Listen, we love the early 2000s. It was an incredibly fun and iconic time in America. The clothes were edgy, and the tabloids were all anyone read. Some things have stayed the same, but some things have drastically changed. When it comes to hair, it's night and day.
People often mention to us how it used to take a lot less time and money for their hair to be done, "back in the day". We then proceed to ask these questions: How did your hair look and feel at that time? How long did your hair look good for before you needed to go back to the hair salon? How much did rent cost at that time? The questions could go on and on, but the photos speak volumes. Here are photos of celebrities in the early 2000s and again in the current year:
Ashlee Simpson is a great example to show how even single process hair colors have changed over the years. With her black hair color, you can see that her hair lacks shine and life. With her recent copper hair color, her hair is shiny and looks a million times healthier. This type of copper, hair color also takes a well trained hairdresser to create the right formula whereas the lifeless, black hair color could have been done by anybody with any kind of hair color. The products we now use in our hair salon are a lot more advanced than they were in the early 2000s, and, because of this, they are also much more expensive and take skill to master.
Nicole Richie is another great example when it comes to hair color. In the early 2000s picture, it looks as if her blonde was just thrown on her hair. The line of outgrowth is stark, and the actual blonde color itself is dreary. In her current photo, her roots are not as noticeable because the blonde has been meticulously highlighted on. Her hair is also a beautiful tone and full of life. We can assure you that the time and product it took to create both looks is drastically different due to the amount of detail the current-day photo requires to achieve.
Jennifer Lopez is one of those people that always gets compliments on her hair, and we understand that. She has also been open to the fact that not all of her hair is actually her own, and we compliment her for that because it sets realistic beauty standards. This blog post is about hair color though, so we want to touch on that- In both the 2000 photo and the current photo, she has highlights. The difference between them is that the 2000 highlights were not glossed and the current ones are. In the 2000s photo, you can see where her natural hair color had been highlighted (the yellow-blonde part) and where previously colored hair had been highlighted (the orange parts). Now, her hair is toned to give her a gorgeous caramel colored highlight that blends into her natural color and suits her skin tone impeccably well. The extra product, thought, and time really paid off to amplify J.Lo's look.
Lindsay Lohan's hair in the early 2000s vs. now is night and day. In the early 2000s, she had blonde highlights that were applied with the quickest highlighting technique there is- a slice; there was no toner added either. It was a few, quick highlight slices thrown on the top of her head, a shampoo, and her hair was done. In her current photo, she is not only a redhead again, but she has highlights as well. If you can't tell, that's because they were done incredibly well! In order for highlights to look natural, they are typically applied in a diagonal formation vs horizontally. The pattern is also well thought out, and the hair is toned with a formulation created by the stylist. This all takes a lot of extra time along with extra product, but boy does the extra effort show!
Last but not least, we're throwing it back to Jessica Simpson's hair in 2000. You may argue that the money piece is currently in style, but it's not in style like this. In fact, you can see that highlights are even added to the back of her hair as well, so it's very hard to say what the desired look was here. This is, again, a very quick highlighting job; not to mention that the hair looks synthetic with whatever products were used. Nowadays, Jessica Simpson wears her iconic blonde, but she wears it where it is very well blended into her natural brunette hair. This looks so much better, but it also gives her more time between hair appointments. What might have taken an hour in the 2000 picture now probably takes about five hours in the 2023 picture.
In no way are we dissing the hair of the early 2000s. It's what we all knew and wore, but as time goes on so do we; we learn and evolve. The hair most hairdressers are doing now takes much more time because it truly is both a science and an art. We take great pride in our work at Steven Papageorge Salon. Do current hairstyles take much more time to achieve? Yes, and we take the amount of time needed to create the desired look with the hair we are given; not everyone's hair is the same so not everyone's hair will take the same amount of time and product. We understand things may take more time and money to achieve now than they did in the past, but we also understand everyone's hair looks a million times better and that most clients are also getting more longevity out of their hair than they ever did before.