There’s something powerful about seeing a brand you’ve worked with show up exactly the way you always hoped it would. KEVIN.MURPHY’s Hair’s the Thing tour stop in Montreal wasn’t just a showcase of technique and product—it was a living statement on identity, creative intention, and what it really means to build a brand that puts stylists first.
For me, this stop felt personal. I once worked as a Brand Specialist for KEVIN.MURPHY, so walking into a room led by Director of Education NA Sarah Lund, COLOR.STYLE.MASTERS Brandi Holdaway and Carmen Waltz, and BRAND.SPECIALIST Jackie Spiteri felt like a reunion. The event was hosted in partnership with distribution partner Liquid Luxuries, whose president David Kaufman opened the evening alongside Rocky Rumpel, General Manager for KEVIN.MURPHY Group North America. From the first minute, the tone was intimate, focused, and undeniably stylist-first.
We Hair. I Hair.
The show’s through line — “Who Hair’s? We Hair. I Hair.” — felt cheeky at first, but landed with real emotional weight. Hair isn’t just a look. It’s a language. It’s how we identify ourselves and each other. It’s the first detail we reach for when trying to describe someone, and the first impression we offer the world. In the KEVIN.MURPHY universe, hair isn’t a trend to chase — it’s a mirror of self. A reflection of tribe.
That idea — tribe versus trend — shaped the entire experience. The message was clear: hair shouldn’t be dictated by fleeting style cycles. It should reflect the people, communities, and identities we’re part of. At a time when everything in beauty feels like it’s racing toward the next big moment, this was a rare pause. A breath. A reminder that some things should be personal first and professional second.
Model Prep and a Masterclass in Presence
Prep began the day before the show at Revolution Hair Studio Saint-Henri, a KEVIN.MURPHY salon that perfectly matched the energy of the event — creative, funky, and welcoming. And while it would be easy to assume that a global brand founder like Kevin Murphy might hover above the fray, what actually happened was the opposite.
Kevin was in it. Fully. He didn’t just review formulas or nod in approval. He assigned specific tones to specific models. He made notes on head sheets. He reviewed hair texture, density, and type and made product suggestions accordingly. He styled full looks — including accessories and shoes — and made sure everything aligned with the visual story. It felt more like a fashion editorial shoot than a show run-through.
For the stylists involved, that kind of access isn’t just memorable. It’s career-defining. Watching Kevin work so closely beside the artists who use his name every day didn’t feel like a performance. It felt like proof.
From Lavender to Copper, Sleek to Textured: A Global Brand, Localized
The show itself recreated campaign-level looks using local models, each chosen to reflect a different texture, tone, and personality from the KEVIN.MURPHY trend collections. From precision cuts to intentionally tousled finishes, from glossy lavender blondes to dimensional chocolates and coppers, each model told a different story—but all pointed back to the central idea: hair as identity, not accessory.
We caught up with Kate Reid, Global Design & Education Director Colour for KEVIN.MURPY a few weeks back on the Volume Up Podcast to touch on the launch of CODE, and Hair’s The Thing put the results of the new brand innovation on full display.
One standout moment came with the inclusion of Monique, a longtime KEVIN.MURPHY campaign model. Seeing her live — not just her image — offered something rare: a direct line from editorial vision to real-world execution. We weren’t just learning a formula. We were watching the actual result react to light and touch, in real time, on the person it was designed for. That’s something I’ve never experienced at another brand event—and it elevated the entire night.
Kevin, Unfiltered
Toward the end of the evening, Kevin took the mic. And while I’ve heard his story many times over the years, something about hearing it in his own words — without media-edited polish, without script—f elt different.
He talked about the early days of his career, the slow transition from salon to session, and the reality of what that leap actually looks like. It wasn’t a straight line. It was back and forth, in and out. Salon work and shoots, shoots and more salon work. Each experience layering on confidence, clarity, and technical flexibility.
He also shared how the brand began. Not as KEVIN.MURPHY, but as Kusco-Murphy, a line he developed in the back of his own salon. While the formulas worked, the name didn’t. Named after Kevin’s salon at the time, other salon owners weren’t interested in putting a rival salon’s name on their shelves. That decision to pivot — to use his own name, punctuated and capitalized in a way that stood out to differentiate man from brand — wasn’t just random. It was strategic. And it worked.
And of course, there’s the packaging. At a time when most products came in round technicolor bottles, Kevin created sleek, square, beige components — something that would feel just as elegant in the backbar of his minimalist salon as it would in a client’s million-dollar bathroom. The aesthetic wasn’t an afterthought. It was a visual promise: this brand will never compete with your salon’s style. It will only complement and elevate it.
The Afterparty That Meant Something
After the show, there wasn’t a big curtain drop or a quick exit. Kevin stayed. He mingled. He posed for photos. He answered questions. He chatted with stylists, not like a founder doing the rounds—but like someone who still remembers what it’s like to be behind the chair.
It’s moments like that — small, genuine, unscripted — that remind you why KEVIN.MURPHY continues to resonate so deeply with stylists. Because when a founder stays late to talk hair, you know the mission is real. I know that these intimate moments of connection will go on to define the careers and lives of the stylists the event touched.
The Tour Continues
Hair’s the Thing picks up again in August in Portland, Oregon — COLOR.STYLE.MASTER Carmen Waltz’s hometown — and continues through 2025 with stops in Austin, Boston, Greenville, Kansas City, DC, Chicago, and Edmonton AB. A major accent to this tour will be the Hair Love event in Philadelphia this September hosted by Ethos Beauty Partners, where Kevin will be joined by fellow celebrity stylists Tracey Cunningham and Sam Villa as co-headliners.
For me, this event confirmed what I already knew from my time with the brand: KEVIN.MURPHY isn’t just selling product. It’s building culture. A culture that values artistry, expression, and identity over aesthetics. A culture that believes stylists are more than trend interpreters—they’re identity architects.
And in that sense, Hair’s the Thing wasn’t just a show. It was a homecoming.
