Sheer Genius 5/30 Recap: She Bob, He Bob, I Bob, You Bob

[PhoneGrrrl]

Sheer Genius is ABD…all but done; or, if you like, Anthony, Ben and Daisy, the lovely final three contestants who all seemingly get along well. If you’ve been following this whole season, you may be in amazement that this is, in fact, a typical Bravo reality show. There was no accusations of cheating in the fourth episode. No one got unceremoniously booted off for running away from production or manhandling a contestant. And there was only one really annoying guy, but even then, he didn’t get that much screen time. (And no, I don’t mean Tyson or Boogie, I mean Andy Cohen.)

Obligatory fawning over the final three.

This being the final episode, our three remaining stylists are excited to find out what is in store for them on their last challenge. They meet with Rene in the salon, and before they learn what tasks await them, Rene saunters down memory lane for a little while. Ben, we’re reminded, won a couple of quick challenges but was in the bottom two several times; he has let his natural talent come out. Anthony, Rene says, also started out strongly, winning one competition on his own and one with Daisy. He escaped elimination in the period hair challenge, and has exhibited grace under pressure. Rene then says Daisy impressed the judges right away and was in the top three in six out of seven challenges and won two, including the last one. Her wet look from the photo shoot is now on the Wall of Doom Allure Wall of Fame.

After again reciting the prizes yet again—apprentice, cash, etc.—Rene introduces the final challenge. The stylists will have to create three looks in three hours on three models; the judging will be based on cut, color, and creativity, as well as how well the style matches the outfits the stylists pick for their models. One of the cuts has to be a take on Vidal Sassoon’s classic “Nancy Kwan” bob, one of the styles must include coloring the hair, and the third look is a free choice. Additionally, the stylists will draw lots to see who goes first to pick the line of clothing they will choose their models’ outfits from. In the break room, there are three racks of clothing, one from each of Luca Luca, Dina Bar-El, and Cynthia Rowley.

I *heart* Vidal Sassoon.

Before anyone can get to drawing lots, Rene introduces Vidal Sassoon. He is such an agreeable guy; he hugs everyone, is super nice, and compliments each stylist on their hard work. The guy has been in the business something like sixty years, and he could not be more gracious or cool. I now love Vidal Sassoon and forgive him for all of those ridiculous hair product commercials in the 80s. Vidal has an ulterior motive for being there, of course, but it’s a good one: he’s promoting his charity called Hairdressers Unlocking Hope, which is a charity with a plan to have stylists build (or sponsor the building of) a neighborhood in New Orleans in November, 2007.

Choosing the looks.

Vidal exist, leaving everyone atwitter with his infectious warm fuzzies, and it’s time to pick wardrobes. Daisy doesn’t get an advantage from having won the prior challenge, but she draws the first choice anyway. She goes with the Luca Luca collection, picking one black dress, one white dress, and one black and white dress. Anthony drew second choice and he picks Cynthia Rowley’s collection, which, frankly I don’t care for. Her stuff is boxy and makes twigs look lumpy. He chooses black and grey looks and tells us, for the first of 3,458 times, that his theme/story for his hair styles is going to be “modern movement.” Ben is last and has to go with the Dina Bar-El, and chooses three green dresses. His theme is a journey from outer beauty to inner beauty.

With nothing left to do for the day, the stylists head off to some open air nature place to shoot personal footage. This may be akin to trying to soften the edges on the usual contestants, but these guys are so damn likable, it just seems a bit pointless. We learn Anthony’s mom died giving birth to one of his siblings and he came to the US at age 24. Daisy says she’s the underdog, has immigrant parents, and comes from a little town. Ben says he really could use the money, and plays up the mid-west aspect of his background.

Brought to you by the letter “S”.

It’s the final challenge, and the stylists meet Rene back in the salon. The models are pre-selected for each stylist, based upon the clothes that they picked out. Rene reminds them that they are going to be judged on technical skills, creativity, and matching the outfit.

One of Ben’s models pose somewhat of a challenge. One girl, with super long dark hair, does not want it cut—she fears she may cry if it gets too short. Why this girl is a hair model is unanswered. Ben’s “story” is showing the transition from outer beauty to inner beauty; he plans on showing this by starting with a “Hollywood Glam” style, making the middle one somewhat glam-ish, and the final style being one that would be found on a girl he’d hang out with in Chicago. I’m simply relieved the “story” doesn’t involve dogs, French art schools, and puffy skirts.

Daisy’s theme is the “S” curve, which she calls the “Marcel” wave; it apparently has nothing to do with Ross’s monkey or a mime, but is so named after the French hairdresser who came up with it about 100 years ago. From what I gather, it is supposed to look like the typical flapper hair waves of the 1920s. Daisy is going to do the Kwan bob on the tall, pale red-head, do some “big S” thing with the model with the long dark hair, and do pin curls on the third model. Of course, Daisy being Daisy, she’s going with the pin curl plan even though she’s never done them before. I guess she’s never been really bored on a rainy Saturday, ‘cause I have and pin curls are a beyotch.

