This may be shocking to some, old news to others…. Let’s talk about washing your hair. “Your hair grows better when it’s dirty.” Not true. As a matter of fact, it’s the exact opposite. Your hair grows quicker and will be healthier when your hair and scalp are clean.Your scalp needs air! Heavy oils and products can clog your hair follicles and cause blockage, causing the hair shaft to suffocate and not grow.

This past week I was talking to one of my clients and she told me that it wasn’t widely known that if your hair doesn’t lather the first time around, it’s dirty. In other words,  a clean white lather equals clean hair. So if you shampoo your hair the first time and you don’t get lather, rinse and wash again. But if you wash your hair often, the exact opposite is true— you may only need to wash your hair once before conditioning. I was shocked to know that kind of information is not common knowledge. But I guess after doing hair for six years, everything seems common knowledge to me.

If your hair tends to be oily, a good first wash shampoo would be a tea tree shampoo to remove excess oils that cause excess dirt. Otherwise, Nioxin shampoo’s and conditioners are great for a healthy clean scalp. The Nixon brand has so many products that promote hair growth coming from the concept of clean scalp and hair. I love the Nixon Scalp Renewal. It’s a microdermabrasion (exfoliation) for the scalp. Think of your scalp as an extension of your face and skin. Just as you would give yourself a facial, you need to give your scalp the same love and attention.

So, if you hear someone telling you that you need to “oil your scalp” with Dax grease or that leaving your hair alone or letting it stay dirty will cause it to grow…tell him or her the truth.  If you follow my advice I guarantee that you’ll be able to see the difference in your hair!

Products are everywhere! Which ones work best for you? With all those products on the shelves, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and leave the store spending more than you wanted. And you might not be sure that the products you chose are going to work right for you. Experimenting is inevitabe (and necessary) to find the best ones. Well, I’ve tried quite a number of products and wanted to share with you some of my faves for different hair types at a variety of prices.

For Breakage: You need a good reconstructive and protein building shampoo and daily conditioner. Here are a few:

• Tigi Bed Head Dumb Blonde system
• Paul Lebrecque Repair Shampoo and Condiditon
• Kerastase Bain De Force Shampoo, Ciment Anti-usure and Forcintense Treatment Conditioners

Salons offer various proten treamtents that be customized to your specific concern. Some proteins are stronger than others they are NOT all the same.

For Dry Scalp or Psoriasis: Washing your hair weekly is best for you. Try the following products:

• Nizoral Shampoo weekly
• Use Kiehl’s Silk Groom Serum on the scalp
• Nioxin Scalp Renewal Treatment every 4-5 weeks

For Relaxed Hair: Remember it is important to change your shampoo every three months to avoid your hair building up a sort of immunity to the product. A few weekly or daily shampoos include:

• Kiehl’s Olive Fruit Oil Shampoo and Conditioner
• Alterna Hemp Organics Repair Treatment Shampoo and Conditioner
• Nioxin Cleanser and Conditioner #7
• If your hair is very dry, try Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner

For Color-Treated Hair try:

• Alterna Hemp Organics Color Hold Repair Shampoo and Repair Treatment Conditioner
• Goldwell Kerasilk Treatment Shampoo and Conditioner

For Natural or Curl Hair check out:

• Mixed Chicks Shampoo and Deep Conditioner with the Leave-in
• Kiehl’s Silk Groom for moisture during the day

Good Leave-in Conditioners and Heat Protective Products:

• Bed Head’s Ego Boost
• Lanza Strait-Line Thermal Defense
• Kiehl’s Silk Groom

The Best Finishing Products:

• For Shine: Mixed Chicks Hair Silk is by far the longest lasting shine I’ve ever experienced. It’s flying off my shelf.
• For Hold: Paul LeBrecque’s Straight Finish and Bed Head’s Hard Head
• For Flyaways, Separation or a Sleek Ponytail, Updo or Bun: Bed Head’s Manipulator

Give some of these products a try and let me know how they work out for you.

From Fashion Week to the financial meltdown, this fall has been full of highs and lows. When the economy takes a downturn, style trend seem to reflect that. Everyone is scrambling to stay cute and save their pennies. We are recycling our wardrobes and trying to add a few new things that change our look by accessorizing and adding a piece here and there.

