#freakflagbyiana

[freakflagbyiana]

Why “David Bowie is god”

As my site turns one year old today, which is also David Bowie’s birthday, I thought I’d try to begin to explain the importance David Bowie has in my personal life and the effect he had, continues to have, on my career.

Childhood influence

My parents had fairly different musical tastes but the one major thing that overlapped was they were both David Bowie fans. My mom was also a Jim Henson fan so I grew up watching Labyrinth with her. I remember it was out of print for a long time and I was the only kid in the neighborhood with a copy that had been taped off of HBO. As a kid I remember being in love with Jareth’s hair itself, asking Mom if I could make my hair do that one day. She replied “Sweetie, that’s a wig, not his real hair” and it was the dream-shattering equivalent of learning that there was no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy all rolled up into one. As a goth teenager I really got into his freaky Ziggy era, finding the idea of being an alien heavily relatable. And when I discovered BowieNet when I was 17, to my surprise my parents agreed to pay my annual subscription... It was $70. I think most parents would be like “Your message board fanclub costs how much? HAH! No.” I won’t go into grave detail of my BowieNet life here, because I could write an entire book, but I’ll summarize it. It began in 1996, and behind the pay wall was lots of exclusive bonus content, access to concert presales and bnet-only events, exclusive chatroom Q&As, and a very active message board. This was before Twitter, before Instagram, before Myspace, definitely before Facebook. David Bowie basically created social media as the everyday form we recognize today. He didn’t post all the time but I would still consider him very active on the message board, for a busy top tier celebrity. His username was “sailor” although there were always whispers about his other secret accounts that he used for trolling. So he basically invented trolling, too. The community itself was close, there were always local meetups and many members would travel internationally to see their closest bnet friends, eventually including myself. I joined this community when I was still in high school and 17 years later I am still close to the friends I made back then. These people are my family, and they vary from all nations, all walks of life, all classes, all ages... The first time I met any of them was at my first ever Bowie concert and that itself was a bnet members-only show to launch the Reality tour, which was eventually known as his last tour. This pivotal moment in my life occurred on August 19th 2003 at the The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie NY. It was a small general admission venue, arguably a dive compared to the arenas he would play on the rest of the Reality tour. I was 18 years old and was in the process of moving to Chicago for art school. It was surreal to be seeing my first Bowie concert in a GA venue, and yet I knew 80% of the audience. David Bowie himself knew 100% of the audience, and you can hear him speaking to specific people in the bootlegs. I knew more people in the audience than I knew in my high school of 60 kids. A bunch of us were waiting at the venue early enough to catch him coming out to say hello while they were doing soundcheck. I didn’t get anything signed because all the members he knew by name were up in the very front of the group, as it should be. But I could still observe him from afar. He was dressed simply in a crisp white tshirt and white jeans, so the bright summer sunshine gave him a literally radiant, angelic glow. I’ll never forget his slinky catlike walk, and I’ve since never witnessed a creature with more grace.

Lessons I learned from Him

Freakflag began when my last salon closed, suddenly, due to #Austinproblems. As a fantasy color specialist, what I do is so specialized that not many places are going to do it well. The most stable environment for it, on short notice, is a mini salon.  As a hairstylist, this makes sense.  As an artist, this was (still is) terrifying.  I have literally painted myself into a corner where I am my own microcosm, a terrarium of rare creatures emerging covered in sunset locks and lavender hairdust...  None of this would have been possible without David Bowie. I very sincerely celebrate him as a god of my profession. For I am a witch and my profession is transformation magic. In many ways it is the magic of one’s true form, their true Identity. For example, I have many transgender clients who visit me in the early stages of their personal transformation. Sometimes they know what they want but a lot of times they don’t. I accept this task with great reverence for the importance of what I’m being asked to do. If they are not completely comfortable with the hair I’ve given them, it’s more than “a bad haircut will grow out if you don’t like it” - it can shape their confidence and that shapes the way people treat them. David Bowie is the Patron Saint of No Labels & Don’t Tell Me What To Do. The Patron Saint of the Gender Fluid & the Non-Binary. His iconic Ziggy Stardust mullet is the perfect example as to why I don’t attribute gender to my haircuts. Tell me, is a Ziggy mullet a men’s haircut or a women’s haircut? The answer is Yes. He taught me you can walk around with no eyebrows, a pale skeletal alien, and still feel your oats. It doesn’t matter if people “get it” because you “get it.” And you are the only person that really needs to “get it.” This is the lesson of aesthetic integrity. He taught me the importance of artistic integrity. At times he was a starving artist that created beautiful, profound things that no one quite understood or appreciated. But eventually he had a period of being a sellout that pandered to the crowd; it made him so sick of China Girl that he didn’t play it live for years after. I think it’s the period after this, from the 90s onward, where he found his true creative power. He knew he could achieve either end of the spectrum and balanced on that line thereafter. Blackstar being his best achievement in this regard. He taught me you can find your truest love later in life. Many goths say they aspire to a love like Morticia & Gomez, but I aspire to a love like Iman & David. Theirs is a real life love story that endured, and it didn’t happen overnight, she made him work for it! This is the big one... He saved me from flirting with suicide. I could write a lot about this too but I won’t right now. Here are the broadest strokes: As a sensitive, emotionally neglected, eccentric teenager I listened to a lot of angry music; Punk, Goth, Industrial, etc. The summer of age 16 was a tough one, I had been kicked out of one parent’s house and the other one completely left me to my own devices... So when I began flirting with self harm, the only person that noticed and snapped me out of it was a close school friend whom I will always consider a brother. This was about the time I discovered Bowie’s glamorous Ziggy era and it was the first thing that showed me “Truth, Goodness & Beauty” in my darkest hour. He showed me that being a great artist took time to cultivate your skills and not only would suicide mean I was achieving nothing, but self harm was a weakness that would eventually fester and I had to nip it in the bud. Bowie’s brother suffered from schizophrenia and eventually committed suicide so many of his works touch on the theme of your own worst enemy coming from within. A lot of goth music discusses it too, warning against rather than encouraging, but no one can make something relatable quite like Bowie. (For the record, a lot of that angry music is still my favorite! It has its place in the world) A lot of rock stars drank and drugged their way into an early grave but David Bowie was the one that survived and still managed to stay artistically and culturally relevant in the end. This is the main reason I celebrate him as a role model and a god amongst men. If he survived the 70s, made a clear decision to sober up, and could maintain sobriety throughout the 80s, he could achieve anything.

