00:00As I have transformed my hair throughout the years, I have become more and more and more
00:04myself.
00:05When my hair is looking good, I feel better than anything.
00:09My name is Rachel Raquel and I'm getting my hair transformed into an ink black color.
00:13I'm originally from Iowa.
00:15I first came to LA when I was 16 and I started traveling back and forth working here for
00:20music and modeling.
00:22When I was younger, I swore I would never dye my hair.
00:25And then when I first moved to LA, six months in, my best friend and I decided to dye my
00:30hair brown, but we accidentally box dyed from like a dirty blonde into completely black.
00:36It was terrifying at first, but then we actually realized that it was way more me than anything
00:41I had ever done and I've never felt more comfortable in my body.
00:45I definitely think ink black will give me more confidence on stage when I'm performing.
00:48I feel like it'll just make me feel like more old.
00:58Good morning.
01:00I'm Courtney.
01:01Rachel.
01:01Nice to meet you.
01:02And here we're doing a transformation to ink black today.
01:05Yes.
01:05My name is Courtney Anna Mason.
01:07I'm a hair colorist at the Benjamin Salon.
01:09My favorite part about doing hair is helping people create the image of how they want to
01:13see themselves and making people feel beautiful.
01:15Why don't you tell me a little bit about your hair?
01:17I have a perm.
01:18Okay.
01:18And then I had a balayage and I think they're still there.
01:22Okay.
01:22Ink black was definitely a good choice for Rachel because she has a perm.
01:25The color that we used on her won't cause any harm to it.
01:28I'm going to leave it exactly as it is.
01:30My assistant Hannah.
01:31She's going to go ahead and get you ready for me and I'll be back in just a minute.
01:36When I lived in Iowa, it was definitely a super, super goody two shoes.
01:41I had been trying to keep this reputation of this perfect person since I was really, really
01:46young.
01:46Part of that perfect person reputation in my mind was never doing anything to my hair
01:51and being completely natural.
01:52So once I started coming to LA and I kept getting bullied and bullied, I was like, what's
01:57the point of me keeping up to this perfect reputation if that's not how I actually feel?
02:01So I think moving to LA finally really got me into that state of mind of like, just be
02:06you.
02:06You ready?
02:07Yeah.
02:08All right.
02:08Let's do it.
02:15Today the products I used to create Rachel's ink black look was L'Oreal Richesse from Roots
02:21to Ends and then I used Redken Shades to gloss it afterwards.
02:25It's definitely important to go to a professional to do something like this.
02:29You want to make sure that you're putting the proper product onto your hair.
02:32It definitely isn't as simple as just putting black color all over.
02:47I love my current hair.
02:48I've been doing brown for a while now and I actually just got a perm.
02:52So I've been rocking like the curly hair vibe, but I get really bored really easily.
02:59So I would like to keep the curls going.
03:02I'm down to like add a little more Bane.
03:04Fluff up the curls and like full speed ahead.
03:07Let's go.
03:07All right.
03:08All right.
03:09So we're all done with your color.
03:11I'm going to send you off to your haircut and your blow dry and I'm going to see you
03:14after.
03:15This is Michael.
03:17Hey Rachel.
03:19Nice to meet you.
03:20All right.
03:20I'll see you guys later.
03:21Have fun.
03:22Bye.
03:23So are you looking to reestablish some fringe today?
03:27Yeah.
03:27Like a hippie thing.
03:28Yeah.
03:28No problem.
03:29Woo.
03:30That's black for sure.
03:40This is what.
03:46I'm hyped.
03:47I constantly need to be changing things up and I'm that type of person that's like,
03:51surprise, here's me.
03:53I did that with my perm and everyone was like, is this real?
03:55Like, I don't know.
04:00Lately I really liked the natural mermaid look as opposed to a lot of different styling
04:04tools that you could use.
04:05I like to air dry the hair, diffuse it.
04:07I'm using some product just to kind of scrunch to get that natural texture.
04:10It tends to just be a little bit more soft and a little bit more just fluid as Rachel
04:15or any client walks down the street, you know, as it kind of has a little more bounce.
04:21I think like changing my hair and making that first big step when I moved to LA was
04:25so, so important because you need to do what makes you feel beautiful.
04:29And sometimes it's not the way you were born.
04:31Now more than ever, everyone's kind of realizing that thinking you look good or liking your vibe
04:35and your style is really important and a big step towards self-love.
04:39Check it out.
04:40Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:42Oh wow, I love it.
04:44The curls look so good with it.
04:46Look so good.
04:47This look makes me feel more like me.
04:50I know I've said that before.
04:51Everything turned out exactly how I wanted it to look.
04:54They're all there.
04:55The whole family and the family friends.
04:57I love it.
04:58It's so dramatic.
05:00Oh, it's gorgeous.
05:02Thank you, Mama.
05:04Taking Rachel from light brown to ink black was a really fun transformation.
05:08She wore it very well with her skin tone.
05:09Her texture, eye color, really has a very kind of unique vibe, which I think will be good for her.
05:14She wants to stand out.
05:15It just feels so good and edgy and fun.
05:18I definitely think it correlates with my music style because like I said, I'm like pretty hippie, but I'm still
05:23a little dark and edgy with everything.
05:25I always look at myself in the mirror and I think, oh my God, young Rachel would be like, what
05:30did you do?
05:31Because I was so paranoid with what people thought of me, but also at the same time, I feel like
05:36way better as the person I am today.
05:38And I don't think young Rachel even knew what was coming to her at all.
