Be Frugal and Fabulous with your Hairstyles

Think looking like a million bucks should cost you that? Well, only if you need as much plastic surgery as Tori Spelling. For the rest of us we can cut some corners while cutting our hair and save some money for more important things—like a great pair of shoes to go with your new haircut.

Cheap Blowouts

If you like to regularly get your hair blown out, or just need it styled for a special event but don’t want to shell out a wad of cash for a blow out try looking for cosmetology schools in your area. The senior students attending hairdressing school are usually only a month or so away from graduation and will have the skills to give you a great style.

Get Your Hair Cut by Top Salons for Free

I came across this great idea from stylist Louis Lacari at his blog. He suggests checking with top end salons in your area for their class nights. These nights are dedicated to giving the assistant stylists the practice to hone their skills. All the cutting is overseen by the salon’s experienced stylists so you needn’t worry about getting a shabby cut.

This is an awesome idea if you’ve been dying to score a hot hair cut from a star stylist but can’t afford their price tag. Many salon assistants extend their training by a year or longer under the tutelage of a specific stylist so getting your hair cut by their assistant is the next best thing to the real thing.

Read Louis Lacari’s blog post here.

Do you employ any cost cutting measures when it comes to your hair’s upkeep? If so let us in on your frugal secrets in the comments section.

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How many times have you left your hair salon and were disappointed with your new hairstyle. It could be that your stylist didn’t do a good job or there could be another underlying problem—lack of communication.

Today I discuss via podcast how to effectively communicate with your stylist and ensure you get the new hairstyle you’re looking for. There are tips on what to say, how to say it—and even what to wear when saying it—what?? Yeah, listen and find out why what you wear could be affecting the new hairstyle you receive.

Listen to the Communicating with your Stylist podcast below and learn how to get the new hairstyle you want every time.

pod1-communication.mp3

It’s a law of nature—everyone who has straight hair wants curly hair and everyone with curly hair wishes it would turn poker straight. If you’ve got curly hair why not make peace with it by wearing one of those super easy to achieve curly hairstyles.

Beach-y Waves

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Long curly hair doesn’t have to be hard work. This summer let your hair have a beach holiday by faking beach-like waves. Create this sun and sand curly hairstyle by misting your hair with water that has sea salt dissolved in it. Mist all your hair until damp and scrunch curls into place. Whenever possible let your hair air dry for the best effect but when you’re in a time crunch slap a diffuser on the end of your blow drier and scrunch curls until barely damp.

Reshape Those Curls

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Just because Mother Nature gave you natural spiral curls doesn’t mean you have to keep them that size. Reshaping your curls via Velcro or hot rollers is an easy way to create a more relaxed curly hairstyle. Apply a smoothing balm to damp hair and wrap in medium sized rollers that will reshape the curl but not try to straighten it out entirely (more chances of frizz then). Let your hair air dry or speed up the process by blow drying rollers. Once the hair is set carefully remove the rollers and finger comb your new, sexy curls into place. This type of curly hairstyle is a great option for evenings out when you want a more glam look.

Go Topless

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Going with the minimum amount of clothing ensures that even if you’re hair looks like crap, no one will care. Oh, I’m just kidding!!! Despite the fact this woman appears to be performing a sequel to 9 ½ weeks all by herself, her short and sassy curly hairstyle is a fab one. Use a curl boosting spray and gently scrunch and mold curls into place with your fingers while blow drying with a diffuser. When the hair is just dry coat the palms of your hands with a small amount of hair wax. Scrunch your curls once again to lightly coat them and remove any frizz. Resist the urge to use hairspray—sticky curls are SO out of date.

Many times the right products can make or break curly hairstyles. Do you have a favorite hair product you use to tame your curly hair? If so share it in the comments section.

Who says short hair can’t be sexy? No one here, that’s for sure. For those that dare to wear short hairstyles we salute you and give you three of the trendiest short hairstyles right now.

Rhianna’s Dicey Crop

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Good God in heaven but this short hairstyle rocks. The front layers of this hairstyle are made super long and wispy via some serious razor cutting. The bangs are made deliberately uneven in length to ensure a choppy look. As the style travels back to the crown it shrinks in length until there’s just enough for some spiky volume right where you need it. As contrast the back of Rhianna’s short hairstyle is tapered down to brush cut proportions—which totally works here. The result is a confident and sexy short haircut with multiple styling possibilities.

Katie Bends the Bob

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Honestly I can’t think of a creepier couple than Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes—and I stand by the theory that the real Katie is stuffed in a closet while her Stepford Wife-like double provides arm candy for Tom. That being said you have to give Katie’s clone credit for a serious style makeover.

