OFFICEHAIR

Just a quick note to let you all know that I haven’t left, I’ve just been very busy and have many posts set up to go but I’m having a few problems uploading photos for articles, and I think that they would seem a little pointless without the visuals. Good news is my brother is back in 2 weeks and he’ll be able to fix it all for me, so keep a look out for me soon. If you do have any questions just email me and I’ll get back to you as soon as posible. P.S. Sorry to those who have emailed and I haven’t got back yet (these 14 hour days are a killer), but I’m hoping for a day off to get back to everyone in about 2 weeks. Thanks, Dean.

Back in May last year I wrote about The No-Shampoo Trend that hit Sydney. Many different views have been expressed by both men and women about this subject. Most men seem to be once a week and some, once a month while the women tend to be at least 2-3 times ans some, everyday.

Sharna wrote in asking: 

I have tried to “stretch out” my washing to 2-3 times a week (hey I WAS a once a day girl, sometimes two!).

My question is - what is the best way to deal with the in-between days where you sweat / go to the gym? Should I continue to shampoo only once or twice a week with a thorough rinse on those days?

Also, how does using hair product fit into this?

Clean hair is a very individual and person thing, what may seem clean to some may be dirty/greasy to others, or on the flip side, may be overly clean. So to answer Sharna:

Washing your hair 2 times a week is what I consider good, but it really does depend on what type of Shampoo and conditioner you are using. As I have mentioned before in posts, the better the quality, the better the result. Many people have the mistaken belief that a good product is more expensive, they are for the initial outlay, but the quality means you use less and that they work much more effectively so reducing the need to shampoo as often. So the first point is, use a good quality shampoo and corresponding conditioner, your Hairdresser should be able to recommend the appropriate type for your hair.

Second, if you have been sweating etc and you feel your hair is a bit dirty, give it a good rinse in the shower using warm water. I say warm, because the hotter the water, the more it will stimulate the production of Sebum, the natural oil produced by the scalp. This is also true for drying your hair, the hotter the dryer, the more it stimulates the Sebacious Gland.

Once your hair is dry, giving it a brush will help distribute the natural oils along the length of the hair which will help moisturise the mid-lengths and ends. Don’t do this when it is wet as the hair is in a weakened state as water “breaks” the Hydrogen bonds of the hair which provides around 50% of the hair’s strength.

Lastly, if your hair is still a bit greasy but your not quite ready for wash day, use of a mousse or gel containing alcohol will also help as the alcohol will dry up the oil. Or for those so inclined, a swim at the beach can also be a great way to keep the hair clean on those in-between days, but remember to give your hair a good rinse after to remove any salt or chlorine.

It can be hard to get good, reliable and genuine advice for your hair and unfortunately mainstream media advertising can be the biggest culprip for leading you astray. My pet hate about this type of adverstising is the non-professional products that appear in hair magazines because as we all know, advertisers wouldn’t lie to us and if it appears in a hair magazine it must be good. Right? Not necessarily.

Many of these products will tell you what they will do for your hair, but not to your hair. Like coat it in a plistic like film which will stop colour services from working properly if at all. These are ones that are found in shopping aisles and chemists (drugstores for my overseas readers). These products are advertised in magazines next to a selection of hiarstyles submitted by professional hairdressers using professional products, leading readers to think they can get the same results with non-professional products. Can you imagine your Hairdresser whipping out a packet mix colour of Brand X that he picked up from Coles on his way to work to do your hair with? If you can it’s a good thing you’re reading this.

Professional products don’t use nearly as much mainstream media advertising choosing instead to spend their money on research and development and relying on Hairdressers to educate their clients on their hair care needs. While some Hairdressers will try to sell you anything and everything to try and make a buck, most of us recommend products specific for your hair to improve it’s quality which in turn makes it easier for us and you to maintain and “do”.

 

Christmas is only a matter of days away and everyone is trying to fit in that last haircut and colour amongst the shopping, deadlines, shopping, parties, shopping and of course, that last minute shopping.

We all know that cameras will be a-flashing this time of the year, so here’s a few tips to help you, and your hair, look good this silly season.

It’s all about lighting, background and clothes. There are 3 types of lighting - warm, cool and natural, and here’s how each type will affect your hair colour.

Warm light has a more yellow or golden tone to it which is easier on the eyes at night and can therefore be more flattering. On neutral blondes it will make it look a bit brassy, on ash blonde it can make it look a bit greenish but will accentuate honey and caramel tones and is great for redheads and brunettes.

Cool light is bluish and can be quite harsh on the eyes, like entering the 7/11 at midnight to get that mars bar on your way home from the pub, ew! Cool light can really bring out the beauty of blonde hair, cooling down any brassiness or making you look Nordic blonde, though it can make some golden blondes look a bit green. It will also flatten out reds and coppers to a certain degree but brunettes need not worry.

