Let’s look at Anna Wintour for a second. Compare these two photos, one from probably the late 80's and one of her most recent photos. Would you say she’s basically had the same hair for the last few decades?

One of the more recent things I’ve discovered in my career as a hairstylist is this idea of preservation. Our entire industry is based around transformation. We cut the hair off to create new shapes, we color the hair a different color to create a new look, we curl or straighten it to create a new texture. That’s creative transformation. You take what exists, you implement a few tactics, and you get a different outcome. But what about the fact that the medium we work with, the hair, is constantly changing itself? What I mean by that is our hair is constantly growing, and it’s constantly changing color and texture through elemental factors like the sun, saltwater, and seasons. And as we age, we get more grays. So when the medium is always changing, that means the transformation and the meaning of the transformation is subjective to the person who holds the medium. And what that means is, when you have a white canvas and the canvas is always blank, you’re transforming it with paint to change it. But when the medium is something that is constantly changing by itself, and not always the same blank white canvas, transformation then becomes a more complex, layered idea.

Meaning: transformation becomes a means to preserve continuity.

It’s a fascinating revelation that I’ve had after almost 20 years in the industry. And it’s something that’s kind of floored me. Transformation as continuity has existed through my fingertips, and I never even realized it. And how this shows up in the salon world is someone coming in every 6-8 weeks for their hair trim because they don’t want their hair to grow a certain length. They come in for their regular bang trims every 3-4 weeks because they don’t want their bangs to go past their eyelashes. This is transformation in order to continue a certain look.

Going back to Anna Wintour… visually, her hair looks the same. But not one strand on her head is the same as it was in the 80's. It’s grown and been cut, gone gray and been colored… she’s transformed her hair so much in the last few decades in order to be able to maintain the same look. Granted, as she got older, it did go lighter, but that’s probably to create a soft grow out with her naturally graying new-growth. Very common. Regardless, that’s a lot of transformation! But the point is that the purpose of the transformation was to preserve the very specific identity this hairstyle gives her.

That’s transformation as continuity.

@hairbyamber