Ms. Mariko Naka, 45 years old, freelance journalist has a two years old girl.

Although she would like to go to hair salon every month, as a busy woman, Mariko ask her hairstylist, Chiharu, to create a style which can be maintained without going to hair salon too often.

Mariko trusts Chiharu’s techniques and sense of beauty. Before Mariko met Chiharu, she had male hairdressers, but she realized that there are things that only Chiharu,  a female hairdresser can understand.

“Chiharu’s hair styling is like magic. I trust Chiharu’s sense and taste. I am so glad that I met her.” Mariko said.

There are things in common between the two ladies.  For example, Mariko prefers natural products for hair care as well as makeup, like Chiharu chooses natural hair care products for her salon.

“I like the atmosphere of “dua” the hair salon, with a nice interior designs and a lot of greens. It reflects the taste of the female owner.” Mariko said.

Mariko’s hair style is graduated bob with chin length.

“Mariko is a busy woman with her career and her little daughter. At the same time, she needs tidy and stylish hair style for work, so I try to create a stylish hair style with easy styling.” Chiharu explains.

For hair color, Chiharu choose 9-10 tone natural ash color, highlighted with weaving technique. The color adds texture and movement to heavy bob style.

Weaving technique is recommended for those who do not have a lot of gray hair. Instead of applying dark color to gray hair, apply bright color to hide gray hair.

Chiharu and her hair salon recommend “treatment color” and “treatment perm” for women over 40 years old. Those techniques prevent hair from getting damaged. Since gray color tend to damage hair, they also start using natural herbal coloring. This is becoming popular among people who are looking for natural and soft hair coloring.

We tend to hesitate to talk about gray hair, so probably it is easier to talk to female hair dresser about those issue.  This is another benefit for having a female hair dresser to talk frankly without any hesitation.

Hair Salon: dea

Hair stylist: Chiharu

Photo by Akio Nakamura

Text by Yumi Masuda