Looking for a New You Part Two

Welcome to part two of this two part article on the new you. Before we discussed the different elements of style and what might be good for your facial shape. We also discussed how to decide if you need add shape, bangs or any other types of elements. Now we can move onto the rest of the information you may need to obtain the perfect you.

1. Your hair type

We need to move back to hair type for a moment and discuss them because it will help you to determine if you need to add any chemical services or products to help you get the desired results. To find out how different products react to the hair shaft please find my article on BeyondJane.com about how products effect the hair.

We have talked about how fine hair can be weighed down easily above. Consider the movement that you want in your hair and try to get a cut that will require less product and takes advantage of any natural movement in the hair. If you do need products try to find ones that are used toward the scalp and use less products that are used towards the ends, such as hairspray.

With medium textured hair you have more options. You need to determine whether your hair will hold up the products or not. My recommendation is to use light weight products just to be sure but if you need more products that produce weight then you will need to add little bits at a time to make sure your hair shaft is not weighed down.

Coarse hair may need to be broken down by a chemical service, which we will discuss below, in order to get it to move. If you use products then you may need something with a lot of hold power or weight to keep it down.

Curly Hair sometimes needs restructuring depending on the type of curl and the style you want. You should find someone who is familiar with curly hair and it’s issues. No one ever gets experience unless someone first lets them try so if you are willing, here are some things you can look at to tell the stylist.

Does your hair tend to shrink a lot when cut? If so it won’t matter if they take an inch or six inches, it will still feel a lot shorter when you get it cut. Let them know so that they are not afraid. Fear in a stylist as they are cutting can cause then to slow down or start blending where they don’t need to. It can also cause them to take too much when trying to blend or throw the haircut off by trying to back off. Make sure they are combing the hair as straight as possible and not adding tension when they are pulling the hair straight to cut it. Also cutting it dry will help.

Do you have curly and straight spots? Let your stylist know where these areas are. When I cut curly hair I “fluff” the hair to see how it falling. If I see areas that don’t seem to be falling right I tend to go back and find out why. Some stylist think they have not taken enough off in that area and will go back and take more. If they know ahead of time that it won’t fall the same it makes it easier on them. They won’t be looking to get more curl to pick up, they will only be checking to see if the cut is even.

Do you wear you hair straight or curly? This will be an issue because you want to be able to style it later. How your curls fall will be effected, how your layers or cut will fall will be effected. Be sure to convey to your stylist how you normally wear your hair and the process you take to get your style. The more information they have the easier it is for them to give the desired results.

Wavy hair can be just like curly hair. Please pay attention to the above the information and communicate with your stylist what you know about your hair. Sometimes when the hair gets longer it tends to pull those waves out, just remember that when that weight is taken off the hair will wave up again. Remind your stylist. You have no idea how many times when I was younger, I went in and got my hair cut to a short style and then remembered about my curls. The more you know about your hair type the easier it is for your stylist to give you what you want.

Mixed Hairis not just a combination of curly and straight hair, it has a different texture. Your hair grows out of a hole in your skin. With straight hair that hole is round and with very curly hair that hole is flat. Because the flatter hole the hair has to force it’s way out of the head causing it to be predamaged. All curly or wavy hair is somewhat predamaged, but the curlier it is the more it is already damaged. The easier it is to cut too much. Be sure to tell your stylist if you are prone to curly hair or if it easy to cut too much off. Ask them to take it slow because you can always cut more off but you can’t put it back. Also make sure that they comb your hair perfectly straight before cutting. Each section they pick up should be small and the hair shafts involved should be straight, no wave at all. This will help you get a better, more even cut.

Straight hair is not always the easiest to cut. Sometimes the hair is so straight there is really no bend or flow to it. The stylist will need to create that for you if it is not there. It can be done with a cut, but depending on what you want, you may need a chemical service or products to get it there. Pictures really help with this. Say you want a bang that sweeps but your hair grows straight forward and has no flow. The stylist can cut the sweep into it but the straightness of the hair pulls it back down. Adding some large rods and perming the bangs a little will give you that flow. That kind of a perm will last a while too depending on the length of the bangs and how often you get your hair cut. You can do this for the whole head and you can get partial perms in areas you are too straight. Do not let your stylist talk you into a full perm unless you are in agreement that it is the best thing for you style and make sure they wrap it with a lot of cotton so the solution does not spill down over other hair not being permed.

