Lauren Alaina-Big Voice, Big Hair
March 29, 2011:
UPDATE
Lauren has now made it into the top 11.
Lauren rocks a big pop of white blonde color merged into her chocolate brown base. Her luscious tresses have already transformed just in the few weeks the teen-ager has been on AI.
Recently Lauren showcased beautiful volume and texture on the American Idol stage.
How To Copy Lauren Alaina’s Long Lush Waves
Follow the steps below to re-create Lauren’s American Idol hairstyle:
1. Cleanse hair in lukewarm water according to your favorite method such as Diluted Shampoo (DS), Conditioner Only (CO), Low Poo (LoPoo) or Water Only. Select a product which is best for your hair type, texture and current condition.
2. Rinse with lukewarm water and gently squeeze excess water out with your fingers.
3. Apply a rinse-out conditioner from the top of your ears down to your ends.
4. Detangle strands with your fingers or a hair-friendly smooth wide-tooth comb. Work from the ends up to the roots.
5. Rinse conditioner from hair and finish with a cool/cold rinse.
6. Towel blot to remove excess water from strands.
7. Apply leave-in styling cocktail consisting of leave-in conditioner, defristant and styling cream, mousse or gel.
8. Separate hair into individual sections which are 2-4? in thickness.
9. Use a long finger diffuser set on low or medium speed on a cool or low heat setting.
10. Working from one side of the head to the other use the diffuser on each section drying hair until 85% dry.
11. When entire head is 100% dry use a 1 and 1/2? curling iron. Spiral curl hair from roots to end holding the iron up with the barrel pointed down towards the floor and your elbow up towards the ceiling. Wrap the hair around the iron around the iron directed away from the face. For a realistic pattern alternate size of the sections, how tightly you wrap the strands or the direction of the iron.
12. After each section if curled re-roll around fingers and pin to the head to cool.
13. Before leaving the house unpin each section, spritz lightly with light hold hairspray and tousle lightly with fingers while tipping your head from side to side.
14. Finish with a drop of shine serum applied to the palms of your hands and massaged completely. Smooth over the top of your new wavelicious hairstyle.
I look forward to watching Laruen Alaina’s hair journey on American Idol. She has such long and lush strands I’m sure the AI hairstylists will create some amazing new styles for her to rock along with her talent.
More Information
Follow Lauren
http://twitter.com/LAlainaAI10
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http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season_10/lauren_alaina/
Solve Common Hair Disasters To Prevent Future Nightmares
Our hair is often the part of our body that comes under the most abuse, quite often self-inflicted. There are many weird and damaging things we do to our hair which can harm its condition, which can not only look bad but leave us prone to worrying about conditions such as hair loss or dry and brittle hair.
Some of the common problems which can cause serious damage to our hair have to do with the products we put on it for styling purposes. Products like hair spray, gel and wax can all have negative effects on the overall health of our hair; drying it out or not allowing our head, specifically our scalps breathe. This effect is worsened by some people not regularly washing this mixture of styling products out of their hair thoroughly at the end of the day.
If you don’t take proper care of your hair then there is a chance that it can become brittle, unattractive or in extreme cases: fall out. One common problem people experience is split ends, lots of products claim to fix split ends but the facts are that once they are split there is nothing you can do but get the affected areas cut. With long hair this is simple as you may find that a shorter style can look better than a long, untidy one. If you find you need to allow your hair to grow a bit before cutting the split ends away then you can use some products to make this less noticeable.
Some people do not give their hair the nutrients it needs and considering the air we encounter every day can have airborne pollutants such as car exhaust gases our hair can be left in a bad way at the end of the day. Making sure you use conditioner on your hair is important and people with long hair can sometimes not use conditioner as much as they need to.
You should be sure to use conditioner from root to tip. Another thing some long hair owners fail to do is dry out their hair thoroughly, after a shower or bath you should make sure to dry your hair out completely.