Katie’s latest incarnation has taken her sleek bob and transformed into a work of hair art. This short hairstyle breaks all the rules of your typical layered bob by adding loads of direction and volume. Use a volumizing mousse to create lots of lift at the roots—make those layers work for it, baby! Next use a large barreled curling iron to “flip” back the sides. The trick is to let that big ‘ol curl sit there as is. Think Farrah Fawcett flip. The icing on the cake are those choppy bangs which frame Katie’s beautiful, if not slightly glazed over, eyes.

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Emilie’s Romantic Waves

Emilie may be “Lost” on a deserted island but she’s sure found a kick-ass hairstyle. The hottest look for long hair right now is a very natural and romantic wave for evening. Here a short haircut can get in on this trend by mimicking those luscious waves on a smaller scale. If you have natural wave in your hair use a curl enhancer and scrunch waves into place with a diffuser.

For those with naturally straight hair fake it by spiraling one inch sections around two sizes of curling iron—medium and large. By alternating between the two sizes you create a more natural looking curl that won’t appear so “done”.

In the end the trick to wearing a short hairstyle is in a really good cut. If you don’t have that as a foundation no amount of styling will create a diva-worthy style. Have you ever had a short haircut go bad? Confess your short hair disaster in the comments.

Is your hair color flattering or faltering? Finding the right hair color for you doesn’t have to be rocket science but there are rules to the game. Today we’re going to play “pick that color” and find the one that’s right for you.

Show Us Some Skin

No! Put your clothes back on! Looking at your face will do nicely, thank you. :). And exactly what are we looking for? We’re looking to determine your skin tone. This is done by seeing which underlying pigment is present in your skin. Most people fall into four main categories—pink undertones, yellow undertones, olive undertones and brown undertones. So let’s see how you decide which one you are:

Pink skin tones: Mirror, mirror on the wall you’re the fairest of them all. In plain language this means you will have very pale skin and often have a pink-y tinge to it. Chances are you’re a redhead or very pale blonde and your skin burns faster in the sun than bacon on a hot griddle.

Yellow skin tones: This is most Caucasian skin tones but can also be those of Asian decent or people of a mixed race background that includes Caucasian. You most likely have dark blonde to medium brown hair if Caucasian and a have faint beige or yellow tint to your skin.

Olive skin tones: You most likely have olive skin tones if you are of Mediterranean or Latino decent or a fair skinned African American. You’ll have naturally dark brown to black hair.

Brown skin tones: This last skin tone is reserved for those of African American decent, Indian decent or Middle Eastern decent.

OK, that’s an awful lot of talk about skin in order to choose a color for your hair, isn’t it? It may seem unrelated but if you’ve ever seen someone with colored hair and their face and hair looked horrible—like they didn’t “match” it’s because they didn’t pay attention to their skin tone. Now you don’t want to go around with a mismatched face and hair do you? We thought not. All right…next step is choosing the color group.

Hair color, like skin tones comes in groups but thankfully this time we’re only dealing with two main ones. Those two color groups are the cools and the warms. These colors are determined by their underlying pigment, just like your skin tone was. Cool hair colors will have a blue/violet base to them such as burgundy reds, eggplant, ash blondes or ash browns. Warm hair colors are rich coppers, auburns and golden blones/browns for example and these will have yellow undertones. So let’s now pair up your skin tone with the color group that suits you best.

Cool hair colors: You’ll look best in cool hair colors if you have olive or pink toned skin. As a test you are likely a person who looks good in the colors purple, pink and blue and prefer silver jewelry over gold.

Warm hair colors: Warm hair colors are your thing if you have yellow or brown skin tones. As a test you are likely a warm hair color person if you look good in the colors brown, burnt orange and khaki green and prefer gold to silver jewelry.

All right! By now you should know your skin tone and whether or not you should be aiming for cool or warm hair colors. As the final step below is a list of common hair colors in both categories to help you choose the right shade. If you’re coloring your own hair and finding the right hair color for you from a box pay close attention to the names of the colors and look for words like ash (cool), golden (warm) violet (cool) and copper (warm). When in doubt look for hair colors with the word “neutral” in the name as they won’t have a lot of blue or yellow undertones and should suit any skin tones.

Warning: Don’t confuse the words “neutral” with “natural”. “Natural is usually indicative of a cool shade of hair color.

