Monday, December 29, 2014

Transformation Tuesday

I hope you all are having an awesome holiday season! We just got back from Florida and are entertaining some family. That means this Transformation was actually done a couple weeks ago since I have been on vacation.

This week's lovely lady has been a client of mine for a while. The last time I saw her, I was giving her a balayaged ombré, and it was her first time ever getting anything done other than a cut! So this time, we decided to give her a little more balayage and lighten it up a little bit more. And she loved it!



Wednesday, December 17, 2014

So, You Wanna Cut Your Hair Off?

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far, I know we are! 

I cannot tell you how many hair chop horror stories I have heard over the years. Everything from a postpartum not-so-pick-me-up, to a spur-of-the-moment make-under. No matter what the reason, everyone wishes one thing, someone told them "NO!" If you or a friend are considering a drastic change in hair length, please consult this flow-chart. I hope you find it helpful!



Do you have any short hair horror stories?

Adventures In Blonding

I am particularly excited about this post because the model for this transformation is me! The hard work you are about to see was performed by my girl Stephanie Pion, who works with me at West End Salon. 
Well my friends, my hair has been every color under the sun! Brown, black, dirty blonde, light blonde, red, purple, platinum. But one thing stays the same, I love a good change, and a drastic one at that! 
Today, I'm going to take you through the adventure that Stephanie and I took to achieve this amazing color. I hope you learn a thing or two about how labor intensive it is to take a brunette, blonde. Maybe even find a new appreciation for your hairstylist, and their vast knowledge of every corner of the hair world. 
Our journey began with the history of my hair. In the last 18 months my hair has been: mostly virgin (never been colored or lightened), colored, highlighted, dyed back to brown, a little balayage, and not colored for 9 months. Needless to say, I presented quite a challenge for Miss Stephanie. 

Photos: Coco and me before (I love Coco's face! Yawn! Bored already!); lightener on everything but the virgin hair.

We started with putting lightener (AKA bleach, lightener just sounds nicer) with Olaplex (a bond multiplier that prevents breakage and damage cause by light enters) on everything that isn't virgin. Virgin hair is hair that has never been colored or lightened before. We left the virgin hair out because it lightens faster and doesn't have any barriers for the lightener to break through, like color.

Photos: Stephanie, Coco, and me waiting patiently; my gorgeous hair after rinsing out the lightener; neutralizing the color with toner

After the ends were light enough, we went back and applied lightener on the virgin hair. Then, we waited... And waited....And you guessed it! We waited some more. Once the hair was light enough, we rinsed. This next part was crucial: toning! (Toner neutralizes unwanted tones in the hair by using complementary colors on the color wheel.) Toning was what took my hair from highlighter yellow and Nickelodeon orange, to a beautiful sandy blonde. This vital part of the blonding process really separates the professionals from the DIYers and box dyers. Getting the right tone is something you really can't duplicate at home and without the right training.

Photos: Before and After!

Once the toner was done processing, we rinsed, shampooed, conditioned, and blowdried. All in all, this whole process took us about 3.5 hours. Oh and did I mention, we did this all with the baby hanging out on my lap. So thank you Stephanie, for being patient and making my hair gorgeous!

Photos: My whole blonding journey from start to finish!

Tips from Stephanie:
Do an in-salon or at-home repairing treatment once a week.
Use a violet shampoo or conditioner to keep your hair from looking brassy.
Get regular trims every 6-8 weeks.
If you have iron in your water, rinse your hair with bottled water to prevent a brass attack!
Use some sort of oil or serum on you ends to keep them hydrated. Trust me, they're thirsty!
Don't use products with dye in them.
Be gentle and enjoy! 

Check out Adventures In Blonding Part Deux. The adventure continues!

What are some of your transformations you've loved?

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Transformation Tuesday

What a week it has been! The craziness before Christmas is seriously insane! 

