As a way to cater to customers unable to afford as many salon visits ("A lot of my clients are people who have come to me for 28 years, and I think that loyalty needs to be returned") Stuart Gavert, co-owner of Gavert Atelier in Beverly Hills, Calif., changed the way he did hair color—starting with the cast of Twilight. "Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson were going to film in Portland, Oregon, for weeks at time and their hair color needed to last throughout the shoot," says Gavert. In particular, he elongated the life of Pattinson's brownish-bronze highlights by starting them "a quarter of an inch off the exterior of the hair, off the part and off the face line." According to Gavert, "if you put highlights right on top, you're going to immediately see regrowth. You want to begin highlights toward the interior so that a bit of your natural hair color hangs over them." Another root-hiding tactic: balayage. "Instead of that blanketed highlight look, the balayage technique involves less color than traditional foils," says Gavert, adding, "Because you're painting the color on, it also allows you to strategically place it in a way that's most conducive to a person's haircut and bone structure."
A year and a half later and Gavert says the "Twilights" coloring process is still popular. ("AnnaLynne McCord just had it done," he says. "She came in a couple months ago and hasn't had her hair colored since.") But for clients who prefer uniform color over highlights, Gavert says he sticks as close to their real hue as possible: "Malin Akerman came in about six weeks ago for solid color. We kept it close to her natural color so that the regrowth would be less apparent."
Another way to cut back on hair coloring costs: Sign up as a hair model-slash-guinea pig for a free or discounted hair service. In addition to nationwide salons like Aveda, Bumble and bumble, and Redken, local venues may also offer classes for their stylists-in-training. "We have class on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and charge $25 for a touch-up and $35 for highlights. It's become a really popular thing," says Gavert. But if you're thinking of booking an appointment with his team or your local colorist's, act fast—according to the master coiffeur, clients start signing up two months in advance.