“Just a mortal with the potential of a superman” David Bowie, Quicksand

How I celebrate Him

For the last four years, I’ve been a DJ at Elysium’s New Year’s Eve party, a Labyrinth-themed Goblin King’s ball. And for the last three, I’ve co-hosted as Jareth himself... which means I’ve achieved my childhood dream of wanting to be Jareth with that fabulous hair and bedazzled tailcoat! This prepares me perfectly for celebrating his life a week later. There are a few “Bowie Weekend” events here in town. Drinks Lounge always has a Bowie Birthday Bash and Elysium usually has an 80’s night tribute or some other event in his honor. Then on the day itself I will take the time to clean my Bowie Shrine and think about all the times he helped me get out of a bad place in my life. Here you can see Instagram highlights of my Bowie Shrine. A few months ago, I got to work on a truly special project that is still super secret. But I can say that it involved recreating a famous David Bowie image and it was a great honor to be asked to do the makeup and hairstyling for this. It took all day, longer than expected, and we got about 300 shots... This weekend we got together again to edit them and in the end only 3 shots were picked. I can only imagine the process for the original shoot! I thought I was just invited along to edit because I was a Bowie nerd that wanted to be there and was ridiculously stoked on this project. But I was grateful to witness us work together as group on this tribute in its entirety, the three of us are perfectionists and we all had high standards but we also had methods of editing our standards for the sake of being practical. Unlike the shoot itself, this time a lot of discussion was had on the different elements that composed the original image and all three of us paid great attention to those details in the recreation. None of us expect to profit from it, this was hours of work that we each volunteered out of love of the art form, and reverence for David Bowie himself. The role I played in this image is a minor one compared to the other two people involved, but I am so terribly proud of us. I think He would be, too. Since I can’t post that image, I will instead leave you with my Aladdin Sane selfie tribute from this weekend:

★

[griffonramsey]

After a bit of a home hair bleaching disaster which literally melted a lot of the length in hair, I asked @freakflagbyiana to save what she could. This look is sort of Tilda Swinton / Thor’s Ragnarok haircut / Ruby Rose with some etching! The little jewel in the back was her clever solution to a big drip of hair dye from the series of misfortune events which led to asking my friend for her help. Thanks, Iana! (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJMU_T0nb2k/?igshid=164dgsh2hdw57

[chownails]

SO my feed has been slow but most of y'all know I've been moving into my first solo place! We can't all be as dope @kendallcutenails who btw I'm so proud of but now it's my turn! I just want to share with you some of my positive energy for the new year thanks to @freakflagbyiana @ianawi who came over and helped me learn how to protection spell my entire studio and brought over a new Tarot deck for the new year and also gave me my first protection amulet. She pulled cards for reading for the new year that is far as I understand has some of the most positive cards in the major and minor Arcana and I can't help but feel like this is really going to be like a stellar Year everybody and I'm so excited to be here with you for it! I just want to take some time out of my day to thank all of you who've been here since the beginning and everybody who's newer to the salon. It's really surreal for me because this time last year I was sitting in the salon by myself working on desks and ordering supplies and dreaming of what the space was going to be like once people were in it and slowly were coming on our first year. You've all made it so special and it's because of you that I can afford to live independently and happily it's because of you all that we as a team are supported and loved and we can do what we love to do and I can't tell you all how much I love coming to work I've never had a job like this before and I just want to thank @mymymaria & @jasonsdarling for seeing something in me and supporting me enough to bring me onto this project so early they've really changed my life I love you all thank you so much for 2018 I'm already so so happy about 2019 I hope you are too! @strobelightscience @vaqueero @jessicamariemarie5 @como_la_flores @foxyclaws @kendallcutenails @notorioushandjobz @abigailsviewofbeauty @elysecutewaxing @meganthewaxer @nicolenailedme @pretty_nail_gang @julianailsxo @haleys_cute_nails @ja_yonce @chloemarietattoos @hexcellenthands I love being around and working with you all, tell me if I missed anybody! (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsLrXwvFlaN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1uig93auac1ph

