Saturday, February 28, 2009

How to Avoid Hair Loss

An estimated 95 percent of hair loss is genetic, but other factors, such as nutrition, overall health, hormone deficiencies, overcoloring of hair and emotional stress, can be controlled somewhat.
  1. Wash your hair regularly in warm water and use a deep conditioner.
  2. Eat a balanced diet. Nutritional deficiencies, eating disorders and excessive amounts of certain vitamins, such as A and E, can cause hair loss
  3. Take care of your health. Chronic illness, high fevers and infections can contribute to hair loss
  4. Stay away from harsh chemicals - permanent hair color and perms are the most damaging - and avoid coloring your hair more than once every six to eight weeks.
  5. Avoid hairstyles like ponytails and cornrows, which stretch and pull hair.
  6. Keep in mind that it’s normal to lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day.
  7. Consult your general physician or dermatologist regarding concerns about hair loss.

Friday, February 20, 2009

How to Care for a Wig

  • Buy the proper accessories to care for your wig. These include a wig brush, wig comb, wig stand, wig shampoo and conditioner, and various wig styling products. These are usually available in a beauty supply store or a wig store.
  • Remove tangles with a wig brush and a spray wig conditioner.
  • Remove shine by applying baby powder to the wig, then shaking excess power loose.
  • Always comb or brush the wig starting at the ends, and not the roots.
  • Store the wig in a closed space, such as a closet, at room temperature and on a wig stand.
  • Use a hair spray formulated especially for wigs to style your wig.
  • To reduce the volume of your wig, spray it with cool water and brush with a wig brush.
  • Remember that it's best if you do not use any heat source (including a blow dryer, a curling iron or hot rollers) on a synthetic hair wig. You may use these items on a human-hair wig.
  • Wash your wig after every 12 to 15 wearings

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

How to get your hair to grow longer and thicker

I know most of us are egar for our hair to grow longer and thicker at a fast paste, so we use all sorts of growth aids to help speed up the process only to realize it is still not growing fast enough. Here are ten tips on how to get your hair to grow long and thick.

1. Leave your hair alone yall! to much manipulation on the hair causes stress, and stress on the hair causes it to break and fall out, leaving you with damaged hair. Which leads me to number two

2. Keep your hair in protective styles. Leave your hair in a protective style like twist, braids, corn rows, etc, for at leat three to four weeks at a time. This will give the hair a break from all the stlying, giving it time to grow.

3. Trim or dust your ends every six to eight weeks. Trimming your ends more frequently will save you from having to do big chops in the future. Don't sacrafice length for damaged hair. It will grow back healthier and stronger.

4. Only detangle when you are conditioning your hair, or when hair is damp with water. Detangling on dry hair only causes breakage and we don't want that. Which leads me to number five

5. Stay away from the comb. Instead of a comb, use your fingers if possible to style your hair. A comb should only be used for detangling the hair.

6. Deep condition your hair once a week. This will help it to stay strong and moisturized. Also it trains the hair to love moisture.

7. Keep your scalp conditioned. We tend to do so much for our hair and neglect our scalp. You should always oil your scalp with a natural hair cream or oil like coconut oil or olive oil to keep it moist. This will prevent flaking and dry scalp conditions. I recommend doing this twice a week.

8. Try to wash and condition hair in sections. If hair is long enough plait your hair into loose big braids and wash your hair. This will cause less tangles and shrinkage. If hair is not long enough to do this use claw clips to hold your hair is sections and wash one section at a time. Believe me you will have less work to do when you are finished shampooing.

9. Always tie your hair down with satan or silk scarf before bed. This will help lock in the moisture. For even more moisture retainment try sleeping in a plastic shower cap with a scarf wrapped around it. This will keep your hair from loosing any moisture at all. please note hair will be damp not soaking in the morning.

10. Get all of your vitamins. Eat a healthy balanced meal everyday, take multivitamins and biotin. Excercise to get blood flowing through out the body and to the scalp.

If you follow these tips, I am sure your hair will thrive and thank you for it. Happy hair growing every one.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Important Indian hair care advice

You look after Hair Extensions the same as you would do long hair that you grew yourself. If you have never been able to grow your hair long before it is probably because you are probably stunting the growth just as fast as quickly as it grows. As far as were concerned, our #1 most important advice tip would be to always follow the instructions and advice given to you by your stylist. Here are a few more important tips.



Indian Hair Maintenance and other care tips

Hair Care products

Use a good (leave-in) conditioner to keep your hair soft. Don’t over do it, too much conditioner or any other hair care product can cause a build up and tangling. Avoid hair products that contain alcohol. Alcohol makes hair dry. Ask your stylist what would be the best products for your hair. Chemical agents are widely used to add curl to straight hair and to loosen curls in curly hair. These products defect the scalp and permanently alter the structure of the hair. These compounds can also cause severe hair loss from over processing. Never use perms or relaxers on damaged hair. If possible, allow the hair to regrow before introducing new chemical processes.

