Conversations on colour: jordanna cobella

Wella UK guest artist Jordanna Cobella shares her thoughts on colourists not charging enough and the importance of creating a bespoke shade for each of your clients...

What do you love most about being a colourist?

It’s about the transformative element for me – accentuating features, exploring and discovering a clients’ rebellious nature and revealing a hidden creative flair. It’s a never-ending journey of creativity. Colour is an expression and clients are using it as a way of expressing their individuality. The possibilities are endless and what an exciting time to be a colourist with all of the technology at our fingertips during an era where people are more experimental than ever before.

Where do you go for your colour inspiration?

My main inspiration comes from other industries like fashion, interior design, art and beauty. Useful platforms such as Pinterest, Pantone, Instagram, Twitter, exhibitions and galleries play a huge role. My signature projects are born from an obsession with a topic or a person like Andy Warhol, Alexander McQueen or even Brexit. For shoots or show work, I need to have a theme and I fully immerse myself into that world until my ideas or characters for hair art are born. Collaborating with make-up artists, models, stylists and photographers play a huge role as the project evolves and ideas come to life. While the internet provides us with an incredible variety of influences and trend reports at the click of a button, I will always be a bigger fan of printed books and magazine tear outs and layering these onto moodboards – you can’t beat it! https://www.instagram.com/p/B8lIXHggZVP/

What are your favourite colouring techniques?

I love bespoke colouring and mixing three or four different colour mixtures, using as much of the colour portfolio as possible. I feel the client should walk away feeling like I have created the most bespoke shade and placement technique, which cannot compare to writing down a formula on a card. I’ve recently been working on marbling and blending using soft tonal differences to create a very blended and melted feel to the hair. Tweed hair is certainly making a statement in our salon, bringing back babylights and strandlights to the root area to minimise the contrast of depths. I celebrate the artistry of hair colouring in terms of application. I’m not afraid to experiment with different tools like sponges, paint brushes and wide tooth applicator combs – anything that contributes to the bespoke nature of the service.

What are the challenges facing professional colourists at the moment?

Home hair colouring still stands as a big challenge as the formulas are getting more advanced and clients are becoming more educated than ever before. From my experience visiting salons around the UK and teaching at the Wella Studio, it is clear not all professional hairdressers are charging their worth – particularly for big colour changes. This affects their businesses but also the overall industry. Knowing our worth and charging appropriately for our time and expertise takes a lot of confidence and courage. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6NayRBgP8U/

What colour creation makes you most proud?

I am proud of My New Colour Service. I wanted to shake up the way our clients are presented with colour services by using seasonal moodboards made up of a collection of lifestyle and shade images. This way the client can relate to both palettes, placement, the look and feel and emotions of a colour. It brings the colour to life and gives them a chance to see the colouring technique from images and moodboards rather than selecting a type of technique from a static menu. It has become a huge talking point in the salon and keeps us up to date with new techniques and makes every colour service even more bespoke.

What advice would you give to a trainee colourist?

Master the basics because knowledge is power. Once the foundations of colour science are in place, you will be better equipped to push the boundaries and create unique work. Try different techniques and never save colour notes as not one service should be the same. Adopt the finesse of application so your client feels like each brush stroke and application is done with the greatest care and skill.