Natural light is a mix of both warm and cool like sunlight. It can bring out the true fabulousness of your hair but it can also expose any flaws.

Like lighting, your surroundings can also affect how your colour looks. All that Xmas green will either set your red hair alight or make it as brown as christmas pudding. If you live in the digital world some of these things can be easily fixed, but if you’re old school and still using an SLR then you need to remember things like lighting and background, even the type of film and the way it’s processed can make a difference. 

But I think the most important thing to remember is get the pictures taken before you get stuck into too much Christmas cheer. So to all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Dean.

It’s official, the latest research shows that when men talk to Blondes they become dumber than they usually are! The study of behaviour around them has shown researchers that men subconsciously dumb down to converse on the stereotypical perceived intellegence level of a Blonde.

Now we all know a Blonde who does actually fit the “Bimbo” role but there is not actual evidence to suggst that Blondes are less intellegent than anyone else. Take Marilyn Monroe for instance, screen bimbo, off screen? A reported IQ of around 170, and that beats most men she probably knew!

 

So how is it that this stereotype has had such an effect on how we perceive and treat Blondes? The media. But as we Hairdressers know, most Blondes aren’t real Blondes, it’s just the magic of hairdressing. Otherwise a real Blonde who went darker could be termed Artificial intellegence.

All i can say to you Blonde girls out there is that you should use it to your full advantage. Many’s the time I’ve used the being Blonde excuse to explain away some silly thing I’ve done,  Brunettes can’t do that! Needless to say I never get dressed in the dark anymore and I always check that my socks match and my shoes are the same.

It’s commonly known that those who are a little challenged in the intellegence stakes are easier to manipulate, so when a man is stupid enough to dumb down while talking to you it’s time to take advantage of the situation and play him to get what you want, be it getting him to buy you drinks all night or doing all those chores around the house that are “just too hard to figure out how to do!” See, Blondes really can have more fun. And lastly:

Two Blondes are on opposite sides of the river, the first one yells out, “How do I get to the other side?”

The second one yells back, “You are on the other side!”

 

I seem to be spending a lot of time these days replying to emails from people asking advice or doing research to make sure I give the right advice. At the moment I’m trying to track down the lastest findings on the DNA structure of the fungus that causes Dandruff which is allowing a targeted approach to getting rid of it, but it ain’t easy to find.

For those of you who do need advice, don’t feel that I’m ignoring you if it takes a while to get back to you. I also ask that you send me a picture of you and your hair so I can see what it looks like so I can give the best advice as to what you can do or need, and also what counrty you’re from as that will make a difference as to which products I can recommend. This is especially important for people needing colour advice as colours vary deepnding on where you are not to mention the techniques. Not all the  colours available in Europe are available here in Australia just as we have stronger reds to cope with our stronger sun.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Well I feel I may be I’ve been so busy, hence the lack of recent posts. But today I thought I’d let you in on the big secret about going gray, or as I prefer to call it, pigmentally challenged.

Hair colour is made from melenin, yes, the same stuff you get in skin which gives you a tan in summer, your skin and your hair being made of the same thing, but I’ll leave that for another post.

Melanin comes in two types, Eumelanin and Pheomelanin. Eumelanin conatins the lighter colours such as copper and gold whereas Pheomelanin contains the darker red and brown/black pigments. So where do these colours come from?

In the hair follicle are the cells which produce the keratin that your hair is made from and other cells called Melanocytes that produce the colour.

It’s when these cells stop producing colour that “gray” hair starts to appear. This can happen for a number of reasons, age, genetics (thanks Mum!), a sudden shock or physical trauma such as your wife hitting you with a rolling pin. When the Melanocytes stop producing melanin, you actually get a lack of colour, not gray, though some people get a bit of dark melanin still being produced which is what gives that dark/steely gray look.

When the change finally comes it can also change the texture of the hair from fine to course and even make it curly, or even worse, like frizzy steel wool. This change of texture also means that you may have to change the colour you put in your hair and even the way it is applied.

Because gray hair lacks natural pigment, or what we call an undertone, a natural pigment may need to be put back in depending on the percentage of gray hair you have. This is why it’s a good idea to get a hairdresser to colour your hair once you go gray as they know how to mix tones together to get the desired colour and it’s even harder when colouring mens’ hair. An important thing to remember is that the darker you colour your hair, the more visible the regrowth will be. Different colour companies will give a very different result on gray hair as they have different strengths of pigment and levels of ammonia which is what opens the hair cuticle to allow the colour to penetrate into the hair, and that is why some people end up with a translucent effect on their gray hair. A clever Hairdresser will know how to get around this so it pays to get a good colourist, but a good quality colour product will give a better result than budget ones.