[freakflagbyiana]

💖 FULL COLOR MAKEOVER 💖 @punkrawkgrrl went from brown to hot pink in one day 🙀 This was a 𝟲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀, but we did it! 💕 🌈 If you want this kind of makeover : book Fantasy Color (Long). 🌈 If you want to get there in multiple, shorter appointments : book a virtual consultation and let's talk about it. 🤗 〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ #atxsmallbusiness #atxsalon #atx #atxhairstylist #hotpinkhair #512 #beforeandafter #beforeandafterhair #atxcolorspecialist #freakflagbyiana (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMuqQpPF0je/?igshid=x6i6qgqizy4a

[freakflagbyiana]

🏚 Fᵢₓₑᵣ ᵁᵖᵖᵉʳ ✂️ ⚠️𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚⚠️ A harrowing tale from 💔 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 to 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 💕 @circuitous_sam tearfully texted me after her hair was butchered by a baby hairdresser, who was fresh out of high school AND beauty school. It wasn't her fault either, she was simply inexperienced and this isn't a textbook haircut. The experienced stylist who was supposed to cut her hair (while the apprentice watches or helps) had to deal with business-owner stuff, so Sam got passed off to the apprentice... who should have been monitored. But #itsgonnabealright I told her, YES I can fix it, NO you don't have to shave your head... I recognized it immediately, the textbook graduated bob that the baby stylist was trying to do. But Sam asked for a "blunt" bob with "choppy" layers... and ended up with what you see in the Before pictures. 😬 #bigoof Serendipitously, fixing this took us back to our first haircut together in May 2019. So - 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝘽𝙤𝙗-𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙮, 𝙎𝙖𝙢 🥂 〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️ #ｂｉｇｏｏｆ #bluntbob #ifixedit #badhaircutfixed #atxhairstylist #atxhair #atxsalon #atx #austinhairstylist #austinsalon #512 #freakflagbyiana #keepaustinweird #2020problems (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CH_zK4OFPrY/?igshid=ea1jqprkr77v

[freakflagbyiana]

🍁 𝕬𝖚𝖙𝖚𝖒𝖓 𝕾𝖚𝖓𝖘𝖊𝖙 🍁 A beautiful mohawk waterfall of changing leaves and volcanic sunsets. 🌋🍂 . Pravana violet, neon yellow. 🔮🌟 SFX hi-octane orange, nuclear red. 🍊🍓 Joico ruby red, magenta. 🥀🌺 . 𝟲.𝟱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿 color process and total makeover thanks to the 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝕾𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑, available in the subscription section.🏷 . Scroll through to see the stunning before and after transformation! 💥 . #freakflagbyiana #freakshowspecial #sunsethair #halloweenhair #autumnhair #neonhair #do512 #atxhair #atxsalon #atxfantasyhair #austinbeauty #austincolorspecialist #austinsalon #austinhair #austinhairstylist #atx #512 #nativeaustinite #keepaustinweird (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGeBHsClwC8/?igshid=fjcihv38pxyi

[freakflagbyiana]

𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖜 🌇 𝕬𝖚𝖙𝖚𝖒𝖓 𝕾𝖚𝖓𝖘𝖊𝖙 🍂 Working with #UVreactive color is my absolute FAVORITE thing forever 😬 @skye_7734 merely inquired about neons and I was like 👀 "𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝙄𝙎 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙋𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙀 𝙉𝙊𝙒." 🩸 . 𝟲.𝟱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿 fantasy color marathon, courtesy of my 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝕾𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑 🎪 Located in the subscription section when booking online. 𝕷𝖎𝖓𝖐 𝖎𝖓 𝕭𝖎𝖔 🐈‍⬛ . What you are seeing glow in these photos is Pravana neon yellow, SFX hi-octane orange (highly diluted), and SFX nuclear red. I also used 3 other colors, but you can't see them in glow mode so I'll list those later. 🔥 . For now, enjoy the glow of this spoopy autumn sunset 🌆 ��� . #freakflagbyiana #freakshowspecial #autumnvibes #neonhair #sunsethair #halloweenhair #austinsalon #austinhair #atxbeauty #atxhair #atxfantasyhair #atx #512 #512hair #uvreactivehair #nativeaustinite #keepaustinweird #🎃 (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGbUqOtF66c/?igshid=lodf5m54qxki

[freakflagbyiana]

Pretty without the Poison

I have had my eye on the “Toxic-free” or “Clean Beauty” movement for a while, since I switched to sulfate free shampoo around 2013. As a small business owner, finding the balance between my realistic budget and the ideal products can be difficult. The struggle is fully real nowadays, as the industry is currently completely polarized. It was true before the pandemic and it is has only intensified as we compulsively sanitize everything we touch. On one side we have the evil empire of giant corporations that is basically the embodiment of the boogey man: testing on animals, buying out small companies and destroying their formulas, weakening your immune system or causing cancer... On the other side we have the coven of luxury hippie companies that cost more because they make everything in small batches with handpicked pollen from the butts of free range bees and oh btw there’s no preservatives so you have to use this $70 cream by next week or it gets moldy...

