It was time.
It might be hard to believe, but for a beauty blogger, I’m pretty low maintenance when it comes to my hair. I probably get my hair done at max, 3x a year and I pretty much wait until the very last minute to get my hair done.
My hair was getting way too long — it was feeling really heavy (my curls were dropping out faster than usual) and my hair color was looking brassy beyond repair, which are basically all the signs I look for when I need to get my hair done.
After seeing so many of my blogger babes go to Stem Salon, I decided to pay them a visit.
Want to follow along? Keep scrolling to read what I got done at Stem Salon.
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THE SALON
Stem Salon first opened its doors about 6 years ago and has since done exceptionally well in downtown Walnut Creek. The salon is owned by Elizabeth V, an LA-trained colorist who wanted to bring the LA vibe to Northern California. The current location is chic yet welcoming (and deceptively large!) and will soon relocate to a new salon a few blocks down the road.
THE TREATMENT
I sat down for my appointment with Elizabeth and told her I needed the works: a cut, balayage, and tone. Elizabeth is a very experienced colorist, so we talked about my current hair situation and showed her some inspiration pics. She could see my balayage was so grown out and really brassy, so I requested an ashier blond balayage. For my cut, I just wanted to refresh the cut with more layers and shorter bangs.
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THE PROCESS
On my unwashed hair, Elizabeth worked on the balayage first: she brightened some pieces throughout my hair and brought up the balayage further up to blend the new and old balayage together. My hair processed for about 20 minutes. After my hair processed, Elizabeth’s assistant toned my roots and my ends separately to tone down the brassiness.
Next, I met with another stylist to get my hair cut. I also showed her my inspiration pics and she basically refreshed my last cut: shorter top layer pieces and shorter bangs. She took about 2 inches off and worked on the fringe so that it framed my face.
Next, she dried my hair, gave me a rough blow out, and curled my hair in messy waves using a Hot Tools curling iron. I think what stood out to me the most was how she styled my bangs — she basically blow dried my bangs in all different directions and when parted, she slightly blent the ends with her fingers while it dried so that it blended effortlessly into my hair. Lastly, she smoothed my ends with the most amazing smelling Kerastase serum.
In total, the entire process took about 5 hours, which is completely normal for the length of my hair.
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THE RESULTS
I was so happy with how my hair turned out! I can’t believe they got rid of all the brassiness and I really loved how I could see the baby lights towards my roots and even on my bangs. I’ve never had baby lights before and I think my balayage looks so much more blended. Although I’ve had lighter balayage on my ends before, I think with the baby lights, it adds a certain brightness to my overall hair color.
The cut was also amazing – my hair feels lighter and I can style my hair again so easily. The length of my bangs is perfect and I loved the way the stylist made my bangs look wispy (which makes it so easy to style).
THE BOTTOM LINE
I’d recommend anyone to visit Stem Salon, especially if you’re in the Walnut Creek area. Their current space is beautiful, but they will be moving a few blocks down soon. From what I hear, it’ll be totally Instagramable with a ton of windows, so I’m excited to visit them again when they’re settled in their new location.
Haircuts for women start at $70 and balayage starts at $150, see full services here.
Book appointments at the Stem Salon here.
