Tinted your hair and now it’s dry?

Have you just tinted your hair? At home or at a salon? Is it dry, tangled, fly-away and unmanageable?

The main reason is that your hair is in an alkaline state.

pH rules: inside we are slightly alkaline. For our outsides, it’s equally as important to remain on the acidic side.

To get the colour into your hair – it needs to be convinced to open up slightly – so we make it alkaline with ammonia or other alkalising agent.

Now in order to keep your colour in and have shiny manageable hair, you need to close the hair when the work’s done.  This is how moisture stays inside the hair: closed cuticle scales.

This is when it’s important to have post-colour treatments to stop oxidation and acidify the hair.  Properly balanced acid pH gives you phenomenal hair.

Hair care is very simple – keep it acid and don’t apply occlusives (like silicone and petrochemicals (vaseline, liquid paraffin, etc…) that seals hair off from moisture.

Make sure your product’s pH level is below 6 (5.5 or lower) between 1 and 6 is acid, and you’re looking for a useful zone of around 4 to 5.5  and up.  Good leave-in conditioners are a blessing.  The longer contact time often means better pH for hair.

If your (sulphate-free) shampoo says it is ph balanced…what is it balanced to?  It’s no coincidence that our grannies used vinegar rinses on their hair – sealed hair is shiny hair.

Curly Hair Too Dry ?

For amazing hair, keep it simple:

Keep it acidic, don’t use sulfate and avoid petroleum products like baby oil, Vaseline and hair-food, and don’t let your hair dry naturally without product.

Petroleum products dries out wavy, curly and afro-ethnic hair causing tangling, knotting, breakage and frizz – which usually gets masked by adding silicone.

Invest in a bottle of Jojoba oil – it is not an oil – it’s a natural plant wax that VERY effectively mimics our own sebum and moisturizes beautifully (while also being anti-microbial).  Add a few drops to your conditioner before applying and boost the moisture in your hair.  One to three drops added to your styling aid will hugely increase smoothness, elasticity and shine.

You’ll find jojoba in any health store that stocks essential oils – and it’s also included in many professional products.

While you’re at it – buy some Castor oil.  If at any point you think that you need petroleum jelly/vaseline on your hair – then castor oil is your savior.  It’s a really thick oil – but has incredibly small molecules – so penetrates deeply – moisturizing scalp, hair and skin.

Depending on your curl-form: The tighter your curl, the more castor oil you use,the looser it is, the more jojoba you’ll use. Mix the two together and alter the ratio to your needs.  ANYTHING added to castor oil is going to penetrate deeply, so this is the ideal time to add in some essential oils and have a succulent moisturising treatment.

The simplest method is to add lavender to your oil mixture – it enhances smoothness.  Apply this mixture to dry hair, milking it through your hair.  Scrub into the scalp with your finger-pads, apply enough to saturate the hair.

Cover in plastic to trap heat and wrap in a towel.  Keep on your hair for at least one hour, longer is better.

To remove this moisture-locking oil mask, apply some sulphate-free shampoo to your dry hair and work it through.  When your sure it’s mixed into the oil treatment on your hair, then add some water and lather.  You’ll find it creates a rich creamy consistency  – rinse and shampoo, following with your favorite conditioner.

Aside from dryness, a sulphate-reaction is literally your reason for your shower blocking up with hair, you’ll usually see it as the second or third ingredient in your shampoo and most people don’t know that they’re reacting.  Switch to sulphate-free for 4 weeks to see a huge difference.

Acid.  While our blood runs slightly alkaline to be healthy, our skin and hair needs an acidic environment to not knot together like cheap velcro.  The simple truth is that alkalinity opens our cuticles – making a strand of hair both swell and look like somebody has stood every tile on a roof on it’s end.  When that dries, you have almost hollow hair, with hair scales acting like velcro and unable t0 shine.  Using an acid rinse shrinks the hair back to normal and smooths the cuticles – so instant shine.  The easiest method is to buy some citric acid in the baking aisle and mix a teaspoon into a glass of warm water.  Drench your hair with this – wait  20 minutes and then shampoo as normal.  You can do this every wash if you need too: manageability increases instantly. (20 minutes is important.  Longer isn’t need, but less time means that it won’t be effective.)

And lastly, NEVER let your hair dry naturally without having a leave-in product at hand.  As water evaporates from the hair, it drags essential moisture out of the hair along with it.  Even a few drops of jojoba smoothed through the hair after rinsing will go a long way to prevent dry hair.  Ideally a curl cream mixed with a bit of serum leaves you with hydrated locks that don’t frizz and looks great.

