April was a good month

I am always excited when I get to make fun changes for people.  This past month has had a few and I actually remembered to document some!!  I have to give credit to my friends for sending some of them to me 😉

My friend Caitlyn was the first fun change, adding some blue to her hair.  It’s hard to get some of these colors to show but if you look in the  curls on her face you can see it.  Kinda cool 🙂

 

Next was Liz.  She needed a purple pick me up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a Diva 😉

To end the month I had an amazing transformation.  Another hair donation by a wonderful woman who no longer felt the need to hide behind her hair.  Here is Hauna’s before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She’s a beautiful woman already, right?

 

I feel like I need a drum roll please for Hauna’s after:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW!!!  GORGEOUS!!  Look at that face!  Those eyes!  She’s amazing!

I couldn’t be happier with the results and I think Hauna is pretty pleased as well 😉

Thanks for a great month Ladies!   XXOO

What a week!

I don’t usually share this way but felt the urge today.  Last week was amazing!  In the course of a week I did 4 haircuts for donations – 2 were in one day!!  So much generosity of others!  4 wonderful ladies opted to go with shorter locks in the hopes of helping someone else.  My heart is brimming over.

I documented only 2 of these ladies (my forgetfulness kicks in again).

Thank you to HEATHER:

 

and TAYLOR:

What amazing women!!

 

In addition to this overwhelming generosity of others in my week I also had the pleasure of doing two color transformations.  First was a color correction taking a young woman with red and brown roots (poor color application at home) and black ends (remember we can’t lighten color by applying another color over it) to a reddish color all over.  Quite amazing!  I’m sorry I forgot to document it!  Second was a brunette who went blonde via a full highlight.  Beautiful but also forgot to document!!  Some day I’ll remember every time.  I just get caught up in the moment 🙂

Ask for samples!

You want to try a new shampoo because you’ve heard SO much about it but your bathroom cabinet is already full of products you had to try that weren’t for you! What if it doesn’t work the same in your hair as it does in that of the person who recommended it?  Now you’ve bought a product that your going to add to the pile or give away.  What?!  Stop!  Go online!  Research a company contact for the product you want to try and call or email them asking for a sample!  For short or fine haired girls you can usually get 2-3 uses out of 1 sample.  If you have long and/or thick hair explain that so you can possibly get 2 of the samples.  It can’t hurt to try and save you some money in the process!

To all my Curly Girls out there…

A friend recently suggested I write a post about my curly girls.  She is a curly girl.  She wanted to let me know how happy she has been with my work on her ‘do and how difficult it has been in the past to find someone who can cut curly hair properly.  I thanked her for the compliment.

I never really thought about how much is at stake for the curly girl.  While we straight haired ladies (of which I am one) have all had hair traumas these ladies with curls also have the possibility of a terrible cut on a different level.  A curl will usually hide a bad cut – unless it’s REALLY bad in which case there is the terrible grow out period – but when you straighten it all of its flaws will be known.  So now these ladies are forced to go curly or show their flaws.  I say no fair!

Something I don’t really understand is the salons out there banking on the “specialty cut” for curly hair.  Isn’t this part of my job, to cut curly hair?  And do it well?  I am happy to cut your curly hair and not charge extra for the cut.  To blow dry and straighten may be extra but that depends on your hair.  I will say that from one curly haired friend I have seen 5 additional new curly haired girls in my chair for repeat haircuts so I must cut their hair in a way that works for them!  They all have different types of curl so it’s no formula for perfection, just doing what I do and doing my best for each person.

As for product, that’s one more item those “curly” salons bank on.  You don’t need to break the bank to have nice curl!  Lots of curly ladies need more moisture to cut the frizz.  Your hair type will decide what works best for you so you may need to try different things.  The following items are products that I or my clients have found to be very useful for their curls, depending on their hair types and needs:

Serums/Oils:  Aquage SeaExtend Silkening Oil Treatment, John Frieda Frieda Frizz-Ease Hair Serum,  Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum

Gels/Mousse:  Aquage Curl Defining Creme (provides less crunch) or Gel (more crunch), Beyond the Zone Noodle Head Curl Mousse, TIGI Catwalk Curls Rock Aplifier or Curl Booster Or TIGI’s Bed Head Foxy Curls Extreme Mousse

If you’re not happy with your curly hair it’s up to you to try something new, be it product, stylist or both to find your bliss!  On the days when you want to curse your curls know that there are straight haired girls out there wishing for a little natural wave, some small bit of action to their hair.  Know that even though you may have to work for straight, you are lucky to have the option  (a lot of super straight hair won’t hold a curl very long so options for these ladies are limited)!  And once your hair is straight most of you can go at least a few days without doing it again?!  I must say, I’m a little jealous 😉

Color Correction

I recently met a  woman who had a very unfortunate hair experience.  Her name is Stephanie.  Prior to this experience she had been coloring her hair  a rich dark brown.  While it was a very pretty color she decided she wanted to go back to her natural color, a dark blond.  Rather than go to a salon she went to a friend of hers who is a professional stylist working from his home.  (Please don’t take my mentioning working from home as an indictment.  I also work from home and have no issue with the practice.)

