Last week, I visited the chic new Sassoon Salon in Seattle to speak with international creative director Mark Hayes, who travels the world training Sassoon stylists in the precision cuts and vibrant color that Sassoon is known for.

While preparing for the interview, I discovered that Hayes is the stylist for Mary Quant, the British fashion designer for whom Vidal Sassoon created an angular bob that became her -- and Sassoon's -- signature look.

I asked Hayes about spring trends, hair nightmares and how to achieve an updated, low-maintenance hairstyle. While he stumped a bit for Sassoon, he also had good advice for women no matter where they get their hair cut.

AB: What’s new in hair for spring?

MH: This season, we wanted to introduce something that was very loose, very casual and very understated. To me, certainly in the economic climate, that feels right for now. But that can be any shape, any style, any color. Gone are the days when you have to have a certain cut to be considered in fashion, because people don’t want to be dictated to, they want to create their own style.

AB: You’ve been doing hair since 1977 and have seen a lot of trends come and go. What’s a trend that you would really hate to see come back?

MH: A hair nightmare? The mullet, I think, is one that is universally despised -- so many bad connotations of huge rock stadium tours. That one is pretty horrific.

To be honest, anything that is overly styled, overly colored, overly glamorized is in complete opposition to how people really lead their lives. I don’t care for artificially stiff and styled hair, where it looks like it’s been put on like a hat.

AB: There isn't a lot of that in Seattle.

MH: No, quite, it seems very casual here.

AB: The typical Northwest woman cares about how she looks, but also wants a hairstyle that is easy to maintain. What’s a simple thing she can do to update her look without too much maintenance?

MH: My answer to that would be to have your hair cut at Sassoon. Because really, we don’t go in for all that overly dressed hair. We have really amazingly trained people who can cut and color hair fantastically.

With that level of skill, you can create a look for somebody that’s not only really easy to look after, because it follows the natural texture of the hair and works for that individual, but it also allows you to change the style very simply by changing the part around, things like that.

AB: I’m sure you hear women say that they love their hair when they leave the salon, but when they get home, they can’t recreate the look.

MH: It depends on how it’s cut, you see. It has to be cut to work with your natural hair texture. If it isn’t, there’s no way that anyone can recreate that look perfectly. You have to accept what your hair will do naturally and work with that. That’s the key.

I always say that you should treat your hair like your skin. If people thought of it in that way, there’d be a lot less dry, damaged hair out there. People do things to their hair that they wouldn’t even consider doing to their skin.

AB: What is an essential product for hair?

MH: Nowadays, from a styling perspective, you need something that has heat defense in it, because there is so much ironing done now, so many more stresses put on the hair.

And then, I think, something that would re-moisturize the hair. Especially in a climate like Seattle’s, you need something very conditioning. Have a product that you use every day and one that you use once a week for deep conditioning, just like you would your skin.

AB: How often should we be getting our hair cut?

MH: Every six weeks, whether it’s long or short. There’s a commonly held fallacy that the longer your hair is, the less frequently you need to get it cut, when in some cases the reverse is true because the longer the hair is, the more prone to damage it is. It’s like anything, the prevention of damage is much easier than the repair afterward.

Hit me with your best shop: alisonbrownrigg@gmail.com

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