THE WETBRUSH

After the amazing success of the Tangle Teezer in it’s various incarnations, the Wetbrush has arrived.

It is phenomenal.  People have flocked in to get their own one.  Moms are buying it because kids can brush their own hair without fuss and every client should own one.  ZERO stretching happening so wet hair is protected.  I love the fact that it won’t fly out of your hand while brushing.

It comes in a paddle version, mini, men’s, metallic and even a “Selfie” version!

Click on the brush to open a new window

The bamboo Wetbrush raises money with it’s sales for a charity called “Water”, a NPO who provides clean drinking water where needed.  Their Mission Statement is headed with: Water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Click here to visit WATER – Clicking on the Wetbrush logo heading this post will take you to the Wetbrush webpage.

There is a shine version for dried hair, which I’ve not tried yet.

There’s some clever science behind this brush: the bristles are very flexible, so it releases a tangle and the next bristle gentle eases it out more and this process continues until you have no knots.  Quick.  Painless.

I’ve brushed curls without getting frizz, detangled kids hair without tears and my own mane’s much easier to manage with this little helper.  If you can find one, get it!

Here is the link to their web page:

the Wetbrush

Hair Colour – Some Dangers

With the move to ammonia-free hair colour, many are excited by the idea of hair colour with less of a chemical load and less damaged hair.

Logically it makes sense – however, alkaline hair – that has been exposed to ammonia in colour – can and should be treated with acid normalisers &/ anti-oxidation treatments, post colour, to return it to a normal state. This means that you have longer lasting colour, without the damage.

You know your hair’s in an alkaline state when you can’t get a comb or your fingers through your hair.  It will tend to be matte and colour strips out really fast – it’s just really unmanageable and not fun.  Colour containing ammonia or it’s derivatives should not damage your hair when professionally done.

Now the problem: with lower levels of ammonia, is that there are normally higher levels of ppd.  This is Paraphenylenediamine (pronounced: Para-Fennel-Lean-Dye-A-Mine) We’ll just call that PPD for short.  It was voted allergen of the year in 2006 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society.  It’s an organic compound – just because it’s natural, does not mean that it’s safe.

What does it do?  It makes your colour stick to your hair.

What it does to you?  Nothing – hopefully, you could colour your hair 700 times without a reaction – However, when you do react, your scalp might have a burning sensation, you experience throat irritation, coughing, tight scalp, an insistent itch, swelling, a full body rash, eyelids swelling shut, face swelling, enlarged glands, welts, blisters etc… Usually you’ll have at least one of these reactions, but it quickly becomes worse with PPD exposure.  Think of any of the hair colour stories involving really bad reactions – it was probably PPD.  The darker the hair colour, the higher the amount of PPD in your colour.

Once you have had an allergic reaction – you will always be allergic to PPD.  The sensitivity then spreads to include black clothes (PPD fixative), dyed leather, certain inks and some brands of black make-up (liners and mascaras)

There is good news.  If you are reacting, or just worried about allergen loads and carcinogen levels, there are many brands of PPD-free colour available.  Luckily most PPD-free colour is also SLS and SLES-free, which means no damaging reaction with chlorinated tap water or ammonia.

Check your colour ingredients – ask your stylist for the box or for the package insert with the ingredient list – there is ALWAYS an ingredient list.

PDD will appear as one of the following:

PPD

Paraphenylenediamine

1.4-diaminobezene

2.4-diaminoanisole

phenylenediamine

p-toluenediamine

p-aminodiphenylamine

M-aminophenol

P-methyl aminophenol sulfate

para-aminophenol

Ethanolamine

Other Reactive Chemicals:

*Toluene-2.5-diamine sulfate

*Naphthol

The Resorcinol group of chemicals – which are dihydroxy benzenes – are known skin irritants and endocrine (thyroid) disruptors.  It is manufactured from petroleum  Alternate names to be aware of:

4-chlororesorcinol

2-chlororesorcinol.

Dry hair? What to do…

Jojoba might be the answer if you’re hair’s just too dry.  With moisture-dry hair the problem could originate anywhere from a hormonal fluctuation, smoking, excessive hair-washing with harsh shampoos, to just not getting enough essential fatty acids (Your omega 3, 6 and 9).  These fats trap water to your hair and skin.  With appropriate dietary and lifestyle changes, you could do a lot to alleviate this problem.

