After a Major Makeover, This Bride Was Unrecognizable

When a bride-to-be turned up to a stylist for a makeover, they couldn’t believe what they were looking at. However, after spending seven hours working on her 2-foot-long hair, the woman was overwhelmed by her own transformation.

Holly was in a race against time as her wedding was just a few months away. But when she finally decided to do something about her hair, she could never have foreseen how much she was about to change…

When Holly arrived at her chosen stylist’s place on that fateful day, the workers had to pinch themselves. They couldn’t believe that this lady was a bride-to-be. Holly spends most of her time working as a gate guard, managing traffic flow in a plantation. However, there was no doubt that she’d need to take a whole day off if she was to have a successful makeover. This was going to take a lot of work…

Believe it or not, but there was a time when Holly’s hair wasn’t two feet long and, compared to what she recently looked like, she didn’t appear to need a desperate makeover. This photo from her Twitter account was taken just five years ago. As you can see, she has been able to look presentable in the past. So where did it all go wrong? One thing’s for sure, Holly had a good reason as to why she wanted a makeover at this stage in her life…

It’s unclear how Holly’s appearance took such an extreme downward spiral so quickly. However, it was clear why Holly was so desperate to do something about the way she looked. She was head over heels for her boyfriend Vashon Ridgeway. Having been together for a while, Holly was determined to make sure that she always looked at her best for her significant other. Then, Vashon did something that completely turned her life upside down…

Holly was absolutely lost for words when Vashon got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. Needless to say, she said “yes.” She was finally getting married, after being in a relationship for the last few years. In an interview with Modern Salon, Holly admitted that she was hoping to tie the knot with her partner at the end of 2017. However, Avant Garde Salon wasn’t fully prepared for the work they had cut out for them…

Naturally thrilled, Holly and Vashon loved nothing more than showing off their excitement at having gotten engaged. They posted tons of photos on social media, alerting friends and family about their big news. Moreover, Holly gave her followers a sneak peek of what to expect from her big day, posing in her wedding dress. However, for one reason or another, Holly decided to hang that dress back up. But why? What had prevented her from walking down the aisle?

There was no doubt that Avant Garde Salon had a huge task on their hands. It was going to take a lot of time and care to get Holly looking just right for her wedding day. According to Allure magazine, it is believed that Holly’s hair pre-makeover was a staggering 2 feet long! Not only was it long, reaching her hips, but the two-tone locks looked like they could do with some conditioning. Fortunately for Holly, a strong team of stylists came to the rescue…

It seems like Holly truly hit the jackpot when she booked her appointment at Avant Garde Salon. One of the senior stylists at the salon, Jeremy Hartfield, would end up being the man responsible for Holly’s groundbreaking haircut. However, it was not just Jeremy who would have a profound impact on Holly’s transformation. Probably the most important person to take Holly’s appearance to the next level was a young stylist/colorist by the name of Sara Pestella…

It is impossible to ignore Sara Pestella’s contribution to Holly’s incredible transformation. What will soon be clear is that without Sara’s hair dying skills, Holly may have never gotten the look she was looking for when her wedding day came around. In fact, Sara’s work would end up taking her to some truly amazing places. So as Sara and her team sat down with Holly to discuss her options, it was clear that the bride-to-be had been emotionally affected by her long hair…

It’s amazing how much one’s appearance can affect your confidence, emotions, and mentality. For Holly, she had got so caught up in growing her hair that it ultimately took its toll on her wellbeing. Granted, anyone who undergoes a makeover is bound to feel trepidatious about such a radical change. However, Holly was a special case. In Modern Salon magazine’s words, Holly’s “hair consumed her.” Moreover, there was a good reason as to why Holly had grown her hair so long, to begin with…

Speaking on behalf of Holly, Sara Pestella revealed the story behind her client’s hair and how it had consumed her in recent times. It seems that the necessity to grow her hair so long came from pressure from her father. “[Holly] always felt like she needed to keep her hair long because of what her dad said: that a woman must have long hair or she wouldn’t be pretty without it,” Sara said. Now she wanted to help Holly overcome this insecurity.