As with fashion, hairstyles are also affected by the economy. Hair stylists and trendseeters are taking their inspiration from different eras including the 60s (Think Ashanti), 70s and 80s. As we continue the season, we will be seeing less of really long hair (think Brandy) and less of shorter hair styles (think Rihanna). And those in the middle (think bobs) should consider growing their hair to a mid-length between the chin and shoulder. The hottest look with be no more than 3-4 inches below the shoulder with a deep side part or one right in the middle with soft layers and a textured waves look that works well on most face shapes. Alesha Renee, Ciara and Beyonce are all wearing this look.

This new hair trends gives you a way to update your wardrobe by dressing up your hair. It also offers versatility since you can the part. It will also allow you to do more glamorous looks of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Its been a while. But I’m back and excited about the topic this week.

My cousin came over this past weekend and she’s growing out a short, short cut. She wants to continue to grow it long, but in the process she needed suggestions for maintenance and versatility. We are going to explore a technique that can incorporate both maintenance and versatility and still give you a finish you’ve been waiting for. So, the topic this week… “What can I do with my hair?”

I cater to the woman on the move. So the first issue I hear from a new client during a consultation is always maintenance. They want to know how to care for their hair at night or how style it differently so they can do less in the morning.

I currently offer an “At-Home-Training” session for my clients where I teach a group or an individual at home daily maintenance and styling quick fixes. I am going to give you some of that same information right here and now.

Whether short, medium or long lengths you should never over do your hair with heat. Using heat everyday….is over doing it. Part of daily maintenance is to keep your hair healthy. Using too much heat can lead to damaged hair. You want to achieve optimum hair health and learn to maintain it. Most people use heat daily because of what happens to their hair at night.

Tip #1 comes from my first post “To Cut or Not to Cut” . In ““ In the post I suggest using a satin or silk pillowcase at night. Satin and silk materials are woven tightly and don’t soak up your natural oils and can leave your hair in perfect condition in the morning, not all dried up. Cotton pillowcases not only suck your natural oils and moisture, but the loose woven material can also grab your hair and can cause breakage.

Wrapping is a popular technique in the community. I personally don’t like “wrapping” hair at night because I feel the hair lays toooooo flat and if your hair tends to be on the oily side, your hair can possibly can get too oily. I enjoy hair that is light in weight and allows for every strand to move separately.

Investing in a great hair cut can be considered Tip#2. With a great cut, little maintenance is needed. The days of having to force your hair into style with heat can disappear. (If you read my post “Dream Cut”, a great cut can take you a long way.)

The first two tips involved easy sleek maintenance. Lets throw some versatility into the mix for the third tip.

If you are a texture girl, or want to something new, Tip #3 is for you. Try a “carefree tousle”. If you have long hair, try pulling your hair into a ponytail at night and twist your hair until it in turns into a bun and secure with bobby pins. In the morning, take out the ponytail and let your waves flow. Hint: the tighter the twist, the smaller the curl. You can also try pulling your ponytail in different height positions to create texture at different levels creating different looks. If your hair is medium length, this can work for you to. Instead of the one ponytail, you can create multiple ponytails or twists.

Another technique for medium to short hair lengths would be to pin curl your hair at night and enjoy the texture in the morning. Keeping in mind that the smaller the pin curls, the tighter the curl in the morning. You can choose to pin curl your hair to the base creating a full curl or just the bottom for tuck or flip. In keeping with texture, if you’re a morning girl, try heat rollers when you get up and let them work for you while you dress.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

I love color! Unfortunately my hair doesn’t. Well technically, I know it used to hate color when I relaxed it, but I haven’t tried color since I’ve become 100% texturized and I’m looking forward to it.

My hair has always been fine. When I was in college my hair stylist suggested color to bulk it up by opening the hair shaft and depositing color. I didn’t quite understand then what he meant, but I went for it.

Well…I get the concept now, but unfortunately when I was in college I didn’t know what I know now and apparently he didn’t either. My hair was relaxed and fine and we colored my hair a really light brown. I found out the hard way that relaxed fine hair can’t handle a “light” brown…Now I know you can’t do an over all “light” shade using high volumes of peroxide if your hair is fine and relaxed. Needless to say my hair started falling out. We nursed my hair back to health with weekly protein treatments and a cut! Lol.

I want you to learn from my mistake. If you’re thinking about color there are a few things to consider:

• First and foremost…your commitment. Is it real? Will you keep up with it?
• Is your hair natural or chemically treated? Are you a hair color virgin?
• What colors best suit your complexion?

