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ALOPECIA….

Throughout my career I have come across many cases of Alopecia (bald patches) in varying degrees of severity. My job is to work around the hair and give a haircut that can cover the areas as best as I can (if the cases are not TOO severe) Because this condition can affect both sexes (although most common in late teenage years, early childhood, young adulthood) it can happen with people of all ages so I wanted to write about the basics of Alopecia so people can understand and be made aware of it. We as hairstylists mostly come across Numbers 2 and 3 types (see below).

ALOPECIA AREATA
What is it?
It is a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body, usually the scalp. It can cause anywhere from one or two bald patches (which is most common) to can spread to the entire scalp and epidermis. Alopecia is NOT contagious. What types are there?
1. Diffuse Alopecia Areata – Hair lost more diffusely over the whole scalp
2. Alopecia Areata Monolocuris – One spot of baldness
3. Alopecia Areata Multilocularis – mutiple areas of hair loss
4. Alopecia Areata Totalis – Loss of all hair on the scalp
5. Alopecia Areata Universalis – Loss of all body hair
6. Alopecia Areata Barbae – limited only to the beard

What does it look like?
Here are show some different stages of Alopecia as mentioned above:

What causes it?
Some of the strong suggestions lead us to believe that the factors that cause it are:
Hereditary – Families with 1 or 2 affected family members or members with Autoimmune Disorder (in which the body attacks is own hair follicles) Emotional Stress, or an infectious agent/germ can trigger off the condition.


What can be done about it?
With cases where there are small patches involved, Steroid Injections are used in the sites. Other medications (ointments and topical cream) can also be used in different combinations. In 90% of cases, the hair will ultimately grow back. In more severe cases of hair loss, there has been limited success treating Alopecia, and in the case of Alopecia Totalis, adapting to the disease rather than trying to treat and cure it, is probably the best way to go. For example, wearing your baldhead as is, or wearing wigs. Remember that Bald is Beautiful as shown below:


baldisbeautiful

I would like to thank Randy Sid for checking my facts and making sure I’m on the right road on this.

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Dekko’s Daily Grind – Cathy

I wanted to feature some work from one of our other stylists from Dekko Salon. Joni Shibata Philips has been with the company since it started and here she is with Cathy, about to do quite a drastic change.

Cathy came in with long thick hair and wanted to donate her hair to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths, I wrote an earlier post on Donating Hair and if you want to re-cap follow this link: https://jujuchan.com/2009/03/hair-donations.html

Most companies are quite strict and need at least 10 inches before they will accept the hair, but at least this one does accept colored hair, whereas some of the other companies needs the hair to be in its ‘virgin’ state. Cathy being the ideal candidate anyway, came in to see Joni and I couldn’t resist documenting the change for you.

Here’s Cathy during the ponytail cutting section:

Joni cut the hair just below the shoulder and because the hair is so heavy and thick, she proceeded to layer it through and took LOTS of weight out of it to ensure that the hair is able to move and that it will be easy to keep. The hair was then blow-dried and a pomade was rubbed into the ends to give it a chunkier finish to the layers. Here’s Cathy looking very fresh with her newly shorn locks.

Thanks Cathy for posing for the photos : )
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Hit or Miss…. Yarn Head!

bedhead


Well… to be honest with you, I’m not sure whether this woman is showing off a very creative updo, or whether she’s carrying her wool/yarn around on top of her head? Whatever it may be, its a very creative look and I’m sure it might have inspired this shoot below from America’s Next Top Model Photo Shoots!! (Shot at the Great Wall of China).


America's Next Top Model

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Difference in Straightener’s…

OK, so whats the difference between the Japanese Straight Perm and the Brazilian Straightener ?(Note: not to be confused with the Brazilian Blowouts) Alot of people have been wondering, so here are the most basic points for consideration…

  • Japanese is permanent and will grow out, Brazilian last about 3-4 months and reverts back slowly.
  • Japanese result is poker-straight and flat, Brazilian’s can keep waves and body in the hair.
  • Japanese gets the best results done on healthier hair and is not advisable for light blonde hair, Brazilian can be done on damaged porous hair, even ultra light blondes.
  • Japanese is more expensive because it usually takes longer, between 4 and 6 hours, whereas the Brazilian can be done in 2 to 3hours.
  • You will see a re-growth with the Japanese because the structure will have been changed, whereas the Brazilian will slowly revert back to its normal texture and there is no permanent change.
  • Japanese will allow any type of shampoo to be used with it once done, although a special conditioner is recommended, the Brazilian needs sulphate free shampoos to make the treatment last longer, any salt (ocean water) will reduce the life of the treatment.
  • When freshly done, both the Japanese and the Brazilian advises you not to tie your hair up or tuck it behind your ears for 48 hours.


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Asian Afro Hair…



You all know by now that I have a thing about curly hair, especially tight curls but here are some examples to show Asian Afro hair that some of you may or may not like so much (matter of opinion, I guess)


Asian-Afro_060209_m

(Personally I like the girls above, she looks very hip and suits her face shape and of course age, cant say I feel the same about the boy tho’)

But now here’s someone who ALWAYS looks good with her Asian Afro (this might have something to do with the fact that’s she’s a goddess no matter what) MAGGIE CHEUNG MAN YUK
Maggie has mostly had afro textured hair whenever I see her with shorter hair, and I personally have had the honor of styling it and making it look as silky and normal as I could for a commercial (not the easiest of styling jobs, I must add)( I will show you in a separate post about my job) but she somehow manages to make Asian Afros look cool, hip and extremely beautiful regardless of age! Here she is in a scene from her movie ‘Clean’.