To go from brown to blond Stephanie’s friend needed to lighten her previously colored hair.  To achieve this he put bleach on her head, root to end, all the same strength and VERY strong.  Unfortunately many problems arose.  Here are the reasons for concern:

1)  When additional root has grown in it doesn’t need to be lightened.

2)  Lightening hair as a whole makes it very difficult to get even processing.  Some areas come up quicker due to body heat rising from the head.  Also, color saturated areas don’t lift as easily.

3)  Using a very strong process is tedious.  A stylist needs to watch it like a hawk or risk hair breakage.

Now I will show you the photos of Stephanie that were sent to me by a mutual friend the very next day:

The above photos do not reflect the desired result.

1)  Stephanie had about 2 inches of natural hair grown in.

2)  Stephanie’s hair was clearly lightened as a whole.

3)  I don’t believe Stephanie’s hair was watched during processing.

Note the bright white of the root and regrowth areas in the first 2 pictures.  They are definitely too light.  It is a result of her natural color being processed when it should not have been touched at all.

In the 1st and 3rd pictures you can really see the difference in color from root to end.  The ends are dark and brassy.  Actually the mid-shaft to ends are the very example of brassy:  they are various shades of gold and orange.  There is no uniformity to the color, no rhyme or reason.  That is because, as I stated earlier, some areas come up quicker due to heat coming from the head and color saturated areas don’t lift as easily.

The last photo shows the magnitude of damage done to the hair from the heavy processing.  Her hair was falling out in tufts on her shirt at work that next day.  According to Stephanie, her layers were not originally this short.

You can see the problems.  Now for the correction.  When Stephanie and our mutual friend contacted me Stephanie was  hoping to get her hair fixed as soon as possible.  My schedule was full so she was going to have to wait a week.  During the week of waiting this very smart woman slept with conditioner in her hair every night and wore a bandana during the day.  This helped to protect the hair from further damage.

The day of Stephaine’s appointment finally arrived.  Due to the extent of the damage I was skeptical of how well the color would adhere.  Would it last?  Only time would tell.

We use Goldwell products in the salon where I work.  Their process for a color correction is to fill the hair first to put back the lost pigment and then add the color directly on top.  Thankfully the color did adhere.  With that behind us the damage that was done by the original process needed to be addressed.  I had to cut 3 inches of hair all around.  That took care of some of the worst areas but the hair was still fragile.  She knew she would have to baby it for a while.  Nevertheless, I think we did pretty well.

Take a look at the results:

We were both very happy with the results.  It is not Stephanie’s exact natural color and she was ok with losing some of the length.  Now she is happier with her hair and knows it will take time for it to heal.

This is an extreme case but it is one that never should have happened.  If a professional stylist does not have the tools to finish the job they should not begin the job.  I do not believe the project should have been taken on by her friend in the first place.   Stephanie was left to feel like every day was a bad hair day for a week.  That’s disgraceful.  I hope her friend learned from this experience.  In the future he should be better prepared or not take on such a large project without access to additional supplies.

Fast forward to the next visit.  As I stated before, Stephanie’s new color was not an exact match to her natural so her roots needed to be processed to match.  To my elated surprise her color held fantastically!  It had faded slightly but no where near what I thought it would with all the damage that had been done.  Stephanie deserves some of the credit for conditioning every night.  I believe that helped with the hair’s porosity, allowing it to hold on to the color molecules better.  To my surprise:  Stephanie wanted to go darker.  That was easy compared to the correction!  She also requested a new haircut, short in the back to long in the front.  She has a completely different look – and she looks GOOD!

To home color, or not home color…

Let’s address this topic with as much decency as we can.  When you want to slightly experiment with your color or when you start showing an ever so slight amount of grey and want to camouflage it with a SEMI permanent color, I understand.  Note that the word “semi” is in caps.  This means the color is not permanent.  This means you are not altering your color drastically and it will eventually go back to your natural color.

