Category — Hair

When you head into a salon, sometimes the choices can be overwhelming. Books everywhere, filled with every cut and color imaginable, mixed with products and helpful stylists.  It is really easy to become lost in it all and unsure of what you want, and in the end, even easier to walk out with an unsatisfactory style.

Before even setting foot in the salon of your choice, you should look through books, magazines or even the Internet to find a few styles you like. Picking out just one can be hard, as not every style will work for every person.  If you find two or three that could possibly be mixed together, or even ones that you like separately, you have a good chance of liking what you end up with.

Now, not every stylist will want to work off of a photo!  Keep in mind that it is, no matter how great a celebrity’s hair cut is, hard to replicate something exactly.  Think about the characteristics of what you want. Does it have long bangs? Choppy layers? These are the things you want to tell your stylist.  If you want the cut to frame your face,  make sure to tell them that! Sometimes knowing what you want is easier than judging from a photograph.  Also, if you are getting a color change, make sure to say exactly what you want.  If you want it slightly red, but not orange/red, tell them so before they begin.

Finding and getting a new style is so much fun, and a bad haircut can always be avoided!

It may seem unusual to style your hair before you cut it, but that’s exactly what I have done.

My favorite way to wear my hair is long and straight. It’s naturally a little wavy, but I use a flat iron and straighten it. I like the way it glides over my shoulders and flips around softly when it’s been straightened. The most flattering haircut I get with this style is long straight, but soft layers. I also have long layered bangs (not blunt cut). The blunt cut just doesn’t work for my waves. It ends up looking choppy.

A great hair cut that I often get is what my hair stylist calls a “Dry Cut”. He blows it dry and then straightens it all before he even comes near it with the scissors. He pulls up a section at a time and cuts in a downward sweeping motion toward the floor to give me my soft cut. Occasionally he will even use a razor to get this effect. The razor gives very soft layers and makes all the hair lie with a full but flowing effect.

The dry cut gives attention to the way my hair will really lay once it’s been styled. If you like to wear your hair long and straight, ask your stylist if they have ever done a “dry cut”. You might get an effect you’ll ask for again and again.

It’s a day that everyone wants to look amazing  –  that day where nothing less than perfect will be accepted.  You want to be noticed and stand out. More than that, you want to be the one who shines brighter than the rest throughout the room.

Your hair will be the most difficult, yet the most cared after,  part of you today.   Depending on your personal style, you will want it either perfectly straight or in a very pretty arrangement.  Think of it as the crown on your head; if it looks good, you will look good.

However, your pre-day rituals will be just as important.  Washing your hair and cleaning yourself in general will be very helpful to your presentation.  If you look clean and fresh, nothing can stand in your way.

When you walk across the room, you want to present yourself in a way that makes heads turn.  You want to be the star.  If you take care of yourself properly,  and your owner puts in all the work, winning the dog show will be a piece of cake!

(Happy April Fool’s, everyone!)

Have you ever been to the hair salon and had your hair colored a dark color, only to come home with parts of your skin dyed to match your hair? Occasionally the color stains your temples, or the skin near the hairline, and it is very difficult to remove. You could always wait a week or so for it to naturally wear off, but who wants to look like they have permanent dirt on their face or neck?!

I have found a new use for a household product that will remove hair color stains from your skin. It’s the Mr. Clean “Magic Eraser”. It’s a white sponge-like product that is great for removing dirt from walls and appliances. Who knew it could work on your skin too!

Scrubbing your temples to death with a washcloth will only make your skin red and will not likely remove hair dye stain. But the Magic Eraser works wonders where modern ordinary washcloths fail.

Be very careful not to “scrub”, or you will end up removing some skin and end up with red painful blotches. Just wet the sponge and use a gentle circular motion on the area you are trying to clean. The color should gently come off. Rubbing harder will not increase the effect, so don’t go overboard. Once you have removed that hair dye stain from your skin, you’ll just look like your gorgeous self, instead of looking like “I just came from the salon and had my roots dyed”. It’s like magic.

Straight Sexy Hair using Smooth & Seal spray for your hair. My hair stylist first introduced me to this product. He and another stylist were actually fighting over the last bottle of this product in the salon that day. He always used it on me, but I just didn’t realize how fabulous it was until we almost had a cat fight at the beauty salon!

This isn’t a traditional “hair spray”, although you do spray it on your hair. I have naturally wavy (sometimes frizzy!) hair, but I love to wear it smooth and straight most of the time. This stuff makes it shine and it also makes my flat iron glide right through my hair without pulling or sticking.

