As the Toronto winter ground on and on, a small ray of sun beamed into my inbox. “Hey, do you want to go to L.A. and get your hair dyed by Dua Lipa’s colourist?”

I, as always, had a huge pile of assignments on my plate and felt slightly terrified at the idea of taking a full week off work for this outing. Wait, though—who says no to a free session with the Moroccanoil global celebrity colour ambassador and the man behind the tresses of not only Dua, but Hailey Bieber, Adele, Kendall Jenner, Angelina Jolie, Florence Pugh, Penelope Cruz and Tate McRae, just to name a few?

In the wake of a traumatic surprise break-up and a lot of therapy, I’ve been trying to tune into my desire and embrace saying yes. So I said yes.

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I said yes to…a meet-cute

I checked into the newest L.A. outpost of Soho House; the Holloway has a warm Golden Age of Hollywood elegance to it, all plump couches and low-slung marble tables accented with towering plants and a fabulous rooftop patio packed with bamboo sunbeds. My room wasn’t ready, so I settled into the library and ordered a grilled-chicken torta for lunch. A pretty dude with a mop of black curls and chic glasses returned to his spot on the other end of my couch. Normally, I’d just sit back with my book but I paused, and decided to say yes to making small talk with a beautiful stranger. We talked about his novel, our travel adventures, dating in L.A. When he got up to leave, tucking his laptop in his bag, he asked for my number.

I said yes to…Disneyland

That night, I sprayed half a can of Moroccanoil dry shampoo into my unruly tresses and was whisked off to the Chateau Marmont for Champagne. Should I have another cocktail? Yes. And another? Yes to that too. I should not, however, have said yes to the final pair of spicy margaritas I downed with dinner at the celeb go-to resto Drake’s. I was scheduled to spend the following day at the happiest place on earth, but Disneyland is, uh, not so happy for the hungover.

Despite feeling slightly queasy, I braved the line for the popular Cars ride and managed to keep the huge plate of pasta and steak I’d gobbled up the night before in my stomach versus all over the blond tots in the car in front of me.

At the end of the retro-delight ride, It’s A Small World, a placard read “having fun today, looking forward to tomorrow.” Here in the sunshine, I did find myself looking forward to tomorrow. And yes, having fun today. Even hungover at Disneyland.

I said yes to…stillness

After an (alcohol-free) evening at swanky Ysabel, sampling hamachi crudo and crispy sesame shrimp, I awoke far more lucid. This day was all about saying yes to self-care. I spent the morning at Den Mother, a dainty little spa in the trendy Abbott Kinney neighbourhood. After recently pledging to start taking care of my face skin for the first time in 41 years, I thought it might be a good idea to start softening up my withered hide as well. As a masseuse rubbed my old bones with rich Moroccanoil body lotion featuring the brand’s new scent, Dahlia Rose, I inhaled the pearl tuberose, sandalwood and musk notes and felt myself melt a little.

I said yes to…an A-list experience

I Ubered back to Hollywood, wondering what Matt’s salon would look like. Would it be a cavernous white space with soft electro-pop and beautiful assistants serving charcoal lemonade on tap? My Uber pulled up to an anonymous…office building. Inside, I was surprised to discover a Brazil-like warren of mini salons filling endless hallways. Right at the end, in a sunny and slightly larger tiny room was Matt’s minimalist, almost corporate quarters. So it’s here that the elite of Hollywood make the pilgrimage to get their colour done, their A-list faces shielded from the outside world by the large shades drawn over the big windows.

As an offline person, he found out that three of his colour techniques were top trends last year when his assistant sent him the TikTok.

The writer, hungover at Disneyland.

A rich chocolate gloss and a California vibe.

With .colourist Matt Rez after a soul-nourishing makeover session

Matt himself is as intimidatingly beautiful as his clients, with silver-flecked black waves, giant kind eyes and A-lister bone structure. His vibes are humble, sweet and self-deprecating. We instantly bonded over surprise breakups (his was even worse than mine) and then got to work.

Matt is at the vanguard of hair colour trends, even if he finds out they’ve gone viral after the fact—as an offline person, he found out that three of his celebrity colours were top trends last year when his assistant sent him the TikTok. But his heart hankers for the power of a subtle tweak to change how you see yourself. “I think trends come about because of a decision someone made, or it was for work, and people take a liking to it and everybody emulates it,” he says. “But I gravitate towards things that are very natural-looking.”

As someone moving through the liminal space between the old me and the new, I asked him how my hair could be a part of my transformation. “Hair is the one item that you cannot take off at the end of the night. It can really change the way you feel about yourself,” he said. “And I can help you feel better if my work is done correctly.”

It’s common to want to make a big hair change during the in-between times, the trauma times. Matt can always tell. “I first try to assess what’s going on in their lives. Is there something that you feel out of control of and you need to make this massive change to feel in control of something?” he says. He isn’t afraid to tell celebs no. “If I know it’s going to cost somebody their hair health, I won’t do it. I’ve been presented with so many opportunities to work with clients where it’d be a huge moment. And I say no, because I’m more worried about the integrity of their hair.”

Matt has been on his own journey of evolution and self-acceptance. Raised in the heart of Wisconsin after his parents immigrated from Iran when he was 9, he was obsessed with having light hair. “Growing up in the Midwest, there were a lot of things that I loved about it but I didn’t feel like I fit in. Then things happened in school and I was shipped over to Portland, Oregon. There were a lot more people and more diversity there so I felt less need to fit in, being different. I moved to Southern California 20 years ago, and there were a lot more me’s here. Over time, I’ve learned to love what I have, and that it’s okay to be different. That’s why I say, enhance, don’t try to replace. Unless it’s a choice, and then we can find the best way for it to look the most natural it could be.”

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I said yes to…a change

I explained that I had been rocking my natural colour for the first time in well over a decade, after years of bleaching it platinum destroyed my hair and wallet. “So we’re just enhancing and warming you up without committing you to a full colour change or permanent colour,” he said. “You’ll fade nicely and you won’t have crazy upkeep.”

I was horrified to discover that my roots and ends were entirely different colours—despite not having any dye in my hair. Matt explained that it happens to everyone: the ends will “revert warm” as the hair there is older, more porous and affected by more exposure to the sun or even shower water.

Matt didn’t want to aggressively cover up my burgeoning greys, but rather help blend them in. He warmed up the virgin light-brown base with a rich chocolate gloss from Moroccanoil’s colour line, which he loves because it “definitely makes the hair feel better when it’s used. And it doesn’t have the traditional alkalizers that have existed that damage hair.”

When he was finished, I felt refreshed—renewed. As I was leaving, I overheard Matt talking to his partner on the phone. He smiled. He looked happy. And, I thought, if he could evolve and find joy again after heartbreak, maybe I could, too.

Later that night, as I tucked into a teetering seafood tower at Gigi’s, my phone pinged. The tall blond surfer I’d been talking to asked if I wanted to hang out on his sailboat. My colleagues expressed concern that I’d be murdered, dumped in the marina before my new tresses had even graced Instagram. Nah, I said, I’d be okay. And so I said yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

The post In My Post-Breakup Era of Saying Yes, I Asked Dua Lipa’s Hair Colourist For a Makeover appeared first on The Kit.