Now let’s talk about big changes.  Changes you should not try at home.  I’m not talking about the teenager who wants to change their hair color because they can, they do, and they pull it off.  I’m talking about the average woman.  You know who you are.  As much as all the beauty magazines tell you that “anyone can do it” I like to think there is some skill involved in getting the right tone or shade as well as assessing the quality of the hair.  Stylists go to school for a reason and no, not everyone finds they’re excellent at it!  That’s why some people prefer to cut only, not color.  You know the lady you saw in the grocery store who’s hair looked like a zebra or a leopard, depending on where you looked?  That was most likely a home highlighting kit.  Not everyone can do it.  Remember the lady everyone said looked like she used shoe polish in her hair?  Home hair color, single process.  Which brings me to my next point…

Most people have no idea how damaging a box of hair color from the supermarket, drugstore or even health food store can be.  Yes, health food store.  Please do not think that a color is better because it’s sold at the health food store.  It just has different chemicals in it.  Most people who have come to me as a home color person are upset by how dry their hair is.  Can I tell you that you’re doing it to yourself?  Every time you apply that “formula” which has been formulated for the masses you are damaging your tresses.  Does the person with very little fine hair need the same thing as the person with thick, curly masses of hair?  Additionally if you just plop it on and rub it in every time you are further damaging and darkening your mid shaft and ends.  There’s a reason it says to apply at the root and pull through for the last 5 minutes.  If it’s your first application and your hair is already overly porous (as a LOT of grey can be) you may grab the color too dark.  This brings me to the next point…

Color can not be lightened with color.  When you buy the permanent medium cocoa brown and don’t realize that it’s been sitting on the shelf for months and due to either your hair type or the age of the product it grabs way too dark, you can not lighten it by putting another color over it.  Neither can I.  At this point you have to some how lighten it with bleach, via a foil or a malt wash.  Either way you’re creating a little more stress to the hair.  And don’t try the malt wash at home after googling it.  It gets messy and never gives even results.

All of which puts you in a stylists chair to fix it at a much higher fee than if you had just gone to the salon in the first place.  Come see me for color or highlights anytime.  It’ll probably cost less than half of what you would have paid for the box, your frustration, damage to your rug and curtains where the color spilled or splattered, and the fix I have to do combined.  I guarantee it 🙂

Don’t try this at home…

We’ve all been there.  Whether it’s the bangs your mother gave you when you were 5 or the bangs you gave yourself when you were 25 most women know the terrors of home hair cutting.  Most of us go little snips at a time.  But then no, it’s not even.  Back to the other side.  Nope, not even again.  Eventually your eyebrows are standing alone, naked on your forehead with no wispy coverage.  We all know hair grows back but it always feels like forever until that actually happens.  Well, be happy it was just your bangs.  I have had a few people go shorter due to similar mishaps in larger sections.  They just needed a few more wisps here or a little more texture there and then a chunk of hair is on the bathroom floor.  All I can say to anyone reading this who knows what I mean by your own trial and error is that you are not alone.

I have a friend who has been gracious enough to let me share her story.  Her name is Val and she is a culprit of the chunk of hair on the floor.  Val had a haircut where we took the back up short to a super stack and left the side angles and front extra long.  Think of that famous soccer players wife that everyone needed the haircut of a few years ago but make it better because it was shorter in the back thus more dramatic on the drop to the front, just lower than her chin.  Then we made the long front angles kind of choppy,  texturized.  It was cute and edgy at the same time.  Val looked GOOD.  She left my chair happy.

After a week or two of doing her hair herself Val thought she needed more texture on the sides (this is the moment you pick up the phone and call your stylist asking for just that!).  Simple, right?  Well, everything in your mirror is reversed.  Keep that in mind when you pull out your scissors and try to do a little touch up.  She went for it and yes, there was a chunk of hair on the floor.  Now she needed to make the other side match.  Another chunk on the floor.  But now they’re not even.  Back to the first side.  So on and so forth until the sides are running just about to the cheekbone.  Yikes!  How to fix it?!  Now is when she calls me.  Here is where we are at this point:

Fortunately for Val this is a case where the errors brought on something completely new and wonderful.  We added a few caramel highlights to the top and sides to help show off texture and then went pixie short!  She was bold and it paid off because she looks even more beautiful!

I’ve seen her since with the bangs brushed off her face completely and that looks excellent as well.  I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for my friend.  And thanks for letting me show how a negative turned into a positive Val 😉

This situation had a good ending but we all know stories that didn’t turn out as well.  Sometimes you have to wait it out.  That’s like torture.  So I leave you with something to keep in mind: a hairstylist has to go to school for hundreds of hours and pass a test before they are allowed to be a professional in the industry.  Even while working on actual people in school there are instructors around every corner making sure things go right.  In the end, we are licensed professionals.  So please, don’t try this at home.

A change may make you smile

Sometimes when you’ve been working with the same stylist for a while one or both of you falls into a rut.  The conversation becomes, “Same color?  Clean up the ends?”  Reply, “Sure”.  Every once in a while the response will be, “Can we do some foils too?”  Not for lack of ideas but sometimes because these people are friends and have other business to discuss!  Sometimes we get caught up in tradition (and conversation).

