Shear Genius 3 - Episode 4 - Short Cut Challenge

Can this really be the 4th episode? My my time has flown by.

The contestants were gathered in the Shear Genius salon and after a retrospective of last week, Camilla Alves appeared wearing her naturally curly hair long and sleek, tucked behind one ear. She was wearing a gorgeous bloom to one side.

Janine Jarman looked amazingly cute. She is a doll and very petite. So she could pull off her outfit of short shorts, ankle socks and high heels and the cutest pink top. She had her hair pulled up.

Camilla said "Good Morning everyone. Welcome back to the Shear Genius Nexus Salon." She said "It smells good in here, huh?" The remaining contestants said in unison "it smells great."

Matthew, the winner of both challenges in episode 3 said "Walking into the salon today, it looked like a floral store. Camilla's got the little flower behind her hair and the little wave and everything so I'm definitely wondering what we're going to do."

Camilla announced that Matthew's winning style from last week's elimination challenge would be featured on the Allure Wall of Fame along with the other winners which included Janine Jarman's gorgeous big sea nymph blonde hairstyle from Week One, Jon's hair scallops from week two and Matthew's romantic heronine style.

Short Cut Challenge

The guest judge was announced. Harry Josh, Giselle's celebrity hairdresser and as Brig put it "a huge editorial stylist" was introduced. The challenge? Incorporating flowers into your hairstyle. The flowers were to be used in abstract interpretations "as if the flowers were actually hair."

Harry said "I've used flowers in multiple shoots and I think the most important thing I can tell all of you guys is to think smart. This can go cheesy very quickly."

Adee said "the only time I've every bought flowers is when I've cheated on my missus. And then I send my assistant out to get them." Nice!

Camilla said they would be judged on "creativity, execution, technical skills and overall style of your finished look."

Matthew was given first choice of the model since he won the elimination challenge last week. All of the models were brunette females with longer straight hair. The rest of the contestants had to pick flowers that matched them to a model.

Brian got the second model. April got the third. She told the camera "I feel comfortable around flowers. Springtime is my time of the year. It's an awakening, it's colorful, its inspirational and that's what I would hope my work to be."

When Janine's model was revealed she smiled and said "Hiiiiii" to her model. Very cute and very Janine.

Jon told the camera about his flowers "I think these are snapdragons, I'm not exactly sure because I'm not that gay but..." His model said "the purple one? That's Iris." Jon said "is that what they are? See what kind of loser I am. Here's my gay card. Do you want to revoke it?"

Brig in her signature ginormous hair bow said "I'm thinking cornrows, extensions, white flowers, synthetic hair. I'm going to do some crazy cool, pointed fringe if she'll let me." Brig told her model "you'll take a little bit of a risk but the hair will look really striking on you."

Brian's Secret Stash Of Facial Mud Mask

Brian told the camera as he smoothed some sort of "secret stash" of facial mud mask on his model's hair "I've been waiting to do this East African inspired hairstyle from National Geographic." He asked his model where she was from. She said "Hawaii" Brian said "alright, you know, you guys have lots of indigenous people there." She gave him a look. Hmmmm.

The Mystery Of A Shampoo Cap

Meanwhile Adee ask Matthew for color charts. He told Matthew he wanted to take "her virgin hair a little bit warmer." Matthew advised Adee to just do "a shampoo cap with a little bleach and a little water in a bowl" and her hair would "warm up really quick."

Adee said "really?" He seemed not to know about color shampoo caps. Hmmm. Odd. Then he told the cameras about how he charges many pounds for his haircuts and how he always has an assistant who holds the hairdryer, the clips and my combs and whatever I need. And he talked about how ridiculous it was that he had to "go back eight years" and relearn everything.

Janine's Take On Adee's Talent

Janine told the camera "Adee's a really good hairdresser he's just his worst enemy. There comes a point in your career where you've made it so far that he's so scared to look back and revisit things that we've all done. It sucks because he is so talented"

Harry visited Brig and asked her what she was going to be doing. She told him "I'm going to be doing cornrows up to the center and then I'm going to be using these (big white flowers) as a centerpiece." Harry said "that could be very interesting. I hope you have enough time."

Jon's Bang Extension With Flowers

Jon explained to Harry that he took a "bang extension" hairpiece and was going "to create a flower out of it". Harry asked how Jon was going to create a flower and Jon said "I'm going to backcomb the hell out of it and give her a Geisha Mohawk." Harry confirmed that Jon was going to "actually work the hair pieces" into her own hair.

Adee explained to Harry he was going to "section off a large triangle and cut some really sexy sophisticated wave in here and do an undercut with a flower." Harry's take? "That's a big tall order."

April's Flower Infusion

Harry told April "I see flowers. You're the first person to put flowers in the hair so far." April explained to Harry that she was working on the flowers while she was waiting for processing time. Harry said "Oh, you're doing processing at the same time?" He asked "so you're going to have to rinse this out and put all the flowers back in?" April said she was.

April explained to the camera that "I put a chocolate gloss on because I wanted the hair to be a tonal palette." She said she wanted "the flowers to pop" with her eyes and to create a powerful look.

Meanwhile Brian was busy with his "facial mud mask". Harry told Brian "this is looking very interesting." He told Brian to "keep working and think things through."

Guest Judge Demanded To Be Impressed

Harry announced "stylists you have one hour left. Impress me. Some of you are and some of you aren't."

