It was so helpful to receive advice on how best to handle hot irons, choose the right hair colourings, look after our hair if we have albinism and other hair types, and mix up our style along with other hair-related know-how.
We also discussed how caring for our hair can help with our overall sense of well-being and confidence.
We want to thank Anna for joining us and sharing so much practical advice and guidance.
Watch
You can watch the original session, here:
Anna embarked on her hairstyling journey as a student of performing arts some 20 years ago. Recognising the powerful impact hair had on a person’s confidence and self-esteem, Anna shifted her professional focus to hairdressing.
Anna works with some of the biggest names in the music industry (Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa) and moves between London and New York to work on fashion shoots, music videos, campaigns and shows at London Fashion Week.
She says “I was always interested in the idea of being able to create characters through hair and makeup and design.”
Anna is passionate about hair care and styling and has been giving specialist advice to blind and visually impaired people since 2019 when she launched the Hair & Care initiative.
She explained to us, “The reason why I really wanted to advise on hair care and give tips and tricks, especially to the VI community is that my father was blind, he had RP… he once explained to me that… it’s really important for me to make sure I look and feel my best, it helps me to feel confident and helps me to feel seen.“
“Looking back on my career I can see the impact it has on artists and celebrities when they walk our on set feeling and looking their best, it helps them to feel confident and empowered.
It’s so important that’s something we’re all able to have and have access to. It was really important for me to get to a point in my career where I could offer and give my services back to the community.”
We collected lots of top tips and advice along the way including links to blind and visually impaired Youtubers and tutorials, you can access this resource below.
For the second half of Life Hacks our discussion turned to makeup with our very own London Mentor Project Officer Shani Dutta.
Shani shared lots of advice from her time as Beauty Ambassador at Bare Minerals and our LOOK Mentors were on hand to give support and advice on how they applied their makeup.
Shani talked about her go-to make-up brands, advice on how to position our eyeshadow, how to apply foundation and eyeliner and gave us many tricks of the trade.
LOOK Mentor Alice said “I really enjoyed the hair and makeup event last night. I have learnt so much and found it really interesting and helpful.”
Top Tips on Hair
- Some hot tools come with gloves to protect you.
- Always use hot tools on dry hair and section it into four sections with clips. Anna gives advice on how to use hot tools in the recording.
- The best way to choose the right hair colour for you is to book a consultation with a colourist and find a colour that suits your complexion.
- Special treatments for afro hair are important, especially if you want to wear your hair out.
Top Tips on Makeup
- Practice makes perfect. It can take a few months to get really confident.
- The Body Shop and department stores can offer good advice on products and where to apply them.
- To apply foundation, use your fingertips or a sponge rather than a brush. Brushes are more difficult to use to blend out.
- It’s important to match the colour of your undertones (skin tones) to find the best colour foundation for you. Remember your undertones will change throughout the seasons.
- There are some very good makeup organisers online and you can use these to organise colours and shades of lipsticks or eye shadow. This can give you more independence when applying your makeup. You can find links to some of these below.
- Tinting your eyebrows and eyelashes can be a great way of taking the stress out of applying makeup.
- Looking down as you apply your mascara will help avoid too many smudges.
- Waterproof mascara can help against smudging too, especially with an eyelash lift too. A travel mascara that has a smaller wand can be easier to control. And put your foundation on after your mascara!
Useful Makeup links
- Eyeshadow tape – LINK HERE
- Eyeshadow cut crease effect applicator which can be shipped to the UK – LINK HERE
- Eyeliner stencils – LINK HERE
- The Blind Beauty Guide by Lucy Edwards – Kindle edition – LINK HERE
- Make-up Organiser – LINK HERE
- Lipstick organiser – LINK HERE
- Rotating organiser – LINK HERE
Make-up YouTube Tutorials
- Mirrorless Makeup with Molly Burke – Tutorial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvOZQweFOZg
- Blind Make-up Tutorial – Easy, Simple and Quick – Lucy Edwards – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aqjjWl1lEE
- Fashioneyesta Tutorial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUq5nT03xxc&list=PLXtlCa_FCAf_tSOrVdqhzgiQNLPBV_B-1&index=2
- Beauty Hacks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8O-mKmLCTc
- Fashioneyesta Starter Kit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eArDorYR32M
- Rae Green Make-up tutorial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia2t9rEssYk
Hair YouTube Tutorials
- Fashioneyesta How to curl your hair – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11ZUmDTnHoo&list=PLXtlCa_FCAf-H-kiCM40yl7qYc6PIovNr&index=3
Visually impaired Makeup and Hair YouTubers:
- Emily Davidson AKA Fashioneyesta – https://www.youtube.com/user/fashioneyesta
- Lucy Edwards – https://www.youtube.com/c/lucyedwards
- Molly Burke – https://www.youtube.com/user/MollyBurkeOfficial
- It’s Emily – https://www.youtube.com/c/ItsEmily96/featured
LOOK Life Hacks is a monthly online discussion group, to entertain, support and empower visually impaired young people aged 11 to 18 years old.
To register for future events click on the button below.
