Oh man, am I excited about this. Back in February when I attended a razor cutting class at Arrojo Studio in NYC, I had a chance to speak with Nick Arrojo and Gerard Scarpaci about the upcoming launch of the American Wave system. With what little information I was able to gather then, I came home so excited to become certified in this service that Jenn set up a class at our salon, and today O2 Salon became the first salon outside of Arrojo to learn this technique! Whhhaaaaaaaattttt?!?! I'm sure I've peaked your interest with all this name dropping and jargon, and you must just be DYING to know, what is the American Wave? In short, it's a new texture service that embodies the style of the moment and is going to revolutionize the beauty industry. And yeah, we at O2 are right on the fore front of it all.
But what do I mean by a texture service? The American Wave is enabling us as hair stylists to create lived in textures, with a raw and natural feel. Beachy waves? All over it. Bigger blowouts that last longer? Totally. Best of all? BIG GLORIOUS HAIR. You can have it all, and I'm dying to give it to you.
So what makes the American Wave superior (far superior) to a classic perm? Most importantly, the condition it leaves your hair in. From start to finish, the American Wave is less aggressive to your hair. Perms of the past used chemicals that blew open the cuticle of the hair, forcing their way into the hair strand and breaking the hair down to 50% of it's normal strength before hardening the hair into it's new shape. The American Wave uses the magnetic attraction of positive ions to negative to pull itself into the hair, and breaks the hair down less than half what a perm does. Plus, it has barely any odor! Where perms used to linger in the air of the salon, and your hair, for hours *cough* days *cough* weeks, you would never even guess that your salon neighbor was getting a chemical service with the American Wave.
Now the fun part- the results! Today in class, we had 3 models that received new waves! To the left is Sarah, whose wave will offer her much more support to her hair when she styles it. Sarah's hair is naturally straight and very fine, and she is always fighting to keep the body in a blow out or roller set.With this wave, her styles will stay put, and she will have some tousled textured on days that she wants to let it air dry. In the photos here, her hair is diffused for maximum volume and curl, and will be a bit softer when she lets it go au natural! Below are the before and afters of Jenny and Mandy. Both of these ladies got the beachy wave, with movement that starts dropped down a few inches from the crown, and has a really soft, romantic finish. Jenny's wave looks so natural, and Mandy's red lion's mane is to die for (am I right, or am I right?). The one bummer with today's class is that we didn't get a model who dared to get the expansion wrap, a set that gives maximum volume and really expands (get it?!) into space, with a gorgeous rounded out shape. Our instructor, Abbey, rocks the expansion wrap, and it is most fabulous. Speaking of Abbey, once again I have to give props to the team of Arrojo Studios for their commitment to their craft. Abbey did an amazing job teaching us about the what's and why's of the service from start to finish, and Nick himself has been in touch with Jenn to make sure that we feel like we have the support that we need, and that we love the experience. And trust me, we LOVED the class today and are super pumped to be performing this service!