2. Your hair and skin tones

Since your hair frames your face and sometimes parts of your body, it is important to consider your skin types. You should think of it the same way you think of make up. Another important thing to consider under this category is whether you are allergic to products or have acne. Using products that will end up lying against your skin can cause break out if you have sensitive so please take that into account when choosing a style and products.

Fair skin tends to become even lighter with a darker frame. The dark colors bring out the paleness of the skin. If you think you are too fair you may want to go with a lighter color or a highlights to even the frame out. Then again, if you need to use your hair to even any body features out then you would want to go darker in that area. You can use a combination colors to accent or detract in different areas.

Medium skin is a little easier to deal with only because you don’t have to worry so much about the darkness of the hair. You want to look for flaws in the skin. A good example would be my own skin. When my hair gets lighter the redness in under some of my freckles tends to stand out. When I take my hair darker and hide some of the red in my hair, the tone of my face becomes more even. These are the kinds of things you want to look for. Your stylist should have swatches you can hold up to the areas of your flaws to see which base tone needs to be removed or added. Another thing to look at is the color of your clothes. We all tend to pick colors that make us look good. This is a good indicator of what makes our skin tone more even. You can use fabric swatches to do the same thing. Communicate with your stylist what you have seen before changing your hair color.

Everyone one loves tan skin. They like that sun-kissed look. Sometime you can use your hair color to accent this or even create more of tan look in your skin without getting too much sun. Nice cool highlights tend to help. The color of the product used to do that should be blue or purple. Use can use the same technique as you do with medium skin to see which base tone would help you. Just remember going too light can make the hair look more damaged. Please take that into consideration when choosing to highlight.

Dark skin would react opposite of fair skin. The lighter you frame your face the more the dark skin is going to stand out. Use your color to frame it in and decrease any areas you want decreased. If you don’t want your skin or areas to stand out then definitely use darker hair. If you want them to stand out then use lighter hair.

3. Chemical Services

I have written articles before on chemical services but below is a list of things you want to consider and communicate to the stylist before you decide on a chemical service for your new style.

The strength of your hair. Will it survive the chemical process. The way to test this is to wet your hair. Then take one strand and stretch it out at least a couple of inches and then release it to see if it will go back. If it snaps or pulls apart as you are stretching, any chemical service is not for you. If goes back but looks different then your hair needs to be rebuilt before a chemical service. If it goes back then a chemical service would fine as far as the strength goes

The condition of your hair. Is your hair dry? If you are unsure the way to test if your hair needs more moisture before your chemical service is to take a product like a conditioner and put some on your hair while it is dry. If your hair sucks it up, that is to say, if it is absorbed completely, then chances are you need some moisture added to the hair before a chemical service. This can be done with a moisturizing conditioner that penetrates the hair. If it only absorbs a little bit of it you may need one afterwards, be careful too much moisture directly after a perm can cause it to relax too much. If it doesn’t absorb any and the hair feels greasy then you are good to go. You may feel a little dry after a chemical service but that will be work itself out over a few weeks as your natural body oils cover the hair shaft. The best way to be ready with moist enough hair is drink water every day so there is enough to moisten the hair evenly as it grows out of your head. But starting that a few days before a chemical service will not help. It happens over time from the inside of your body.

Is your hair predamaged. Do you have naturally curly or wavy hair? Do you have left over chemical services on the ends of your hair?

If you have naturally curly or wavy hair then remind your stylist that you chemicals will react fast. The outside of your hair shaft is already open and doesn’t need to be by the chemical. Also, if you are getting a perm, tell them to use two sizes larger than the amount of curl you want. If you have resistant areas they can use a smaller rod there and the larger ones where you have more curl, but never the exact size you want. Your hair will snap down smaller and will not relax as normal straight hair does. Your test curls will preform like a normal hair but the second solution will snap it down tighter. So be careful. You can also ask for a test curl ahead of time to see the results. That is where they put one rod in some where it won’t be noticed and go through the perming process on that curl to see what is going to happen. This should help if you have never had a perm before. Most perms process about 20 minutes. I have naturally curly hair and mine processes in 8 minutes. Be sure they do test curls, if mine is left on for the full 20 minutes it causes a lot of undue damage. You could end up going through a rebuilding process that could take months. Be sure to communicate with the stylist, that is the best way to avoid the extra damage.

