Hello again everyone, I hope that all is well with you as the holiday season begins to creep up on us (I'm already holiday gift searching, not shopping yet!) Tonight I wanted to talk about listening to our hair....no seriously, your hair can tell you so much, but many of us do not pay attention to it. We often brush off many complaints by saying "well it's hair it happens" or "it's normal" or "I haven't had a cut in a while so..." but our hair's condition says so much. We should not just use any old excuse for our hair's condition, so let's "listen" to our hair shall we? Elasticity Answer the following either yes or no Have limp hair? When your hair is wet does it feel "spongy"? Does your hair tangle easily? Does it stretch excessively without returning to its normal position? Does your hair break easily when stretched? If you answered "yes" to most of the questions then your hair is lacking elasticity (moisture) Test: You can test the elasticity of your hair using the method described by Steve Tcherkezian on his site www.verticalsinhair.com Take a strand of hair and hold it between your thumb and forefinger and with the other hand do the same and then slowly stretch the hair the further it can be stretched without breaking the more elastic your hair is. It should also slowly contract after you stretch it. If the hair breaks quickly and doesn't return to it's normal position after stretching then your hair has poor elasticity. Curly hair tends to also lack elasticity but is full of strength Remedy: Your hair needs to have a balance of protein and moisture in order for your hair to be in optimal condition, if your hair is lacking elasticity then it is a good idea to invest in a good moisturizing shampoo, such as Bedhead's Moisutre Manic (there is a shampoo and a conditioner) Also a good deep treatment such as Bedhead's Chocolate Head used once a week for two weeks is a great addition to the moisturizing shampoo and conditioner.
Strength Breakage can also be a sign that your hair is lacking strength, but there is more to it... Answer the following yes or no Does your hair break easily? Do you use heat styling tools often? (more than twice a week) Do you heat style your hair WITHOUT using a heat protectant? Do you colour your hair with a peroxide over 20 volume? (so you significantly change the colour of your hair, in particular you go from dark brown/black to blonde) Do you highlight your hair? If you answered "yes" to most of the questions then your hair is lacking strength! Remedy: You should first and foremost be using some sort of heat protectant on your hair before you use heat to style your hair....Bedhead's Control Freak serum is by far my favourite, it's also great for people with frizzy hair, and for those of us with curly hair who straighten it, it will block the frizz, protect your hair from the heat of the blow-dryer and flat iron. If that wasn't enough to add icing to the cake it will also prevent the penetration of moisture (which causes frizz and reversion) so that your hair stays the way you styled it even when it's humid out (just remember if it rain's to cover your hair!) Now as for restoring the strength, you should be doing a protein treatment to your hair once a week (for at least a few weeks) Hair that lacks strength lacks protein. Some products to try, which I enjoy and use are again Bedhead's Chocolate Head, it's a great treatment, and also Bumble and Bumble's Deeep, which is also really good (could smell better however)
Let's talk about some other hair conditions that we see...... When the hair feels "dry" it could mean that the hair is lacking moisture, and this is often the case if the hair feels dry all over. Dry hair can also be a sign of damage, remember the hair's first line of defense if the cuticle if that has been worn down or destroyed then the hair will feel rough and "dry" Dry hair can also be a sign of imbalance, remember that hair needs to have a a balance of moisture and protein and too much of one is not good for the hair. Sometimes people go overboard and use these protein treatments more than once a week, or apply wayyyyyy tooo much of it and the hair in a sense gets "dry" because you are feeding it too much protein and causing an imbalance...too much protein and not enough moisture. Hair can also become dry from over-doing it with hair colour and bleaching services, as you are disrupting the balance and bleach is very strong and drying, which is why most colour technician's will use a moisturizing shampoo/conditioner or treatment after the colour service during the final rinse. It will help restore the balance. Hair may become "dry" due to the prevailing weather, the cold winter months are aweful on hair, but use a good moisturizing shampoo and you'll be fine! Another possible reason for dry hair is that the scalp is not producing enough sebum oil. Sebum oil is a natural oil that our scalp secretes to "coat" the hair and "nourish" it.
