Styling 101

Towel Drying

If you are like me and you are in a hurry towel drying involves placing the towel on your head and going to town with it. If you want smooth hair, stop and dry your hair out by placing (kindly) the towel on your head and squeezing it down the hair in one motion. Make sure you go downward. Going all crazy pushes the cuticle every which way giving you frizzy hair.

Brushing

Start at the ends and work your way up. The ends usually get the most tangly. Work through your hair in small sections getting the ends un-tangled and then work your way up to brushing from root to end. I have seen people rip through their hair time and time again literally pulling out clumps and breaking off the ends of their hair. Be kind!

Blow Drying

When blow drying, always apply a heat protectant. These often are silicon-based but if you are washing your hair properly and use a small amount, it won't matter. Also, like towel drying we must have order to our madness. Don't go to town with the blow dryer! You know what I am talking about, waving it around your head like a weapon of mass destruction. Think beautiful thoughts and blow dry downwards always keeping in mind those little cuticles - push them downward and you have smooth and shiny hair, push them upwards and you get ugly. You only need to blow dry your hair 80% and nature can do the rest.  Any more and you risk frying your hair - literally!!!!

Applying Product

For those of you who love their products - Be careful! You can always add more product but you can't take it away once it's in there. Apply a small amount, a good rule of thumb is to apply a dime-sized amount at first. Disperse through your hands and start at the nape (base of the head) and work your way up. This insures that if by chance you do have too much product that your roots don't get too greasy or weighed down. You can always add more product here or there as needed. If you are using a volumizing product that is for the roots, I would add a small amount to the crown area, which is where people generally want the volume.

Back to Basics: Hair Care 101

Back to Basics: Hair Care 101

So I was washing my hair one day enjoying a lovely scalp massage and it occurred to me as I was rinsing that not all of us know the basic hair care techniques I love and cherish :) Yes, there is a correct way to wash and condition, to towel dry, and to even brush. Implementing these basic techniques can and will give you optimal results when it comes to your hair. Whether it is maintaining your color or achieving a smooth style, practicing proper hair care ( yes, the basics!) can help make all your hair dreams come true!

Good shampooing and conditioning is the first step to creating a masterpiece. When looking for a shampoo look for something acidic as opposed to alkaline. Your hair is made up of tiny scales called cuticles. Products that are too alkaline burst open the cuticle causing your dye and beneficial oils to come out; acid closes the cuticle giving you sleek and lovely hair. Steer clear of sulfates (the detergents that make your shampoo foam) and products full of silicon and oils (they coat the hair and make it look dull and greasy). Foamy shampoo does not equal great shampoo.  Some of the best shampoo I have ever used didn't foam at all but it kept my color in tip-top shape and made my hair shine like silk.

 If your product claims to have something beneficial in it (for example Argan Oil) make sure you read the label and see if it is in the shampoo. Don't pay for something that isn't there. Last but not least, cool water is better than hot. Hot water bursts the cuticle open and cool water closes it.  This is important for those of us who dye our hair and want to go longer in between salon visits.

By properly shampooing your hair you can actually save money. Proper hair care extends the visits you make to the salon thus keeping your pocket full of that hard earned green stuff.

Steps for shampooing your hair
1. Wet hair
2.Start at the scalp- Many of us (myself included sometimes) put a whole bunch of shampoo on our hands and lather up mid-shaft to ends and kind of get the roots. However, it is important to start scrubbing at the scalp.  Then, move on to your hair roots.  The roots are where the oils from our scalp are mostly at, so scrub those first and then work the shampoo down into the ends.
3. Rinse out thoroughly with cool water and repeat once more if your hair is especially dirty.  If you are a product junkie you may want to repeat so that you get all the product out, if not just go on to conditioning.  Over-shampooing your hair is not the best either.
4. Ring out your hair! If you put conditioner on right after you rinse you give your hair no chance of absorbing any of the conditioner! Ring out or towel dry your hair.
5. Condition. This is opposite shampooing in terms of application. Do not condition the roots! This can make your hair look greasy. Start mid-shaft and comb through your ends.
6. Rinse. Cool water, please, so that you smooth out the cuticle.
7. Don't over-shampoo! For goodness sakes, you don't need to wash twice a day or even once a day. It is best to wash every two to three days, and if your hair gets especially oily and dirty try to go a day in between.

Styling 101