This lovely lady has been an icy platinum for some time now, and was ready for a change. She didn't want anything too drastic, just something closer to her natural so she won't have to touch-up her color as often.

I have been doing this mermaid's hair for a while now and that is exactly the goal! Mermaid Hair! We've been using Obsession Tape Extensions on her for a little over a year now and it has allowed her baby fine hair to grow while creating minimal damage to her natural hair. These are 22" extensions, they normally come in 18", but this mermaid likes her hair extra long!

I am so happy with the way this color turned out. We did a little balayage on her regrowth and toned down her existing highlights to a beautiful honey blonde. I wish the pictures did it justice!

We gave this beauty some more balayage highlights to give an overall lighter effect.

This lovely lady wanted to be a little lighter so we gave her some soft balayage highlights to brighten her up for the holiday season.
I was so excited about this transformation! I love a good chop (on someone who is ready for it)! Other than the obvious haircut, we also lightened her up a little bit. Her hair looks so much fuller on her baby fine hair and I love it! It is super flattering on her!

To see more transformations check out my Before & After page here.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Transformation Tuesday

When I showed this transformation to my husband, he said, "Well that's not a huge difference." And he's right, but most people aren't looking to go from black to platinum (although it is a fun challenge when I get to do things like that.) The goal with this particular client was to diffuse the line of demarcation and tone out some of the gold in her hair, getting to look as natural as possible. She didn't want it to "shout" or "talk", she wanted it to "whisper." 



Thursday, December 4, 2014

Are You Washing Your Hair Too Much?


Growing up, I thought that everyone washed their hair everyday because that's what my family did. As I got older, I found out that that's not necessarily the case. Washing my hair less is something that I struggled with for a long time and it took me years to get myself and my baby-fine hair trained to where it is now. That's right, training! I know what you must be thinking:
"My hair is super oily!"
"I just feel dirty!"
"But I work out!"
Well I have a solution for all of that and some excellent tricks to break you of your excessive washing ways.

Everyone should be washing their hair no more than two times a week. For some of you, that may sound absolutely ludicrous! But hey, we really don't need to be washing that often. Why you ask? Our natural oils are there for a reason, to hydrate and moisturizer our scalp and hair follicles. 

For my ladies with overly oily hair: 
Your hair is oily because you wash it. I know it sounds completely backwards, but I promise it makes sense. Every time you wash your hair, you are stripping it of its natural oils. Then your scalp thinks, "Hey! Where's all the oil? Oh well, I'll just make more!" Your body only makes what it thinks it needs. 

How To Get Started:
1. Start by skipping a day of washing. Once your scalp gets used to that, skip another. Remember, dry shampoo is your friend!
2. Discover new, fun things to do with your hair that help mask your potentially oily scalp.
Braids
Top knot
Sock bun
3. If it's really oily, put a hat on it!
4. Maybe you're a gym rat or you do hot yoga. Well, sweat doesn't equal dirty or oily, but you can always rinse your hair out and massage your scalp, like you are washing it without shampoo.
5. Get yourself on a schedule. Here's mine:
Monday- Wash and Air Dry
Tuesday- Curl It
Wednesday- Sock Bun
Thursday- Wash and Air Dry
Friday- Curl It
Saturday- Hat
Sunday- Sock Bun

Some Benefits to washing less:
- Hair and scalp aren't as dry!
- Use less shampoo and conditioner!
- Save yourself time getting ready in the morning!

Remember, it may take some time for your scalp to adjust and your oil production to slow down, but I promise you wont regret it!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Transformation Tuesday

A little back story behind this transformation. This particular client was sent to me from another client. She had her hair done in Vegas on Thanksgiving vacation and it wasn't anything close to what she had shown him. Luckily, that stylist did most of the hard work for me by getting her dark hair lighter. Needless to say, she was extremely happy that she finally had the hair she had dreamed of before going back to school from her holiday break.

This was the inspiration for the color.

Before & After
Balayage Going Darker

More before and after pictures here.