Shear Genius, Episode 4

Ok--It's Monday, so that means it's time for another Shear Genius recap, complete with tips from Nexxus Creative Director Kevin Mancuso so you can achieve the winning style at home.
Recap of Show

For this week’s shortcut challenge, the eight remaining stylists were given a salon-full of gorgeous and exotic flowers and the task of incorporating them into an abstract hairstyle. The judge for this challenge was esteemed editorial stylist Harry Josh, best known for his work with supermodel Giselle Bündchen.

As winner of last week’s elimination challenge, Matthew was given first choice of model, while the rest of the models and stylists were paired up at random. Adee’s fear of failure (at least that was his excuse du jour) continued to be a stumbling block to his success, while Brig’s ambition prevented her from seeing her vision to completion. Meanwhile, April and Brian’s chic styles rose to the top, with Brian winning the challenge and gaining an advantage at elimination – pairing the clients with the stylists.
The next day, the stylists donned formal attire and met up with Camilla and guest judge Tabitha Coffey, Shear Genius Season 1 fan favorite, at a traditional Indian wedding ceremony. How awesome is Tabitha? She's outspoken but not in a way that makes her over the top. She has an opinion, she voices it, and woe be the person who doesn't agree. She's come a long way since the first season of SG, and it's good to see her on Bravo in her own show.

Anyway, the elimination challenge was to completely restyle the eight bridesmaids’ hair for the wedding reception. Stylists were given only an hour and a half to manage this task and, since this was a challenge happening in “real life”, their clients’ satisfaction was of the utmost importance.

Brian, who had become friends with Adee over the course of the season (though I fail to see anything likeable about Adee), decided to give him his client of choice. Unfortunately for Adee, looks are often deceiving, as he was left with a client who was hard to reason or negotiate with. In fact, many of the stylists were left with fussy clients – and in the end, Jon, Janine and Brian, the three stylists who were able to take control of the situation and convince their clients to trust their talent, made up the top three.
As much as the clients may have been hard to deal with, I have to think that it IS the job of the stylist to educate a client. There are times when I am not exactly sure what I want done with my hair. I only know that I want something different, something that will look good and be easy to do. Clients have no idea--as a rule--about hair styles. I think using this as an excuse is just lazy.

At the bottom sat Amy, whose client was shy and difficult to communicate with; Brig, who wasn’t able to execute the simple and straight style her client wanted; and Adee, whose hairstyle prompted Jonathan to utter the episode’s title line, “I’m borderline pissed off about that hair.” In the end, Adee’s self-doubt and second-guessing lead to his elimination and Brian’s total transformation hairstyle was dubbed “Shear Genius" since Brian actually worked with his client and came into the challenge with ideas, not excuses.This week’s “how to get the look” from Kevin

Before

After

A quick hairstyle change mid-party can be just as dramatic as a full wardrobe change. Try taking down an updo and reworking hair to create a fun and flirty down style that’s sure to turn heads.

  • Take down updo by removing bobbi pins and accessories, then gently comb through hair with fingers to help detangle.
  • Sweep hair to one side and use bobbi pins to secure in place.
  • Use a large barrel curling iron to create random curls throughout loose section of hair.
  • Finish the look with a misting of strong-hold hairspray, like Nexxus Maxximum, to keep the style looking gorgeous.
Watch Shear Genius every Wednesday at 10:00 pm on Bravo. Become a fan of Nexxus on facebook and while you're at it, become a fan of Kiss & Makeup on facebook as well!

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