Shampooing

Be sure to use a rather gentle shampoo and conditioner and don’t skimp on the quality. Don’t ruin your hair and/or extensions by trying to save a couple of dollars on the super cheap stuff. Go with good reputed brands in the market. Using good quality products like shampoo, conditioners and hair gels will enhance the life your hair extension and also help them to look better. If your extensions are sewn in, you need to treat them like your own hair and take good care to comb it and slowly remove the knots and maintain the hair. After your shower, feel free to dry your hair the same way you would have dried your own natural hair. We would highly recommend an ionic dryer, as they won’t damage the hair. Also use good quality straightening irons and curling rods.

Coloring

Color your natural hair the desired color before your extensions are applied. Your stylist will then color matches your extensions, whether synthetic or real, to your new color to make your purchased hair look like the real thing. Highlights can even be added by adding different colored extensions in the same randomness as highlights applied to hair pulled through a cap. If your roots need a touch up before you need to change your extensions, play it safe and leave the coloring to your stylist.

Styling

Always ask your stylist before attempting any styling techniques you are unsure about. Chemical agents are widely used to add curl to straight hair and to loosen curls in curly hair. These products defect the scalp and permanently alter the structure of the hair. These compounds can also cause severe hair loss from over processing. Never use perms or relaxers on damaged hair. If possible, allow the hair to regrow before introducing new chemical processes.

Exercise

Be sure to always wear a swim cap made of latex. Carefully comb out any tangles that may be present starting from the bottom and working your way up. Once the hair has been dangled braid the hair in two braids to ensure that all of the hair is protected and tucked neatly under the cap. Following your dip, be sure to wash your hair immediately to remove any damaging chemical that may have shuck under your cap.

Sleeping

Never sleep on wet hair, make sure your hair is completely dry before you go to bed. It is also recommended to wrap your hair together or gently tie it up to prevent tangling.




Monday, January 26, 2009

Hair extension techniques

Extensions: micro-ring, curtain, with keratin.

Extensions are in many cases the solution for alopecia, low hair density or just enjoying a long and heavy hair. Many times, the use of dye, hairdryer and other products force to cut the damaged hair.

Extensions let you play with your hair creating different looks.

There are three different techniques to put the extensions in and which one you should use depend on the person’s comfort, type of hair, and the results expected.

Keratin technique:

It’s the method to enlarge or give volume to the hair, joining locks of hair with a resin called acrylic keratin. With them, you can enlarge your hair or give it volume, hide damaged hair, and cover some alopecia.
It’s a laborious process, that only professionals use, lock by lock are put with a extension machine and making the unions with the hair by hand to prevent damage due to heat excess.
Duration is determined by hair growth and its effective time is about 3 or 4 months. After that time, the best thing to do is to remove the extensions to avoid entanglement of your hair. Then, they can be put again even with the same hair which lasts more than a year in good conditions.


Micro-ring Technique:
It’s a placement technique that enlarges and gives volume by joining locks of hair to your hair by a micro or metallic ring and it does not need heat, keeping it from the damage it may cause. Lock by lock are put with a compression system.
Length is determined by your hair growth and it is advisable to put them in again after four months.


Curtain method:
Specially elaborated and put at your size! A complete craft, with an excellent quality of hair. With this system the hair can be enlarged in a very efficient way. Curtains can be sewed with a silk sting to a plait in your scalp achieving a great durability. They can also be stick to the hair through curtains with micro clips.
It’s a revolutionary method to enlarge or give volume to your hair and it can be dye.
Remember, the extensions can be in straight hair, with movement, ringlets or rollers… and in any color you wish.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Jonas - The Hair Stylist

Jonas Hallberg is Sweden´s most well known stylist internationally with clients among the absolute A-list in Hollywood. To get there has taken time and not always been easy but now he is exactly where he should be.

Working as a stylist is still seen as a bit odd by quite a lot of people that don’t really know what they do. One of the reasons to this might be that they are normally a bit in the background, not the least in the shade of the photographers. Still the stylists are incredibly important, not the least in a country like the US where personal styling of celebs is so much bigger than in Sweden.

Jonas HallbergJonas career started in a completely different way than one might think – he started out as a waiter at cool nightclub CafĂ© Opera in Stockholm. This was the melting pot of the time though and just like at studio 54 in NY it was the place to get contacts that could lead to unexpected turns in your life. One of Jonas´s colleagues was Liza that was also working for model agency MIKAs. One day she asked if Jonas he wanted to help out on a job for the agency.

It is no wonder that most stylists do not have a formal education. First of all it is not really clear if there is any really good education at any school and second it is the stylists personal qualities that are among the most important skills. You have to be perceptive, a sure instinct, be able to nurture your own style and – the most important of all – be phenomenal at networking.

These are all characters that Jonas has so it comes as no surprise that Jonas accepts the offer from his colleague. This results in him doing a job where he meets the Editor in Chief from fashion magazine Femina, Mona Orremalml. Obviously he did one or two things right since Mona later comes back and asks if he wants to join her for a job in Miami, which he does. This job leads to the two of them continuing to work together and Jonas gets to learn the job properly. “I am extremely grateful that I had the possibility of learning the job from Mona. She is old school and has really taught me everything from scratch. It is something I still enjoy these days when it has become my turn to be the teacher”, says Jonas.