 

However – while you’re waiting for the new healthy you to make your hair better – there’s also our trusty friend Jojoba (pronounced: Ho-Ho-Bah)

 

Jojoba is not an oil – it’s a natural plant wax that VERY effectively mimics our own sebum and moisturises beautifully (while also being anti-microbial).  Add a few drops to your conditioner before applying and boost the moisture in your hair.  One to two drops added to your styling aid will hugely increase smoothness, elasticity and shine.  You’ll find jojoba in any health store that stocks essential oils – and it’s also included in many professional products – like FHI Hotsauce heat protector.

 

Ask your stylist about cold-pressed oil treatments – like jojoba – that greatly improves the hairs elasticity and shine.  It’s also a wonderful treat for hair the week before a tint: the hair is in the best condition to receive colour and is more resilient to chemical processes.

 

Moisture arrives in Muizenberg…

Reference Of Sweden.

Having changed their product line to a sulfate-free formula, I’ve finally been using some of their new shampoos – and I’m getting really good results and excellent feedback from people that are using it.  It comes in four shine boosting variants: moisture, volume, treatment and colour care – all completely sulfate -free.  Here’s the blurb from their site:  (they make one of my all-time favourite products: REF Hold and Shine Hairspray – it’s SUPER lightweight and strong – my hairspray addiction *sigh*)

Sulfate Free – The New Reference!

In ancient days, we washed our hair with herbs, soft soap and other natural products but as time went by, more and more chemicals where used. Now many shampoos are more or less pure chemical products.

The conscious consumer of tomorrow does not settle with that fortunately, they want products good for your hair and for the environment. And that does the job.

We believe we have found the solution to this request: REF Sulfate Free Surfactant Technology With a well balanced mixture of natural ingredients and chemistry, with ingredients such as Tamanu and Argan oils, Linseed oil, Blueberries, Linginberries etc we have developed shampoos you are going to love!

© REF Professional Hair care and Beauty products. Find your reference.

What’s “in” in hair?

2012 in hair trends still continues the new decade’s theme of revival.  The buzzwords being revival and evolution.

Men have very long hair, textured precision short cuts and everything in between. The old Beatles cut has been dusted off and modernised into the Brit-rock indie hairstyle and the quiff (think Elvis, James Dean, Morrissey) is here in a big way – with a sleek and a rock version.  The Rockabilly from 2010 is still doing the rounds, but it might eventually give way to a customised quiff – it’s a “wait and see” game.

Woman’s hair has seen the drama of the mod bob, or inverted bob, as worn by Victoria Beckham and Rihanna. There’s still lots of life left in this bob, and now that the hype around the haircut has died down, I find that more woman are trying out custom versions of this cut. Longer hair is still worn in curls, waves and stick straight – just keep it glossy. The days of the Rachel cut (Jennifer Aniston in Friends) is finally over. The textured short crop is also in high demand, think the 1968 Mia Farrow crop in Rosemary’s baby and Emma Watson‘s hair. for both men and woman, a parting in the hair can change the entire look very easily.  With the 60’s and 70’s revival in fashion – centre partings are cropping up everywhere.

The ponytail – in all its incarnations – is still very trendy this year, having been all over the 2012 runways –  as is softly braided hair –  whether down your back or on the side.  The chignon is also very popular right now.

(From WIKI: The word “chignon” (pronounced shin-yon in English) is from the French phrase “chignon du cou,” which means nape of the neck. Chignons are generally achieved by pinning the hair into a knot at the nape of the neck or at the back of the head)

Colour leans towards subtler tones – blondes are golder rather than platinum, brunettes have honey-toned highlights with dark chocolate lowlights. Some subtle colour is still the easiest way to change your hair, be careful of going too dark though. It’s the fastest way to look really tired.

As for products, the green trend has gone high fashion. No longer are natural shampoos the sad alternatives used by a select few.Good products are being demanded and they need to be sulphate, paraben and formaldehyde-free.

ProRituals, Reference of Sweden, Phyto and Naturalmente are just a few chemical-free product ranges currently trending that make shiny natural hair easy.

And of course – not to be forgotten – argan oil. It’s now available in conditioners, shampoos, treatments and skin care. It’s the must-have item on your shopping list.

The Horror of LICE! Everything you didn’t want to know.

So you had a phonecall from school or found some nits (louse eggs).  What do you do…?

Firstly – DO NOT GO TO YOUR SALON.  Legally, a South African stylist may not work on your child’s hair if they have lice – and on discovery of nits or lice, they are obligated by law to ask you to leave the salon.   This can be really embarrassing for both of you, so don’t put yourself through it.

What is it – how do I find it?  So this small, brownish-grey, wingless insect lives in human hair.  It’s called Pediculosis humanus capitus (human head lice – singular = louse), is about the size of a pinhead and has three sets of legs that allow it to cling really firmly to hair-shafts.  Even though its legs are strong,  it can’t jump.

It attacks and punctures the skin to feed on blood, setting up irritation similar to a mozzie bite.  These bites may set off an allergic reaction in some people, showing up as itching – often raised – red marks.

If you carefully part the hair, you may find lice or the skin reaction to their bites.  However, you will usually find the hatched, empty pearly-white egg cases and these are often confused with dandruff, which it resembles.  These empty shells are sticky and as the hair grows, it is found further away from the scalp than where the lice are.

The actual live eggs are teardrop-shaped and brown.  These are laid on the hair roots – close to the scalp – and are called nits.  Lice will attack ANY scalp, it does not discern between a clean head of hair and a dirty one.  There absolutely no stigma attached to contracting head-lice.

So how do I treat it?  The human head-louse is classed as a disease and an infestation of lice is often called a lice infection.  Lice are passed by head-to-head contact, or by sharing hats, brushes, combs or towels.  Make sure while you are treating the condition that all these items – including all bedding and clothes – are constantly cleaned and sterilised after use and kept separately from other family members belongings.

Get to your pharmacy and buy one of the many delousing preparations available.  This needs to be applied at least twice.  Although the lice are VERY easily killed, (and don’t live longer than 24hours when separated from its human host) the nits are protected by their tough shells and another application will have to be done within seven days to prevent the freshly hatched lice – of the last nit-batch – from laying any more eggs.  The usual method is to apply the shampoo as directed and then carefully use the accompanying fine-toothed lice and nit comb, to remove all the lice and eggs you can find.  IMPORTANT: Seek medical treatment immediately should the treatment be ineffective or the scalp becomes inflamed or infected.

Natural Route?  Lately a popular alternative has been to apply natural preparations to hair (during a school or family outbreak).  These preparations usually contain Quassia bark, tansy, essential oils of rosemary, geranium, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon and tea-tree.  This could be used as a treatment or deterrent.

Here’s a local head-lice site: www.lice.co.za

But does my hair smell nice?

One of the longest lasting trends in hair care has been fragrance retention.  It’s clean – but how does it smell?

The problem here is that most “smells” in hair products are artificial fragrances designed to make the product more appealing – none of the smells do anything for you besides trying to influence you to buy the product.  The use of fragrance in products is increasing and so are the number of people affected adversely by them. Here’s a helpful article on fragrance sensitivity: FRAGRANCE

There are a few product houses who have embraced a more natural approach while not sacrificing a professional finish on your hair.

Naturalmente is from Tuscany and the really wonderful thing is that all the fragrances used in the product line are there because they are active ingredients.  The essential oil combinations are there to balance sebum, moisturise or calm the scalp.  These combinations are what happen to perfume the product – so you get fresh hair with long-lasting fragrance – but the fragrance is actually working for you in a big way.

Silicone – the slippery foe…

Silicone – it makes your fingers move through your hair while shampooing and makes your hair silky soft – for now…

Silicone is a petrochemical derivative used to give products a “slip” factor– just like mineral oil (the second leading cause of skin-aging after sunlight).  It seals moisture in – and prevents humidity from causing your locks to frizz.  However, that sealing action seals moisture out of your hair, because the sealing action is long-term.  It starts turning to a plastic consistency at around 40 degrees celcius (bath water temp) so heating tools, like a blow dryer, over it is lethal.

Silicone is a waxy, plastic-like substance that makes your hair feel like it needs another wash.  Your hair also feels and looks oily way too soon after washing it.  The only solution is to stop using silicone.

It’s carcinogenic and is one of the main reasons for oily, yet moisture-dry hair.  It causes splitting and a host of scalp problems.  It’s also the reason you see smoke when you use your flat iron or blow-dry. Why is it everywhere? It’s cheap.

Your hair without silicone?  After about one to four months (when the silicone residue is finally off) your hair is lighter, weightless and shiny – and there are alternatives to silicone, which leave zero long-term coating.

Naturalmente produces a product called Macassar, which is made of sea-sand (silica) and quartz crystal.  You have the smoothness of silicone – but with a difference… Macassar is also a leave-in restructuring fluid treatment.  So not only is it making your hair pretty – it’s also good for your hair. The excess pulverises in sunlight and the whole lot is water soluble – so rinses right out.