Style Refresh, the Alex Brown Way (Ouai)

I was listening to Fat Mascara‘s interview with Jen Atkin recently and she said something that totally reaffirmed how I feel every single time I get a haircut. She said that it takes your hair two weeks to adjust to a style. The way she explains it, your cuticles go through a freakout period and people tend to get frustrated because they don’t think they can style their new haircut.

I KNEW IT.

This makes complete sense.

I will walk out of a salon feeling brand new and then after that first wash get confused. The hair looks good but my normal styling techniques won’t work the way I expect them to.

Last month, I got a cut from Alex Brown, who worked alongside Jen Atkin for three years. So, yes, she worked on a certain family that begins with Kar and ends with Dashian. But that’s only part of her resume. Her Instagram is one big inspiration board with styles on some of the ‘gram’s biggest names. Don’t let the star power give you an impression of inaccessibility — Alex is a Midwest girl by birth (Minnesota!). She actually went to school at Mario Tricoci in Chicago before venturing to LA and she’s found her way back and opened up a one-woman salon in the West Loop.

She gave me a phenomenal trim – it had been 11 months since my mega chop – and yet, it still took me a minute to settle into it. It’s just our hair cuticles. Because Alex totally nailed what I was going for and totally understood me when I said I preferred one length with piecey texture at the ends. It was a relief to actually trust that I wasn’t going to end up with face framing layers (ala the Rachel, and yes, it still happens.)

The salon is wall to wall Ouai, as you would expect, and she’s full of tips and tricks on how to style your hair. She actually put the flat iron in my hands at one point so I could try out her technique. I tend to overextend my wrist but she goes much softer so that there’s just a slight bend in the hair. She recommends going tighter with the strands up front for more impact. I loved how it turned out and have been adpating my technique at home. This was a style refresh beyond just the cut but also how I do my hair every day.

Alex books over email (bookings@alexbrownhair.com) and schedules her appointments in between her trips around the world with the #JenAtkinArmy.

Her cuts will cost you $150 but, Chicago, she’s your go to woman for a new style. And, that is worth much more.