Learn how to Rock It Like a Redhead
Austin event celebrates hair color and provides fashion tips.
Redheads rejoice. You are not alone, and the sisters behind the website How to be a Redhead are coming to Austin and starting the Rock It Like a Redhead 2015 tour here April 30.
“Being a redhead is really feeling different,” says Adrienne Vendetti Hodges, 27, who started How to be a Redhead with her sister, Stephanie Vendetti, 25. “It feels like tapping into your inner mermaid. A lot of them are stereotyped as being feisty. They’re so used to standing out — 99 percent of the time we’re the only redheads.”
The event will be a celebration of redheads, with a red carpet event as well as beauty and hair sessions to help redheads find the right makeup from Olive + M and Rae Cosmetics, brow tips from Billion Dollar Brows, mini-manicures from Plum Natural Nail Spa, and hair care and styles from Kenra Professional. There will be fashion shows from Kohl’s,
Coolibar and Blue Lux.
Rock It Like a Redhead will have barbecue from the Ginger Armadillo, owned by a redhead, and Big Red drinks as well as a ginger cocktail and red velvet cupcakes.
Rock It Like a Redhead is for natural redheads and redheads by choice. For their blonde and brunette friends, there will be red wigs and hair extensions.
“Every single redhead has a different shade of red,” Vendetti says. “My hair’s different than the girl next to her. That’s going to be the fun part.”
The sisters chose Austin to kick off the tour because How to be a Redhead has a very loyal Texas and particularly Austin following on the site, on Facebook and Instagram. Their site attracts women ages 25-32, with a secondary audience ages 12-20. There’s also a mature audience that wants to know what to do when the red is fading to white.
“They all say we wish we had these great events and How to be a Redhead growing up,” Hodges says. “We’ve been the weird ones in society.”
Redheads often have misconceptions about what they can and cannot wear for clothing and makeup. You can wear red, Vendetti says. “It’s about finding the right shade.”
For redheads who think pastel colors will wash them out, the sisters say they love to wear light colors. They just boost the makeup.
“We say rock it and own it,” Vendetti says.
Through the How to be a Redhead site, they see younger girls who are just like them. Even though their hair draws attention, sometimes it’s not in a good way. Redheaded girls get teased or bullied; they don’t like looking different.
The Vendetti sisters grew up as two natural redheads and didn’t really have anyone to ask about fashion advice and makeup. And they had two very different shades and complexions — Hodges’ hair was darker; Vendetti’s was much lighter, more toward strawberry blonde, and she had more freckles.
Vendetti spent her middle school and high school years dyeing her hair, first with highlights, then platinum blond. She also was a fan of instant tanner to cover the freckles.
“I was not as confident in my skin as I am now,” she says. “Now we laugh at each other. Why did we spend all that money? ... It’s really great to embrace your natural look.”
Now when the sisters do photo shoots, Vendetti makes sure the makeup artists and photographers let her freckles show rather than covering them up or airbrushing them out.
“I’m so proud of her,” Hodges says. “That’s the message we’re trying to give our girls.”
Even though they didn’t have How to be a Redhead growing up, they did have their father who was a redhead, and both grandmothers were redheads. Their mother is blond, but she now puts red into her hair. Their father’s mother was particularly influential with her vibrant red hair that she embraced and her love of watching “I Love Lucy” with her granddaughters. “She helped shape How to be a Redhead,” Hodges says.