Now, I lean towards the latter camp, I’d rather be woo-woo than toxic. But for everyday consumers it’s not a question of ideals, it’s a question of budget. The cheapest ingredients are synthetics and carcinogenic, the best ingredients are natural and expensive to process gently and efficiently. Meanwhile most of us are not in the 1% tax bracket. The money for “real shit” has to come from somewhere and it can be difficult to see your beauty routine as “real shit” when you’ve got rent and car payments due. I get it, I’m in the same boat.

The thing to be cautious of with Clean Beauty is, just because its “natural” doesn’t mean its automatically good for your hair. After all, lead is natural, arsenic is natural, cocaine is natural, opium is natural... Start with making sure your products are toxic-free, but do further research. Be weary of alcohol, salt, and silicones. I’m making a more detailed glossary of specific chemical ingredients but here is a basic understanding of the terms I use.

Surfectants: detergent, soap, the thing that makes the bubbles happen. Used to cut grease but at the price of stripping moisture. Think “dish pan hands” but your hair. I’m not a fan of surfectants because the more moisture you strip, the more you have to put back in, and your scalp usually produces more grease to compensate. When I was using shampoo I was also having to follow it with a deep conditioner mask every time. Now I don’t use either. (see my previous blog, what type of shampoo should I use?)

Endocrine disruptors: Such as parabens and pthylates. These may not affect your hair in a noticeable way, you may not have an allergic reaction or breakage. But there are so many in the products we use every day that the harmful affects easily accumulate over the years. It can contribute to hormone imbalances like PCOS or endometriosis. Fragrance/Parfum/Perfume: Basically the get out of jail free card for chemicals. A company can put anything in a fragrance and does not have to disclose what it is, in the name of preventing corporate espionage. Every successful luxury brand product has a generic dupe and that dupe needs to smell as close to the original as it can. However, fragrances often include endocrine disruptors. Not to mention, for the number of people who are highly allergic to “fragrance” - It’s unfair that they don’t get to know what chemical they are actually allergic to. Silicones: Think of them as plastic food wrapping... It coats the hair with “plastic” with shiny results but at the cost of preventing moisture from getting in. Clients who have used silicones for years have to go through several clarifying washes to get rid of all the buildup. Afterwards the hair is bound to feel rough from the combination of silicone damage and clarifying shampoo. It’s like having to sand a piece of furniture before re-varnishing, it feels rough at first but the hair is much better off after recovering. Shea butter: This is one of those things that used to be good but is somewhat problematic now. It’s natural but the cheaply processed shea butter (what most people are using) is just as bad at coating the hair and blocking moisture as silicones. Cold-pressed high quality shea butter can be okay, so to determine if the product is “good” or “bad” requires deeper research on the specific brand. Sodium Chloride: Table salt. A natural, non toxic ingredient that is still bad for your hair in large quantities. If you have ever been to the ocean with fresh haircolor, you know. I once spent a week in Tulum; as an experiment I started with fresh dark teal and lime green hair and I returned with pastel minty blue. Salt is powerful when it comes to stripping haircolor and moisture. I would avoid in shampoo, but with styling products like salt sprays? It really depends on the rest of the ingredients, imo. Generally, if the only product you use contains salt and your hair feels dry or the color is fading - stop using it and try something else. But if your scalp and hair feels okay, no harm no foul. Charcoal: Everything with charcoal is so tempting because it’s my favorite color, so TRUST I get it. But think about this - if you take birth control or other important medication, they warn you not to eat or drink anything containing activated charcoal while those pills are in your stomach. It is so good at “detoxing” that it detoxes the medicine right out of you! Dentist’s have denounced charcoal toothpaste as too harsh for everyday use. It wears down the enamel in your teeth, which is much stronger than your hair. Charcoal is natural but powerful, use sparingly.