Brian was fanning his finished model with a large leaf. He told the camera "I was hoping Brig didn't finish because I felt like she was my strongest competition in this, but at this point there's still no flowers." He said "I'm thinking, keep braiding Brig, keep braiding." Why? "Because the longer she braids the less time she has to actually do the challenge."

The Ronald McDonald Invasion

Harry asked Adee who had layered big red and yellow daisy flowers on his model "do you feel comfortable about the color choice?" Harry said "it's kinda Ronald McDonaldy a little bit with the yellow and red going on?" Adee laughed and said "red and yellow was a bit obvious. It was a bit like you were shopping for your nan who had three weeks to live, God bless her. Rather than pull it all down and start all over again I just thought 'F*** it' I'll do what I'll do."

Harry called the 15 minute warning time. Camilla called the one minute warning. Brig said "the second I hear one minute I know I can pretty much go like this - and she rubs her cheek - and time is up. I just basically do the best I can and wish I had 15 more minutes."

The Results

Matthew was the first one up. His model had a huge garland of orange flowers wrapped around her head and big pouffed hair spilling out the top. Harry's take? "Well I'll tell you Matthew I loved that when you started putting the orange petals around her hairline you ripped off the edges so it was clean all the way around. I was just hoping you were going to use a smaller amount. It became very big. I think it wasn't the best flower choice for you." Matthew said "I think that's totally valid."

Brian was next. He explained that he used "facial mud mask to create a texture and then used the colored spray to create a flower." Harry's take? "I love the burst of color. I thought the clay was genius. No product would have given you that texture and I loved that her head kinda became the bud of the flower. Simple, chic and I think it was a really nice look again."

April explained her inspiration "the minute she walked in I was like her eyes in the flowers." Harry "I loved that you took into consideration her eye color. This is Avante Garde work. The texture of the hair you created really balanced what the hair flowers were."

Matthew did not agree with Harry. He told the camera "April's was like a muppet, weird. It looked like it took her five minutes to do and I hated it."

A Hairstyle With Look Of Philip Tracey Hair

Amy's model had an updo loaded with violet orchids. Harry said "I'll tell you what I really did like a lot about this is the texture you started to create with the fuzz. What I really would have loved to see was that texture everywhere. That was the base of what you had built. I loved the twig on the top. I think it's actually quite genius, it looks like a Philip Tracey hat on the London runway."

Jon Responds With Double Finger Salute

Jon explained "Well I went through so many different ideas so then I just decided to color the bang piece purple to keep it simple and pretty with a little bit of an Asian feel to it."

Harry's take? "At the end of the day I think the color choice hurt you. Purple is very tricky to make it look expensive, chic and cool because it's so purple its very costumey. Jon's response? He said "snap, sorry if you didn't like it. Buh bye." And then he gave a double finger salute to the camera.

Janine's Drag Queen Flower Hairstyle

Next was Janine. Her model had very big hair with flowers embedded throughout.

Harry's take? Harry said "it was so nice to see just a little burst of color here and there." He said to the model "alright if you turn a little sideways for me it could easily be like a drag queen hairstyle. You know what I mean? Someone with these major nails and a frohawk so you really want to be careful with that."

Adee's Big Hot Flower Mess

Next up was Adee with his model wearing an updo layered with huge yellow and red flowers. Adee explained his work "first of all I'm kicking myself. I'm either playing it to mess or too safe. I cut her hair. It was all one length and I cut it concav layered in the middle. Then what I did. Bad choice of flower, number 1."

Harry's take "I'm just going to stop you before you beat yourself up too bad. The flowers, the colors were just not great. They looked really cheap. It wasn't that well executed. There were a lot of those elements that just didn't really help you at all."

Adee began explaining away his work and said " I've worked on big stuff, I've worked with David LaChappelle. Won awards for doing this stuff and I'm doing the wrong decisions. I'm making the wrong decisions. I'm thinking too hard, I f***ed myself basically."

Adee told the camera "my strategy was bad as good as George Bush's."

Brig's Big Mess With Flowers Shoved Into It

Brig's style like Brian had predicted was unfinished. Harry asked "Brig, let me ask you a question. Did you run out of time? Is that why you didn't get the flowers all the way down?" Brig answered "yeah, I ran out of time." Harry said "when we first started you were the most exciting thing. And then you hit a total stop. You spent so much time on the execution you forgot all together it was a floral piece. When you look at the bangs, it's kinda like a cocker spaniel thing."

Brig said "Harry, did you just call my model a dog?" Harry laughed and said "no, the hairstyle."

Janine told the camera "I think Brig's lacked complete vision. It just looked like a mess with flowers shoved in it."

Top Two And Bottom Two

The top two were April and Brian and the bottom two were Adee and Jon.

The winner of the challenge? Brian with his inspired facial mud. Harry said about Brian's work "what I really liked is that you stuck to your guns. You finished really quickly, it was simple, chic, you pulled it off with flying colors. I thought it looked great."

Harry told April "your color choice was absolutely perfect for her. I loved the fact you honed in on her eyes and so it was really well done."

Adee At Bottom After Shortcut Challenge

Adee knew he was in trouble. He told the camera "I know I have an uphill battle" but he indicated he would pull out all the stops for the next challenge. He said "I'm going to have to remember everything I was taught. Forget about negative energy. Forget about judges. Just do beautiful sexy work."

More Information

Please follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations.

Social Media Network Information

Please follow us on Twitter at: https://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets.