Do It Yourself: Great Hair – Step By Step

Have you ever had this experience?

You look great after visiting the Hair Salon and even for a couple days after.

Then you wash and dry your new style at home and it never looks even half as good as the professional version!

Sometimes it’s because the stylist gave you a cut that is too high maintenance and it will never look good unless it’s worked by a pro.

But, most times it’s because you didn’t follow the same procedures at home that your stylist used in her shop to get the look.

Whether you’re going for a touch-up or a radical new look, always pay close attention to the tools and methods the stylist uses on your hair.

Ask what they’re doing and why they’re doing it to your hair.

Then, print out this article with the steps to great hair (including the real pros’ secrets) and use it to recreate the professional look at home.

Apply the options below that work for your hair and your style and you will have a lot fewer bad-hair days between salon visits!

The Down and Dirty About Shampooing:

When to wash and when to skip it

There are three reasons to shampoo:

1. First off, to remove the stuff your hair attracts from environmental dirt and pollutants. Things like dust, smoke, chlorine or salt if you’re swimming, and all the nasty things cars belch into the air if you live in an urban or suburban area.
2. Then, there’s the oil that your scalp produces. You need those oils to protect your scalp and hair but after a few days (more or less depending on your skin type) they start to cling to your hair giving you that stringy look.
3. Perspiration can also soil your hair. If you’re a gym rat, you’re gonna have to wash more often.

Shampooing too often strips the hair of the protective oils so try to schedule as many days between washes as you can stand. If you have a choice between washing today or tomorrow, I recommend waiting.

But, there’s no hard-and-fast rule of how often to shampoo. You have to pay attention to what kind of environment you’re in, your activities’ effect on your hair, and how much oil your skin type secretes.

We all know our busy schedules have to be factored in too – if you shampoo when you don’t have time to finish styling correctly, you’re not going to end up with great looking hair.

Types of products:

The #1 question is always…

Short answer: “YES”… and here’s why:

Drugstore Brands of shampoo are made with the cheapest possible ingredients. Read the label of any shampoo and you’re likely to find lots of stuff with names you can’t pronounce. But the cheaper the final product, the cheaper the ingredients that go into it.

“Name” Brands come in two categories:

• The product-only producers like Wella, L’Oreal, and such that you can buy in beauty supply stores (and through my website HairByMonica.com)…
• … and the private label products commissioned by and for stylists and specialty salons like Bumble & Bumble and Paul Mitchell (which you can also buy through my website HairByMonica.com).

**You should know that many shops require the stylists working there to use their approved brands and that the stylists make a commission on product sales.

**You should also know that if you’re going to a salon and a stylist that makes your hair look great, using their products is the easy way to keep your hair looking good between visits.

For more specific recommendations for your hair type, visit HairByMonica online.

Step By Step Shampoo Instructions:

Wetting Your Hair

It’s important to thoroughly wet your hair before starting to apply product. Especially if you have long or thick hair, be sure you give it time under the running water to get completely soaked.

Use lukewarm water, probably cooler than you prefer to shower in.

Amount of Product

Pour enough into your palms to start a lather. You can always add more so start small – a quarter’s worth – to use only as much as the volume of hair you’re washing requires.

Application of Product

Start at your scalp and work down to the ends. Don’t rub, just smooth the lathered up shampoo onto the strands.

When you have a light covering, which may require additional product, move onto the next step.

Working Product Through Your Hair

You don’t want to create tangles or stress your hair with vigorous rubbing. Use your finger tips (not your nails) on your scalp to loosen any dead skin and oily residues. Gently rub hair strands between your hands, working from the head to the ends.

Rinsing

Tilt your head back and allow the water to run from your head to the ends of your hair. Gently run your fingers through your hair to be sure all the shampoo is rinsed out.

Start with the lukewarm water and gradually add colder water (or turn down the hot water) until your hair is cool through-out.

To Repeat or Not

Usually not. Modern shampoos are designed to wash with one application. Unless you are removing paint or some particularly stubborn substance, one treatment with shampoo should do it.

Part 2 Conditioning Treatments

Step away from the nozzle if you’re in the shower, and towel dry your hair: Yes, before applying conditioner.

Removing a lot of the water will help the product penetrate the hair shaft and give you a better result.

Treatments:

In a perfect world, we’d all be able to go down to the local salon and have our hair custom treated. But for now, my advice is: “Any treatment (within reason) is better than none at all! If you’re trying to correct a convoluted problem you’ll get faster results by finding a good salon for the initial treatment and following your hairdresser’s instructions at home for subsequent treatments.

With specialized hair repairing treatments, the products penetrate deeper into the hair when heat is applied. At the salon, they may put you under the hood to enhance the product’s effectiveness.

At home…

Cover your hair with the product in it with a plastic shower cap (one you can dispose of afterwards) and

Heat it up either with your hairdryer (on low) or by getting back in the hot shower or bath.

What makes the difference is the expertise of the hairdresser. It is very difficult for you to work out whether your hair needs protein or moisture and your hairdresser will be able tell this at a glance. Also, although many of the products may look the same, the in salon version is often "stronger" because the manufacturers can make it so knowing it will be used correctly by someone trained in that field. If you ask your hairdresser, they may agree to give you a professional treatment to apply yourself at home with the correct instructions. But that is up to your particular hairdresser.

There are really three types of treatments, one of which is closer to a conditioner:

1. Reconstructors make the hair stronger.
2. Moisturizers balance the moisture content of the hair’s cortex.
3. Thermal Protectors prevent heat damage before it starts and can be used each time you shampoo so it’s similar to conditioner, and usually called a finishing product.

RECONSTRUCTORS: make the hair shaft stronger using protein and usually include a moisturizer to prevent the protein from causing brittleness. However, because they penetrate the hair shaft, working internally, you’ll also need a conditioner to finish with smooth hair. They are critical to chemically processed hair but don’t use one a week before or after coloring to avoid interfering in the process.

MOISTURIZERS: the most common treatment and something nearly every type of hair needs regularly. How often depends on the starting condition of your hair.

Used to balance the moisture content of the cortex (middle of your hair) and the solution to frizzy, dry hair and curly hair that lacks bounce.

Used regularly to treat all damage conditions:

·  Chemical: coloring, perming and

·  Physical: over drying or heating your hair, water and sun damage.

THERMAL PROTECTORS: Used regularly can help prevent the physical damage of blow drying, hot irons and even sun damage. Applied properly, it will leave only a very fine layer, perhaps a little extra shine but no heavy feel in your hair.

You MUST always use a thermal protector if you…

• Use a thermal brush with a metal center when blow drying.
• You use a heated iron or tong to style your hair – direct heat is THE most damaging.
• You have long hair – the older the hair the easier it is damaged.

 Your Basic Rules for Treatment Scheduling…

1.       Every shampoo for thermal protectors if you use heated tools or spend a lot of time in the sun.

2.       Once a month for healthy hair. Don’t wait until it shows damage!

3.       Twice a month if your hair tends to be dry or its color is fading.

4.       Once a week if you’re hair is already showing signs of damage.

5.       Twice a week or at the salon if your hair is already fried.

Your hair can only absorb so many nutrients at one time, so don’t layer treatments, leave them on longer than the instructions call for, or use too much product at one time. Be especially careful with the protein based treatments. Using too much can cause brittleness (hair breaks easily).

Great Hair – Part 3 Drying:

So you've tried everything and still can't get it right?

Maybe it's time to take a few simple ideas from some of the hairdressing industries best.

