Vipul Chudasama, Creative Director, Streax Professional, discusses the nuances of creating a collection with Kanishka Ramchandani.
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Tell us about the Spectrum Collection by Streax Professional. What was the inspiration behind it?
As a brand, colour is our bread and butter. Streax Professional has two different categories- the commercial range and the funky colour range. With the Spectrum Collection, we wanted to create something with a major focus on colour. We wanted to do this using both the Argan Secrets range and the funky colour range, with different styles that are much more wearable. In the case of funky colours, we have done placement in such a way it is absolutely minimal. All the professionals can tweak it however they want to do it. But in minimal time frame, making it a quick service.
How do you do a quick colour service?
It’s all about the technical and creative approach. From the last 10 years, I have been seeing the transition from ombre to balayage. And still, everybody is talking about balayage. It’s a lengthy process, particularly for Indian hair.
Since balayage was created by artists in European countries, pre-lightening the 6th or 7th level base is a very quick service. When Indian consumers opt for ash blondes and beiges, the pre-lightening and colouration take minimum 3-4 hours. So, we had a thought to break this monotony.
Everyone is just going for balayage, so let’s do something which is absolutely easy for professionals to use with Argan Secrets and funky colours. Plus, it’s time-saving and you can churn out three colour session on one chair or hair station. So, one is creative approach and the other is considering the business.
Not only are these colours wearable, they can be tweaked, they can be made creative, they can be made commercial. The collection is not limited to women. You can create amazing looks for men, too, as these days barbering is equally important business for salons.
Which is your favourite look?
Actually, I love all of them. But if I were to pick one it would be the zesty yellow.
What is your vision for the Spectrum Collection?
As a brand we have multiple shows lined up. There will be more education through the Mega Shows. We have also planned a lot of masterclasses for professionals. We want to reach out to maximum salonists and professionals to learn these techniques.
Additionally, we want to give them these techniques, wherein they can really play with different colour placements and create different looks for their customers.
What has been your experience with Streax Professional so far?
Well, the first thing is that it’s a proud moment for me because it’s an Indian brand. The kind of colouration the brand has, it’s amazing, it surprised me.
With regards to my collaboration with the brand, we are looking at elevating standards of hairdressers across 40,000 salons in the country.
The pace is very important because being a colourist, what I have experienced, it’s very tricky. The subject is very niche. When you learn haircuts, you have to spend at least minimum six months learning it and then you spend maybe one-two years doing hands-on practice. Once you are sorted and you can do it for your entire life.
On the other hand, you can learn colouration in 10 days but understanding colour can take a lifetime. Even after 19 years, I can still make mistakes. It’s not about my expertise. It’s because when the product comes in contact with human hair, it reacts differently. And that’s where your challenge lies.
You need to calculate, plan, implement and understand to get your desired result. It’s not just about taking a tube, mixing with a developer and applying. You can get base shades as per the shade card but when it comes to fashion shades, there’s a lot of theory that you need to learn, and you have to do enough hands-on practice.
You need to really understand the core of hair colouring services. So, education is a must.Vipul Chudasama, Creative Director, Streax Professional, discusses the nuances of creating a collection with Kanishka Ramchandani.
Tell us about the Spectrum Collection by Streax Professional. What was the inspiration behind it?
As a brand, colour is our bread and butter. Streax Professional has two different categories- the commercial range and the funky colour range. With the Spectrum Collection, we wanted to create something with a major focus on colour. We wanted to do this using both the Argan Secrets range and the funky colour range, with different styles that are much more wearable. In the case of funky colours, we have done placement in such a way it is absolutely minimal. All the professionals can tweak it however they want to do it. But in minimal time frame, making it a quick service.
How do you do a quick colour service?
It’s all about the technical and creative approach. From the last 10 years, I have been seeing the transition from ombre to balayage. And still, everybody is talking about balayage. It’s a lengthy process, particularly for Indian hair.
Since balayage was created by artists in European countries, pre-lightening the 6th or 7th level base is a very quick service. When Indian consumers opt for ash blondes and beiges, the pre-lightening and colouration take minimum 3-4 hours. So, we had a thought to break this monotony.
Everyone is just going for balayage, so let’s do something which is absolutely easy for professionals to use with Argan Secrets and funky colours. Plus, it’s time-saving and you can churn out three colour session on one chair or hair station. So, one is creative approach and the other is considering the business.
Not only are these colours wearable, they can be tweaked, they can be made creative, they can be made commercial. The collection is not limited to women. You can create amazing looks for men, too, as these days barbering is equally important business for salons.
Which is your favourite look?
Actually, I love all of them. But if I were to pick one it would be the zesty yellow.
What is your vision for the Spectrum Collection?
As a brand we have multiple shows lined up. There will be more education through the Mega Shows. We have also planned a lot of masterclasses for professionals. We want to reach out to maximum salonists and professionals to learn these techniques.
Additionally, we want to give them these techniques, wherein they can really play with different colour placements and create different looks for their customers.
What has been your experience with Streax Professional so far?
Well, the first thing is that it’s a proud moment for me because it’s an Indian brand. The kind of colouration the brand has, it’s amazing, it surprised me.
With regards to my collaboration with the brand, we are looking at elevating standards of hairdressers across 40,000 salons in the country.
The pace is very important because being a colourist, what I have experienced, it’s very tricky. The subject is very niche. When you learn haircuts, you have to spend at least minimum six months learning it and then you spend maybe one-two years doing hands-on practice. Once you are sorted and you can do it for your entire life.
On the other hand, you can learn colouration in 10 days but understanding colour can take a lifetime. Even after 19 years, I can still make mistakes. It’s not about my expertise. It’s because when the product comes in contact with human hair, it reacts differently. And that’s where your challenge lies.
You need to calculate, plan, implement and understand to get your desired result. It’s not just about taking a tube, mixing with a developer and applying. You can get base shades as per the shade card but when it comes to fashion shades, there’s a lot of theory that you need to learn, and you have to do enough hands-on practice.
You need to really understand the core of hair colouring services. So, education is a must.