What the world's top hair colourist has to say to you

Celebrities have a lot to thank Wella's Global Creative Director of colour, Josh Wood, for. Possibly the world's top hair colourist, he has transformed many manes in the industry—think the locks and likes of Kylie Minogue, Rosie Huntington, and many more. He's also the man behind the beautifully dyed hair in the latest Prada and Gucci's campaigns. 

Hairdresser to the stars, Josh Wood shares his expertise in an exclusive chat with Vogue.

Sneha Mankani: Tell us about your journey as a hairdresser.

Josh Wood: Stepping into hairdressing was really by accident. I was studying in an art college and got a job at a salon one Saturday morning. Within six weeks, I left my college course and started off in full-time hairdressing, realising I fit in very well.

I think working with high profile people who trust their hair with me has been a great privilege. Opening my salon in London and working there for four years was a very high point in my career as it was a completely different anti-salon concept, bringing the best hairdressers of the world in one place.

Another high point in my career would be working with Wella Professionals and getting the opportunity to work with some of the best researchers, technicians and formulators in the world. I've worked really hard and long to find this new technology, Wella ILLUMINA Colour. It's the biggest breakthrough in permanent hair technology in 20 years! So it's quite a big milestone for me.

SM: The craziest hair transformation you've tried on someone.

JW: Without breaking confidentialities, I've taken some of the famous blondes black, and back to blonde again. Sometimes it's the subtle changes, the ones on the most transformational people who experiment with hair colours, that reflects a lot about their personality. One of the proudest and also difficult moments was creating Prada's Spring/Summer campaign, where we had to colour 50 models and we had gangs of red, platinum, and black colours. We worked for 30 hours nonstop to be able to deliever what Prada's vision was for that campaign.

SM: What would you say is a trending hair colour this season, and a classic one that will never go out of style?

JW: I think it's fair to say that most women feel slightly more glamorous and their skin tone looks softer when they go lighter. I don't think going blonde is a trend in Indian market. Most of the Indian clients that I've worked with want a softer and a smirky brown colour that blends well with their skin colour.

For me, it's the subtlety of different colours. I think going lighter will never go out of fashion whether you want to go all-out blonde or want to create a very soft caramel brown.

SM: Your advice to Indian women.

JW: I think a lot of Indian women colour their hair through the necessity of trying to cover their grey hair. I would like the Indian woman to experiment more with hair colours and with products that suit their hair and also their personality.

SM: How do you decide what colour to choose for a women? Tell us about your first consultation conversation that leads up to the final colour decision.

JW: I don't get the opportunity to work with very many new clients anymore. But when I do colour consultation once in a month in my clinic, I always make sure that before the client comes to get the colour done, we show them the colour ranges that might suit their taste and hair quality. Sometimes a client may want to go for soft caramel toffee colours (which happens very often), but the results might go different from their expectations. So it's very important to show them the entire colour range and the expected results. It's really important for a professional hairdresser to do a proper in-depth consultation and advice them on the right tones of colours according to their skin tone and eye colour.

SM: How do you like to keep your hair?

JW: I think, as I get older, grooming is very important. I don't colour my hair. I use some shampoos that make my hair look shinier and silver. Quite often people ask me the reason for not colouring my hair even though I'm a hair colourist myself. I'm not saying that I'm not going to colour my hair in the future!

SM: You're a Hair God to so many, who's yours?

JW: For me to be able to function the way I do now, I give credit to my yoga teachers. I know it's a strange answer, but I have lots of yoga teachers particularly one in New York – Jeev Mukty, and one in Mysore. For me, the yoga practice is my God as it has added that discipline in my life.