• If you have a cowlick you want to get rid of, try drying the fringe hair forwards with a round or vent brush to weigh it down. Or, choose a cut that incorporates the cowlick into the style.
• If you have a double-crown (when you have two crowns on the top of your head instead of one), try drying the hair first in the opposite direction to what you want then back the other way. This mkes your hair stand uniformly. Never dry your hair flat on your the head, since that magnifies the double crown.
• If your hair sticks up at the crown it is cut too short, but while it grows out, try the cowlick and double-crown tips.
• If you have the frizzies, your hair has heat damage. To prevent heat damage, use a thermal protector product. These also add body and shine. Schedule an intensive treatment to reconstruct your damaged hair over the course of a couple months.
• Your hair only begins to take on its final shape when almost dry. So save time and stress to your hair by rough drying most of the moisture out first. Simply shake dry with your hand and hair dryer, being careful not to over dry the crown and surface of the hair.
• Take the effort out of blow drying by using clips. Pin the top layers out of the way and begin with the underneath sections starting at the nape hair.
• Fully dry each section before moving to the next to prevent it from reverting to its natural state.
• Aim the airflow from your dryer along the hair in the direction of the ends to get a smooth finish.
• Use the cool air button on your drier. That allows your hair to cool before removing your brush from a blow-dried section. This will make your blow-dry last longer as it is like using tongs or setting rollers. Leave the hair as it falls from the brush, just run your fingers or brush through it when all the hair is finished and cooled off.
• The best finishing brush for that smooth silky look is a large paddle brush.
• Finish off with an oil or gloss to prevent frizz and add shine like OSIS Magic!

Bennie Tognini, top fashion stylist and owner of Tognini's says:

"Prepare your hair for styling with a good shampoo and conditioning treatment. Remove excess water before styling and power dry loosely. Determine the style and apply products to the hair, evenly working from the roots to the ends in your hands. Comb through, starting at the bottom of the hair in downward strokes, gradually working your way up higher. To be in control of the blowdry, section your hair up and start with the under sections. Work to a system especially if using a round brush, deciding whether you want to gain body, straighten or smooth your hair.

Loose styles should be created by softly power drying with your fingers on low speed and to finish use the correct finishing aids to create shine and texture. For curly hair, blowdry with a diffuser on low speed and apply the product before the hair dries to enhance and separate the curl".

Great Hair - Part 4 Brushing:

Using a ball-tipped bristle brush can promote healthy hair growth. It must be a brush with soft plastic knobs on the ends of the bristles to keep from scratching your scalp.

DENMAN brands, which you can order online from HairByMonica.com are recommended by leading hairdressers.

* Brush your hair before shampooing (while it’s still dry).

* Remove the dust and dirt of the day from your hair with a good brushing.

* Brushing stimulates the natural oil production of your scalp and distributes the oils along the hair strands.

There are five types of brush, each for a specific purpose.

Many people keep their old favorite brush and use it for all types of hair styling jobs and then wonder why their hair doesn't look as good everyday as it does after a visit to the stylist.

To help you choose the best brushes for your styling needs, first let's discuss what each of the brush types are really for:

Vent Brushes...

The open vents allow air flow. It's used to create root lift and volume for your hair and to give some direction and movement like flicking out the ends of your hair.

If your hair tends to be a little flyaway or static this is not the styling brush for you as it's the simplest brush to use but gives only the simplest effects. It's not far removed from using your fingers to dry your hair. It is a great brush for easing out tangles on medium to thick hair and men's or children's short simple styles or to give a little more height and lift to a style that you might normally dry with your fingers.

Styler or the "Denman"...

Denman is a brand name for a type of brush with no vents and a solid cushion backing. The bristles are on one side only and form a slight half circle. They are best used on bob shape cuts and mid length hair to smooth and straighten the lengths and ends of the hair. Like the vent brush, they are easy to use, but if you can't get the smoothness you want form this type of brush it is because it cannot provide enough tension. For that you will need to use a large round bristle brush.

Cushion Brushes...

These have a soft cushion base with bristles on one side, often slightly curved and are used to smooth, without lift or volume on short to medium hair lengths that aren't too thick or dense. They are very simple to use and are popular with men to create neat smooth shapes without lift.

Round Brushes...

The name round brush describes it but the most important thing to realize is that it's not just for creating curl. The more open bristle type is used for achieving maximum height and lift.
The densely packed real bristle round brush is great for smoothing and straightening your hair with the tension needed for hair that is naturally wavy or curly.

The size of the brush you need depends on the length of your hair and the effect you want. Your hair needs to be long enough to rap around the brush once.

As a general guide:

• For short hair (up to 6 inches) the center barrel of the brush should be 1 inch or less in diameter.
• For mid length hair ( 6 - 8 inches) the center barrel of the brush should be 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter.
• For long hair ( 8 inches or more) the center barrel of the brush should be 2 inches or more in diameter.

