A twist of fate led mens hairdresser and colourist Grant Carr to a new type of creative expression. Life events prompted him to engage with his more spiritual side. For his collection Archangels, Grant explores how his spirituality informs his hair work. The imagery is gentle, yet provocative in making us reflect on the results. What makes the looks both beautifully crafted and thoughtful and how are the results are intentional yet seem natural? [Enjoy then scroll down for colour directions…]
Archangels
Grant tells us that Archangels explores modern masculinity through the symbolism of celestial guardians: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel Azrael, and Uriel. Each look draws inspiration from their qualities of strength, wisdom, healing, revelation and transformation. Grant has interpreted this through contemporary men’s hair design with a diverse mix of texture, movement, colour and shape.
The Colour Palette
Inspired by notions of the aura, symbolism and energy traditionally associated with each Archangel, Grant wanted every colour choice to feel intentional — almost as though the light belonging to each angel was coming through the hair. He talks us through the looks here
MICHAEL
PURITY / LIGHT / STRENGTH
The hair was scalp-bleached using L’Oréal Professionnel, lifting to a clean, even canvas before toning globally with Dia Light 10.01.
The cool, luminous finish was chosen to represent Michael’s purity and divine strength, while still giving that classic blonde warrior feeling. Against the blue elements within the final image, the blonde almost becomes a source of light itself.
RAPHAEL
HEALING / NATURE / RENEWAL
Rather than colouring the entire head, I wanted the green to feel like an energy moving through the hair. The front fringe was pre-lightened before introducing a deep forest-green pigment, creating a concentrated flash of colour around the face.
The placement was deliberately controlled — strong enough to define Raphael immediately, but still organic, almost like the colour is growing through the hair.
GABRIEL
ETHEREAL / MESSENGER / DIVINE LOVE
The hair was fully scalp bleached to create a completely clean canvas. I then treated the root, mid-lengths and ends individually, using Dia Light 10.21 through to 10.22, before seamlessly melting the tones together.
A veil of pink was then blended through the finished colour, inspired by the soft pink and rose-coloured robes and capes Gabriel can be seen wearing in early religious paintings.
I wanted the finished result to feel almost weightless — a diffused, heavenly pink rather than an obvious fashion shade, as though the colour was being illuminated from within.
URIEL
WISDOM / FIRE / GOLDEN LIGHT
I first created depth with a full-head Majirel base 7, giving the hair a richer, more grounded foundation. The front fringe and tail were then strategically highlighted to create brighter points of illumination through the shape.
The entire colour was finished with Dia Light 9.3, creating a polished golden veil across both the natural depth and highlighted areas.
Rather than a conventional warm blonde, I wanted Uriel to appear almost gilded — as though the hair itself had been touched by golden light.
AZRAEL
SHADOW / LIGHT / TRANSITION
The underneath and face-framing sections were selectively bleached, while the pieces used alongside the tape extensions were individually toned to create a soft vanilla blonde.
Against the darker natural base, those pale sections create a deliberate light-and-shadow effect — almost like flashes of light emerging from darkness.
The contrast gives Azrael a more otherworldly quality than a conventional blonde placement: dark, beautiful and slightly haunting, while the vanilla panels bring an almost spectral luminosity to the finished image.
Credit Due
Hair: Grant Carr @grant_carr_ • MUA: Megan Watson @muameganwatson • Photographer: Kim Wheeler @kimmorganwheeler • Models: Marley Boyce, Daniel Porietis, Erfan Tavasoli, Yudhishtar Parasram and Raul Saad
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