I am always happy when a friend comes in and says, “Cut it all off!”, and means it!!  These are my happiest days.  I LOVE change for my clients!  You want some red highlights and you haven’t done that before?!  Excellent!  I have free range with your cut as long as it can fit in a ponytail?!  Lovely!  These are the best surprises for me!  I hope to start documenting them a little better and sharing them.  Sometimes I believe complete overhauls are where I do my best work.  They get me thinking outside the usual lines where we’ve worked for so long.

My first such documentation for you is my friend Kim.  She is fantastic and I am very lucky to have her whole hearted trust.  We’ve been through a few changes together but this was by far my favorite.  Kim is a working Mom of 3 who is always running somewhere.  She has some wave to her hair and felt the need to flat iron all the time.  She also has a lot of hair.  How much extra time does any Mom have in her day?  None.  The flat iron can be a lifesaver for most who use it but time is sometimes a negative factor and the more hair you have the longer it may take.  Let me give you a visual.  This is Kim’s before photo:

A lovely lady, right?!  I STILL like her hair like this.  If she wanted to grow it out at some point I would be all for it.  She’s lucky in the fact that she can go long or short.  You will see what I mean.

Kim came in finally ready for a change.  I phrase it this way because she has been putting limitations on those changes for at least two years.  “When this happens, I’ll cut my hair”.  She had finally come to the glorious realization of, “Why wait?”  I love this realization!  More on that in a minute.  I want you to see the lovely Kim’s after shots:

Amazing, right?!  She looks absolutely incredible with shorter hair and beautiful golden highlights!  I can’t take all the credit, she came in prepared with an idea.  Here are some side and back views:

Isn’t she cute?  So it’s a great look for Kim that takes her less time in the morning.  Additionally I am happy to report that she left with a hop in her step!  She seemed like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.  I am happy to have helped her feel that way.  (Thanks for the pictures Kim!)

So back to, “Why wait?”.  Sometimes in life we get stuck in the cause and effect or effort equals reward cycle.  We need to remember that a little change can go a long way.  So maybe finally cutting Kim’s hair short has helped to inspire her in other ways so that the other things she has been working towards she can be even more confident about while working towards them that much harder.  I don’t know if that’s true but I like to think so.  A small change within ourselves can sometimes go a long way.

Maybe you are recoiling at my thinking this is a small change.  Really?  It’s hair.  It grows back.  Will it pay your bills if you have it?  Will it get you a better job?  Unless you’re a hair model, no.  How would you change your look?  Spring is coming.  Make the change.  Cut, color, style, whatever you can handle.  Who knows, it may make you smile 🙂

I had an appointment?

When you have an appointment at a salon you are in a time slot of the stylists day.  You are occupying their time in that slot.  No one else can get in that slot because it is yours.

When the salon calls to confirm your appointment they are reminding you that you are currently occupying that portion of the stylists time for services you planned at a previous time.  When you receive a call and they open with, “Hi, this is Sharon from Salon X-“, please listen to the whole message.  Did you or the person who gave you a reminder card write down the correct time?  Is it the correct date?  If not, please call and say something!  Otherwise you are taking an appointment space someone else may be in need of (or may come in too late to have services performed later).  Also, when a reminder call has been placed and the salon then calls you to see where you are 15 minutes after the time of the appointment, please don’t open with, “I had an appointment?”.  It’s just not an honest response after the reminder call went to a voice mail box with your name and/or voice.

Additionally, if you know you won’t be able to make an appointment please call as soon as possible to cancel.  If the salon knows on Wednesday or Thursday that you won’t be in Saturday (a salon’s busiest day) they can surely fill that time.  If you wait until Friday evening and call after the salon has closed it’s very frustrating to come in to get the message which leaves a blank spot in the schedule where someone else could have been receiving services.  Understandably, emergencies arise.  These are not the instances being referred to.  Things come up and changes must be made.  Just give the courtesy of a phone call so someone isn’t left waiting.  Because yes, you had an appointment, and now that person, who probably works on commission, has no one in their chair.

A “quick” haircut

So let’s talk briefly about this. What is a “quick” haircut? Do you want me to wash and dry your hair? Do you want it styled while I dry it? Do you have hair down to your waist? None of these will lead to a quick haircut. If you are in a hurry please do not to expect to make up for lost time in my chair. A quick haircut consists of you sitting in my chair, we talk about the 16th of an inch you want taken off and I cut it dry. No wash, no style. I’ll blow the little pieces out with my dryer and if you’d like I’ll spray it but that’s it. And yes, it is a full price haircut.