Anthony has his own model who doesn’t want to cut her hair. He tries to convince the girl that taking off about four inches of hair will not, in fact, kill her. He plans to do dimensional color on the girl with the bob, going lighter underneath and darker on top. He again tells us that the styles are all about internal movement of the hair.

Fast styling worthy of Edward Scissorhands.

It’s now time for the classic “working really fast” montage, tied in with cuts of the trouble and drama that the stylists experience as they go. First causing trouble is the power supply to one of Daisy’s stations. Her Marcel irons (i.e., really small-diameter curling irons) are not hot at all. She’s finished the redhead’s color (she lightened the red to a really nice shade) and Kwan bob, and she wants to put a crimp in it, but can’t. Daisy, in desperation, grabs the one hot iron—about a 2 inch diameter wand—and puts in one “wave”. It looks like that little crimp you get at your hairline when you wind the iron the wrong way with a lump below. Apart from the lump, the red bob looks nice. Daisy also has trouble on the girl she was pin curling; before even getting to the curls, Daisy went to highlight her hair and spilled the color mix on the floor. Then, once she finally got the girl in the pin curls, they did not dry in time. And the last girl—the one with the big, dark hair—that style took much longer than Daisy anticipated. Poor girl was running around faster than she talks.

Anthony seemed to have it going the best; he’s a calm guy who has been styling for a long time. But then Rene comes over and starts making him second-guess everything. Rene is downright evil with his snide little comments—will the judges really like that? Anthony finally tunes Rene out and works on his Kwan bob.

Ben’s troubles lie in his decision to do, with fifteen minutes or so remaining, an up-do, one of his weakest skills. He struggles to get the hair of the model (the one who didn’t want her hair cut) tucked up in the back. Overall, Ben is pretty confident, most likely buoyed by Daisy’s mad dashing and obvious troubles, and Anthony’s fairly standard styles.

Style Showdown

The three hours have passed and the models have gone through makeup and dressing, and it is time to do the runway show.

Daisy’s Kwan bob is up first. She is wearing a cute black dress, and, although you can’t see it in the picture, she’s got a crimped “S” curve on the left side of her head and it looks odd.



Daisy’s next “S” is on the girl with the big, voluminous hair. She’s wearing a pretty white dress that contrasts nicely with the darkness of her hair. The volume, depleted in this photo, was more Barbarella-esque on the runway.



Then there’s this poor girl, Daisy’s last model. Her highlights are pretty obvious (maybe using color off the floor wasn’t a great idea) and the pin curls are a mess because they didn’t dry in time. The model tries to rock the Clara Bow look as much as possible, and her black and white dress is cute.



Anthony’s Kwan bob is first. He’s colored her hair, and it moves beautifully. Unfortunately, she’s in a sad Rowley sack and it does nothing for her hair—it’s not in the before and after shot, but trust me, it’s there. Someone needs to stop Cynthia from cutting up Glad bags and calling them dresses.



Next up for Anthony is another girl who apparently didn’t want to get her hair cut that much. He’s shaped it into a long look with bangs that fade into her hair. She’s also got a sack-y dress on, but her hair is super shiny and flows really nicely, distracting us from the dress.



The last look is from the blonde model who was more vocal about getting the four inches or so of her hair cut off. She not only got this cut, but she got highlights making her hair even more blonde. Why the make-up people chose to give her raccoon eyes—not even smoky, but black-rimmed entirely—is beyond comprehension; they looked even darker on the show than in the picture.



Ben’s up-do is his first look out of the box. From the front, it looks great. The girl’s face is clear as a bell, she looks pretty and all is well for his “Hollywood Glam” look. Then she turned around, and it’s over. She had pins everywhere and hairs sticking out in all directions.



Ben’s take on the Kwan bob is his second look, the transition piece from Glam to Everyday. He is the only one who replicates Vidal’s bangs in the Kwan bob, but, as Sally vocalizes later, one side is higher than the other. There is a reason this girl is tilting her head.



No, that is not David Duchovny reprising his character “Denise” from Twin Peaks; that is Ben’s last model. Her modern shag-like cut is supposed to be the cool cut that is worn by a woman who’d hang out with a guy who has ear plugs in his lobes. Actually, the cut is nice and looks good on the runway. I think this girl just was not happy about having her picture taken.

How to say “shake it” without annoying.

The models are brought back out to sit in front of their stylists for question time. Daisy explains her “Marcel/S” theme, and says the word “Marcel” more times than it was said on the last season of Top Chef. Sally says Daisy spent too much time on the color processes, since only one girl needed to have color. She also didn’t like the lump/wave on the side of the bob. Michael Carl says the bob would be perfect if there were no lump. Vidal was complimentary on the pin curl look, saying the shape of the style matched the girl’s cheekbones. He also loved the color on the bob, and had the model shake her head to show the movement of the cut. Rene needs to take lessons from Vidal.