Another problem some people have with regards to moisture is frizz, frizz can occur when the humidity gets up and if your hair is particularly prone to this such as curly hair styles then you will likely need to quickly apply styling products after washing your hair and whilst using products regularly you should be sure to condition regularly in order to maintain your hair’s shine and body.Check online to get great deals on hair styling products and the best hair styling shears to get maximum control over your hair.
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Author: Lee Enway
Your Most Important Client is the One in Your Chair
How many clients do you have? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands? We get wrapped up in measuring our business this way.
I would challenge you that whatever number you offer up is likely wrong, unless you offered up the number one. If you are reading this blog I hope you are not in the middle of a haircut. The only client we really have is the one in our chair right now.
I am sure we all agree that we do not own the clients. We are given the honor and privilege of serving them. That is customer service basics. They also do not belong to the salon. They are free to come and go and spend and choose as they wish.
Frequently we are lucky. They choose to come back. Yes, our efforts add up to more than luck. When you consider all the marketing messages, friendly referrals and impulse opportunities, it is a bit of a miracle any clients ever come back.
We work through an unwritten contract. When a client sits in our chair we have agreed to provide a service and they have agreed to pay for it when it is done. How many of us take the money up front? Have you ever asked to see the cash before you pick up a pair of scissors? It sounds silly to even suggest it. Therefore today’s haircut is a foregone conclusion. It is really done and paid for before we begin. So what is really the purpose of today’s haircut?
I will take the position that the purpose of today’s service experience is really an exercise to earn the next visit. That is the one we are working for. Today’s is done. Each visit is linked to the next. Today you might deliver a great haircut, but if the client does not allow you to cut the next one, this hair cut can really be seen as a failure.
I think we understand this concept better when the client is new to us. We work hard to earn that second and third visit. We know how to do it. The bigger challenge is to maintain that perspective beyond the first few visits.
Because, really, every visit is a first visit. If we do not treat it as a first visit, the client will likely treat it as a last one.
My wish for you is that you may have nothing but first-time clients in the coming year.
Link: CurlStylist
Texture: The Season of Texture!
Texture: The Season of Texture!
By all appearances, fall 2010 will go down in fashion history as “the season of texture.” Dozens of notable fashion designers have eschewed straight strands, embracing instead all manner of curls, coils, crimps, waves and teased clouds of hair on their catwalks.
“Clients today are requesting anything but flat hair,” says Lina Shamoun, a 2010 North American Hairstyling Awards Texture Finalist from Kitchener, Ontario.
And regardless of whether clients are starting out with natural curl, wave or pin-straight strands, everyone has texture options this season!
Natural Curl: Embrace and Refine
“Curly hair is coming into its own,” says Titi Branch, co-owner of Miss Jessie’s Products and Salon in New York. “Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t even be talking about curly hair because people straightened their curls.
But curly can also be high maintenance, admits Branch, which is why the current trend is a smoother, looser curl pattern.
“This allows a woman to keep her curl,” she explains, “but refine it.” At Miss Jessie’s, this elongated curl is achieved with the salon’s proprietary “Silkener” service. The technique involves a sodium hydroxide relaxer and a method of manipulation that stretches, yet doesn’t straighten, the hair.
“The result,” says Branch, “is hair that behaves like natural hair when it’s wet—before it dries and shrinks. It’s wash and go—it cuts styling time in half.” To support natural curls, Branch recommends Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding treatment—a perennial favorite that combines macadamia and almond oil, aloe and shea butter for shine, plumping and moisture.
Curl definition is also imperative for Shawna Parvin’s curly clients, and the most modern approach, says the Aquage educator, NAHA 2009 Texture Winner and 2010 Hairstylist of the Year nominee, is to mix it up—random curl sizes, directions and even amounts of definition. “I’m telling my clients to start with a gel on damp hair,” she says, and comb it through scalp to ends. “Then wind sections of varying sizes, in every direction, so they look like little snakes. Don’t touch the hair until it’s completely dry, then move it around and even pull a few random pieces apart so there’s some fuzz mixed in with the curl. That’s what keeps curl from looking like the ’80s.”
