Amy E: Hello! I am Amy E. on the Cutting Edge Hair Show and today we are in Baltimore, Maryland and we're going to talk to John Simpson, the North America Hair Colorist of the Year. So, let's go see what we can do with my hair.

He is one of my new friends, I just met. This is Suzi, this is Rebecca. I think he is mixing color somewhere. How are you doing today?

John Simpson: I am really good. How are you?

Amy E.: I am excited about getting my hair done.

John Simpson: I know I can't wait. I want to tell a story in your hair, because you know I love to tell a color story, about really high reflective tones, maybe working into shades of oyster, shades of red pearl, and shades of pistachio and how they all can tell a really genius news then into taking blond decolorized pieces and maybe adding subtle nuances.

Amy E.: Exciting! So, let's get started. Shall we? Shall I get a smock on?

John Simpson: Well, let's do it.

Amy E.: Alright, we'll see you in a minute. Snip, snip.

John Simpson: Well, let's look at the color palette with this, because we talked about you've a heavy color journey that you have gone through and that's great. But I think the color palette, your background is going to be a very bit of a soft cool toned brunette, alright, still beautiful and reflective.

Also I was mentioning the red pearls. Red pearl is very beautiful. It has soft iridescent shading between very beautiful pinks and yellows and heavy delusions with a high-clear.

Then we have oyster. Oyster is seeing all of the great nuances of the soft lavenders, the soft blues, the soft pinks, which I think would be very beautiful and then a cool toned matte into a light meatstarch story of a beautiful pistachio.

Amy E.: It's like dirt, grass and flower petals.

John Simpson: Landscapes.

Amy E.: Yes.

John Simpson: What we are going to do is I am going to take some of this existing light and beforehand we've just gone through, since this is a Goldwell product called Elumen, we've gone through and done our preparation ballots on everything from scalp to end, just so all of my decolorized light bits, I am going to use those as it cascades. These shades, I think, are going to be brilliant along your eyes as well, because I want to play that up.

Taking from recession, I am just going to take a diagonal patterning, a little more of a triangular bit that's going to tie the color story from high to low. Also coming into the opposite side, same thing from the crown pivot, I am going to drop a bit asymmetric, right below, the lower section into the temple. So, before we do the detail work, I am going to just start with a little bit of background. How does that sound?

Amy E.: Great.

John Simpson: Superb.

Amy E.: So how did you get this whole story, the hair as a story like concept form?

John Simpson: Well, you know I think it's funny and I think as a Stylist and Colorist, we tell stories all day long. We listen to stories all day long.

Amy E.: So true.

John Simpson: It is and I don't think that's a bad thing, instead of just even speaking, this is a shade of a brunette, this is a shade of blond, how can we make it more interesting and make it a personal story, because everyone has one, so I make it their own color story.

I like to talk, of course, of always characters, but it's always just tones, right? Maybe it's just a look book and instead of necessarily meeting new personalities, with yours in particular is more of a story of texture. So, I wanted to be a very beautiful picture book, that I am looking at a hill side, that has very radiant sparkle coming from the background.