Cool Hair Colors to Choose From:

• Any shade of ash blonde
• Any shade of ash browns
• Any shades of brown with the words “cool” or “natural” in them
• Burgundy or eggplant reds
• Blue black

Warm Hair Colors to Choose From:

• Any shade of golden blonde
• Any shade of golden brown
• Most reds except the burgundy/eggplant or violet ones. Look for words like “golden red” “copper red” “auburn red” “spice” and most “intense” reds are all right as well.
• Natural black

As a final piece of advice, if you’ve never colored your hair before we recommend sticking with hair colors that are within 2 to three shades darker or lighter than your natural hair color. Your roots won’t show as quickly and you’ll be less likely to look washed out from too dark a hair color. When in doubt about finding the right hair color choose a shade you want and color your hair with a semi-permanent version of that color. This way you’ll know if the color suits you but if you get it wrong it will wash out within three to four weeks.

Phew! That was a long one! If you have any questions about finding the right hair color (and who could blame you?) please ask them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.

For the longest time anyone with long hair wore it one length like an ode to the seventies. Well, that fad has gone the way of the tie-dyed shirt and now layers are making a comeback big time.

Today’s hairstyles are all about movement and styling options. Long, one length hair is just so…boring! Layered hair cuts allow you to create volume, play with different directions and combine lengths to create hair styles that are interesting to the eye.

Even Short Hair Needs Layers

Layers are popping up in practically every hair style today. Even the once rigid bob hairstyle with its blunt lines is getting a makeover into a softer style thanks to layering at the ends. This creates a tapered look at the ends that better frames the face and allows for playful flips if you’re so inclined.

On the Razor’s Edge

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Want the ultimate in layered hair cuts? The short to medium length hair cut that is layered with a straight razor is the cut for those who want to make a statement. Think styles like Lisa Rinna’s with their wispy and flippy layers that manage to look tousled yet put together all at the same time. These styles are especially fun because when you incorporate different panels of hair color into these layers the effects can range from subtly enhances to surprisingly bold.

Long on Style

If you wear your hair long you definitely need a layered hair cut. Having layers cut into the last three to four inches of your hair adds shape and lift to your style. What’s hot right now is to concentrate the layering around the face. Whether you wear your hair all down, half up or all up face framing layers are what’s in style for accentuating and softening your style.

What to do with that Long Layered Hair Cut

I found a really cool video over at Stylebell blog that shows you how to create beachy waves in your long layered hair. This style is so hot for summer as it mimics that “just came from the beach” casual look without getting sand in your shoes. See it here and then let me know your thoughts on the video.

When many people think of the term “coloring their hair” they automatically think of permanent hair color and the upkeep it requires. Now I understand that some of your might not be into coloring your hair every four to six weeks to avoid roots but that’s where temporary hair color comes in. With these easy to use and commitment free hair colors I’m going to show you why there’s no excuse not to be using them and the benefits of playing with temporary hair color.

It Looks Great

Let’s face it—colored hair, if done properly, just looks good. It adds shine, depth and vibrancy to Mother Nature’s otherwise blah shades of hair. No matter what your natural hair color is you can make it better with the addition of some faux color enhancement.

Want to be bold?

Bright reds, deep mahoganies or black cherries are hot right now. Make a style statement by choosing a notice me color and showing it off. A bright or bold color and elevate even a simple hair cut to diva status and create an impact and the best part of temporary hair color is it fades away and you can either refresh it or pick a totally new color the next time. This is perfect for those commitment-phoebes who hate to stick with one thing for very long.

Keep it Subtle

Using temporary hair color doesn’t mean you have to stray very far from your natural hair color. Choosing a shade close to your own can simply add depth or undertones to your natural hair color that weren’t there before. For example, if you’ve got the dreaded “mousy brown” hair color but don’t want the upkeep of blonde highlights to enhance it, go the other way and choose a temporary hair color that is one or two shades darker than your own. A light golden brown will play off the gold that’s already present and enhances it. Want more of an impact? Try a chocolate brown for added depth. This is great contrast against lighter skin tones and blue eyes that many people with naturally mousy brown hair have.

It Benefits Your Hair

Now here’s where you’re probably thinking I’m full of bull, but using temporary hair color is actually beneficial to the overall health of your hair. Unlike permanent hair colors, temporary colors contain no ammonia or peroxide that can damage the hair. Instead they simply coat the hair shaft with a darker color (you must go darker—temporary colors can’t lighten) and reflects the new shade. It is this coating affect that makes temporary hair color worth its salt.

Acts as a Barrier

The coating of color helps protect your hair against styling damage caused by blow dryers, curling iron and flat irons. Repeated exposure to heat can dry out the hair but temporary hair color helps coat and seal the hair’s cuticle, keeping moisture in and damaging elements out.