Oily hair is something that is more difficult to control because this is not a cosmetic condition but one that results from the scalp producing too much sebum oil. The excess oil secretion makes the hair look "greasy" and this type of hair needs to be washed more often. Talk to your stylist about products designed for oily hair.
Frizzy hair.....ah frizz.....this is a problem for people with curly hair...and the problem is made even worse if that person has thick hair...thick hair and frizz oh my! Frizz occurs when moisture or humidity from the atmosphere seeps into the hair, the excess moisture/humidity causes the hair to swell and expand thus giving you frizz. People with straight hair do not tend to suffer this problem because the bonds that hold their hair together are closely spaced and it makes it harder for moisture to penetrate the hair. People with curly hair on the other hand have the bonds of their hair more spaced out, or loosely packed therefore making it easy for the moisture too seep into the little spaces between the bonds and cause frizz. For all my frizz prone people I recommend and swear by Bedhead's Control Freak serum...I too have hair that is prone to frizz and on the thick side, but I straighten my hair. When I use Control Freak Serum my hair does not frizz and does not revert in the humidity, even if it rains my hair does not revert to curly or frizz, it stays the way I styled it (of course I cover my hair with a hood and umbrella...water on straightened hair will revert no matter what) The product does not weigh down your hair at all, and you don't even notice it's there. It's easy to wash away, so it won't cause product build-up....trust me this is a really great product and I recommend it to everyone with curly or frizz prone hair...also great as a heat protectant.
If you hair has product build-up...you know it looks and feels gunky...or you feel there is product "stuck" in your hair. Product build-up can be the culprit when hair does not style easily anymore or generally seems to look "grungy" or has a lack of shine that it had before. Product build-up also causes the hair to feel weighed down. This problem is simple to fix, buy a good clariffying shampoo and follow the directions and voila! Try Redken's Clariffying shampoo....Just as a note you should use a clariffying treatment once a month
One more hair dilemma that always gets me upset is the dreaded split ends....this is obviously a sign of internal hair damage...basically the hair's protective layer known as the cuticle (very strong and the cuticle has anywhere between 8-12 layers at the root and wears away as it gets longer and weathered)has worn away and exposed the cortex, which is not strong, and the cortex then breaks, causing what we know and see as a split end. This is more of a problem for females rather than males because females tend to have longer hair and the longer the hair the older it is and the more it has been exposed to damage (styling, colouring) and the environmental elements. Males on the other hand tend to have short hair so their hair does not split as often, plus most men don't really heat style their hair...maybe blow-dry it for like a few minutes. However no fear ladies and gentlemen with the problem of split ends.....getting regular haircuts/trims can keep split ends at bay....however improperly performed chemical treatments (colour, vertical smoothing, relaxing and tr) can cause damage to the internal structure of the hair which causes the hair to become weak and split! Split ends are fairly easy to control, just get a haircut...for those of you who think split end menders work, think again...they are a temporary (wash out) fix. They don't work, split ends can NEVER be mended....you can never mend the split or restore cuticle once it has been lost. Think of a broken vase, even if you glue it together it will never look whole (there will always be cracks and marks) and eventually you will have to throw away the vase...hair is the same, you can't glue a split end together (or at least for long) because once the damage is done, it's done. Just as a side note, split ends will split further up the hair shaft if not trimmed away, so it is best to get regular haircuts.
I hope that this post has been informational and helpful to you, and hopefully it inspired you to take a look at your hair and maybe find ways to better care for it. Always remember to use professional salon brand products that are acid balanced...my pic is anything TIGI (Toni&Guy) which includes Bedhead, Catwalk and their new S-factor line. My two hair guru's pics are Redken for Steve, and Bumble and Bumble for Andrew, however Andrew was the one who introduced me to Bedhead and I still think he likes the Bedhead/TIGI line of products!
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