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Warwick Grange, Shibui
By Lis Creagh 1 August 2008
“Colour is all about change, changing as much as possible. Change in an industry that's always evolving. Change in the individual.”
myhairdressersearch’s Colourist of
the Month Warwick Grange of Shibui in Melbourne loves and constantly
embraces change. His personal philosophy on the ever-changing art of
hair colour is to grow and adapt and enhance.
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Perhaps it was this innate lust for change that first drew Warwick to hair colouring. While he was on a uni break, he helped out some friends at a hair salon. “I was the Saturday boy. Tea and tidy.” It turned out that it was much more than a meaningless fling, with Warwick opting out of uni and into full-time salon work.
He started out working with Australian colouring legend Kathy Gilbert but moved on to the UK where he retrained with Britain's 'First Lady Of Colour', Jo Hansford. Changing continents, he moved to the US, where he spent years building on his former celebrity clientele, working for the next 8 years at top salon Bumble and Bumble. It was here that he mastered the art of hair painting.
His skill led to his latest change, the move back to Australia with Melbourne Salon Shibui. Researching colourists for years who echoed their mantra of 'understated rather than overt' style, owners Rob Hastie and Tracey Colebrook felt Warwick was a “true hair painting artist, someone who could enhance the salon environment and complement Shibui's brand of work”.
His advice on personal hair colour is 'always bring an image with you. Everyone's vocabulary is so different'. He believes this is key to achieving the result that you want. He employs slightly different technique for each individual, something appropriate to the style and texture of the hair. He loves and has chosen to specialise in painting because “it's a particularly cool and practical means of colouring. It doesn't require the maintenance of conventional colour and it gives a softer overall look. It can be easily applied for impact or subtlety”.
He still lists colour guru Kathy Gilbert of Torquil Murray as one of the colourists he admires most and she reciprocally calls him the only master of hair painting in the country. He lists Jo Hansford from the UK, Marie Robinson at Sally Hershberger in the US and Lianei from Shibui as equally important leaders in the field.
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In his opinion, what's new in colouring comes down to the products. At the moment he likes free flow bleach, particularly Eugene Perma's Solaris Free Flow Bleach. It allows him to create the softness with the variation that's essential for the depth of a really convincing colour. His work recreates the “lived in beachy look which naturally occurs under the Aussie sun”.
They say that “change is as good as a holiday”. Warwick Grange's brand of change goes one better and gives the everlasting look of a sun-drenched holiday. What could possibly be better than that? |
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Check out more Colourists of the Month.
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