Anthony discusses his modern movement story, which still doesn’t sound like a “story” to me at all but more a design concept. In any event, Sally loves that you can’t see product in any of the three model’s styles and that the hair is so shiny. Michael Carl, proving to be quite the non-entity, says he’d move the part on the bob and thinks the blonde style looks like 80s mall hair. I think it looks like Peter Tork’s hair. I doubt Michael Carl knows who Peter Tork is anyway. Vidal, in his adorable way, again has the bob-cut girl shake her hair, and compliments Anthony on his cutting skills.



Ben explains the transition look of his three styles, and says he really wishes he had more time for the up-do. Michael likes the up-do from the front, but, redeeming himself from non-entity status, says it looks like an embryo from the back. Jaclyn asks Ben why he even went for an up-do, since everyone knows he is very weak in that area. Ben says he liked the challenge of the up-do. Vidal again asks the bob model to shake her hair, and he loves it.

Real Genius.

The stylists and models are sent off and the judges have time to dish on each contestant. Starting with Daisy, they are all in agreement that the bob was done on the right model. Vidal says that all of the stylists missed one key aspect of the bob by not making the back shorter and the front longer. (Ok, that is IT! I’m going to have to save my pennies and get Vidal to cut my hair. I have been trying for years to get the proper gradient on my bob slope, and I’ll be damned if anyone will go short enough in the back. I’d given up until now. Vidal Sassoon, you’re my only hope!) The judges really did not like the pin curl look, especially the color, but Vidal liked Daisy’s narrative.

The judges think Anthony’s bob is the best overall bob on a technical level. Michael, stealing Vidal’s notes, says that it should have been longer in the front and shorter in the back. Neither Michael or Vidal liked the mousiness of the bob’s color. Sally and Vidal really liked the dark haired girl’s bangs across the face. The blonde style is liked for the color, but they’d rather go with a shorter cut than longer. I bet they didn’t know the model was twitchy about losing length.

Universally the judges think Ben’s up-do was horrible in the back. They like the bob okay but Sally points out the obvious length difference. The deconstructed shag is fairly well received.

As the judges make their decision, they say that all three of them would be great to work with at photo shoots and the stylists have really done well. Vidal marvels at the courage it takes to come on a show like this and expose one’s reputation to defeat.

The final three are brought back in the room. Jaclyn is inspired by Daisy’s enthusiasm and passion, She says Anthony’s experience is impressive and he has consistently done well. Finally, Ben’s progress, natural talent, and belief in his natural talent has done him well. After saying lovely things, she tells Daisy that she is not the winner and Daisy leaves.

Ben and Anthony stand together, waiting nervously for the announcement, and Jaclyn calls out Anthony as the Sheer Genius. He can’t believe it, but then Rene comes in with some champagne and they all drink and celebrate. Well, all but Daisy.

[Google]

 

[Jewelsy]

Awesome recap, PG! Thanks.

[dogabone]

Ok, that is IT! I’m going to have to save my pennies and get Vidal to cut my hair.

Not so sure you want to do that. I was watching Vidal during the judging, and it looks like his hands are getting a bit arthritic.

I have been trying for years to get the proper gradient on my bob slope, and I’ll be damned if anyone will go short enough in the back.

Don't know where you're located, PhoneGrrrl, but my stylist in the metro Washington area does the cut to perfection. He tells me it's one of the first cuts he learned, back in the late '60s, and he studied at one of Sassoon's schools to boot. Don't know whether I'm just lucky or if there are more around like my guy.

[wagegoth]

My mom used to get her hair and mine cut into the Sassoon bobs in the 60s. They were great, wash and go, and they looked so modern compared to the flips (think "Hairspray," teasing, hair dryers, Aqua Net, yuck).

Vidal Sassoon was so wonderful, sweet, kind and friendly. He makes Michael Carl look like an evil leprechaun. He is a true example of a class act.

Regarding the competition: Do you think Daisy would do better if she just shut up for two minutes, planned things through, and didn't wear 4-inch platforms?

Anthony is obviously an excellent stylist, the second girl's makeover was fantastic. And keeping that bob off the girl's face, I need to know how he did that.

Ben surprised me. I figured he was a good, basic, neighborhood stylist, with a dash of creativity. I felt like he was the only one in this episode to be really creative. I think he had a really good shot, except for the updo. If he could have convinced the girl (again, don't be a hair model if you don't want your hair cut, or colored, you should see some of the scary things I saw at a hair show, vewy scawy , thank god hair grows back) to go for a short style that would have shown off her face.

My current stylist sucks (not boulders, but brick-sized rocks, anyway), my old stylist moved away, I'm sick of looking for someone and paying for the inevitable letdown of them screwing up my very simple cut, Anthony and Ben are too far away. Help me, please!

And Cynthia Rowley does suck. She's a skinny little thing, and she obviously designs clothes that cover her lack of shape. Did you notice her name was spelled wrong in the end credits?

[AshleyPSU]

Thanks for the recap PhoneGrrrl! Great job!

[varybarry]

Thank you for the recap phonegrrrl you did an amazing job. I missed it and now I'm all caught up.