Do I need to know my Curl Type?

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If I told you your curl type is 3a, would that help you? Or would you look at me and ask what that means? Would you scour the internet for people with hair similar to yours and do everything they do to make your curls look exactly like theirs? Can I tell you a secret? Curl typing was originally invented by Oprah's stylist as a means to sell hair products. Guess what? It was freaking brilliant! He convinced everyone that it mattered AND that his products were the solution to everything "wrong" with your hair. The truth is, one size does not fit all, it never has and it never will. The good news is there are questions you can ask that actually WILL help you manage your frizz, define your curls or create more volume.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I bet your wondering what IS important to know...I'm glad you asked! Here is a sample of the questions I answer for the curly girls who sit in my chair:

1. What can I do to have healthier curls?

2. What is detoxing? Do I need to detox and if so how often?

3. How do I now if I have hard water? What can I do about having hard water?

4. Do my curls need more moisture and how do I achieve that?

5. How often should my curls be cut?

6. Do organic ingredients matter?

7. What does it mean to have a Curl Routine?

8. How can I get more volume ?

9. What ingredients should I avoid?

The time I spend with my clients is designed to help them leave my Curl Salon feeling not only beautiful, but confident in their ability to recreate their style at home. Over time, they learn to style their curls better than I can! My goal is to empower every single curly girl with the tools needed to make everyday their best curl day! It doesn't happen overnight, but it most definitely happens!

Are you ready to start, or continue, your curl journey? Spend some time with me and let me help you love the curl your with! Hope to see you soon.

Have a best curl day,

Vicki

Curl Specialist

Curly Girl Handbook

Vitamin C for detoxing

Innersense Organic Beauty

Graying with Grace

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I remember major life events, like where I was when the space shuttle exploded or the towers fell, or when I saw my first grey hair.  I was in my car driving up a mountain pass, I was 36 years old and pregnant with my son, it was a single silver strand, directly above my right eyebrow and I immediately hated it!  I felt hot and cold all at the same time.  My palms and armpits felt sweaty as I tried to watch the winding road and verify it’s existence in my rear view mirror.  Texting and driving would probably have been safer than what was happening behind my steering wheel that day! I pulled into the first Walgreens parking lot I came to, bought a box of chocolate brown box color and proceeded to turn my lovely head of highlights a murky green that very same night.  My stylist was not amused and refused to fix it for a week...lessons must sometimes be learned the hard way!

Fast forward 12 years and not only am I helping others navigate this minefield of aging, I’m walking right beside them. Several years ago as my salon got busier and my time became more precious, I made a decision to stop coloring my hair...it wasn’t like I went cold turkey though, first I bleached most of my fringe pale blonde so my grey stripe would look intentional, then I played around with different demi-permanent colors throughout the remainder of my head in an attempt to camouflage my demarcation line. Eventually though I just gave in and stopped. About three months ago the last of the hair color was trimmed from my tresses.  It’s mostly good and I’d love to report that it was liberating and I love what I see, but we all know it’s just never that easy.   Often when I stand at my color bar formulating color for a client I drift off into thoughts of what that new mocha shade would look like on me, or I’ll be applying my makeup and think I’d look a lot younger if I covered those grays or...just fill in the blank, we all do it to ourselves.  Aging gracefully seems to be like a unicorn, we all want to see it, but no one actually has! 

So, for those of you asking yourselves if you should let nature take its course here’s my advice. First, there aren’t any shortcuts, if you think you can heavy highlight your way to gorgeous grey hair it doesn’t really work that way. You’ll expose the yellow underlying pigments which will look brassy next to the cool tones of natural hair and you’ll need to commit to regular glossing sessions to maintain a blend. The young gals wearing those trendy silver shades are putting a lot more time and money into their colors than you think. Second, there will be a lot of people who think their opinions matter. Some of these people will be family members and long time friends, but others will be complete strangers who assault you in random places.  They say things like “WOW, I wish I were brave enough to let myself go” or “Have you been too busy to keep up with your color?” I’d like to think none of them are intentionally being assholes, but that’s too optimistic....I think most of them are in fact just being assholes. This journey requires confidence and fortitude to weather the ugly...because aging brings out the ugly not only in us, but also in those around us. Lastly, it is a painfully slow process. Hair grows on average 1/2 an inch each month, so that’s six inches a year.  If your hair is short you’ll make the transition in a year or less, if it’s shoulder length it’ll be about two years and if you’re hair is mid back it’ll be four years or more. 

