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Changing Hair Stylists Can be Traumatic

I remember feeling, apprehension, and self doubt of whether I was making a good decision here. After all, I hadn’t had a hairstylist who wasn’t a hair stylist friend and or coworker for over 20 years! I could go to a number of hair stylist/friends who were located close by. I decided to venture out into the unknown, for a few good reasons - to practice what I preach in my class Finding the Right Hairstyle for You!, to see what someone who doesn’t know what I do has to offer, and to make my life less stressful to get to an appointment

I had moved about 45 min from my hair stylist and this was the worst, annoying, stress inducing, stop and go traffic in the Twin Cities. When teaching a hair style class in the new area of town, I had two students who really had cute hairstyles. I asked both who was their hair stylist - both went to the same hair stylist, by the way-and lo and behold, the hair salon was only 5 minutes away from my home!

“I saw her work on
other women”

I went slow with her, on my first appointment. I let her know my background, and also let her know how I came to making an appointment with her. I wasn’t ready to let her do whatever she wanted at first. I needed to get a feel for what I thought of her abilities and asked her to give me a similar cut to the one I had. (I say similar because there really are no two hair stylist who cut the same.) So I knew she would have to reveal a couple of things to me, her ability to listen to what is important to me, as well as her hair cutting skills and lastly her hair styling techniques. (I say lastly styling techniques, because to me no one can style my hair the way I want it styled. Sound familiar?)

I was impressed, but at home I styled it my own way. My first few cuts with her went without surprises. That is, we would talk about and make small changes to my style that I would be comfortable with..

She has done a great job. I knew she had the ability because I saw her work on other women. She has everything I look for in a good stylist - good listening skills, creative and artistic ability, professionalism, consistency and she is priced right. She charges $41.00 by the way.

How do you feel when you have just lost your friend and hair stylist? It can be pretty unsettling, like leaving your well being to the hands of anyone who has passed the test. They’ve spent their 9 months in school and received a certificate that says they can make your life whole again? Face it. If you don’t do your homework, you are leaving a part of your self esteem (there I said it, as shallow as you might think it sounds- it has a lot of truth to it) to the wind.

I ate my own words, that is, hooked up with a new hair stylist, by the same way I tell those in my clients to do it. For tips on how to find a new hairstylist.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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Not All Hair Dryers Are Created Equal

I had lost touch of just how important my hair dryer has been in achieving quick, easy and great hair styles until my Solano hair dryer died last month.

“make a hair dryer effective as a hair styling tool”

A good hair dryer is the backbone of being able to create great hair styles quickly and efficiently. There are important features that make it effective as a hair styling tool, rather than just a hair dryer:

• Wattage (air speed)

  • Heat Settings ( Low and High) You should have at the low end 1500 watts and up to 1875 watts to get enough air flow and concentrated heat to dry your hair quickly. More wattage than this and you can blow the style right out of your hair. Your heat settings should be easy to use and should give you at least a low and high heat setting. A cool shot button is great for setting in the curl, however isn’t necessary if you are in a hurry. You just need to learn to allow a curl to cool before removing the round brush or it will fall out.

• Light weight nozzle hair dryers are easy to use and the nozzle can be more effective (especially with a nozzle attachment so heat and air are both more concentrated in one area) You can also attach a diffuser to a nozzle type dryer to style in curls. If you are using your blow dryer as a hairstyling tool, with a round brush to curl or with a flat brush to straighten the hair, read on:.

• Ionic vs. regular hair dryer

  • When my blow dryer died I decided to try a new ionic hair dryer. Ionic is a fairly new technology in the hair styling industry. Very few hair stylists can describe how the technology works. To cut to the chase, it will make a difference in your hair and hair styles. I could feel the difference in my hair the first time I used it.

    • The good: your hair will feel more conditioned, reduces frizzies, reduces static electricity, may promote more hair shine.

    • The bad: flatter hair, won’t hold curl. (that could be a positive for some of you)

  • So if you have trouble with dry hair, frizzies, or static , this hair dryer will help. Just realize you may be giving up the ability to get a lot of Ummmmph and styleability to your hair styles. You can always try it yourself, most likely you can return it if it doesn’t perform well for you.

What did I buy? After reading the reviews at Consumer Reports and the hair dryer reviews at Folica I decided on CHI Hair Dryer (I got a great price and free shipping)

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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How to get Back to Your Natural Hair Color

A visitor to visual-makeover.com asks . . . “I colored my hair about 4 months ago and now I would like to go back to my natural color. Any advice?”

“just because the color fades does not mean the chemical washes out, it is still in the hair”

First of all you need to let your hair get some roots, anywhere between and 1.5″ to 2″ would be good. The hair salon color uses numbers or levels of hair color. Most salon hair color brands go from 1-10 or 1-12. One being the darkest and ten being the lightest. If a customer wants her hair color lifted above a level 10 or 12 (depending on the brand), that has to be done with some type of a hair bleaching product.

This doesn’t concern you, since you want to go natural. The first thing that needs to be done is that your hair stylist needs to examine your roots to determine what your natural level is. Then they need to determine what the level of the artificial hair color is. Now, here is the thing about hair color that the boxes don’t tell you. If you have color on your hair and you want to go to a lighter color, you can’t use hair color to lighten it because artificial hair color will not lift artificial hair color that is already on your hair.

Keep in mind that even if it has been four months since the last time you colored your hair, the chemical is still there. I hear this a lot from customers. “I haven’t done it for a while so there isn’t any in my hair.” This is false. hair color fades, just because the color fades does not mean the chemical washes out, it is still in the hair.

Even though you can’t go lighter, you can however, go darker. Let me give you an example. The hair color product you have been using on your hair matches up with a level 6 (remember 1 is darkest 10 is lightest) and your natural level matches up to a level 4. Therefore, you are going darker and this can be accomplished. Now, you need to ask your hair stylist if they can use a semi or demi permanent hair color. This type of hair color is a deposit only color that has no ammonia, no lifting and is not damaging to the hair. The only problem is it usually fades faster (about 6-8 weeks), but it is worth it because it is so much better for your hair.

Now, if you go into the hair salon and your natural hair color level is a level 6 and the hair color you have been using is naturally a level 3 then you are going to run into some problems. This means that you are going to have to go through and strip the artificial hair color off your hair and then deposit a color to match your natural level. I don’t like to have to strip hair color from clients’ hair because it is very damaging (most of the time) and I have seen it cause major breakage.

Additional reading on getting back to your natural hair color.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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