It Plumps the Hair

Those with fine, limp hair take note—temporary hair color makes your hair thicker and easier to style. The coating the temporary hair color provides essentially fattens each strand making it thicker and fuller. This coating also gives baby fine hair some “grip” which means you can style it easier and the style will stay longer. Even if you hate hair color those with fine hair that won’t behave should find a perfect match to their natural hair color and use it monthly to plump and protect that fine hair.

Well, there you have it. Surprising but true reasons why you should be using temporary hair color on your hair. Do you use temporary hair color? If not what’s holding you back? Give me your best excuse for not using temporary hair color and let me see if I can change your mind.

These day’s everyone is going natural. We want organic food, eco-friendly cleansers and beauty products with a conscious. But when your personal style is on the line are those all natural hair products really good enough? Today we examine various all natural hair products to see if they’ve got what it takes.

Natural Shampoos and Conditioners

One of the biggest differences you may notice when using a natural shampoo is the lack of suds it produces. This is because a truly natural shampoo should not contain the chemical detergents that cause the sudsing action in regular shampoos. This doesn’t mean they don’t work—for the most part they clean your hair every bit as well as regular shampoos. It just means you won’t get that big lather you’re used to.

One to try: Lush’s solid shampoo in “Ultimate Shine”

Exotic floral inspiration to make dull hair shiny
A lovely white shampoo bar with gold sparkly bits (not loads, just enough to leave a couple of sparkles in your hair), Ultimate helps hair shine by using spicy elemi and ylang ylang oils to balance your scalp’s oil production. Deliciously sweet violet leaf oil is said to relieve anger and anxiety so you can shine socially too. Now proudly SLS-free.

Most natural conditioners will work for normal to thick hair but their natural oils might be too much for very fine hair.

Hair Spray

Because aerosols cans are a no-no on many levels for the environment all natural hair sprays come in the liquid, pump bottle variety. This is ok for quick mists but if you use your hairspray as a styling tool and rely on the dryer aerosols for styling this natural hair product probably won’t pass the test.

Styling Gels

From the reviews I’ve read on various types of natural hair gels it seems this one is a winner. Most people say natural hair gels work just as well as the synthetic-filled drug store variety. So you can look good with a clean conscious—yeah!

Hair Coloring

The only all natural hair coloring out there is called hennas. I know these have improved a lot from the hennas of old but it’s still a bit like playing Russian roulette with your hair. Henna’s results are not always predictable and if you decide to color over them with a store bought or professional hair color the results can be disastrous. I remember when I was hairstyling a friend of mine, also a stylist, colored a client’s hair who had used henna previously and her hair turned a weird teal color—yikes. So if you need to color your hair and choose natural henna do a strand test beforehand and proceed with extreme caution.

We all like to use natural when we can and do our part for the environment but it sometimes means we have to give up the versatility and ease of those synthetic products. So if you have a hankering to go natural I say go for it but, for the most part, don’t expect them to behave like their chemically filled counterparts.

Tell us what you think—would you sacrifice your awesome but non-natural hair care products for the eco-friendly kind? Let us in on your views of natural hair care products.

Tired of the same old men’s hairstyles? Well so are we! We know this blog is “her” hairstyles blog but we got so sick of the lack of great men’s hairstyles on blogs we decided to stage a revolt against the boring (we really hate the boring). So we’re bringing you three hot hairstyles to try next time you (or your man) visit the stylist.

The Buzz is…

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OK, so maybe your job demands that you must wear your hair short. That shouldn’t mean you can’t add a little style to it. For those with little options try a hairstyle such as Matt Damon’s. Instead of opting for the standard tapered men’s hairstyle go shorter on the sides and back to add some contrast to the length on top. Have your stylist cut your top layers with a straight razor to give them a little bit of a ragged look (unless your hair is thinning—then skip this step). Now style by applying pomade to the top layers and separating them with your fingers. The result is still business class but with a punch.

Just a little bit longer

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This fresher take on the traditional short men’s hairstyle uses just a little added length to create a great new look. The majority of the length is focused in the front via a choppy bang which is pushed to the side when styling. The hair on the sides is grown to halfway down the ear and the back is left at collar length. To style simply ruffle hair with your hands while blow drying most of the moisture out of the hair. When the hair is only slightly damp distribute a small amount of styling wax to the palms of your hands and work through the hair. Style with your fingers to create a groomed look that’s not too straight laced.