Just as important as a good colourist is a good shampoo and conditioner. Certain supermarket ranges, which I won’t name, can cause your hair to be more resistant to taking the colour as they coat the hair in a plastic like silicone, or strip the colour out too quickly, so always be guided by your colourist to get the most of your hair colour.

The majority of my clients are Mothers, so I know how little time they have, especially on the lead up to having the baby or just after. That’s why  I’m happy to introduce MiniMilli.

Mini Milli Boutique

An exciting Mother and Baby online boutique, Mini Milli has just unveiled their range of beautiful but functional gifts to meet the needs of discerning Mums from their hospital stay and beyond. Mini Milli specialises in totes, smart personalised robes, terry wraps, feature packed diaper bags and luxurious Alpaca baby blankets.

Mini Milli’s signature item is it’s Hospital Maxi Hamper, the perfect gift for a new mum. It says “Luxury at it’s practical best” with a focus on pampering the Mum-to-be with the things she’ll need as well as enjoy during her hospital stay.

 

Want to make this gift extra special? Mini Milli are now offering FREE personalising of the gift, that’s the bath robe, towel set and Alpaca baby blanket all done for free. This beautiful gift comes in a black, 100% cotton overnight bag with a complimentary $5 phone card for Mum.

Mini Milli also has a range of bags for Mum, blankets and photo albums for the baby, or even some stunning jewellery that the Dads can buy for the new Mum or the baby.

For further information call 0419 423 787 or visit the website. www.minimilli.com

That’s right, Christmas is only 11 weeks away! Scary hunh? So what does this mean for your hair?

1. Make that appointment now. Most Hairdressers don’t re-book their clients, and most clients don’t think of it either. So you have 70% of a salon’s clientele ringing last minute to try and get in for those few spare appointments, invariably leaving some disappointed. This could mean that you have a regrowth you could land a plane on, or worse, you may have to go somewhere that can fit you in.

A new salon is always a risk unless you have good recommendations, don’t just chance it, don’t forget those Xmas photos will be around for a very long time. I have written advice before about finding someone new tha may help. Each time you change a hairdresser, chances are that you’re also changing product brands, so you may never get consistancy in your colour, therefore read point 1 above again.

If you have a good relationship with your hairdresser they may stay behind to fit you in, but remember that a lot of Hairdressers will work between 50 and 60 hours a week on the lead up to Xmas, so they may not have the time. You could even ask if they could recommend someone that they trust. If you can do this, your colourist may be able to send you to someone who uses the same colouring products and may even be kind enough to give them your colour recipe. This means that when you go back to your Hairdresser that you can both be sure that the colour doesn’t need to be fixed.

2. Product companies close over the Xmas/New Year season. This means that salon are unable to order more colour or Shampoos etc during this period. Bad luck if they run out of your colour. It also means warmer weather for us in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia is already experiencing much warmer temperatures than we are used to. That of course means that more of us will be at the beach, out in the sun. So make sure that you have the products to get you through the silly season.

3. 11 weeks to go means that I’ll be bring you some great ideas to help you make it through until next year, stay tuned!

A JUNGLE OF SHOES

Sydney’s own Fashionista Dua Master/Slave are celebrating the releaase of their 3rd collection of Ladies shoes and boots with a Shoe Party!

Master/Slave’s new Spring/Summer collection of limited edition luxury shoes promises to bring out the animal in you!

The tiger print on patent leather heels and zebra print pony-fur heels will take you to Tanzania and back

When you gaze at the stars under the skies of Mala Mala this summer, let Master/Slave dress your feet in Swarovski encrusted heels in Midnight Ruby

Be sure to strap yourself in for a ride through the African jungle with Master/Slave’s eyeleted strappy heels in a richly coloured palette of clay, red earth and jet black

When plucking wild berries at dusk your feet will be stepping out in style with Master/Slave’s red cheetah print fur with suede bow details

When you awaken in Singita, watch the rhinoceroses mate with Master/Slave’s 5″ high wooden stacked heels in broken earth leather

Embrace the Seychelles wilderness with Master/Slave’s cocoa suede peep-toes atop engraved metallic heels with botanic details

Come and enjoy drinks and nibbles with Master/Slave and let them help you fit you right for a quick safari through their Jungle Of Shoes

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY - ENJOY A 30% DISCOUNT OFF MASTER/SLAVE’S RETAIL PRICE

WEDNESDAY 17TH OCTOBER

6PM

178 LIVERPOOL ST, DARLINGHURST, NSW

(02) 9380 9941