The thing I struggle with, the thing that prevents me from being fully on board with this movement, is I’ve tried expensive natural organic small batch small business brands and was also disappointed by the results. Innersense Organic Beauty: A brand I had heard a lot of good things about. Mostly from people who use them but also from my co-worker who specializes in curls. My coworker has been following the Toxic-Free movement more closely due to her specialty being all ends of the curly hair spectrum. She explain to me that shea butter is becoming a big problem, but that the shea butter contained in Innersense was okay because it’s high quality and all of their ingredients are cold-pressed. I raised an eyebrow about the shea butter but the cold-pressed ingredients sounded promising, so I tried it anyway. I ordered an intro kit for $66, which is a lot of money to shell out on something that you may completely hate... and it turns out I did! I wasted no time putting Innersense’s “Color Awakening Hair Ceremony” to the test. As with most lines, the conditioner isn’t really problem, but the shampoo is a dealbreaker. Innersense Color Awakening Hairbath is natural and organic but instead of surfectants, the main cleansing ingredient is Sodium Chloride... common table salt! I used it a couple of times and immediately watched my neon green color come out of my hair and circle down the drain. I hadn’t used any type of shampoo since I started using New Wash last year, but Innersense faded my color just as much as my sulfate-shampoo days. Not only that but my scalp was so dry, I had more scratchy flakey scalp problems after shampooing with Innersense than I do after BLEACHING MY ROOTS. That’s insanity to me! Your scalp should not be more upset with your shampoo than it is with a chemical bleach solution that, if left unattended for hours, can melt your hair off. Reverie: This is brand that I’ve seen all over instagram alongside brands I use already, and it looks like it’s a really good quality line, too good. I inquired about wholesale and trying it out. The line is so expensive that the sample kit of all 7 products is $157. If it’s too expensive for me to try right now can I really expect my clients to pay $52 for Ever hair oil or $72 for Cake scalp tonic? Furthermore, I fundamentally can’t get on board with brands that make you buy multiples of all the products in order to get wholesale pricing. It doesn’t work for my small space and if I only sell one product from that line, then I’m stuck with a bunch of expensive stuff that no one wants. I also am turned off when I want to see an ACTUAL ingredient list and they only list the luxury ingredients and the ingredients they don’t use.. but won’t provide the list itself. We need to normalize TRANSPARENCY about ingredients! So this is where I find myself at a crossroads. Is it really too much to ask for something to be organic and natural AND color safe? I fundamentally believe it is chemically possible to do both, but then it is very difficult to find brands that people can realistically afford in a pandemic-induced recession...

Good News, Everyone! Clean Beauty brands I’m using now

Cult+King: This line is so rad! I straight up swiped their “pretty without the poison” tagline for the title of this blog. It’s the first brand I’ve truly felt an ideological kinship with. They don’t gender their products (because that’s stupid), they prioritize people and planet over profits, and everything is so natural and nontoxic that you can use the hair Balm on your face. I love that they use beautiful glass bottles and offer refills in recyclable aluminum containers. I do have one little issue... Their only offering for shampoo is in bar form, which is cool, but it has charcoal in it and is not recommended for colored hair. Which would be 90% of my clientele. The shampoo bar smells AMAZING and I really want to use it, can we please get a charcoal-free option? I’ve been using Jelly on myself and my clients. Full disclosure, I was worried about it because it also contains salt, but it hasn’t faded my color and it actually feels more moisturizing than drying. I’m guessing it’s because the main ingredient is banana leaf juice, not the salt. I love their Tonik, it smells amazing and I use it to refresh my curls in the morning. It’s also a scalp tonic that can be used if you have any break outs or, in my case, ingrown hairs from shaving my mohawk myself - quarantine problems, amirite?

Hairstory: New Wash is what I have been using instead of shampoo for nearly 2 years. It was so nourishing that it helped me realize I actually have curly hair now! Plus my hair never fades, which is great for my clients but problematic for me when want to change it up. It’s a higher price point for New Wash, but actually $40 for a product that replaces shampoo + conditioner is no different to paying $20 for each one. You scrub your scalp (with their amazing scalp brush) and leave it in a few minutes to condition, so you’re using half the product. New Wash scents are all botanical, free from chemical fragrance. Their styling line is also very versatile, I use Dressed Up before diffusing to set my curls in place. They also have refillable aluminum containers which can be recycled (along with the scalp brush) and their refill packaging can be flat packed, creating much less waste. Plus they have an amazing subscription option so you can buy refills in bulk and get the best value for money. Afterworld Organics: A promising line I found often tagged alongside these other two brands. I just started using them and I’m in loooove. They, like Hairstory, provide a combination of scalp brush and 2-in-1 soap free hair cleanser. Hair Glow comes in two fragrance-free scents, Royal Lavender and Amberwood, which is great because on rare occasions I’ve met people who hate lavender... they exist. Moisture Lock is my absolute favorite! It’s used like a gel and dries with extreme hold, but it leaves your hair insanely shiny and soft. Hair Healer is a heat protectant that also nourishes and smooths. Texture Mist is a gentle, buildable salt spray. Afterworld does a great job of explaining the use of salt in their Texture Mist “Atlantic sea salt and Polyquat 20 work together to increase texture and volume while hydrating the hair.  Polyquat-a powdered extract made from plant cell fibers- binds moisture to the hair, acting as a barrier against the drying nature of the sea salt.” Overall, they do a great job of explaining the use their ingredients. Their About page contains a note on “alcohol ingredients” that talks about fatty alcohols being different from isopropyl alcohol. All of these lines have something in common, they focus on glass, recyclable, and overall less wasteful packaging. They are concerned with the long term effects of their ingredients on the human body and the ecosystem. These lines also allow me to earn commission while offering products for sale online for your convenience. This is imperative for a small business like mine to stay afloat. With such little retail space and in the middle of a recession, small businesses need all the help we can get. No more overhead cost for me to gamble on selling products. You can order what you want and it comes right to your door without fear of breaking quarantine. This is especially valuable for those of you working from home and, due to being high-risk, still having zero contact with people outside of your household.

On principle, I use brands that assume your intelligence, not depend on your stupidity to sell their snake oil. The integrity of their ingredients can speak for itself.

Stay safe, stay clean, and...

