Nearly ALL good salons will start your service with a consultation. If not I would either try somewhere else or if you are already there, insist on talking to your stylist first. The consultation is one of the most important part of the service especially when you are new to the salon.
This should be done while the hair is dry, which enables the stylist to see what the texture is like, how the client normally likes to wears her hair and also to check for other conditions such as swirls, cowlicks or even head lice (which we will talk about it another post)
During this 5 – 10 consultation (it should not take longer than 10mins because you want to give the stylist as much time as possible to spend on the actual haircut part) You should make the most of this time to get your point across as well as come to an agreement with your stylist on a hairstyle/color. Here are some points to remember to make the most of your time:
1. Your stylist is not a psychic, if this is your first time seeing this stylist do not hold any information back when they are asking you questions.
2. Even if you want them to give you suggestions, becos it is your first time, you must give clues to your lifestyles and desires.
3. Tell them how much time you are willing to put into your hair and whether you are high/low maintenance with it.
4. If you use words like short, funky, trendy, hip or words similar, please define them more clearly, everyone’s idea of these words vary so much. A young hipsters idea of funky may not be the same as yours!
5. If its your first time with someone, it is not a good idea to go in saying ‘Do what you like’ unless you REALLY don’t care!!
6. Do some homework before you go and have at least some idea of what you like and dislike.
7. Do take pictures with you as guide, (even though some stylists don’t like this, personally I think it saves time) this will help eliminate any differences in thoughts, but please be realistic and only use them as a guide to a specific shape and not expect your hair to be exactly the same as the picture, as all hair is different in textures and thicknesses as well as face shapes too.
8. When the stylist asks you questions, please answer truthfully, i.e. if you have had old color or any other product on your hair, please say so, as this can ultimately affect the end result if the stylist is kept in the dark about it.
9. Your stylist should be up front and honest with you as to what is possible or suitable and what is not.. be open to advice.
10. Try not to repeatedly praise your old hairstylist, (no matter how much you loved them)as this will make your new stylist feel that they cannot please you even before they have even tried.
11. Finally – remember that your stylist can only work with what is in front of them – meaning they cannot weave a silk rung from straw!!
My Pick ~ Bowl
New Model Tao Okamoto is the latest ‘It’ model and has the newest ‘It’ hairstyle – ‘the bowl’ so of course I had to have it as one of my picks!!
She is designer Phillip Lim’s muse and he was so taken by her look that for his Fall 2009 show he made all his models wear ‘bowl’ wigs.
Personally I don’t there is enough of these strong short looks on women therefore I think it fantastic that this ‘bowl’ look is in and looking fab and sexy, proving women can have short hair and be sexy at the same time – Not a look for everyone tho’!
Technorati Tags: Bowl haircut,Japanese model
Cool Mops Of The Week
Thanks to all 5 girls who helped me put this slide together by posing so nicely for me, couldnt do it without you all. Special thanks to Joni too.
Strange choice of hair models..
I always thought computer generated hair images (which I will discuss further in a different blog) were bad enough but someone took it a step further and had these dolls model hairstyles in a Japanese magazine:
Dekko’s Daily Grind- Haydee
Sharing some more salon work with you…
Haydee came into the salon and her hair was way overgrown. Her hair is thick and heavy but had some movement to it. Her complaint was that it always seemed too heavy and the front piece was always hanging over her face.
We decided to razor the the hair throughout and we took of the front piece so it didn’t hang in her eyes constantly. We also shortened the whole haircut so it looked abit fresher and perkier.
Thanks Haydee for posing for us.
Thinning Scissors…
Thinning scissors are widely used on Asian hair around the world. As seen above they can vary on how much hair (weight) is taken out, depending on the spaces on the blade. One side has the teeth at varying widths while the other is a normal blade. The result of these scissors would look similar to this with varying widths:
Personally I don’t like to use thinning scissors for a few different reasons:
1. It gives such a uniformal look (above) that it becomes TOO thinned out.
2. You have no control over how much hair is taken out (unlike using razors or scissors) therefore in areas that are already thin, it becomes flat and flyaway.
3. Hair becomes too lifeless as too much of the body is taken away not leaving enough fullness and lift in the hair.
4. Although I do think they are good for use with cutting dog hair : )
Tribute to Keanu’s Hairstyles……
Keanu Reeves… an actor with so many looks that I had to do my own little tribute to him. Half Hawaiian Chinese, he tends to make the most of his thick hair, trying out different looks for his different movie roles and always ending up looking fabulous, Good on you Keanu!! We love you!
My Pick of the Week ~ Fringey!
This is my pick of the week cos I love the sharpness of the fringe in contrast with the messy long hair. It instantly updates long hair, Nice look!
Bob – Hip or Mumsy?
What makes a Bob look hip and cool and what makes it look mumsy?
This one has always been a tough one for me, the number of times a client comes in asking for a Katie Holmes or a Nicole Ritchie and expect to look like them is beyond me. Women want bobs but most don’t want to look mumsy,(or like a soccer mum) so what can be done about it?
After alot of thought, I have come to the conclusion that if the client really wants to try it anyway, it really depends on a couple of factors and afew are dependant on whether the clients understands she needs to make some effort:
1. Whether the haircut has been done in a flattering but funky way,i.e., to suit the face shape with good angles, and whether its been cut to give movement throughout the ends.This does not necessarily mean lots of choppy layers either. Helps big time if your hairstylist understands the difference too.
2. Whether the clients facial features can carry it off without making them too old and stuffy, which bobs can tend to do. This is a tricky area but if a client tends to look abit older then the bob WILL look a little mumsier. Make up will help… as seen on Katie Holmes when she debuted her bob with the dark smokey eyes.
3. How the client dresses can affect the way the bob is perceived. If they are running going around in sweats all the time, then yes, the bobs going to look mumsier.
4. And lastly, how it is dried and worn, If the bob is stiff with no movement then that’s how it will come across,whereas funkier layers and movement can be accentuated with products or a flat iron.
We’ve all seen bobs we’ve liked and ones we don’t like ,so I pulled afew examples of ones that I feel would show the differences in what I am trying to say, hopefully this will give you all an idea to see for yourselves.
From the above pictures you can see even without me pointing out, that one of the things missing in the 2nd row is movement, all the hair is stiff (with or without layers), whereas the top row has movement, fun and even with a one length bob, it can look hipper!
Hey but with all that said, its only hair and it grows back if you don’t like it, so if you haven’t had short hair and want to try it, go ahead.. Eva Longoria did!
You tell me what row you would put her in?