After about a year of working together it was time for some freelancing and in 1995 a move to London. London was supposed to be for six month but he stayed for over seven years. The most important about London was the Jonas got to work for Michiko Koshino, the woman behind the Yen jeans. Among other things she took him to Japan. “Koshino is like a clan in Japan and it was a lot of prestige working with them”. Through Michikio Jonas also got an enormous network in London, which led to jobs for the big British Magazines as well as for Swedish Elle.

Two out of many many covers.Despite a successful career in London there was a lack of family and friends so after seven years the bags are packed and Jonas is back in Stockholm. Might sound bizarre but once here an old dream started to appear in his head – to work in Hollywood and this is when the story really starts going in the fast lane.

It all starts with Jonas being in LA for an editorial job and once there he meets an agent that wants to represent him. Despite some doubt this leads to a few small jobs there during a couple of year’s time. These small jobs leads to the first celeb shoot, one with Sophia Bush for American GQ. One might think that Sophia is the important person here but it is actually her publicist. She and Jonas gets along really well and then later leads to Jonas having to interrupt a vacation in Europe to fly over to Toronto for a shoot with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

One job leads to the next and as was pointed out before personal styling of celebrities is a lot bigger in the US, not the least because of their fondness for the whole red carpet culture. There are a few really big red carpets and how the celebrities look on these is really important, not the least because of all the best and worst dressed lists that always follow the events.

Jennifer Love Hewitt was one of the celebs that had managed to top the worst dressed list for years and she was the challenge for Jonas´s first Emmy Award. A black dress from Dolce and a Love brosch from Lacroix on the bag in a confident style was what was needed to take Jennifer from worst to best dressed and the pictures of her were distributed all over the world. After this there is not end to the amount of A-list celebrities that Jonas gets to work with.

With all this one wonders how it is to work in the more modest environment of Stockholm that he still does from time to time. “It is fun and creative and you get really appreciated”, Jonas says. “It is also nice to be different. The styling in Sweden is quite conservative and standardized so it is great that my more glamorous style now is more accepted and appreciated”.

There is a lot more to be said about this man. Despite his phenomenal his success he is still very down to earth that is always so very nice to meet. Jonas always has a kind word to say and only once during the interview does he get a bit angry and that is when talking about Swedish celebrities. “It is far too unglamorous. How can you do an entrance at a movie premiere in jeans and a T? They should learn from Hollywood!!”

This is obviously something we have to agree upon and that we are certain we will see more of in Stockholm if we get some well needed help and push from Jonas – someone we obviously want to see more of in Sweden as well!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hairstyles For Teenage Girl

Straight Hair To Curly

Changing a teenage girls hairstyle without the need for cutting, colouring or restyling using harsh chemical treatments and more importantly, can be done at home.

Straight hair is great if you need to look sleek and smart, but curly is far more glam and girly. Get lasting curls in four easy steps.

Are you bored of ironing every last kink out of your hair before leaving the house? Or have years of straightening left your tresses looking flat and lifeless? Then it’s time to give your poker-straight hair some life and movement.




Forget Shirley Temple, forget smelly perm solution and forget going to bed wearing rollers - modern curls are soft, loose and flattering, and they can be created in roughly the same time that it takes to straighten your hair. Find out here how to use your curling tongs to get long-lasting curls in four easy to follow steps - and how to vary your curls to suit your mood

Curly Hair step-by-step

Work on one section at a time - starting at the back of your head. Clip hair up with grips or slides so that’s it out of the way, then gently spray an easy-to-handle, medium sized section of hair with hairspray or fixing solution to help set curls in place.

Wind the same section of hair onto a hot curling tong and hold for a few seconds. Touch the hair that’s wound around the tong to make sure that it’s not getting too hot - if you leave it there for too long, heat might singe and damage your hair.
Curl your hair section-by-section, working your way up the crown and towards the front of your hair. When you’ve finished, to achieve a more natural look, break up ringlets by gently tousling through your hair withyour fingers - a comb will cause frizz.


Hairspray sets curls but it doesn’t boost shine, so finish with some glossing curl cream or serum. Take a small blob, warm it up in the palms of your hands and then work it through your hair from front to back, like you’re gathering your hair into a ponytail.
Curling Tongs Know-How
  • It’s worth spending money on a good set of salon-standard tongs - they’ll last longer and cause less damage to your hair.
  • The diameter of your curling tongs is important - the larger the barrel, the looser the curl. For coiled spirals, opt for less than an inch, for those loose waves, an inch and a half for movement and body, an inch and a half or more.
  • Adjustable heat settings offer more styling options - set the tongs on a low heat for loose, natural waves - turn them up high for bouncier curls.
  • Never use curling tongs on wet hair - the high temperature can cause permanent damage to your hair.
  • Always use a heat-protecting styling solution before curling to help prevent frizz and split ends.