Let’s explore some answers these questions.

1. Color is commitment.Decide your level of commitment; temporary, semi-permanent, permanent.The same level of commitment you have is the same level of color you want.

2. Have fun with your color! If you are a natural, no chemicals….Your hair can generally do almost…I said almost anything. If your hair is fine, tread lightly. Start off with medium based tones and some highlights.

As I mentioned earlier from my personally hair tragedy, the more chemically treated your hair is, the more color will further cause damage your hair. When I say further damage, I say it because if your hair is not virgin, it’s damaged. Opening your hair shaft for any chemical service is damaging to the hair shaft. This is why conditioning is so important to our hair. However, our hair can handle a certain level of damage as long as we treat the chemically serviced strands with protein treatments to strengthen what we damage.

If you have a texturizer and your hair is generally thick you can have fun too! Stay away for any type of all over blondes though. You may need to be careful. If your hair is thin and you have a texturizer, stay within the lines of medium to light browns or reds.

If you are relaxed, be careful.Your hair is already chemically processed and you will be adding another chemical thus making your hair “double processed”. If you have never colored your hair before and you have a relaxer, its even more important here for you to ask your colorist to give you a strand test to see how your hair responds. Get a strand test in a not so obvious place and test out the color.Wait two weeks and see how your hair responds. As a general rule of thumb, stay in your dark to medium tones.

You can add highlights if you wish, but make sure they are thin and not chucky, so if the hair breaks over time, you don’t lose chucks of hair. 

3. Now let’s talk tones.
The main idea of hair color is to compliment you skin color. Not match. Stay away from colors that match your skin. Try rich colors like chestnut, deep golden brown or mahogany with warm (red) skin tones.Choose caramel colored highlights. For cool skin (very light or yellowish) tones try honey, wheat or even taupe shades.

Any questions? As always, feel free to ask me.

Are you losing your hair and you don’t know why? Take a second and examine the hair that you see in the shower or in the comb/brush. There are generally two types of breakage: from the root and damaged hair. If it is from the root its internal.You can detect this type of breakage by white bulb at the end of the hair shaft. This can be caused by a variety of reasons: stress, change of eating habits, and change of medications including birth control.

Stress. If it is stress, try Yoga or some meditation routine. Take it easy. Life can’t be that serious. Or you shouldn’t make it.

Eating Habits. This type of hair loss is called Loose Anagen Syndrome. Let’s first understand that our hair is mostly made up of proteins. Thus, a primary necessity for healthy hair is adequate protein intake. Vitamin E and C or beta-carotene, specifically acts as anti-oxidants, protecting our hair to stand up to pollution, chemicals, cold, sun, stress and medication. A balanced diet is required for healthier hair. This should take precedence over our “diet” to lose weight.

What is a balanced diet? It should consist of “55% carbohydrates, especially those of slow assimilation (e.g. pasta, rice & potatoes)30% Lipids, half of which should be monosaurates like olive oil, a quarter should be polysaturates like groundnut oil and sunflower oil and another quarter of saturates like butter, cream, cheese, animal fat etc. 15% should come from proteins (found in cereals). Fruits and vegetables should represent in volume, half of your food intake.”

Medications. There are soooo many medications that have a side affect of hair loss. They include those you take for high blood pressure as well as birth control pills. Talk to your doctor about alternatives if you are losing an abundance of hair.

An additional solution may include taking a hair, skin and nail vitamin. Try Nixon’s Hair Skin and Nail. If your hair loss continues after taking the above advice in addition to the vitamins, contact a Trichologist.

REMEMBER: Our hair is what we eat!!!!

Have you ever gone into a salon and brought a picture with you? You wanted to look just like Halle Berry or Rhianna? Literally… You thought that with that haircut you would become them. Then you realize that once you have the cut, you look nothing like them. Well, there’s a lesson in all that. It all comes down to face shapes. The dream haircut, must be a haircut that makes your features appear balanced and slimmer.

In the world of beauty, there is a “perfect” face shape. It is oval and all roads lead there. In other words, whether your face is round, square, heart shaped or oblong, the perfect haircut will make your face look oval.

Here’s some quick tips for each face shape:

For Round Faces
If you have a round face, try a hairstyle that will make your face appear longer. Try a center part or angular bangs. Create the illusion if a longer face by adding long layers to bring the length downward, or create volume at the top of your head and bring the eye upward.