Mid-Length, Yet Manly

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If you dare to go a little bit longer yet this men’s hairstyle is a perfect mix of casual and sexy. Longer layers are cut all over the head creating a very laid back style. The sides are left below the ear and the back is grown to past the collar. Styling can be as easy as applying some gel to damp hair and finger styling or blow drying and finishing up with styling wax—it all depends on how “styled” you want your hair to look. While this men’s hair style probably won’t suit the boardroom it is a great option for those whose jobs don’t require such a clean cut look.

Now there’s no excuse not to live a little and alter that hair cut you’ve had since skinny leather neck ties were in style. If you have any questions about choosing a men’s hair style for you please leave a question in the comments section and we’ll be happy to try and answer it.

As a quick note I’m a firm believer that all hairstyles, even men’s hairstyles, benefit from a little product placement—meaning some styling products in your hair. If you’re unsure how to apply a styling product in your hair properly here’s a Youtube video that does a great job of explaining it. In the video she’s using gel on a man with longer hair but the principles of application work the same for just about any hair product on any length of hair (except you won’t have to flip your head with really short hair)

When I was searching for examples of men’s hairstyles to show you today I came across some pretty ridiculous ones. Let’s have a good laugh—find and link to the most hideous men’s hairstyle you can find and we’ll post the top three winners.

Been down a hair care aisle lately? Frightening, isn’t it? The endless combinations of shampoos, conditioners, gels, mousses and waxes to choose from are enough to boggle the mind. Today we’re going to tell you what products do what and teach you when to reach for pomade and when to leave it on the shelf.

Mousse: Mousse is a foaming styling product whose sole purpose is to add body and control to your hair. You should be using mousse as a hair care product if you have fine or limp hair and want it to appear thicker or your hair style requires a lot of volume.

Curling Mousse: Provides volume and defines curl that is already there in your hair. This won’t create curls that aren’t there so those with straight hair need not apply.

Gel: This hair care product is short hair’s best friend. Gel works best for giving styling control to men’s hair styles or ladies styles that require a lot of hold. It also works wonders for those who have a little natural curl in their hair who want to scrunch style more curls into their hair.

Spray Gel: This is the perfect gel option for those with super fine hair that need hold in their hair care products. This product will give you all the hold you need but won’t weigh your fine hair down like heavy gels will. Also works for scrunching curls.

Styling Wax: This soft holding, pliable concoction is perfect as an alternative to gel for those who like the “wet” look but hate crunchy hair (which really should be all of us!). Hair wax is probably the single best styling product out there as it adds definition to all hairstyles, combats “frizzies” and creates sleek looks in seconds. Personally I think every man, woman and child should own a jar of this hair care product.

Pomade: Pomade is very similar to styling wax but with more hold. Use this if you want a wet look on naturally curly hair or if you want to define the layers in coarse hair.

Curl Enhancer: This product does just what it says—it enhances the curl or natural wave you already have. This is a good hair care product to use alone or in combination with a spray gel for scrunching in curls. What this product does not do is create curls in straight hair.

Anti-Frizz serum: This silicone based product coats the hair shaft and fights frizz like a super hero. If you have naturally curly hair you should always mix this in with a little bit of your favorite styling product to banish frizzies for good.

Hair Glue: Who knew it would come to this? For those who literally need to glue their hair in place this is the hair care product for you. Use this for extreme spikes, Mohawks and faux hawks.

Thermal Protector: This product creates an invisible barrier that protects your hair from damage due to heated styling tools. If you style your hair with blow driers, curling irons, flat irons (especially) or a combinations of these every day you need this.

Smoothing Cream: This creamy hair care product helps smooth out wavy or curly hair. If you’re going from curly to straight use this to help iron out most of the kinks during the blow drying phase. Follow up with a flat iron for the ultimate in smooth hair. If you’re planning on keeping curl in your hair don’t use this.

Root Boost: This very specialized product is designed to give lift and body just at the roots of your hair. This creates volume in your hair but leaves the rest sleeker. This is good for those who are prone to creating bubble-like styles with their hair or those with fine hair who need volume with soft hold.

Hair Thickener: This product makes hair feel thicker and is one of those hair care products most people should pass up on. Unless you have baby fine hair this product will probably just end up making your hair feel like someone stuck liquid gum in it.

Shine Spray: This liquid silicon product is meant to be used last on a hair style and gives a glimmering sheen to your hair. This is the perfect finish for updos or hair that has been straightened with flat irons.

There you have it—the most popular hair care products defined. Are there any others you’d like to know about? If I missed one (and lord knows I probably did) leave a comment and I’ll fill you in.

In the spirit of this blog post here’s today’s question—if you could only use one hair care product (excluding shampoo and conditioner. We’ll be nice and give you those for free) what would it be?