Beware of false prophets.

[freakflagbyiana]

Just a reminder, this includes doing hair at your home, too. Which is illegal for me to do in normal circumstances, but especially now. I won't risk my license for your haircut. I know we all lookin shaggy right now, try to enjoy the fellowship in that.🤝 . 📈 Unless we see a downslope in #covid19 cases and deaths, I don't see any reason to rush into opening when I work in direct contact with people. 🐌 TWC has said it will continue to pay unemployment to those who can't return to work for high risk reasons, and I will be making my case for that.🗃 . I know people are eager for my reopening (including myself!) and I appreciate that. I also appreciate your patience in waiting just a little longer. Tentative reopen date is June 1st. Not being in the first wave is actually a good thing, do you really want someone touching you who is a voluntary petri dish? 🧫 . On that note, before I see the rest of my clients, I will be working exclusively with the immunocompromised or whoever is at highest level of isolation due to their health. IF you choose to venture out to come see me (I geddit if you don't), I want you to be assured that I haven't had heavy traffic flow with the public yet. Hit me up if you want to be on the immuno-crew waiting list! 📋 . It shouldn't add more than a week of wait time for the rest of you, so don't worry! I'm not ready to form a regular waiting list yet, I'm taking this one step at a time. ⚖ . Thank you for your continued support. Remember there are @fsgprints Freakflag tshirts for sale for 6 more days only! ➡️Finesoutherngentlemen.com/collections/freakflag⬅️ DM me for clickable link. 📲 . #AUSTINWILLSURVIVE #atx #512 #atxsalon #atxstylist #austinsalon #austinhairstylist #freakflagbyiana #reopeningtexas (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_p9tsBFcza/?igshid=b7fw6j5mzntx

[freakflagbyiana]

⚠️ 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖋𝖑𝖆𝖌 𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔰 👕 𝔭𝔯𝔢-𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔬𝔴‼️Thanks to @fsgprints 💸 these shirts are available for preorder in their Austin Will Survive store for 2 weeks only ✌ so get 'em while they're hot 🔥 . All proceeds will go to directly to the 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖋𝖑𝖆𝖌 𝖇𝖞 𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖆 reopening efforts (sanitation products, etc) 🧼 . ➡️Swipe for colors & size chart➡️ . Printed on sustainable USA-made @bellacanvas shirts 🇺🇲 . Original logo calligraphy by @late.fate ✍ . 𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖐 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖘𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙‼️ . 🖤 #freakflagbyiana #atx #austintexas #finesoutherngentlemen #fsgprints #artistssupportingartists #512 #austinite #austingoth #atxnative #atxgoth #golocal #AUSTINWILLSURVIVE #KEEPAUSTINWEIRD 🖤 (at Fine Southern Gentlemen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Vd9T8lOBq/?igshid=kx2y9ntbw2cw

[freakflagbyiana]

íԵ'Տ ɑӀաɑվՏ ՏմղՏҽԵ Տօʍҽահҽɾҽ 🌅 especially on Keira's horizon ⛅ . #sunsethair #phoenixhair #austinsalon #austinhair #atx #atxsalon #atxhair #atxbeauty #512hair #512 #mysalonsuite #freakflagbyiana (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9m5OwKF4no/?igshid=1qj974owmnbpj

[freakflagbyiana]

I took this picture before work for #beautifulcatladywednesdays and then he never posts it when I'm prepared, but I'm sharing it anyway.... . Hello, it me, @ianawi of #freakflagbyiana 🎪🏴 . Think of this as an introduction post but an introduction for the cat behind the woman.🐆 . This is my precious baby ��� 𝕂𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕪 𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕪 😻 named after her size because she is a perma-kitten. Found as a six month old feral kitten in a snowy alley in Kansas City, she never grew into full grown size. She's 10 years old and people still think she's a baby cat.... so really I should have named her Claudia after the Interview with the Vampire character. 🐱😻😸🐟🐟🐟 #catlady #catladylife #catladiesofinstagram #catsofinstagram #INSTAKITTY (at East Austin, Austin) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByoivY3lp8T/?igshid=1orqo3uorw4sh

[freakflagbyiana]

🎂 𝕳𝖆𝖕𝖕𝖞 𝕭𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖍𝖉𝖆𝖞 𝖙𝖔 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖋𝖑𝖆𝖌! 🎂 #freakflagbyiana officially opened its doors for baby's first haircut one year ago today. 🕯 Thanks to everyone who believed in me! Thanks to everyone who helped me open! I am so very grateful! 🤗 and toasting myself in the mirror today, too! ☕ 🎂 #atx #austintexas #atxsalon #atxhair #austinsalon #austinhair #512 #austinsmallbusiness #atxsmallbusiness (at Freakflag by iana) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsyWsctF4mb/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1g4k30yknyhsv

[griffonramsey]

New hair by @freakflagbyiana! #opalhair #mermaid #hairmagic (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEu8E0jHXTV/?igshid=1jrza4zxvreq3

[freakflagbyiana]

