Stylist Kazumi Morton Perfects the Art of Color

Hair Health and Skin Tone Are Integral to Kazumi's Philosophy

Kazumi Morton has a passion for color and true talent that has been polished by years of experience and dedication. She has a brilliant ability to transform hair color while complementing skin tone, and knows how to incorporate the hottest trends into beautiful looks for her clients.

While Los Angeles is known for its ubiquitous blondes, the ombré look has recently taken the city by storm. Now that the two-toned Drew Barrymore look has faded in popularity, the current trend is much softer and natural looking. Kazumi creates the perfect gradual dark-to-light look by adding highlights to the tips of hair and blending them well, sometimes adding highlights around the face as well. Kazumi finds inspiration in her children’s hair, which is naturally lightened from the sun, to produce realistic results.

While lately many people have been shying away from red hair because its trending cycle was down, the color is making a comeback and Kazumi knows just how to approach it. This summer, she says, will see shades of copper, strawberry blonde, and apricot. Kazumi adds “sun-kissed” highlights to red so the color has dimension and looks natural.

For brunettes, Kazumi reaches for colors that are more “woody” in tone as opposed to metallic, such as butterscotch and caramel. The challenge is to find a balance between warm tones, which reflects light, and ash tones, which absorb light. She adds subtle highlights, since the same all-over cover can look inky.

Kazumi approaches blonde with caution, since over-highlighting damages hair. In spite of the platinum blonde excess in Los Angeles, Kazumi insists that less is more when it comes to highlights, and there is much technical skill involved in creating natural-looking highlights. As with any color, Kazumi carefully selects the right blonde to complement her client’s complexion.

While Kazumi can fix just about any color-challenged mane, there are occasionally the necessary exceptions. Unwilling to enable peroxide addicts, Kazumi is not afraid to turn down a client if more color would further damage over-treated and fried locks. She sends them home with some great conditioner and a hair-care regimen until their hair is healthy enough for another treatment.

About Kazumi Morton

After graduating from the Vidal Sassoon Academy, master colorist Kazumi Morton was taken under the wing of world-renowned stylist Stuart Gavert, of Gavert Atellier, for two years as his assistant. She has worked on such celebrities as Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Christina Applegate, Shannon Dougherty and Cheri Oteri. Kazumi currently works her magic at the Neil George Salon in Beverly Hills. A true workaholic, Kazumi also teaches stylists thermal straightening methods for Milbon-USA.

For more information and before/after images please see Kazumi’s Tumblr at http://hairbykazumi.tumblr.com/or Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hair-By-Kazumi/213483175357561.