Master and Student Go Toe-to-Toe
Most people flock to the glam city of Los Angeles for some fun and sun. But when Angela Avorio, co-partner of Ben Mollin Hair Education in Griffith, Indiana arrived, she was on a mission. Avorio had won the coveted opportunity to go "head-to-head" with Joico International Artistic Director Damien Carney to showcase her styling technique for a special taping of Carney's "Drab to Fab" webisode series.
The plan: Carney would demonstrate a technique and the two how-tos would compete in an online vote. Avorio has long admired Damien as an artist and educator and he has served as her mentor.
Avorio won the trip to Los Angeles when she was selected from among the five Head-to-Head competition finalists via a YouTube vote. The YouTube channel, created specifically for the contest, received more than 50,000 views! After Avorio and Carney taped the webisode, more than 562 votes came in for the Drab to Fab competition, making Avorio the winner.
Avorio competed with her "Avorio Knots," a series of rope braids wrapped in foil and pressed with a flat iron. The technique, which takes 15-20 minutes, produces a variety of curl sizes and shapes for a "curl within a curl" effect. Avorio competed against Carney's outsized crimped French twist-a dramatic statement of proportion and texture.
Carney graciously complemented the rising star's work and admired her style's versatility. "This look can go from commercial to really out there!" he exclaimed.
"I'll never forget being able to watch someone of Carney's caliber so closely," concludes Avorio." When he started working I thought, 'I'm competing with this guy?' It was almost an out-of-body experience!"