Behind the scenes on the x factor with jamie stevens
Published
14th Nov 2011
by rachael
Working behind the scenes at The X Factor has been the opportunity of a lifetime for Jamie Stevens.
In the final part of an exclusive interview, HJi finds out how Jamie deals with criticism and which contestant has been his favourite to style so far.
Is being the resident hairdresser on The X Factor the highlight of your career?
There have been so many highlights in my career - winning Men's Hairdresser of the Year at HJ's British Hairdressing Awards; being named Celebrity Hairdresser of the Year by Your Hair and doing TV work like This Morning, but this is one of the ultimate and most intense TV gigs in terms of media scrutiny.
Do you have a favourite contestant to style?
They are all great to work with but I would have to say Misha. She just oozes style and she allows me to have free range with her hair, experimenting and pushing boundaries.
I have already had tweets from people saying that we are helping to make her into the next black hair icon.
Working on something as big as The X Factor there is bound to be some negative feedback about some of the looks. How do you deal with it?
With millions of viewers, you can't please everyone all the time - there are always going to be some negative comments but I take it all on the chin and listen to criticism when it's due.
I worked really hard to get this job and I know sometimes criticism is only because of jealousy. As long as Simon Cowell, the production company, Talkback Thames, and the judges and contestants are happy, then I'm happy.
It's the same with anything creative - whether you're entering images for HJ's British Hairdressing Awards or or styling a celeb, everyone will have a different opinion about it.
Which was your favourite look this week?
My hair hero this week is Amelia - I'm really pleased she's back. I coloured her hair pink in week one and she loved it so much she'd put a crazy colour on her hair while she'd been off.
It was very rock chick but I wanted to tone it down back to a softer shade so we pre-lightened the roots and took it out through the ends, washed it off then used a Matrix protein pack to lift out any unwanted warm tones and improve the condition of the hair.
We then dried it off and mixed up SPM Mocha Toner from the Colour Sync range with an inch of red booster - the darker the pink the more red booster you add, so for a gentler hue just use a tiny bit. We left it on for 5 mins then added a few extensions for length to bulk it out.
To style, I dried it smooth using Matrix Loosely Defined then tonged it with Matrix Protective Spray and finished with Matrix Design Pulse Mega Dust to make it grungy with lots of body.
