Archive for June 16th, 2006
by: Damien R. von Dahlem
As I am sure you have heard, if you cut your hair frequently, your hair will grow in faster, longer, and healthier.
Gobbledygook! This myth came from the observation of men’s facial hair.
As they shaved, the facial hair would indeed grow in thicker. Its called, ‘puberty.’
This is because certain male hormones affect facial hair in that manner. They do not affect the hair on your head in the same way.
To the contrary. Male hormonal activity is what leads to hair thinning and loss on certain parts of the head, but not all. Hence the familiar balding pattern known as ‘male pattern baldness.’ This same hormonal activity also affects women, but not until much later in life, and in a different pattern.
Cutting your hair only makes it shorter, does not affect the growth rate one iota, and cannot determine the length that your hair will grow to. Maximum hair length is determined by the shape and width of the hair shaft, and that is determined genetically and is not alterable with current technology.
Lastly, hair is neither healthy or unhealthy. It is in fact, dead. Else, it would really hurt to cut it. It is the health of the hair follicle below the outer skin that requires nutrients for good health, and no adverse hormonal activity.
So, unless you have split ends or chemically damaged hair, the only need to cut the hair is for the look that you want.
A few things that you can do to ensure that your hair follicles remain healthy and your hair is undamaged, are:
1. Take an inexpensive daily multi vitamin such as ‘One-A-Day’ or even ‘Flintstones.’ Your hair likes zinc and biotin and both of the above mentioned vitmins contain ample amounts of these. Don’t waste your hard earned money on ’super vitamins.’ Your body only requires so many vitamins per day and simply discharges the excess. You can’t put twenty gallons in a ten gallon tank. In some instances, over dosing on supplements can actually be fatal.
2. Do not over brush your hair. With every stroke you damage your hair more. Brush only as much as you need to style the hair, then stop.
3. Buy a good quality brush or comb without sharp plastic or metal ridges. This is one of the common factors leading to split ends, as is over brushing.
4. Don’t be penny foolish. Buy good quality salon products. The chemicals used in many if not most of the over the counter shampoos and conditioners, contain very harsh ingredients such as ‘ammonium laurel sulfate’ which can actually dry your hair out and cause breakage and split ends. Even worse, many contain a ‘bad’ form of silicon, and that can be very nasty on your hair. ‘Pantene’ is the worst of these in our opinion.
5. Don’t constrict your hair with tight bands, hats, braids and the like. These also lead to split ends and hair breakage.
June 16th, 2006
Since sometime in the 80’s, a myth has been circulating that blow drying your hair and other heat applications, is bad for your hair.
What a load of hot air.
Your body vents tremendous amounts heat through your scalp 24 hours a day. Short of igniting your hair with blow torch, heat is not bad for your hair.
Frequently people report seeing smoke come off of their hair while blow drying. Rightly so, but its not smoke, its the hair products evaporating. What you see is condensation, not smoke.
Any reasonable application of heat is just fine. That is not to say that you can kick start a curling iron full throttle and then just let it sit in your hair for 10 minutes. Use prudent care. Otherwise, no problem.
June 16th, 2006
by: Damien R. von Dahlem
You left the salon with a bag of goodies that your stylist swore you could not live without, and now you wonder if what they sold you is nothing more than well packaged snake oil.
The simple answer is that salon products are for the most part better than the
products sold at your local grocer, but that is only the simple answer to a rather complex question.
1. What makes salon products better than over the counter products?
Ingredients. When you examine the ingredient list on a bottle of shampoo, what you see listed first is what there is most of in the bottle, and so on until the end of the list which is what there is least of in the bottle.
The first ingredient will frequently be water and the last ingredient is often a dye. Toward the top of the list you will notice an ingredient such as ammonium laurel sulfate, sodium laurel sulfate, or sodium laureth sulfate.
These are surfactants. Their purpose is to make water wetter, or to put it differently, to help the cleaning agents lather. A surfactant can also be a cleaning agent in and of itself. Salon products should contain gentler surfactants than your store bought shampoo.
You will then see some conditioning agents listed. Your salon shampoo should contain higher quality protein based conditioners or moisturizing conditioners, thus enabling the conditioner to penetrate deeper into the hair shaft and lock in moisture. These quality ingredients contribute to the cost of the product and is why they are not typically found in store bought products.
The remaining ingredients are largely consumer appeal ingredients, or what we call ‘fluff’. These contribute toward color, aroma, and consumer buzz words such as honey and aloe.
