Photo Credit: Bleach
Cast your mind back to how you felt at this time of year (just before Christmas) when you were about seven years old. If you had sent your list off to Santa, chances are that you’d be hoping to find a Barbie under the tree. Barbie was great, wasn’t she? The endless dressing up possibilities, the fun and games with Ken, but most of all the hair. Whether you brushed it endlessly or chopped it all off, Barbie’s long flowing hair was always the best bit.
Now that we are considerably older than seven, it’s no longer socially acceptable to play with Barbies (more’s the pity) but that doesn’t mean that our passion for her hair has dwindled. Thankfully, the hair innovators at East London’s Bleach salon have given us a legitimate excuse to go Barbie-mad again, by teaming up with Mattel to work with the new Barbie Designable Hair. Girls can design and print their own hair extensions to use on Barbie dolls and themselves – so the Bleach stylists have got creative with their own designs. Alex Brownsell (hairstylist to Florence Welch, Pixie Geldof et al) the founder of Bleach and her team have set up a special Tumblr, where they are adding a new crazy-haired Barbie each day until Friday. They have created these looks using the Barbie printable extensions, plus anything else that came to hand: felt pens, glitter, whatever!
This is a fun project, but also one that shows the trend for experimental, rainbow-coloured hairstyles is still going full speed ahead. A quick look through the street style blogs and it’s clear that all shades of pink, blue, lilac and green continue to be de rigeur amongst the more outré fashion fans. The party season is an opportune moment to try out a colourful new hairstyle, especially if you are using one of the great temporary colour products around at the moment, like the Colour Bug by Kevin Murphy, £12.95. Maybe use one of the Bleach x Barbie designs for inspiration?
According to Alex, some of these looks are even based on real clients. Can you spot any of their famous clientele or style icons under the aliases of Rude RiRi, Katy Candy or Cherie Bowie...?
Bleach x Barbie
Barbie Designable Hair
Party hair step-by-step
Celebrity hair fixes for the party season
Rainbow haired celebrities