In many ways, Holly was receiving not just a makeover for her appearance, but also a makeover for her soul. With the right people around her to give her a morale boost and words of support, this was exactly the kind of experience she needed before her big day. Her team of stylists at Avant Garde Salon were ready to give her the transformation she deserved. Little did they know though that it would take seven hours to complete…

The person who would be responsible for Holly’s new hairstyle was Avant Garde Salon’s Senior Stylist Jeremy Hartfield. A seasoned pro, Jeremy loves nothing more than showing off his work on social media platforms. He was hoping that he’d be able to add Holly to his extensive collection. So, without further ado, Jeremy took Holly, sat her down on one of his chairs, and began the epic transformation. It all started with one snip, and boy, it was the toughest one…

It seems like the first snip that Jeremy Hartfield did on Holly’s hair was the toughest one. As soon she heard that first snip, her whole life flashed before her eyes. Hartfield documented large chunks of the cutting process on his Instagram account. The first big part of the haircut he did took about two feet of hair off. This meant that he would take off the bleached strands at the bottom. However, Holly was lost for words after seeing in the mirror what Jeremy did next…

When Jeremy told Holly to look up, she gasped and screamed, which prompted everyone else in the salon to run over and take a look too. After tying up a lot of her hair in a ponytail, Jeremy simply cut it and voila – a huge proportion of her hair was gone. While the fellow stylists cheered in elation, Holly laughed nervously, hoping she wouldn’t regret coming to the salon in the first place. After another hour, signs of change were starting to show…

After tidying her up a little, it was clear that Holly’s makeover was well and truly underway. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was beginning to grow in confidence as she saw how different her hair looked. Jeremy had cut so much off and now, Holly’s hair shape was unrecognizable. She was beginning to look like a different person. However, there was still a lot of time to go and things to do in order to complete this radical transformation…

After Jeremy had done 99% of Holly’s haircut, it was time for Sara Pestella to step in and work her coloring magic. It was imperative that Sara dyed Holly’s hair after the haircut as she didn’t want any of her hard work to have been in vain. With everything in place, Sara put her vision into practice, dying Holly’s hair and transforming it into luscious blonde locks. However, Sara soon realized that she made a mistake, but was it irreparable?

After dying her hair and drying it, Sara realized that she hadn’t given Holly the exact color that she had envisioned. However, she admitted that it was very close to being perfect and definitely not an irreparable mistake. “Due to existing red [tone], it was not quite perfect but so close,” she said. In order to perfect the dye, Sara conjured up some neat little tricks. She added shadow to Holly’s roots. Then, it was time to focus on Holly’s face…

All that was left now for Holly was to have makeup applied to her face. She originally said to the team at Avant Garde Salon, “You know what? I’m getting married in November…do whatever you want!” This meant that the makeup artist had complete creative license to do as she pleased with Holly’s face. After first applying an eyeshadow, she also received emphatically dark eyelashes, in order to make her eyes pop. Alas, Holly’s transformation was nearly complete…

It’s amazing what the right color lipstick can do to elevate one’s appearance. Pestella knew this would be the case, as far as Holly was concerned. She knew that she needed to play to her client’s strengths and she was enamored by Holly’s lips. Pestella knew that if she applied the right color, her client’s lips would pop like they never have before. And as you can see, this pink gloss had a stunning impact on her lips.

Although it went by so quickly for Holly, it was amazing how long her makeover would take, from start to finish. Despite expecting the procedure to take a fair amount of time, the team never expected it to last seven hours. “I started at 7:00 p.m. and finished at 2:00 a.m.,” the stylist said. “No kidding, this transformation was indeed overnight.” With all the finishing touches applied, one more question remained: how exactly did Holly feel about her radical makeover?

Just like that, Holly had blossomed into a confident young lady again after everything was said and done. No longer did she believe that you needed long hair to fully embrace your feminine side. And her stylists also saw how happy Holly was. They knew they had worked wonders for her. “When we were done, Holly was so excited,” Sara said. “She feels beautiful in her own skin.” That was not the only reason that Holly was absolutely delighted…

One of the main reasons that Holly had ended up in Avant Garde Salon, to begin with, was due to her low-maintenance policy with her hair. Taking note of this, the salon tried to address this in the most generous way possible. In order to get Holly in the habit of taking better care of her appearance, they promised her that she would receive free styling for an entire year – even after her wedding came and went.

