How does permanent hair color work?

Permanent hair color is a great product to use if you want to cover grey or want lighter hair color or just a longer lasting hue. Most permanent hair color contains two main ingredients, color pigment and ammonia. For the color to be activated you must use peroxide.I went to a hair class one time and a very talented educator explained for us how this process works.

Imagine that the pigs are the color pigments. Ha-ha get it their pigs...Now for the pigs to get in to your hair shaft they have to ride on a ...

                                         

bus! This is the ammonia. The pigs need ammonia to work in order to get on the...

road. The road is peroxide. The lighter the color the wider the road has to be. This means you have to use a stronger peroxide to open that cuticle so the bus and the pigs can get in and do their job.

This is just a super simple way to explain this. I'll leave it up to your hair dresser to decide how much pigment, ammonia and peroxide to use to get the color you want.

Remember they are educated licensed professionals who know what they are doing. Hair color is NOT nice and easy! Just take a good look at the hair of the people buying hair color in the grocery store. Now that can be a hot mess!

How often should you get your hair cut?

Well the answer depends on what kind of haircut you have.

Long hair will not look like this without regular cuts!

If your growing your hair out you have to get it trimmed at least once a season(fall, winter,spring,summer). If you don't get it trimmed your hair will actually split off and break. Sometimes people wonder why their hair doesn't grow. That's not it! It's snapping off every time you shampoo, brush or style your hair. If you wait to long you will have to get more cut off than you probably wanted.

A beautiful bob

Set up your next appointment when you leave the salon to maintain this cut!

When you get your hair cut in a  geometric hairstyle, like bob or a-line, plan on getting it cut every 4-6 weeks. If you wait longer you will loose the nice clean shape of your style.

Fun and sassy pixie!

For a short cut like a pixie, visit your stylist every 4-6 weeks. These hair cuts can start to look frumpy and poofy. They start to look like an unkept shrub.

Medium length layer haircuts actually require the least maintenance. Your hair will be at a "healthy length". When you hair is about 4-5 inches long it is only about a year old. I know that sounds funny but the older your hair is the duller, and dryer it can look. You'll generally find this hair cut easy to style too. All the layers will give you texture and volume. You only have to get it cut about every 6-10 weeks depending on your hair dressers opinion.     

Prom ideas!

I was out to dinner last weekend with my hubby and friends, and noticed proms had already started. I thought I would go over some tips to great prom hair and some trends.

If you decide to get your hair done at the salon, go to a stylist your familiar with. It's so much easier to do a updo on someone, when you know them. If you don't have a regular hair stylist, then ask for a referral from a friend. Make sure that the hair stylist is comfortable doing updo's. Not every stylist does them so call and ask them if they do updp's and make appointment right away. The best time slots fill up quickly.

Funny thing is dirty hair stays better that freshly shampooed hair. I don't mean filthy! Please don't shampoo the day you get your updo. Wash the night before and use a mousse or gel. This will help hold the style the next day. Where a button up shirt! You would not be the first girl who had to be cut out of her shirt, so as not to mess up her new do.

  Some of the trends this year could easily be recreated at home. Soft waves with a braid, a low side bun, these things are all pretty easy.

 Prom is a big event and that can require a budget bigger than what you might have. Deciding to do your own hair or trading with a friend will help control some of the spending.  Try experimenting with some of these looks leading up to the big event and you might be surprised how much fun you and your girlfriends can have getting ready together!

Here's a link to some great hair tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sPcJJb6BHDk

Lady Bug Nails

My daughter loves to paint her nails. I have been polishing them since she was about 4 months old. Yesterday we decided to try something new. Lady bug nails! This is what I used:

Nail Tek Ridge Filling Base Foundation II
Venique Nail Lacquer in Dr. Feel Good
Art Club Color Nail Lacquer in Black
Orly French Tip in Pointe Blanche
Orly Polished 3 in 1 Top Coat
2 tooth picks

Here are the steps:

1) Apply a thin layer of the ridge filler.
2)Apply one even layer of the red polish
3)Paint one thin solid black line down the center of the nail and 2 or more dots on each side of the line.
4)Color in a small half moon at the tip of the nail.
5)Dip your tooth pick in the white and make 2 little dots for eyes in the black half circle.
6)Apply thin layer of top coat.
7)Voila you have your lady bugs!!

Lady bugs for my lady!

All the polishes that I used dry fairly quickly and last too. My daughter was so happy with how they turned out. They weren't perfect but we had fun doing it and we'll always remember that:)

I think I'm in love with.... a new nail polish

                           I think I'm in love with a new nail polish. It's called Venique.

I tried it out last week and wore it for 5 days with no top coat. I polished my nails Monday, worked eleven hours Tuesday, during the week did dishes, laundry, moped and hardly any wear on the color! I bought a beautiful red today and this time I finished it with a top coat.
 This polish is made in the USA.It is made with a product called Sil-Tek witch allows the polish to bend with your nail and not chip off. I read lots of great things about it and heard lots of good testimonials to how long it lasts. One thing I loved about it was how fast it dried. A tip when polish your nails with Venique is to make sure you pull the polish down the free of edge or your nail. I noticed that the color does not chip but its wears away a little, by painting over the edge of you nail you prevents that from happening. This polish is available through your local high quality nail salon or on Amazon. The links is below. Try it out and let me know.
http://www.veniquenail.com/images/spring_display.png

What happens when you perm your hair

PERM.To some hair dressers it's a four letter word. Have you ever noticed that their face scrunches and they say ”you don't want to do that to your hair”. Why? Perming is still one of the harshest things you can do. Lets compare it to spaghetti. Your hair is the spaghetti, the  boiling water is the perm. When you toss the dried pasta in the water, the heat softens the pasta. That's what the perm solution does to your hair, softens it around the perm rod. You could take the cooked spaghetti and form it into new shape. When it dries it would stay in the shape you formed but would not be as strong as the uncooked pasta. It would be brittle and dry. The neutralizer part of the perm hardens the hair around the rod. Like the cooked pasta your hair will be drier and brittle. You can get a perm, but know that some damage is unavoidable. Consider trying different products to add more volume. Perm curls never look like natural curls. If you color your hair consider not perming. Maybe this will explain some of the reasons hair dresser don't always love perms and what happens to your hair when you do.

Has this ever happened to you?

I am from Canada, I have lived in the US for 19 years. I sill have some very good friends back home. A few times a year they come down to see us. Well they came this weekend. So on Friday the kids and I were busy getting the house ready. The way my home is, you have to clean up within hours of friends coming because my family can destroy it in a 1/2 hour. At 5:30 I just about had things wrapped up but the vacuum was out, I was getting ready to mop and the beds still had to be made and they showed up! I thought they were coming on Saturday! I couldn't believe I got the days mixed up! I like to give the impression that I have my act together and my house is "always in order", but now I was caught red handed. Unprepared and forgetful.Thankfully my wonderful friends pitched in to help out and even made us dinner. It's tough being a super mom and it's a real treat to be able to throw off my cape, take off the mask and admit I'm not perfect...(once and awhile)

Christine