In my own journey I struggled through people saying dumb stuff like “your hair doesn’t LOOK grey“ or “it’s easier for you because your hair is curly“ or lighter or any of a dozen other irrelevant comments. My hair doesn’t have any color in it, it just looks the way it looks and I assure you nothing about the transition was fun or easy! I’m closer to 50 than 40 and I assure you 50 is not the new 30! The bottom line is YOU have to want to stop coloring your hair and be ready for everything that comes along with the transition. How many times have you heard someone say men who grey look distinguished, but women just look old?  Do we REALLY believe that, or is it rooted in something else? Personally, I love grey hair and I never try to talk someone into or out of a service, but I do try to get to the root of their why because it’s a very personal journey and each person comes to it and through it with their own demons. Success in this endeavor depends a lot on what motivation is behind it. My motivation was more time to do other things, what’s yours?

A dear friend’s young son once lovingly told her she looked like a sparkly hedgehog with the sun shining through the sun roof onto her hair. She was peeved until she looked in the rear view mirror and saw the pure joy on his face. He was delighted by her silver hair and saw her as beautiful...that’s a lesson we can all walk away with! 

Cheers! Jo

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Silver Hair Handbook

Hydration - the most important step in your wash day

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Hydration, the most important step to stunning hair

I love curls! That’s why I specialize in them. Teaching curly girls and women (and even some boys and men) to LOVE their locks is something I get very excited about! I find that many people who have curls have a difficult time managing them. It doesn’t have to be hard. I’m going to teach you how to have the best curls ever!

The most important element in hydrating your hair is WATER! Right?! While conditioner is vital to hydrating hair, the moisture that comes from water is the most essential ingredient to health curls. The more water you add, the better for having your curls clump together into what I call ‘little curl families’. These well lubricated curl families hang together, which means less friction (meaning you have slip), less friction equates to less frizz which turns into longevity…that means great curls for 2, 3, or even 4 days!

How do we get more water into the hair using conditioner? The answer is physical manipulation. In the Salon I use techniques I learned from Scott Musgrave in his online course, The Map Method. https://www.curlyhairartistry.com/the-map-method-online-course .

1. Begin by warming the conditioner in your wet hands

2. Finger comb through to remove tangles (stay away from your scalp)

3. Finger press and squeeze the conditioner into the hair, adding water whenever the hair begins to feel rough or loses its slippery feel.

4. Use the wet conditioned hair like a sponge and squish the water and conditioner onto the scalp.

5. The squishing sound should be very wet and loud. Keep adding water to the hair while squishing. At this point the hair will be evenly saturated with water and coated with watered down conditioner.

a. For more info about why the manipulation is so important check out http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2018/08/conditioning-technique-squish-to.html .

All this physical manipulation is great for hydration, but it does nothing to aid in smoothing the cuticle of the hair. We want to smooth the cuticle to help keep the humectants and conditioning ingredients in the hair; therefore, we use styling products to help ‘fill’ the cuticle and ‘seal’ the hydration into our wash day set.

CRYOTHERAPY

You have probably heard of Cryotherapy for sports injuries or your skin, but the benefits extend to health hair and it’s AWESOME!

Our new Subzero Cryotherapy Treatment (-3 degrees F) will infuse the hair with Hyaluronic acid, collagen and acai berry. That might sound like harsh chemicals, but Hyaluronic acid is something your body naturally produces! We use a special process to ensure that every strand of hair is lubricated before using our cryotherapy ice-iron to seal the magic into each hair strand.

The result is, repaired damage, healthy, shiny and manageable hair.

What does this mean for your wash day?

• Better curl clumping

• Less Frizz

• Longer lasting sets with better curl definition

• Soft and shiny manageable hair

• Repaired damage
  

A cryotherapy session takes about 40 minutes, depending on hair length and thickness. A stand-alone treatment is $65 but when you add a treatment to a transformation or color service is $45. If you have thick or long hair, additional charges may apply due to product volume needed.

For the best results, treatments every four weeks is ideal. If you are harsh on your hair, you may need it more often. Well-kept hair (for example, not sleeping on a cotton sheet) will often last a little longer. We can also add the hyaluronic acid to your hair color for longer lasting color!

This treatment is great for all hair types. The best results are seen on damaged hair and curly hair. Ask me about Cryotherapy the next time I see you!

Have a great Curl Day

Vicki

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Curly Girl Handbook

Misting Water Bottle