Cut out, sprayed, and shared with the world, hirsute creative visions can be expressed in any color and form—on your head! Stylist Janine Ker is one of the talents creating using a new technique that borrows heavily from graffiti, and the results are truly works of art. These multicolored looks range from abstract shapes, to floral scenes and geometric patterns that are painted on in layers, adding dimension to already stylized surfaces.
Creators caught up with Ker to ask her a few questions on this trending painted style. “Temporary hair color spray has been around forever,” she explains. “It’s the stuff that you can buy at Party City if you want to be the Joker for Halloween.” (Flashback to elementary school costumes, chalky white witch hair and my mother filling up the bathroom with colored hair spray fumes.) “The idea of using stencils along with hair color spray is also not new,” Ker continues. “I recently came across a vintage hair video from the 1950s/60s where they were using color sprays and stencils!”
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A skilled stylist, Ker has seen and done it all when it comes to coloring. She tells us, “I personally saw it done a few years ago during an education class but it was done very simply. I thought that if it was approached more like an over all art piece (the composition of the hairstyle, the hair stencil design and the colors combined for one overall look), it could be so much fun! I tried out the method myself, last year and the public seems to love the images.”
As people are always looking for the next trend in body art or manipulation to stand out from the rest, stenciling is an outlet with infinite options of layered color and imagery. “Social media magnifies that urge by allowing anyone to be a trendsetter,” Ker explains. “I think that is why the public is so fascinated. Hair has always played a significant role in runway and everyday fashion and hair stenciling or hair graffiti can be a really beautiful way to take hair to another level and express yourself.”
See more of Janine Ker’s work on her Instagram page
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