To get it right with a round brush:

• You need to practice. Think of it as a workout for your arms!
• Use sectioning clips, so that you can work with only a small piece of hair at a time.
• Angle the air from your dryer, so that it flows from roots to ends, (not across or back towards your head, which is good only for making your hair frizzy).
• Ask your hairdresser to give you a demo on how to do it then ask them to watch you and correct your technique. They really shouldn't mind teaching you how to keep your hair looking great.

If you have tried a round brush and it failed to straighten your hair effectively there is this great new brush on the market that is easy to use at home. It looks like a pair of tongs with bristles facing towards each other. You simply clasp a section of hair near the scalp between the bristles and then dry your hair as you slide the brush through the hair towards the ends.

Paddle Brushes...

These are larger and flatter than the cushion brush and are known by their size and cushion type base from which the bristles protrude. They're used when you have long or very thick hair to deal with. They are great to smooth naturally straight hair or to finish off after using a round brush to straighten frizzy, wavy or curly hair.

Simply sweep the brush down the length of your hair with a paddle type motion. This way you won't create volume or highly stylized looks with this type of brush.

Thermal Brushes...

Many types of brushes now come in thermal versions. You most commonly find round thermal brushes but they also come as vent or styler types. If time is your concern then a thermal brush could be what you need. They work by using a metal or heat conductive material as the center of the brush; this gets hot using the heat from your hair dryer. As you increase the heat that is drying your hair working not only on the surface of the hair, but internally as well, it dries faster. You can get effects that are like setting your hair on rollers when you get really good with one of these.

Be very careful though, it's easy to scorch your hair if the brush gets too hot! We recommend that if your hair is fine, chemically treated or damaged that you use a good old-fashioned non-thermal brush to avoid overheating damage.

You can also try the new ceramic brushes. Since ceramics retain heat, a brush with a ceramic core can help you dry and style your hair with less heat damage. Previously various metals have been used as the centers for brushes and the plates of flat irons and tongs. It turns out that replacing the metal with ceramics not only does the job better but is less harmful to hair.

  Great Hair – Part 5 Color

The Two Cs of Great Looking Hair are the Color and the Cut

C1: Your Color

Never subject hair to more than two chemical processes. If you’ve straightened or permed your hair, chose either a single process color or highlights but not both. Multiple processes are justtoo damaging and you’re likely to end up with wiry fried hair or no hair at all if you just keep layering the chemicals on.

In fact, women with relaxed hair should use only cream-based permanent dyes, which have more conditioners than gels or liquids.

Relate your color to your skin tone
Skin that has yellow undertones may look jaundiced next to hair that's too pale; deeper hues, on the other hand, can impart a beautiful golden cast. But rich browns won't do any favors for ruddier skin; a dark color makes a bull's-eye around red areas, Instead, lighten up with caramel or tawny brown highlights.

Stick with your childhood color
When in doubt, peruse old family albums. Stay fairly close to the color you had when you were young -- it will usually be the most flattering and easy to maintain.

Go lighter slowly
If you plan to reclaim a towheaded youth, however, don't rush in. Even at the salon, your hair will lighten only so much at one time -- push it too far and it turns orangey. Do a little every month, so you can control the brassiness.

Remember Your Brows
Never match your brows to a new haircolor, but consider making them a touch lighter or warmer.  It can make the whole eye area look younger and softer.

Root Maintenance is not an option

Even for Sara Jessica Parker fans’, retouching your roots is one of the golden rules of haircare -- but only use the bare minimum. If you want to keep your hair healthy, just do the roots, Coloring your entire head each and every time you color may alter your overall color and damage older, longer hair. That's how people end up with bleached ends.

If your color needs a recharge, ask your stylist for an all-over gloss or glaze. There are also at-home treatments that will do the trick. You leave it in for 10 minutes, you wash it out, and you've got shine no matter what your texture is, Just be sure to use restraint; don't use it every week; just once a month.

Great Hair – Part 6 Cuts:

Which One(s) Is/Are Right For You?