Sonia Haircare Naturalmente: the course at Accademia Phitofilos Professionale to discover dyeing plants.

An interview with Sonia Cuppone, the hairdresser who turned her career around thanks to plants and now uses her salon to showcase nature.

Winner of the Phitofilos Professional Contest - Blondes Category

Sonia Cuppone is a former student of the Phitofilos Professional Academy, a training project dedicated to hair professionals created to cultivate a new generation of hairdressers capable of managing any color and wellness needs with plant-based treatments. Today, thanks to the training she received at the Academy, Sonia, the expert plant-based colorist and owner of the Sonia Haircare Naturalmente salon in Tuglie, has transformed the way she cares for her clients every day.
Thanks to winning our online contest , she was elected Phitofilos Professional Hairdresser 2022 in the "Blondes" category. We asked her a few questions to learn more about her story, and she told us about how her salon was born, her encounter with plant-based coloring, and how important the Phitofilos Professional Academy was for her training.

Tell us about yourself: when did you start? How did your salon come to be?

Kandinsky said that color is a power that directly influences the soul. Exactly what the artist claimed happened to me. More than 30 years have passed since, in a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia, I learned to hold a comb and scissors, but with only one goal in mind: to become a colorist, to be able to give my clients unique emotions. That's how it all began... Sonia Haircare Naturally.

When did you start your journey to become a plant-based colorist, and what motivated you to take this path?

Almost 3 years ago, a client, recovering from significant medical treatment, unexpectedly asked me for a plant-based color. At first I was a little skeptical, but then I realized that "chemical" hair coloring always had limitations. I believe it's undemocratic, as it denies many women the right to feel beautiful. So, I researched and met Gianna Longo, director of the Accademia Phitofilos Professionale. Thanks to her, I discovered a wonderful world, made of nature, colors, scents, and above all, physical and mental well-being.

What role did the Phitofilos Professional Academy play in your education?

It was fundamental! R.W. Emerson believed that "a weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." The Academy's role is precisely to spread the "virtues" of plants. Attending the Academy was, therefore, an essential step in my journey and that of all my colleagues. It allowed me to acquire knowledge of plant-based coloring techniques and the properties of the plants I use in the salon. Without this knowledge, the herbs would be just "weeds" and not the magical friends that bring well-being and emotion to me and my clients.

Today, several years later, what does it mean to you to work with herbs and organic products every day?

Being a plant-based colorist means constantly climbing uphill, stepping outside the comfort zone of chemistry where everything is well-codified. It means constantly questioning oneself, developing existing qualities and acquiring new ones through constant study. The reward? The emotions that only Nature, with its unique scents and colors, can offer.

What do your clients say about you?

Some of my clients had given up hope of coloring their hair years ago. Thanks to neutral and coloring herbs, they have been reborn. For many of them, entering my salon means giving themselves a treat, taking care not only of their hair but also of their soul.

And what about you?

My typical client is someone who has heard about herbal dyes, perhaps has seen some wonderful work, but everyone tells her that it's impossible to achieve satisfactory results with plants alone. Then she enters the salon, doesn't smell the pungent odor of ammonia, and relaxes. In my salon, I tell the story of NATURE. The client trusts me, falls in love with the process, and together we embark on a wonderful journey.