A little over a year ago I had the honor of working on this Bowie tribute piece with @singlelash + @danieldidomenico for the release of their Heathen cover single. I did hair + makeup and I had to get his hair to dry really flatly slicked back before we could break it up like this... Watching Daniel work to get all the effects right was pretty amazing though, and Nic being able to nail this song in the first place is very impressive. 👏 Proud of y'all 👏 Check my story for the Spotify code to give it a listen! 🎧🎶⚡🎶 #Repost @singlelash • • • • • • Surprise! As many of you know, I’m a huge Bowie fan and today I’m happy to reveal a cover I recorded of his beautiful track ‘Heathen’. I even recreated the iconic album art with my friends @danieldidomenico and @freakflagbyiana ! Along with an original b-side, this whole project has been a fun way to pay tribute to the man I consider like a musical father! It premiered today on Somewherecold! (Link in bio!) In their words: “They do the track more than a justice and, with their own gorgeously dark flare, enhance the track’s more dulcet, darkly melancholy tones. Nicolas Nadeau‘s vocals are a beautiful double to Bowie‘s own rendition of the song and the acoustic guitar that flows throughout the track picks up on those more subtle currents that inhabit the original.” ***** @somewherecold16 #singlelash #davidbowie #bowie #heathen (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJzRBR9Fy57/?igshid=pnjzzlfrbbk

[freakflagbyiana]

Why your Fantasy Hair costs so much

For years, it has slowly come to my attention exactly how much I've been undercharging which is a common problem with fantasy hair artists. There are several major factors contributing to the cost of fantasy hair services: the time it takes, the experience of the cosmetologist, the expense of quality chemicals, and the hair you're working with, the canvas (as it were) for the art that is fantasy hair.   I want to talk about this multi-layered problem, the dilemma facing fantasy hair artists in general and those specifically in Austin.  Part 1 : The part that applies to all fantasy hair artists In general, it's difficult for any visual artist to know what they're worth, which is one of the reasons I felt okay about trading art school for beauty school - in the latter, you at least have ballpark idea what you were worth upon graduation AND there is more demand for your art. But fantasy hair is complex and, as such, is far closer to visual art than to a flat-priced service like a haircut. Haircuts vary in price due to factors like tools used or hair length or whether a shampoo and style is included. In the landscape of fantasy hair, however, the sky is the limit! You can get a single fantasy color allover, a multi-hued wave design, tiny rainbows on every single strand or a pixelated hair design that reveals a pikachu when you comb it a certain way. (This exists!) Throughout my career, I've struggled with finding a consistent pricing structure. At my last salon, the owner would often point out that I was undercharging, but it was something I found difficult to recognize for myself given our price structure and internal, non-competitive pricing conventions. Now that I'm running the business myself and in charge of my own pricing, I’ve been able to see how vastly I was underpaid. I desperately needed to develop a fair and consistent pricing structure - one that could accurately reflect the cost that goes into each individual fantasy hair creation...    Good fantasy hair is demanding, a single sitting fantasy hair service takes double, triple, quadruple processes, unlike say the single process of dying your hair black. The processes multiply both the time and the amount of chemicals needed compared to your standard, single process permanent color. Like any quality ingredient, good hair chemicals are expensive to begin (sidebar: a LOT of corporate research has gone into pushing the limits while maintaining the integrity of your hair, see Olaplex, and stay tuned for a future blog on that very subject shortly). On top of this, many of the best canvases for fantasy hair are people with lots of thick hair. Much of the time, I’m using 10 ounces of bleach or more on a person before we get to the fun fantasy color part. One head could easily take 20 ounces of lightener/color. To put this in perspective, fantasy color tubes come in 3 ounce tubes, which means I can easily need 4 tubes for one person’s head - the overhead cost adds up very quickly.  I adore doing complex color layouts, but the more complex, the more time it takes to create. An allover color melt of 3 colors can easily take 4-5 hours, more if you need color correction underneath that. What many people don't realize is that expecting all of that to be done in a single sitting is expecting A LOT. I’ve had experience with these kinds of single session hair transformations, while maintaining hair integrity, for 20 years now. I generally know what’s possible in a day and what is going to fry your hair. And when no one else can do it, I probably can. That's why I have earned the title of Hair Wizard. I enjoy doing single day transformations but the majority of people who want fantasy hair don’t understand the true expense (in money or time) and in many cases can’t afford what a one day transformation should cost ... and that's where my sympathy used overpower my need to make a living and I'd undercharge. This became scary to me personally because of some real life issues I had to face over the past few years. I found myself suffering from severe neck and back problems because of the physical strain of my job, but I din’t have the resources to afford a  chiropractor. The vulnerability I was facing forced a long-needed decision to update my pricing structure. After consulting with other artists, I chose to start pricing by the hour - as a colleague advised me, it's the only way to make the pricing totally transparent and fair.  Pricing hourly allows people to choose up front how much they want to do (and pay for) at once. This opens up options particularly in situations when people have requested a complex service then told me they cannot afford the quoted price. If you cannot afford the entire transformation in one day, an easy solution is to break it up into multiple appointments a week or two apart. If you're planning it for going out of town, then book your hair appointments as far in advance as your plan your plane tickets so that there's not this sudden panic to get your rainbow hair done in one day. Charging hourly allows both me and clients to choose how many hours of my effort they want to spend on their hair. While planning ahead may not be the most exciting thing in the world, it is MUCH better than attempting to do it yourself and messing it up. Or, worse, going somewhere you think is going to be cheaper, having them mess up your hair, and then paying more to have an experienced artist like myself fix the color and correct hair damage. Beautiful fantasy hair like is like every other luxury good or service - you get what you pay for.   Would you sit down for a meal at Uchi without having the money to pay for it? 