For Square Faces
If this is your face shape, the angles of your face are hard. Soften the hardness with soft waves. Go for longer hair to give your face length. Avoid sharp shapes and asymmetrical haircuts. You should also avoid chin length bobs; they will only emphasize the hard angles.

I know you saw the BET awards last week…WOW!!!!  It  was both good and bad, especially the hair.
 The BET awards are the place where all the black entertainers and wanna-be black entertainers strut their stuff with fabulous clothes, makeup and hair.  This year we saw a lot of quick hair changes.  Some cute and others all I can say is …WHY?

But lets put our focus on how we can apply the idea of quick changes to our hair from day to night by adding a few hair extensions or hair falls or a full-out wig.

Extension clips are a must have in your hair accessory aresenal.  You can take your hair from short lengths to long lengths in a matter of moments.  Clips are like have a full head of weave without the time and the braids.  Anyone can be taught how to put them in and out.

Hair Falls are for an even quicker change.  Take Keyisha Cole at the awards.  She walked the red carpet with a short and sassy cut and then during her performance she combed her hair back off her face and added a fall for length body and fullness.  Don’t know about her performance…but her hair looked great. 

A Full Wig helped Alicia make her quick hair changes after she wore her tresses half up and half down for the red carpet.  First of all, I wasn’t crazy about the red carpet look (I felt like my girl, looked less like a celeb than a sister going to a wedding)…but I  even less happy as the night went on.  Why? Her wig during her performance was just bad. We knew it was a wig…but it didn’t have to look like one.

So how can you make a wig work?
Tip #1: If you plan to wear a wig, braid your hair down if its too thick to wrap and put on a wig cap on to hold your hair down.
Tip #2: After you purchase a wig, take it to a professional hair stylist or a specialist in cutting wigs and have them thin out the wig and create a style..  The wig needs to be fitted to your individual features and thinned out so that the piece looks real.

Make sure you can switch your hair back.
After the Alicia hair change, an even bigger wow was her hair when she accepted her award.  Can you say “rats nest”?  I guess she wanted to go back to the red carpet look.  Unfortunately, her hair most likely sweated out under the wig during her performance and when she attempted to get the original style back, well…you saw it.  It didn’t work.  Maybe she should have put it in a bun.  Messy buns are still in and that would have worked with the dress. 

Within the last week and especially these last two days I’ve come across a serious issue within the community.  It’s a growing concern.  I want to save all of you weave wearers from the “loss of edges” due to improper care of edges, as well as improper weaves.

The picture above of Naomi Campbell is SAD!!!

As reported by a gossip site, “The model, who was charged last week for alleged assault on an airline, appeared to have a receeding (receding…Lol what do you expect from a gossip site) hairline as she left a London police station on May 29th. That has been happening for a while,” Ragnarsson said. “The hair stylist Sam McKnight said to me in the ’90s, ‘She’d better be careful with those weaves, she’s going to lose her hair’.”

There’s so much to say about this crisis.  Let’s start with just a simple instruction.  When you are wearing a weave, and you leave your edges out (the best way to make the weave look natural), PLEASE remember that your edges are not part of the weave and the weave is not part of your hair.  Thus….keep them separate when caring for your hair in the maintenance stage.  Separate your hair from the weave by brushing your edges away from the weave, toward your face softly and with little product to make your hair manageable IF necessary. A great brush is the Mason Pearson…. my favorite.  You will hear me talk about it again and again.  85% of my clients own a Mason Pearson.  Now comb, brush or style your extension hair. After you have finished styling, blend your hair back in with the extensions softly.  Rigorously brushing your edges into your extensions can and will cause breakage.

As far as the newer hair phenomenon….front lace wigs… they are Great if you don’t need your edges, Great for cancer patients, Great for hair loss, and Great for one-off events.  NOT GREAT for regular use.  NOT GREAT for growing your edges back. Ask Naomi, Tyra and soon, Beyonce.   

For those of you with straight or relaxed hair that tends to swell a wee bit because of the rain. My suggestion to you would be to pick up a bottle of Straight Hairspray from the Paul Labrecque Salon and Spa (www.paullabrecque.com). Use the spray prior to flat ironing each section to seal in the product and seal your hair shaft. This may be a day you want to add some texture to your hair. Try a wavy or curly style.

Always work with the weather and your hair texture. Try not to fight what your hair does during these rainy days. Enhance whatever the weather will do despite your resistance.