ChristopherRutman

Thirty years of learning from the best, eleven years teaching on stages around the world, and all of it brought back to one chair in a private suite in Woodland Hills.

Sassoon-trained in precision cutting. Sebastian global artistic team, 1999 to 2010. Keratin-tip hair extension specialist since 2002.

Christopher finishing a sleek blonde style on a client in the studio

I decided I would only become a hairdresser if I could learn from the very best in the business and follow the path they had set.

Everything since has come from keeping that promise.

A foundation in precision

While I was still in beauty school, I apprenticed with a hairdresser who had been in the very first class of the Vidal Sassoon Academy when it opened in Los Angeles in 1979. From him I learned the foundation everything else rests on: clean, exact, flawless precision cutting.

After earning my cosmetology license in 1995, I spent four months apprenticing with a renowned Austrian hairdresser who owned a chain of salons, learning expert styling and how a great salon is run.

Then I found my way to the Centre Salon, the flagship of Sebastian International's headquarters in Woodland Hills. I served a full year's apprenticeship under a veteran stylist who was one of the original members of the Sebastian global artistic team, then earned my own chair. The training was intense. I attended every hands-on seminar held at headquarters, deepening and polishing my skills one class at a time.

A young Christopher cutting a client's wet hair in front of a round salon mirror — Behind the chair in the early years.

Back view of a sharp, graduated bob with blended highlights — Precision cutting is still the root of everything I do.

Eleven years on the Sebastian global artistic team

In 1999 I joined the Sebastian global artistic team. For the next eleven years, alongside my own clients behind the chair, I taught seminars, hands-on workshops, and stage presentations for fellow hairdressers across North America and around the world.

Teaching professionals sharpens you in a way nothing else does. You have to understand a technique well enough to explain it to a room full of stylists, and then perform it live, on stage, with no second take.

Christopher sectioning a model's wet hair at a Sebastian trade show booth — Live demonstration at the Sebastian booth.

Christopher holding up sections of hair while explaining a cutting technique — Explaining a cutting technique, mid-demo.

Christopher on a large stage beside a seated model, his work projected on a giant screen — Stage presentation, projected for the back rows.

Christopher teaching a haircut collection to a seated class with a projected slide — Teaching a haircut collection in Japan.

Hands-on workshop with stylists cutting on mannequin heads while Christopher demonstrates — A hands-on workshop in Japan.

Christopher presenting in front of a wall of Sebastian monitors beside a model with a red bob — On the Sebastian stage.

Christopher with three models wearing his finished cuts and colors — With the models after a show.

Backstage, Christopher teasing a smiling model's crown while wearing a crew badge — Backstage on the crew.

Christopher finishing a model's updo at a Sebastian event with giant hairspray cans — Finishing touches at a Sebastian event.

Christopher grinning while blow-drying a client in a salon in Japan — Guest work in a salon in Japan.

Teaching in more than 75 cities across North America, and internationally in

Taipei
Seoul
Madrid
Amsterdam
Osaka
Tokyo

Christopher seated by a high-rise window with a sprawling city skyline behind him — Between classes, high above the city.

Christopher taking a selfie beside a canal lined with signs and buildings — A day off on the road.

Behind the chair, every day

Through all of it, my clients came first. Cutting, color, and styling are the heart of my work, and every look here was done by me.

Silver-lavender color in soft, glossy waves

Silver-lavender half-up style with sculpted swirls

Silver-lavender braided crown twisted into a low knot

Long brunette hair in polished, voluminous waves

Dark brunette French braid wrapped into a low side knot

Copper-red hair with blunt fringe and crimped waves, styled with a mini top hat

Braid wrapped around a low side ponytail

Platinum half-up style with a knotted braid and loose waves

Sleek platinum low ponytail wrapped with its own hair

Christopher backstage with a model wearing a sculpted pompadour updo

Keratin-tip extensions, done to the highest standard

In 2002 I began offering keratin-tip hair extensions, and they became my specialty. I'm a certified Great Lengths stylist, and I've had the privilege of caring for some of the world's most discerning clients, traveling to work with them in

Miami, Colorado, New York City, Barcelona, Nice, Paris, Monaco, Budapest, and Bucharest.

A client receiving keratin-tip extensions on a hotel balcony overlooking the Mediterranean — An extension appointment on a hotel balcony in Monte Carlo.

Keratin-tip extensions and tools laid out on a table, ready for a client — Set up for a client in Denver.

Four custom wavy keratin-tip strands blending from brunette to golden blonde — Hair custom-blended to match each client.

Close-up of a neat row of keratin-tip bonds in several shades of blonde — Several shades of blonde, placed so the result reads as natural.

Long silver-blonde extensions with pastel blue streaks blended through — Silver and pastel blue blended through platinum.

One client, start to finish

Before: shoulder-length blonde hair with visible roots and thin ends — Before

Christopher refining the finished extensions on the client — Styling the finished extensions

After: long, full, sleek platinum hair — After

The client smiling, her long platinum hair in motion

Before and after

Before: shoulder-length platinum hair — Sixteen inches of mixed platinum blondes.

After: long, sleek platinum hair to mid-back — Sixteen inches of mixed platinum blondes.

Before: thin, damaged brunette hair sectioned with clips — Restoring fullness for a client who had lost hair to hand-tied extensions.

After: long, full brunette waves with golden ends — Restoring fullness for a client who had lost hair to hand-tied extensions.

Before: tangled, matted red hair from extensions done elsewhere — Correcting extensions done elsewhere.

After: smooth, full auburn hair below the shoulders — Correcting extensions done elsewhere.

Before: blunt shoulder-length blonde hair — Shoulder length to mid-back, same day.

After: long, smooth blonde hair past the shoulder blades — Shoulder length to mid-back, same day.

Before: thin, uneven blonde ends — Thin ends to full, blended length, same day.

After: full, blended blonde length — Thin ends to full, blended length, same day.

One chair, one stylist, every time

Today I work one-on-one in a private suite in Woodland Hills. There's no busy salon floor and no handing you off to an assistant. Every appointment is with me, from the consultation to the final finish.

I've always tried to bring my clients the very best the world has to offer. Thirty years in, that hasn't changed.

Christopher Rutman

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Christopher's private suite with a styling chair, shampoo bowl, and textured white wall — My private suite in Woodland Hills.