It would not take long before Holly’s makeover would catch the attention of thousands of people online. With Sara and Avant Garde Salon both posting photos on their Instagram account, so many people expressed their joy for Holly. Many users also praised the stylists for their hard work and perseverance. “The transformation is stunning!!! She looks beautiful and youthful,” Instagram user julesfabjules said. And that wasn’t all the love though that Holly and the crew received for the procedure…

The love for Holly’s transformation just kept coming and coming. One user couldn’t quite find the words for how amazed they were. “Wow! What else can one say? Amazing,” they wrote. “I know she had to feel completely transformed.” However, there were others that praised her for her natural beauty, believing that she didn’t even need help from stylists, to begin with. And yet, the best was yet to come. Everyone involved, including Holly, never saw this coming…

Holly’s makeover would reach unprecedented fame when the OneShot Hair Awards came around in 2017. For another year, Avant Garde Salon was nominated for the EC Top Salon award. Prior to the ceremony, the entire team, including Sara Pestella and Jeremy Hartfield, gathered together for a photo to celebrate their achievements. With all the preparations out of the way, the team from Avant Garde Salon proceded to the ceremony, Holly included, for what would end up being one of the biggest nights of their lives…

In order to hit home just how far Avant Garde and Holly had come, EC Top Salon tried to make their nomination announcement as dramatic as possible in the build-up to the awards ceremony. “Meet @avantgardesalonspa’smodel, Holly Garrido,” EC Top Salon wrote on their Instagram account. “The biggest thing Holly looks forward to with this event is being able to show her daughter that not only can a woman be strong, but also beautiful inside and out.”

It wasn’t just Holly who had undergone a stunning transformation. Truth be told, she had a lot of tough competition building up to the big event. “We can’t wait to see the transformations this Friday at #ECTopSalon,” EC Top Salon wrote on its Instagram account. “Take a look back at the before and after photos of [the] models and see just how amazing the transformations will be.” However, there was no denying that Holly stood a great chance of winning.

As you can see, Avant Garde Salon’s Senior Stylist Jeremy Hartfield was in attendance at the awards event. With the rest of his salon, he was praying that the work they had done for Holly would bring them home something. At the very least, he wanted some sort of recognition for their hard work. At any rate, he was simply excited to be there and when he saw the split image of his transformation, he was absolutely delighted…

Eventually, it was Avant Garde Salon’s time to shine at the awards ceremony. Amazingly, Sara Pestella ended up getting nominated for the Transformation Shot of the Year award. When she took to the stage, Sara gave a detailed account of her client’s story. There is no doubt that the story struck a chord with everyone in attendance. Shortly after Sara’s speech, Holly also got a chance to show off her incredible transformation. Needless to say, the audience was absolutely lost for words…

After Holly’s story became a viral sensation and she made her dazzling appearance at the OneShot Awards, she was well and truly ready for her big wedding day. Not only did she love her new look, but the stylists at Avant Garde Salon couldn’t believe that this was the same client that arrived seven hours prior. Holly was finally fulfilling her potential, just in time for her big day. But what about that iconic moment, when Holly walked onto the catwalk at the awards ceremony?

After Sara accepted the award and gave her an emotional speech about her client’s story, it was time for Holly to get up on stage and rock the catwalk. Nobody could take their eyes off her and it was unbelievable to see her walking with so much confidence. It’s unclear what Holly has done since to maintain her stunning looks. One thing’s for sure though – it’s amazing how such a radical change in appearance can change your life for the better.

After coming down from her exhilarating catwalk, Holly gathered with some of the members of Avant Garde and posed in front of the camera. The salon was absolutely thrilled with how the night was playing out and wrote the following on its social media account. “We are absolutely blown away by the support we received last night!” However, the question remained: would the salon win the award they were so desperately looking for? Or, would their night fall short of being perfect?

In the end, Avant Garde Salon had absolutely nothing to worry about. As you can see, the entire team and Holly were overwhelmed with emotion when the hosts announced that they had won the EC Top Salon award! “We won! Thanks to our beautiful model Holly and the work of our stylists,” the salon wrote on its Instagram account. “Taking home the title yet again, your #ECTopSalon 2017 is Avantgarde Salon and Spa with model Holly Garrido!” Well done to everyone involved!