| PhytoPeople: Yolanda Toussieng - A True Hollywood Story |
| Phyto |
| Date: 2000, 10/01/2004, 4/6/2006 |
Introduction
 Those
of us who've spent anytime at the movies in the last two decades
certainly know Yolanda Toussieng's
work.
Yolanda's credits include an impressive line up of Hollywood
blockbusters, such as:
Bicentennial Man, Edward Scissorhands, Man on the Moon, Batman
and Robin, Sixteen Candles, The Rock, Armageddon, the list goes
on.
She is a two-time Academy Award winner, for her work on Mrs.
Doubtfire and Ed Wood. Yolanda also received an Emmy for Pee
Wee's Playhouse.
For her Pearl Harbor movie project which starred Ben Affleck,
Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Alec Baldwin and
James King, Yolanda partnered up with
Phyto hair care products to give the cast an authentic 1940's
look.
The makings
of an Academy Award winner…
Like many Hollywood stars, Yolanda's success didn't happen over
night. She started her career working in a salon, but after eight
years she became unsatisfied.
"I started looking to the Studio for a renewed passion for
hairdressing."
In 1978, Yolanda began working for NBC where she did the Sunday Show
with Kelly Lang. Her weekend schedule enabled her, not only to
support her daughter, but also to pursue a film career.
Yolanda got her break when she was hired to work in the wig room
at Universal Studios. Here, she reminisces about how the studios
were run when she began her career 22 years ago:
"At that time all the studios had wig departments, as well as big
make-up and hair departments…Heads supervised the training of the
new hairstylists and make-up artists."
Yolanda considers herself fortunate to have been part of a dieing
tradition of old studio practices.
"The make-up departments all closed by the mid 1980's. And sadly all
that training was gone. My time spent in the wig room was invaluable
training. I worked with the wig makers cleaning and styling wigs,
learning their little tricks that are now no longer there to get."
The big time........
 Set
amidst the dramatic events that lead to the United States entering
WWII, Pearl Harbor is a story about two friends (Ben
Affleck and Josh Hartnett) who find themselves passionately in love
with the same woman (Kate Beckinsale - the luckiest girl in the
world!).
(Image of
Phytodefrisant from HairBoutique.com - all rights reserved).
Produced by both Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, and directed by
Michael Bay, this epic film was shot on location in Hawaii. Yolanda,
who worked with both Bruckheimer and Bay on Armageddon,
describes her responsibilities and some of the challenges she faced
while filming.
"On the movie Pearl Harbor I was the Department Head and
responsible for the period look of the movie. That involves the
principle actors as well as the many extras in the movie.
On a daily basis we cut as many as two hundred men a day in period
haircuts. The women had late 1938-1941 hairstyles. At that time
women did not change their hairstyles from year to year, the way
they do now. Different looks had to be established between the times
they were in the night club and at war, as nurses."
Yolanda attributes some of her success to
Phytodfrisant.
"I used it on Kate Beckinsale's wig. It made the wig shinny and
kept the frizz out, as we worked in Hawaii and were constantly
challenged by the humidity…Phytodfrisant
helped me recreate the wet set look of the 1940's. We were not
afforded the time to actually wet set the extras' hair. Nor were
there enough hooded hair dryers to do that in the workspace needed
for 20 hairdressers, which would have to move to a new location
every day.
So Marcel irons (very old fashioned curling irons that allow you
to curl hair from the root - they create a totally different look
than modern electric curling irons) were used to iron their hair
very tight.
The hair was combed out in finger waves or hairstyles with flat
crowns, small heads with small curls around the edges.
Phytodfrisant was used before ironing and finishing…Phytodfrisant
gave the hairstyles that shiny look that wet sets get when dried
under the hair dryers.
 The
comb-outs were finished with
Phytolaque hairspray. The hairspray helped keep the curl and
allowed me to re-comb their hair all day long, as our days were 15
hours long.
Using the Phyto product before and after styling really made the
difference for me."
Summary
HairBoutique.com in conjunction
with the great folks at Phyto would like to express our gratitude to
Yolanda for sharing her Phyto hair product use story with us. We
wish her the best of luck and much success in the future. |