Maggie_Cheung_Clean_0019

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Suitability – Features and Body Shapes

Continuing from my post about face shapes I wanted to talk a little more about suitability in facial features and body shapes – 2 other important considerations to take into account when deciding on hairstyles.



Strong Facial Features:
Below are just a few ‘more extreme’ samples of how important features are when choosing hairstyles, the more experience the stylist is the more they can automatically access facial features as soon as they see the client.
(just in case you cant see the text very well, here they are again.)

  • Long fringes can accentuate a bigger nose.
  • A ‘Nefertiti’ style would accentuate a long chin.
  • A short style, particularly around the ears, will bring them out more.
  • A style with horizontal lines will not do justice for someone with a wide neck or double chins.
  • A short fringe will accentuate a protruding forehead.
  • A flat face is made flatter if the style is worked straight up from the hairline.
suitability



Height and Body Shapes:
These also make a difference to your choice of hairstyles. It is important for the stylist to see the client before she sits down so that you can take note of her body proportion.
If a tall, thin person had a hairstyle which is very short and close to the head, or very long hair that is straight and flat, then the body length will be accentuated more, whereas if the style had more width, the stream-line would be broken giving an overall better body proportion.

body shapes 1

On the other hand, if a person is small but in proportion, then anything that is not TOO wide would be suitable, but if the person was small, and wide in shape, then the situation would be different. To add a hairstyle with width would be adding width to the overall look, but if the style was very short and flat, this would also accentuate the roundness of the body. It is not always easy to reach a happy medium, especially if the client has a certain style in mind. The stylists job is to suggest styles which complement her all round. If the correct approach is used, most clients are willing to accept your ideas and styles, as long as you have a reason to back up your suggestions.

body shapes 2

Again, I am using extreme examples to show my points easier, it does not mean that all persons belong in any one category of body shape or that you cannot go against type but in general, we must remember to evaluate the body along with the face shape and features when choosing styles.

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New Invention for Barbers??

Found this patented new apparatus online…..




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Well… Not sure what to think of this one. Four guys have come up with the idea of designing a detachable comb/shears apparatus, so instead of using 2 hands to do your scissor over comb technique, you can go ahead and just use the one hand!!!!
Sure hope they get this one made, I would love to try it for those full on barbering days and especially when I’m feeling lazy!!

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Post Pregnancy Hair..

I wanted to write this post for you because I know alot of woman become frantic when/if they start to lose their hair after they have had their babies.

I wrote a post earlier about Hair during Pregnancies, and if you want a re-cap follow this link: https://jujuchan.com/2009/06/pregnancy-hair.html

Anyway, this one is to show how your hair will (90% of the time) grow back to normal thickness and healthiness. Here is Mina again 10months later when all hormones have settled down, with her hair looking thick and healthy again.

Before: (recap)
DSC05857

And here is Mina after: (looking all cute)
We cut Minas hair into an asymmetric bob shape, giving her lots of layers for body and fun, we didn’t use any razoring techniques as we wanted to make sure the hair didn’t end up looking too thin, so we used scissors to texturize the ends.

Thanks Mina.
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Japanese Straight Perms….

I know, there are so many straighteners, straight perms, relaxers etc on the market I want to make sure I cover them all.. I will write a future post on the differences between this Japanese Straight Perm and the Brazilian Straightener but for now I enlisted the help of Jodi Ninomiya, one of Dekko’s top- notch technician to help explain the technical side of what its all about…..


Japanese hair straightening, also known as thermal reconditioning, is a method of permanently straightening hair. The iSTRAIGHT system which we use at Dekko, utilizes 3 strengths of solutions to meet the needs of each individual’s hair texture and condition. The hair is treated with a soy based relaxer which is rinsed out after a 10-25 minute processing period. The hair is then blown dry, flat ironed, and neutralized for 5-10 minutes. The iSTRAIGHT formulas use negative ions to relax and positive ions to neutralize and, at the same time, keep hair healthy and vibrant. Ingredients include Ceramide, a natural resource, that is part of you intercellular bonds which aids preventing cuticle damage and keeps the hair healthy from the inside out.


Thanks Jodi…..
Here are some samples of the Japanese Straight Perm:

So, who would benefit from this?
People with coarse frizzy hair, People who spend alot of time blow drying their hair and finishing with a flat iron, People who love their hair very straight and flat,
How long does it take:
This process depending on how long and thick the hair is can take anywhere from 4 to 6hours, so be prepared for alot of sitting around.
How long does it last?
Once the hair has been straightened in this way, it stays straight for good, the hair will not go back to its original state, therefore the re-touch is only necessary or the roots. so if your is hair is not too curly/way, the re-growth is not so obvious and you could go up to a yea without redoing it, but it your hair is very curly and stands out when it grows out then it is advisable to have it done between 5 – 6 months also depending on how fast your hair grows.

Here is a photo showing the re-growth from the Japanese Straight Perm..


DSC00741