Spending time with: Blaze's Mana Dave

Last month, 81 finalists from 53 countries came together in Paris and competed for this year’s Young Talent and Colour Awards in Wella Professionals´ renowned International Trend Vision Award (ITVA). For this 8th Annual ITVA, La Halle Freyssinet was transformed into a Wella wonderland and finalists showcased their Trend Vision looks to a 2000-strong, global industry crowd with our neighbours across the ditch taking home the Gold award.
Seen representing New Zealand at ITVA above were Kylie Hayes from Moha Morrison Hayes Hairdressing in Dunedin (Young Talent) and Mana Dave from Blaze Hair Salon in Auckland (Colour), both of whom had super strong entries and were seriously fabulous ambassadors for the local industry.
As well as being a bloody nice bloke, Mana is an award-winning hair stylist, the Creative Director at Auckland hair salon, Blaze, and an international platform artist for Redken. I always love catching up with him – especially when his stellar blow-drying skills are involved! – and didn’t hesitate to take him up on the offer of a chat and a ‘do a not long ago. He was still buzzing after his trip to Paris, talking about the easy chic of the average Parisienne and how many examples of global style he saw during his time at La Halle. He said that once again he was struck by how strong the Kiwi aesthetic is in comparison to many other countries, and how influenced our beauty style is by the “darkness of New Zealand fashion in general, which creates some interesting undertones and some exciting shapes”. His own entry in the ITVA was light in shade but still super sculptural, and he says that it’s interesting tone exemplified the trend “colour for a good time, not a long time”. He says that this is a pivotal trend for summer “as it allows you to have a blonde story, but also to have a bit more fun with it that will eventually fade with time”.
He says that no matter if you’re a natural-looking caramel blonde like me or “a power blonde like Marilyn Monroe”, you have to be careful with your colour and your hair in general to keep it looking hot. “Going blonde removes all of the goodness in your hair so it’s your job to put it back in” he explains, “and the main thing you need to do that is protein – and lots of it. It’ll take care of the structural integrity of your hair and keep it from breaking and getting fluffy on the ends.” He loves Redken’s Anti-Snap to keep your locks looking lush, “and invest in a home care system especially for blondes that will help neutralise any unwanted gold tones that’ll leave it looking brassy”. He recommends Redken’s Blonde Glam range, which activates brilliance, clarifies colour and reinforces strength on all types of blonde hair. When it comes to brunettes this summer he says that the Balayage trend is still huge, as it allows for a little interest added judiciously to your natural colour and doesn’t requite too much commitment.
We all trash our hair over summer and Mana can’t recommend having in-salon treatments as often as you can enough to keep things in tip top shape. At very least, invest in a great at home treatment and actually USE it! Mana’s Blaze salon also operates the fabulous Pony Xpress blow dry bar in the Newmarket Glassons superstore, and they offer in salon treatments in combination with some seriously cool ‘do’s, “so why not just pop in and get both at the same time – you definitely won’t regret it!” And I can totally vouch for that - they do a wickedly good job, and it lasts!