Chicago based Redken Artist Tracy Guthrie Vastag proudly proudly unveils her latest endeavor. It’s a bold body of work specifically designed to ignite pure curiosity. Aptly dubbed “Smolder” this collection was inspired by the unique behavior of smoke.
With subtle variances flowing through for soft dimension, the hair is intentionally crisp white in hue. Bold silhouettes break away into a bout of texture with frizz, curl, bend and wave floating through. The look is all about wispy, airy and frothy streams that seem to fume upward, outward, floating endlessly and aimlessly on currents of air.
“I envisioned a series of images with a very dark, dramatic and slightly stark scene. “ states Tracy. “It was important that the smoky-looking hair had that lighter-than-air wispiness but also was the whitest element in the scene. This effect naturally draws your eye inward while the soft, glowing wisps of hair create a dance of movement.”
Seethe: To create an erratic texture to curls and a more real, even frothy finish for the hair, Tracy rickrack set dry hair on foil in random sections ranging from one to two inches in width. Each section was sprayed with Redken Iron Silk 07 before wrapping onto the foil then once all hair was wrapped, she misted again but all over before setting. A hood dryer was used to set the texture and then the foils were individually unwrapped. Using Forceful 23, her hair was fingered through, back-brushed and coaxed into a dual side-swept shape with an intentional divot in the center. The fringe was left smooth to add contrast against the rest of the hair.
Plume: Using half-inch sections, dry hair was rickrack set on very large hairpins and then was misted all over with Redken Spray Starch 15. Each pin was then heated with a flat iron. Once cooled, the pins were undone and sections were rouged to give an extremely full base with movement up and slightly out and with a frothy, piece-y edge.
Billow: For an erratic texture, varied sized sections of dry hair were misted with Redken Fabricate 03 and then applied with a combination of figure-8 curls and spiral-tonged using a variety of iron sizes. Once all of the hair was curled, Tracy rouged with her fingers and back-brushed with a soft bristle brush to add shape and upward-swept volume.
Spark: To create movement within shorter hair, sections were misted with Redken Fabricate and then wet set on sponge rollers. The hair
was directed upward and forward using small and medium-sized rollers. Once set, the rollers were removed and the hair was rouged to build volume up along a centerline from the back to the front.
Ember: For a wispy, lingering smoke effect slightly off to one side, one-inch sections of dry hair were misted with Redken Hot Sets 22 and then were spiral tonged. Once the entire head was done, the curls were rouged, back-brushed and molded into place by hand using Redken Forceful 23.
Credits: Hair: Tracy Guthrie Vastag, Makeup: Anastacia, Photos: Taggart Winterhalter for Purely Visual