Previous chemicals will react to the new chemical. Store bought colors can not be removed from the hair and tend to sit on the outside of the hair shaft. They block the light from going through the hair shaft and make it become dull. They can also cause the hair to melt if a perm is applied. Have the stylist cut a section of that hair and put it in perm solution and test it before you get any chemical service. This should tell you how it will react. You can discuss with the stylist after that how you would like to proceed. If your hair melts, I would not proceed. If it doesn’t then you need to consider the service you want. If you are coloring then you need to remember that the light will not go through that color and your ends may end up looking dull. You also need to consider if you are going lighter or darker. Darker may not matter as much but lighter definitely will. You may be able to lighten it a little bit but it will still hold the base color. An example would be red or orange based color. If you try to bleach or lighten over a red or orange based color the areas that still have that color will tend to come out more brassy or still be red, orange or gold. You will not be able to get that out easily. You can use a purple or blue shampoo to help tone it until it grows out and you can cut it off but be careful because areas that are not still holding that tone may turn purple or blue from the shampoo. I know, catch 22, but those are things you need to consider before embarking on chemical service. My last warning in this area is any hair that you have used products like sun in or summer blond. Those are peroxide based formulas that do not stop processing and cause incredible damage to the hair. They kind of blow up the molecules in the hair shaft. I have seen hair completely fall off the head during a perm, perm rods and all just dropped right off. I was not doing the perm thank God, but it freaked me out enough to make me say no if I was ever nervous or had any doubt about what had been on the hair before. Have the stylist do the test strand method above to see how your hair might react.

4. Amount of time to do your hair

How long you have to get your hair ready will effect what you can accomplish with your style. If you only have a few minutes then probably want to go with wash and wear or something you can through some product in and go. If you have more time then you have a few more options. Below is some guidelines on the amount of time it takes to use different options.

Hair Dryers- depending on the thickness of your hair, if you try to dry it right out of the shower and if how hot you run the dryer. My recommendation on temperature is just a warm dryer, not hot. Hot air tends to swell up the hair shaft and you look frizzier, dry the hair shaft out too much causing damage and you have less control over where the hair is going. Putting the air on high is ok, it is the temperature you need to watch. If you dry on warm it takes a little longer but in the long run you are better off. This is where you want to utilize any speciality brushes also, like round brushes, paddle brushes, etc. You can find and read my article called “What the heck is that brush for” on BeyondJane.com to get advice on which brush to use.

Curling Irons- depending on the amount of curls you want the average time for the use of a curling iron can be from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. Only about 5 minutes to curl bangs and it could take up to 45 minutes to curl the whole head.

Flat Irons- 5 to 30 minutes depending on how thick, curly or wavy your hair is. Also depends on how hot your flat iron gets, if you straightened it a bit when you dried it and if you are using products.

Of course with any products it is important to use them properly but no matter what product you use it only takes an extra few minutes to apply it. So there are no real guidelines here. You can find my article on products again, on BeyondJane.com.

5. Your job

 Where you work and what they may require you to do with your hair may effect the style you decide on. Please be sure to communicate with the stylist what you may need to do with your hair for work.

6. Your activities

 Be sure to communicate with the stylist about activities you enjoy. For instance if you wear a helmet a lot, they can give you ideas about styles that may work well helmet or not.

7. How often you have to have it done

 You may want to decide on a certain type of style because of how often it needs to be maintained. Below are some guidelines for different services and how often, on average, that they need to re-done.

Trims- Your stylist will most likely tell you that the average is every 6 weeks. This is what they tell us to tell you in school and it is a good average. But the time between trims depends on your haircut or style. You need to pay attention to your hair. Usually if it is short you will need it trimmed more often to keep it short just because you notice it more often or your style gets out of shape quicker. My rule of thumb for my clients is to tell them that whenever they start to get frustrated with it or notice thin ends, or when they see short pieces of hair on the counter. Loosing 50 to 80 hairs per day is normal hair loss but the hair should at least be the length of the hair on your head. If it is a lot shorter your hair is splitting and breaking off. It is time for a trim.

Chemicals- This would depend on how fast your hair grows and when you think you are ready. Your hair grows on average about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch per month. You can estimate from there for re-coloring growth. Perms should be permanent, however if you are growing hair out you may end up needing at least a partial perm on top to get your volume back as it grows. Maybe every two months. If your hair is short then you maybe ready for a new perm in about two months or when you feel the need.

Communication is the best tool you have in getting what you want from your stylist. Be sure to talk with them about all your options, look at pictures, explain what you are looking for, make sure you see eye to eye and know your hair. This should ensure that your new style is what you were looking for and works for you.

Thank you for stopping by and reading this article. If you have not read it yet, please read part one of this article about different elements of style and facial shapes. If you have any questions or suggestions you can leave them in the comments below or email me at hmweimar@yahoo.com. I will personally respond.