I had heard about byu-ti (hair salon) for over a year: been invited to events and just never made it there. Usually the events are charity-oriented and that’s part of the philosophy of salon and Natasha Sunshine.
I cover a lot of salons and I visit a lot of salons. I talk to a slew of hair people and if I could get to NYC to visit there, I could book treatments for 2 weeks straight and never hit the same place twice. LA’s sprawl across the basin, valley and into the OC, means there are lots of salons. While the tabloids might have you thinking that there are very few great salons in LA– there are actually too many to count. However not every salon is right for every body or head of hair.
Once you have been to one hair salon, they are pretty much all the same — right? Huge NO!! I know that I have been to a lot of salons– goodness knows, I will never forget the person who turned my blonde hair orange. (How could I? It took almost 6 months and four different colorists to get it back to semblance of normal color –minus about 4 inches of hair though)
I tend to look at every salon fairly but with a bit of skepticism. I won’t ever forget the Fekkai events I have attended and never once been introduced to Mr. Fekkai. It’s all craziness in the beauty biz and yet I have salons I like for certain treatments and others I really like a lot for everything. Why don’t I go back? Sometimes it’s the distance, sometimes it’s knowing that I won’t be able to get that specific stylist or colorist because they are booked solid; out on an editorial shoot or just flat out $$$$. That said, there are about three or four that are on my short list of salons to frequent. I think there is a new #1–byu-ti!
Skip the celebrity clientele– though there is plenty of that. People only come back if the hair treatments and customer service are top notch!
- Byu-ti has both!!
It’s all about listening to the client– listening to their concerns as well as great styling and color. Pureology and Redken are the products of the house. Byu-ti is a Pureology flagship salon— the ONLY ON on the west coast. The ambience is amazing: no drama here. It’s all about respect for each other and the clients.
The salon is byu-ti and it’s in Santa Monica almost at the Third Street Promenade and within reasonable walking distance. The salon is deceptive from the outside because it looks tiny. It isn’t that tiny– unless you get there when “everyone” (meaning staff) is in the house.
The vibe is incredibly friendly, mellow & relaxed.
Byu-ti’s Natasha & Lara Talk about What Makes Byu-ti So Popular from stevie wilson on Vimeo.
Lara Liscott got hold of me and my hair and we talked quite a bit about it. The low-lights I had added to the uber-blondeness seemed to be drab and I thought it looked a bit muddy. The ends were frazzled.. though I had been using deep conditioners and the cuts were coming at regular intervals now since the various keratin treatments were growing out and the first one from January had grown out to the ends, and I needed those lopped off.
One of the first things we did to my hair was wash it and then create a blender boost conditoner that will have me sitting under this odd dome machine that has a super-micro-misting machine that will have the hair cuticle open and thus be filled from the inside out with the a conditioner + treatment (several options here. I think I chose shine).
Byu-ti Blender Micro-Mist Conditioning Treatment from stevie wilson on Vimeo.
You sit under this machine and it feels a bit odd at first but you start to get lulled into a near-comatose state of relaxation. Given my drive up the freeway, I really loved that.
Here’s what else I loved: everyone was so friendly, asking me if wanted water, tea, anything. It was calm, despite it getting busy and I was comfortable (sometimes I get anxious over hair cuts or colors that could possibly go wrong.. and this was one of the few times I wasn’t worried at all.)
Lara spent a lot of time looking at my hair color, talking about the differences between hair color brands and what she thought my hair needed. She liked the basic presentation but felt that what was making it muddy was a toner that wasn’t really necessary considering that the color brand last used was known for being matte. (Matte I don’t need. Shiny, shimmery– that’s what I do want). So we went with this translucent color that does handle grow outs and grey/silver strands (yes.. I have some grey coming in– just not a ton of it.)
Lara was patient, precise and even noted that she was doing the same highlight previously used on me (and the one that I had learned from Roman who did my color at B2V). It makes for more dimension — and I mentioned the schematic on doing foils on a 45 degree angle and she said that was what she did. I was not worried. I was not concerned. I just let Lara do her thing. That’s very much unlike me. I am usually quite quizzical about the color and cutting processes. I typically watch everything so I know what to expect. However that’s not what I did this time.
When highlights were done, we talked about the trim and she cleaned it up and put a bit more shape and movement into my hair. It looked amazing. It felt perfectly “me” ! Hair was super soft, shiny and really beautiful. Kudos to Lara and byu-ti. I like interesting cuts but when someone goes too avant garde on me, they have to show me how to deal with the grow-out process and it gets frustrating because I go default on the look. This was my look — which Lara cut a bit more to the middle so I could split the hair down the middle or to the left part.. (or right).
It’s easy to style. I find that blow outs are easy and fast.
This is just video #1 & #2 there are a couple more videos to add in that will be styling tips that you can grab your netbook or laptop and haul it into your bathroom and do your hair, step by step with Natasha Sunshine.
With those videos I will include –or maybe do a separate– post on the Pureology styling products that were used on my hair at byu-ti and also now available. LOVE them! Wow. I am so impressed with this new collection and it smells so nice too.
Gotta love that! This is a GREAT place to go
www.byu-ti.com
Thankyou to Natasha for all the time and Lara for amazing hair treatments. I think I want to come back.
Stevie Wilson, LA-Story.com
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