Joanne Farfan, Moroccanoil Elevated Educator, is Premier Beauty’s Featured Educator for September 2020. We’re catching up on what she’s been up to since our last chat.
Joanne Farfan, Moroccanoil Educator, is our Featured Educator for September 2020. It’s not the first time we’ve featured this expert on updos and braiding. We’re catching up on what she’s learned since
her last feature in 2016, and what she’s taking into her future for the beauty industry.
Congrats on opening a salon suite last fall! Looking back on your educator and stylist career, how have you grown?
Seven years ago, if you asked me to do an updo I would’ve said no. Now, I love doing braids and updos. I think being a part of Moroccanoil made me fall back in love with updos and gave me a greater love for braiding. As an educator, I’ve grown by watching other people educate. I’m always learning from people, including people in my classes. It’s about staying open-minded.
Are stylists different than they were four years ago?
Oh yeah. Completely. People have grown a lot. When I first became a hairstylist, social media wasn’t a platform. Now, social media is a platform, whether you’re a stylist working on commission or hourly pay or an educator. Your business is social media. If you don’t have that platform, I don’t know how you get by. That’s where a lot of people get new clients from. Everyone wants to be on Instagram, TikTok.
Are clients requesting the same looks that they were a few years ago?
In a way, yes. Braids are still a huge thing. A lot of the updos I do are braids. Balayage is a big thing; the money piece is a big thing. And, again, you’re still seeing a lot of undone updos. Nobody wants a clean, sleek, ‘90s vibe. It’s still an elegant updo, but with the pandemic, people are simplifying things in a way.
Ok, so we’ve picked out a few of your updos on your Instagram. Care to share with us how you got them?
Of course. For this first one, putting a modern twist on a chignon is a creation from one of our Moroccanoil collections. Using an elastic cord for ponytails is a game-changer. It secures your ponytail for a long-lasting updo.
A five-strand braid can make any updo fun and modernized. Let’s uncomplicate this beauty. Start by creating a three-strand braid on the left side, pinning off the fourth and fifth strands. Then, switch to the right side, always using that center piece to incorporate both sides. Create another three-strand. And repeat. Adding accessories can make this half updo good for any event.
Sometimes creating an unwoven undone updo can create perfection. Modernize this ‘do with some face-framing pieces and a wispy chignon.
You mentioned attending a Moroccanoil class this year that opened up your perspective on hairstyling. Talk about that!
Earlier this year we got to do training with the international team. One thing we did: Kevin Hughes, Moroccanoil Artistic Director, gave us some pictures of hairstyles and asked us to recreate them using our own methods. There were six or seven ways that people ended up doing things. It just shows that there’s not just one or two ways to do stuff.
Anything you learned pandemic-wise that you want to bring into life and work?
It’s changed a lot of things and made you sit back and think about what was important to you then and now. To me, it’s about being grateful. That’s one of the things that this pandemic has taught us. We take things for granted as humans. Be grateful for the little things. When you have it you don’t realize how much you enjoy it.
Thank you for your time and insight, Joanne. Don’t forget to log in or register at Premier Beauty to shop Moroccanoil.