to
00:05try other people's jobs. Today I'm at 14J in Tribeca, New York, and I'm gonna see
00:10if I have what it takes to be a hair colorist. This is Lucy for Hire.
00:15My name is David Adams. I'm a hair colorist and I'm one of the owners of 14J
00:19Salon here in Tribeca. The job of a hair color specialist is to look at some of
00:22these haircuts, to look at their skin tone, their eye color, and then the hair
00:26color is sort of the painting on the canvas. We have to have a really good
00:29solid understanding of how you see color and how I see color.
00:33While I would have loved to dive right in and paint someone's hair, I first needed a
00:38crash course in color theory from master colorist David Adams.
00:42So Lucy, your first challenge today is going to be color theory. Color theory is
00:46really understanding how color works, how we see color, how light affects color, and
00:51the most important thing is knowing which colors to put together and which colors
00:54not to put together.
00:56It's like art school in elementary school, but I'm about to put it on someone's head
01:01for a few months.
01:02Exactly. You could mix red and yellow, which will make what?
01:07Green.
01:08Oh, that's blue and yellow. I'm close.
01:10Close, but far away. I'm gonna hand you off to Deanna now.
01:13After I felt a bit more comfortable with color theory, I was ready to meet with my victim.
01:17I mean, my client. Emily.
01:21Welcome to 14J.
01:23Hi, Emily.
01:24Hi.
01:24Lucy.
01:25Nice to meet you.
01:26Okay, so I'm just pretending I don't know Emily, but really she's a New York City private
01:31yoga instructor and a friend of mine. We had a brief consultation to hear what Emily wanted.
01:35I'm looking to transform. It's been a really big year of transformation for me.
01:41So now I'm thinking red. Something low maintenance would really be best. It would suit my lifestyle.
01:46I'm a busy lady.
01:47And as my coaches taught me, at the salon, everyone, even friends, must be treated like
01:53any paying customer.
01:54This is beautiful.
01:57Perfect.
01:57Gorgeous. Yeah. I really love a lot of these.
02:02The first step to realizing Emily's hair dreams? Pre-lightening her hair. As I learned
02:08in my color theory crash course, it's essential to lighten the hair a few shades before coloring
02:13to achieve the correct final tone.
02:15This is a major technique.
02:19Okay, I've got it.
02:20I followed Deanna's directions.
02:24Grease it. Slowly, carefully, making sure to not make any mistakes.
02:34Only 50,000 more to go.
02:38And after the pre-lightener sat on Emily's hair for a while, we washed it out.
02:42So I just did my circular. I went around.
02:45Now being a hair washer is an entirely different skill set that takes time to master as well.
02:50This. And I'm going to get the highest point of the head.
02:56Got it.
02:59Very soapy.
03:00Yeah.
03:01Your second challenge today is going to be formulation.
03:04So formulation is understanding the guest's natural hair color and how it will react to color.
03:09So we really have to understand which color we put back in the hair, versus which color
03:12we take out of the hair.
03:13Deanna and I went into the back and began mixing colors.
03:16So we're going to be melting three different shades.
03:19Time to formulate.
03:21We had to balance just the right amount of the different materials to achieve the exact
03:25tone Emily wanted.
03:27This is red.
03:28Yep.
03:28Wow.
03:29And this just activates all this.
03:31Yep.
03:31This stage involved a ton of math, measuring, and mixing, and it's perhaps the most important
03:37stage if you want to get the color right.
03:38This is going to be a fun fall color in the middle of winter.
03:43Your third challenge today is going to be application.
03:46So it's really looking at the hair.
03:48And once we know exactly the result we want, then we'll select the right technique to use.
03:52This is it.
03:53Thanks.
03:54Yeah.
03:54It won't look like this on your head.
03:56All gloved up.
04:00Deanna showed me the exact right technique for applying the color diligently.
04:05I had some issues being neat at first.
04:08Let me make that a little bit more clean right there.
04:11Keep it clean.
04:12Otherwise David said, you'll be cleaning the floor.
04:14But eventually Deanna set me on course and I was cruising.
04:18Do I look like I've been doing this for 30 years?
04:20Yeah.
04:21Because I've only been alive for 25.
04:23I felt I had gotten the technique down and about 30 minutes later, she was all done.
04:29Your final challenge today is going to be blow dry and styling.
04:32Now came the fun part.
04:36Wow.
04:37We rinsed out Emily's hair.
04:39Nice and colorful.
04:41I even gave her a hand massage in the 14J way.
04:45And then we moved her back to the chair for a blow dry.
04:48Emily played with the salon dogs.
04:51Meanwhile I'm busy at work over here.
04:53I fully dried her entire head.
04:57So you're going to have to go like this and just wrap it.
04:59Oh I see.
05:00And then close it.
05:01Oh don't close it.
05:02Okay.
05:02You just gotta leave it open.
05:04And then there you go.
05:05I see.
05:06And then went through with the curling iron and gave her some loose beach waves.
05:09And just like that, she was a new woman.
05:12One.
05:14Two.
05:16Three.
05:16Three.
05:19Wow.
05:27I was on my feet for almost six hours coloring Emily's hair.
05:31I learned not only how many years of schooling it takes to get here, but also how much thought,
05:36theory, and hard work goes into each client.
05:38If Lucy really worked here as a hair colorist, would you be happy coming back to her again?
05:43Oh absolutely.
05:44Yes.
05:45And I think if you wanted to come here and train as a hair colorist, we'd definitely say,
05:49yes Lucy, come.
05:51Alright.
05:52Okay.
05:53Okay.
05:53Okay.
05:53You don't have to ask me.
05:54I'll take the job David.
05:56Excellent.
05:57Great.
05:58Thanks Emily.
05:59After today, I have a complete newfound appreciation for hair colorists.
06:03This has to be one of the most difficult jobs I've ever attempted in Lucy for Hire.
06:08And it had some of the highest stakes.
06:10But I think we did a great job.
06:12And Emily looked lovely.
