Hairdressing Tips
11 top Hairdressing Tips Only Your salon stylist Knows but does not want you to know!
Getting your hair colour right is not a science. It's really quite simple: Stick to hair colours that complement your skin tone, figure out if you are better off with all-over colour or highlights and then decide if you are going to pay a salon stylist to do it or do it yourself.
Here are 11 hairdressing tips and tricks your hairdresser knows, from how to avoid the wrong colour to exactly how to do it yourself.
Hairdressing Tips 1 - Pick the right shade of blonde.
Some women look good in any hair colour (remember Linda Evangelista?), but most women don't. Some rules of thumb for going blonde, according to Allure's Confessions of a Beauty Editor, which is my favorite beauty book of the moment:
Sallow skin with yellow undertones? Deep golds aren't for you.
Pink skin? Avoid strawberry shades.
Doing it yourself? It's best to go no more than a couple shades lighter than your current shade.
Hairdressing Tips 2 - The right way to go (or stay) brown.
Here are more Allure tips for going dark: If you're pale, careful with the super dark tones, you might look ghostly and older. (Eeek).
Just as with blonde, it's best to start out just a couple shades from your natural colour. In this case, avoid going more than a couple shades darker initially.
Hairdressing Tips 3 - To colour or to highlight?
We find women with short hair look better with full colour rather than highlights. If you have medium-length to long hair, highlights -- especially around the face -- can be very flattering. For the most natural-looking highlights, you can ask your stylist for up to five different shades of colour, according to 'Confessions.'
Keep in mind that due to root growth, all-over colouring will need to be touched up every four to eight weeks, while highlights can last up to two or three months.
Hairdressing Tips 4 - Different types of highlights.
There are basically four types of highlights: basic foil highlights, baliage or 'hair painting', chunking or 'piecing' and lowlighting.
Hairdressing Tips 5 - Doing it yourself?
Home-colour kits have come a long way in the past few years and are perfect for busy people and those who want cut the cost of professional colourings. (We know of a couple top fashion editors who colour their hair themselves!). Some great hair colouring kits include: L'Oreal Natural Match Hair colour, Clairol Nice and Easy
Hairdressing Tips 6 - colouring newbie?
Start with a semipermanent colour. Semipermanent colours wash out after a few washes, whereas permanent colours have to grow out. If you are new to colouring your hair, you might start with a semipermanent hue UNLESS you want to cover gray hair or go two or more shades lighter or darker. For more information on semipermanent vs. permanent colours see this article.
Hairdressing Tips 7 - How to tell if you'd make a great blonde.
A basic rule of thumb: People who had blonde hair as children have the right skin tone to be blonde adults.
Some home hair colouring tips: rub Vaseline around your hairline as a protective measure before applying colour. To remove after colouring, rub a small amount of cream cleanser and wipe off with cotton balls. Always wear gloves and wrap an old dark-coloured towel around your shoulders. Rinse your eyes with water if you get colour in your eyes. If you forgot the Vaseline and stained your skin, rub the area with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol-based toner.
Hairdressing Tips 8 - How to hide that gray.
Gray hair can be resilient to hair dye because of its coarse texture. If your hair is less than 15 percent gray, opt for a semi-permanent colour that's a shade lighter than your natural colour (or matches your colour). The gray will blend right in. If your hair is more gray, colourist Rita Hazan in the November 2004 issue of InStyle magazine, suggests a permanent 'ashy' colour, which will help your gray hair appear blonde. Permanent colours are really the only way to completely cover gray hair, according to InStyle's Getting Gorgeous.
Hairdressing Tips 9 - Don't like the colour?
Don't be afraid to go back to the salon and talk to your stylist. There are all sorts of ways to fix colour that's just not right. If you did it yourself with a semi-permanent colour, look for a shampoo with 'ammonium laurel sulfate' to wash away the colour faster, according to Getting Gorgeous.
Hairdressing Tips 10 - After care.
Once you invest money in a hair colour, you should protect your investment with the proper after-colour care. Refresh your colour by using a colour-enhancing shampoo and conditioner once a week. These products deposit miniscule amounts of colour into hair. Check out this list of the 8 best hair products for colour-treated hair.
Hairdressing Tips 11 - Root rescue.
You can expect your colour to last about 6 to eight weeks before your roots show. If your hair is coloured, you'll want to get your roots touched up or do them yourself with a kit you can buy at the store like Clairol Nice and Easy Root Touch Ups. Be sure and test the colour first before applying.
If you have highlights or lowlights, you can avoid having your whole head coloured by asking your stylist to do your hairline, crown and part. A word of warning: Foil highlights require precise application and fixing dark roots is nearly impossible. Ask about easier to maintain highlighting techniques.