Would you spend a whole day picking out a Porsche and then be shocked by the sticker price?

Would you order a craft cocktail and expect it to cost the same as a can of Lone Star beer? What I do is the craft cocktail of hair. I use top shelf ingredients, I take the time to do it properly, and the result is going to taste better than what you could achieve at home.  

Part 2: the part that applies specifically to Austin, Texas Here I’m specifically addressing the “ATX Demographic” - What do you really want from your hairdresser? There are a few reasons why I’ve had many people migrate to me and stay for years. Skills aside, I don’t push products, and I don’t trick you into living a higher maintenance hair lifestyle than the one you want to live. In fact, I’m more likely to tell you you’re washing your hair too much, and if I do recommend a product, it’s because the integrity of your hair needs it, like medicine. Like I’m a doctor, your hair is sick and here’s the prescription if you want it to stop breaking off. You don’t even have to get the medicine from me, I just want you to get better.    But throughout my entire beauty school and career, I've always heard the same thing, "HALF of your income comes from selling retail products!"  Uh, no.  No one here wants to use products in their hair every day. My haircuts last a really long time because I have to structurally engineer a magical way to get your hair to "do that thing" with zero products and styling, as per the request of my clients.  The reason why? THE CLIMATE. We have nine months of 100 degree summer days with high humidity swamp weather. Its literally too fucking hot to bother. No one wants to wear a bunch of pomade or mousse in their hair because after 5 minutes of walking outside it will be dripping down their face. Or, you’re swimming all the time anyway. Another reason is TIME. 99% of my clients would rather sleep in for an hour than style their hair in the morning. I'm not complaining, because I'm from here and I GEDDIT, because all of the above applies to me, too! I love being able to put a lot of products and effort into my hair when I feel inspired or for a special event, but I don’t have the time or energy to do it every day. And if I did do it every day, I’d have to wash my hair that often, which I passionately preach against as it overly dries out your scalp. And if I, a professional hairdresser, don’t have the time or inclination to do all of that every day of the week, I know that the vast majority of you are not going to either. I always say that fantasy hair is “passive effort” in your hairstyle. People can roll out of bed and get compliments on their disheveled hairstyle when they have fantasy hair, which (while not impossible) is less likely to happen with their natural haircolor. Since fantasy hair is a high dollar ticket item, it’s unrealistic to expect these same people to spend $100 more on products and 2 hours of styling their hair every morning. It would be cool, but it’s not the climate we live in.   So, here are the products I can retail in Austin: shamp/cond, curl creams, dry shampoo, deep conditioners, heat protection, color/toning assistants (like purple shampoo or UV protection), various stuff for flyaways (like a water wax or hairspray), various stuff for texture (texture spray or hair powder).  Now, given the MASSIVE amount of stuff available in our industry, that's an incredibly short list. I know Freakflag has a limited selection of retail right now, but even if I was fully stocked on all those things, I might sell one or two products a week if I'm lucky. My point being.... In Austin, with my specific demographic, retail does not realistically supplement my income. You want your hair to be healthy enough to have pastel hair and still look good with minimal products? You want your haircut to be structurally engineered so that you can sleep in another hour? You want a hairdresser that doesn't give you a product sales pitch at the end of every appointment?  All of that means my prices have to make up for the lack of product pushing I'm doing.  Part 3: The revolutionary part Let's talk about tipping!  One time I lightly complained about an occasion where people didn't tip for a $200 service, I don't normally complain about people but I wanted to use my frustration as an opportunity for advice from other service professionals. I found the best advice from an unusual source - legendary producer Tony Visconti, who chimed in with his two cents on the subject:  "Only Americans have to have this anxiety about tipping. Everywhere else in the world service people earn a living wage." Very true, I've known this for a long time since I was married to a Brit in my early 20s. But this little reminder inspired a revolutionary moment of epiphany - I realized I was my own oppressor, but I can also be my own savior.    Thus, I restructured my pricing to include 15%-18% gratuity on services. (I rounded down from 20% for nice even numbers.) There is still a tipping prompt at the signature stage of Square checkout, but the percentages are 5%, 10%, and 15% so that you can tip additionally if you deem me worthy, or you can walk away without doing any math at all and still know you contributed to my service. Math-free, guilt-free. I’ve had this structure for about a year now and it is so much easier! The concept of the single serving size mini salon was already revolutionary to begin with. It minimizes drama, provides a private experience, and allows a much more customized environment that is perfect for specialized artists like myself. I hope this tip-included idea catches on amongst my fellow independent contractor cosmetologists and maybe someday we can change the outdated concept behind tipping in the service industry as a whole.  Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of the secret world of fantasy color and fantasy hair artists.