Highbrow Hippie Blog

Since last week, I’ve gotten SO MANY questions regarding our story mentioning Cleo’s postpartum hair loss and coloring her hair during this complicated + important time. So it’s clear that it’s time to have some real talk about it. Cleo first sat in my chair a few months after having her second child, and that first appointment involved more game planning than hair color, as her hair was in need of some serious care.

My friend and client Cleo Wade wrote a new book titled ‘Remember Love - words for tender times’, and I’d like to share a bit about it.I first read an early draft of this book when I was still freshly bruised from a traumatic experience in my life.  There was such an honesty and clarity in her words about heartbreak and friendship.  About feeling loss and finding ourselves again, that I ended up on the floor of her office with the pages in my hands, covered in tears from feeling a release that I clearly needed at the time.

Classic, rich espresso brunette, for the always elegant Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for the Invictus Games 2023.  I truly have a soft spot for beautiful brunette hair color. It requires a gentle touch when highlighting or low lighting and adding dimension, and depending on the season, can range from deep and striking, to glossy and regal. For Meghan, and the change of season, I relied on heavy low-lighting throughout the lengths of her hair, followed by layers of glossing for the ultimate movement and tone-on-tone reflection. The result is healthy, long lasting, low maintenance color with superior shine.

Happiest birthday, Cleo Wade. Peerless poet, wonderful human, fabulous friend, and one of my favorite curly queens. When I first met Cleo, her hair was in need of a bit of TLC. The effects of over-processing and back to back pregnancies had wrecked havoc on her hair - which is often the case. To get to where we wanted to go with her color, a complete reset was necessary. A fresh start. For curls to spring and bounce, and the color to be reflective, the cuticle has to be intact. Coloring stretches the cuticle, and if too much is done too fast, you risk disturbing the entire curl pattern. The question remained, could we get to vibrant, golden curls, despite postpartum hair shedding.

Highbrow Hippie started as a blog in 2012 but our story began long before that.   Our friendship began nearly three decades ago, during our time at Spelman College, when we were sales associates at the same clothing store in Atlanta. As life would have it, we both went our separate ways after school, with Myka heading to Paris for grad school and Kadi heading to the Aveda Institute in NYC and eventually, working at Frederic Fekkai.