Confessions Of Beyoncé's Colourist

When Rita Hazan isn't concocting new formulas for her namesake hair-care line or working in her Fifth Avenue salon, she's colouring the manes of a laundry list of celebrity clients. You may not recognise her face, but you know her work — she's the artist behind many iconic Hollywood colour changes. Think: J.Lo's golden-brown locks, Mariah Carey's caramel tresses, and Madonna's icy platinum 'do. But there's one head of hair that's catapulted the New York-based colourist to the hair hall of fame: Beyoncé's.

The secret behind Bey's always on-point colour? Hazan says it's all about attention to detail. She takes notes on the hair's movement, how it reflects light, and the texture, all before even thinking about reaching for bleach. "My theory on colour is that you have to hit the colour the first time," she says. Translation: Hazan never uses glosses or toners after she's coloured Bey's (or any client's) hair.

Colour us intrigued. We tapped Hazan for all of her hair insights. Wondering how her relationship with Beyoncé began? Want to know the secret to maintaining colour-treated hair? Check out seven things we learned from our conversation with Hazan, below.

She gave Beyoncé her first set of blond locks.
Honey blond, the hue that's become an iconic part of Beyoncé's signature look, was all thanks to Hazan, the colourist says. Five years ago, when Beyoncé first wanted to lighten her tresses, her hairstylist Kim Kimble recommended Hazan for the job. According to Hazan, Beyoncé's natural hair is thick, long, and medium brown, so she knew she had to be careful to make sure she wouldn't damage her hair. "It's hard to make dark hair blond without it tuning brassy," says Hazan. "That's my specialty: taking dark hair and making it light, all while keeping it healthy. Even if I don't see her for three months, her hair never turns orange, and I think that's that most important part."

Sometimes Bey does her own colour.
Although Beyoncé is certainly devoted to her glam squad, she's not afraid to grab some box dye and touch up her colour between appointments. "She's good at it because her mum had a salon when she was growing up, so she knows what she's doing," says Hazan. "She'll play with it but she won't do anything crazy. If she needs to touch it up, she'll touch it up [herself]."

Beyoncé sets the trends, she doesn't follow them.
When we hopped on the phone with Hazan, we were itching to know what kinds of reference images Beyoncé brings in to inspire her colour. Turns out, she doesn't bring any. "She has to have her own look," Hazan says. The colourist's approach to Beyoncé's colour is to always push boundaries. "If you look at anything she's done, she's always ahead of the time, so she's always open to new and different ideas," Hazan says.

Slow and steady wins the race.
If you're thinking of going blond, Hazan's best advice it to take it slow. While many people think that they can go from dark brown to platinum blond in one session, that's just not feasible, she says. Instead, make multiple appointments and lighten your locks little by little each time. Her last piece of advice for aspiring colour chameleons? "If you relax your hair, go to someone that really knows how to colour it — someone that can colour relaxed hair specifically," says Hazan.

There's a trick to nailing movement, and lighting is key.
While it may be tempting to arrive at your colour appointment wearing a topknot, it's best to show up with your hair as you normally wear it. That way, your colourist has a better idea of how to place your colour. "If someone is going to wear their hair curly, you want to make the colour a bit more dramatic, whereas if someone is going to wear it straight, you want it to look more subtle," says Hazan. "[The goal is] to get it to look good on both curly and straight hair."

Lighting is another important factor to consider when choosing colour. This is particularly important for someone like Beyoncé who is often on stage. "If the lighting is warm, you want to use something that's [cooler], because you have to balance out what the stage looks like and how that's going to read to people," says Hazan. "Hair isn't going to look amazing in every single lighting, but it has to look good in 90% of lighting."

The right products are crucial.
Bleaching and dyeing your hair put a lot of stress on your locks. That's why Hazan created her line of products with ladies like Beyoncé, Madonna, and J.Lo in mind. "All these women blowdry, flat-iron, and curl [their hair] every single day, and colour is the number one thing they can't live without," says Hazan. Her products (which include shampoo, conditioner, hair gloss, treatments, and touch-up sprays) are formulated without sulfates, sodium chloride, or parabens, meaning they're gentle enough to use on fragile, colour-treated tresses.

Treat your scalp like the rest of your skin.
According to Hazan, if you have colour-treated hair, you can get away with washing your hair every three or four days, but Hazan warns against skipping too many days between washing. "I'm a believer in a clean scalp," she says. "I'm not a big fan of dry shampoo, because I feel like that clogs your pores." Your scalp is an extension of your skin, she explains. And like the skin on your face, your scalp should be cleansed and treated with care.