It works best for me if I blow dry my hair until it’s about 80% dry, then spray it with this product, and then flat iron it. At that point it is usually completely dry and gorgeous. Another plus is that it also seems to take care of the static problem that dry straight hair can often have, especially in the winter.

How many times have you left your hair salon with a hair style that you’ll never be able to recreate at home? Or worse, have you ever returned home to realize that your hair cut is not at all what you wanted?

First, Speak up before you get started!

Don’t let your hair stylist talk you into something you really don’t want. Mine frequently wants to thin my hair. Personally I like my hair thicker. It’s a personal preference. I believe my stylist has a personal preference for thinner hair. Well, he doesn’t have to look at it every day — I do. On a couple of occasions, I have let him thin it a little and I agree that it looks ok, but once or twice I let him just have his way with my hair and ended up hating it for a long time until it grew back.

Second, Have some idea of what you want before you get there. If you have no idea, your stylist will have no choice but to come up with something on the spot, which may not fit your lifestyle as well as you would like.

Finally, really communicate with your stylist. I have found that if I really talk to him about what I want and make sure that he really understands, then I always walk away happy. This is why I am a repeat customer. Know what you like and don’t be afraid to ask for it. Your stylist wants your business, and therefore he wants you to be happy with your hair!

Oil FOR your hair?! Yes! Seriously!

This Moroccan Oil was recommended to me by my hair stylist. I got it at the salon. If you have dry hair, color treated hair, or hair that you regularly heat treat (with a hair dryer or flat iron), then you could probably benefit from this hair oil. All that treatment tends to dry your hair, and even shampoo removes it’s natural oils which were intended to protect it. This will replenish it.

I just put a small amount in the palm of my hand and rub it on my palms and then gently rub my hands throughout my hair after I have shampooed it. I was surprised at how fast my hair actually dries and it feels shiny and thicker. It works great when using the flat iron on my hair too and smells fantastic.

It is somewhat expensive, however, you really do not need very much for each application and it does come in smaller trial-size sample vials that are much less expensive. So, definitely look for the smaller bottle the first time you try it. Although, if you’re like most people who have tried this, you’ll love it and continue using it (check out the reviews on the product page from other users who rave about it).

This is definitely a new product that I will be using for a long time to come.

Here’s a fun idea for a little beauty accent for your hair. This works best for long hair, but medium lengths work well too.

Take two different colors of embroidery thread and cut it to a length about three times the length of your hair. Next pull a very tiny strand of hair away from your other hair, up near your part line, but at least an inch or probably two from your forehead. Lay the two threads together to make it a double thread, and then place them behind the hair strand so that there is now a strand on either side of the hair.

Now braid the threads and the hair. The thread acts as two strands and the hair as one. The result will be that the thread will weave itself around the hair in an interesting pattern. Do it tightly so that it will not slip off. Tie it off just before you reach the ends of your hair. Choose colors that will match your outfit, and wear your hair loose or in a pony tail. Your hair wrap will last for several days, and you can even wash your hair without having to redo it. Just be careful when brushing your hair and hold it up so that you don’t pull it.

How can you keep your hair looking great in the summer?

Be sure to rinse your hair if you have been swimming a lot in a chlorinated pool. The chlorine does a lot of damage if it’s left in your hair for long periods.

Wear a hat to protect your hair from the sun if you are spending a lot of time out doors. If you are not wearing a hat, you should also wear sunscreen along the part of your hair to protect your scalp from the sun. Scalp sun burn causes dry flaking skin that has a dandruff appearance that you want to avoid at all costs!

If your hair is getting really dry from the summer sun, or pool water, you may need a deep conditioning treatment. You can easily heat condition your hair with no extra products needed. Coat your hair in conditioner, but do not rinse it. Come it out and put it up in a clip on the back of your head and wear it outside. The summer heat will help infuse the conditioner into your hair shaft and give it a deep conditioning. Follow up with a good rinse and style as usual.

Do you pay a lot of money every month at the hair dresser to color your hair, mostly to cover your gray? You can space out those routine colorings a little longer by using a quick catch-up product in between colorings when your roots are showing. You can buy a beauty hair product made just for touching up your color. These products blend really well and work great!

The main problem is that the roots show along your part. The touch up color comes with a small brush and a tiny packet of hair color to use along the part. The brush is a lot like the one used by your professional hair dresser. The result is that you can often hide your gray roots for an additional 2-3 weeks and stretch out visits, although in the end, there is no substitute for your professional when it comes to long lasting color for your hair!