Options are important for women with any texture, and naturally curly clients will always want blowouts for occasions when their hair must look polished, says Dickey, owner of New York’s Hair Rules Salon and hair products company. What makes blowouts look fresh this season, he says, is a voluminous, soft, Mad Men-inspired look, with lots of flattering movement around the face.
“Bone straight doesn’t work for most women,” he comments. “Waves and curls look softer on anyone—it’s ‘instant youth.’”
Making Waves—Keep it Raw
When it comes to creating curls and waves, the perfectly formed curls are evolving into a rougher, more raw-edged texture, says Chad Seale of Salt Lake City, another 2010 NAHA Texture finalist.
“Waves will be more vertical, looser, less constructed than we’ve seen in past seasons,” agrees Darby Shields, Associate Artistic Director of ISO International.
“This formula gives stylists plenty of control,” she explains. “Leave it on for five minutes, and it eliminates frizz but maintains the curl pattern. Leave it on for 30 minutes and it straightens more completely.”
To produce loose, ropey, “Gisele” texture with a thermal iron, Shields first mists strands with a combination of ISO Color Preserve Thermal Shield Spray and Daily Shape Working Spray, then wraps sections of hair vertically around the outside of a curling iron, simultaneously twisting each section onto itself like a rope. Once the hair cools completely, she gently releases the twists, revealing “a spiral, vertical wave with lots of internal torque.”
The flat iron is another excellent tool for creating this type of natural-looking body and texture. Many of today’s irons feature beveled plates, which give them the versatility to straighten and shape hair. One of Lina Shamoun’s favorite strategies is to divide hair into thin, one-inch sections, place the flatiron at the root, wind the section once around the iron and draw the tool through to the ends.
“When you release it, the hair will fall into a soft, flowing wave,” she explains.
The beach trend—textured, separated, sea-tossed strands—has generated a number of beach spray products that are great for supporting these looks or for use as stand-alone body boosters.
Color for Curl
With celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Aniston leading the way, the hottest hair color trend of the moment is the graduated “I spent last month on the beach and now it’s growing out” effect. Characterized by deeper roots and lighter midshafts and ends, it’s a deliberate technique to approximate “vacation regrowth.” The look is perfect for the twists and turns of textured hair, as long as the technique is done correctly.
Seale believes baliage is the best strategy—this freehand hair-painting method allows the colorist to place the tint exactly where the sun would kiss each strand, namely, on the rounds and fullest parts of each curl and in an unstructured fashion.
“So if your client wears her hair curly,” Seale advises, “don’t blow her hair straight and do a color weave. You’ll get six different colors on one curl and that doesn’t work.”
Additionally, says Seale, opt for high-lift permanent colors when baliaging curls, rather than bleach. “Bleach tends to swell the hair and cause it to become dryer,” he believes.
This hair type is already susceptible to dryness, he adds, so it’s better to use hair color that tends to impart less damage. Shields agrees that baliage is the best way to achieve the dark-to-light look, and advises stylists to work with fairly large sections. “Apply your color to each section randomly,” she suggests. “And for your application pattern, let the trajectory of the waves guide you—dropping off of the crown. Try some ‘peek-a-boo’ foils under the surface, too.
“All of this will create a purposeful, grown-out look, which clients today love since it’s chic and it allows them to stretch their retouching dollars!”
Original article by Modern Salon
Learn more about Texture!, a collaboration between CurlStylist, NaturallyCurly and Modern Salon
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Hot Hairstyles for Spring & Summer
All the best celebrity hairstyles for the changing of the seasons.
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Summer Beauty Trends: Carefree Curls and Colorful Makeup
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Courtesy of Elle.com