Although it is true that honey can have beneficial affects on your hair, it is very unlikely that it can do anything in the quantity available in the bottle. Honey is added as an ingredient to appeal to your idea of what is good, whether it is based on scientific fact or not. Aloe is nothing more than water unless it is stabilized aloe.
Lastly, a few ingredients are stabilizers and preservatives, but the most important ingredient to keep your eye on is the surfactant. We prefer the sodium laureth sulfate. It is the gentlest of the surfactants but will lather very little which is why most shampoos won’t use it. Consumers believe their hair isn’t getting clean unless there are tons of bubbles. In truth lather has no beneficial affect and contributes little to good cleaning.
Of late there have been rumors making their way about the Internet that sodium laureth sulfate causes cancer. To the best of our knowledge this is pure bunk. In all likelihood this rumor was circulated by over the counter manufacturers to combat salon products taking an ever greater hold on consumer preference. To the contrary, it is our opinion that the sodium laureth sulfate is infinitely safer than the ammonium laurel sulfate which is usually found in the cheaper brands.
2. Which is the best product line?
Salon products vary in their quality and many product lines were build around only a few exceptional products, with the remainder being only average. To address this problem it should behoove a salon to carry a good variety of product lines to address the needs of all clients.
The rest is a matter of consumer preference to aroma, color and packaging. Our current personal favorites are, Graham Webb Classic, Graham Webb Intensives, Graham Webb Head Games, American Crew, M.O.P., and Dudley’s for African American hair, but there are many more good lines.
3. I bought the salon products and they didn’t work, or they worked for awhile and then didn’t work anymore. What’s up with that?
Sadly, very few stylists know anything about ingredients, (or for that matter the manufacturer reps), and what they do know is what the manufacturers have told them, which is to say the least questionable data.
In our salon we list two common ingredients on the back board every week and stylists are expected to learn what their benefits and detriments are. Stylists are then quizzed on these ingredients on a regular basis. You might want to recommend to your salon that they do the same. Hair is 90% science, and 10% creativity. (This comment is certain to result in letters of choice words for me).
If your products didn’t work at all, chances are your stylist prescribed the wrong product for your hair. This is not a reflection on the product itself, but of the stylist or the salon.
If the product worked at first but then stopped working after a few months, chances are that the climate changed. Products that are right for you during one season are not always the best during another.
4. What about salons that carry ten or more lines?
Many of these are what we call “phantom” salons.
Typically they have a large store front brimming with salon products and a few salon stations tucked away in the back. They are more dedicated to selling retail than meeting their clients needs. There is simply no way you can carry that many products and really understand the benefits to any of them.
The only reason these salons even bother to cut hair is because they are not otherwise allowed to sell salon-only products. They are really retailers, hence the term “phantom” salon. I would not buy my products there as you also run the risk of purchasing low quality fakes (counterfeit products).
5. What about salons that carry only one line?
Unless the salon is owned by someone like Robert Cromeans, who is the artistic director for Paul Mitchell, and thus understandably only carries the one line, I frown on what we call “concept” salons.
A salon should never be a slave to a manufacturer. When a salon does this they are more concerned about what is good for the manufacturer than what is good for the client.
6. My salon has put me on a line of pure organic products, is that good?
Yes, its great, but unless they actually blended the products right there from fresh ingredients, its also bull hooey. You simply cannot create a store line without preservatives. The ingredients would spoil before the product made it onto the shelf.
If you really want an organic product, please go to our “The Lab” department and make your own.
Some over the counter products are just plain bad for your hair. In our opinion just a few of these are, “Pantene” which can leave heavy deposits on your hair of a silicon like substance that will eventually cause static hair and hair breakage, and we discourage all of the non-prescription type “dandruff” shampoos.
Almost nobody has clinical dandruff, and those who do need prescription medication. Dandruff is not flakes. Flakes are caused by dry scalp, not dandruff. The dandruff shampoo industry has made billions convincing Americans that they have dandruff. Dandruff is like a yellow or gray oily powder and clumps together in little balls, not flakes. If you use a good shampoo and conditioner, your scalp will soon stop flaking. I know. I used to be a diehard “Head & Shoulders” user.
Hopefully this gave you some insight into the salon product world and all of the traps out there to get your buck.
June 16th, 2006
by: Damien R. von Dahlem
You may have seen or heard on the news or other media, that a recent study has found a link between hair loss and heart disease.
Although this is true, it is not new. The phenomena was first recorded by
Napoleon’s field doctors who noticed that as they retreated from Russia during the cold, soldiers with hair loss were the first to succumb to the elements and die.
We really have no idea why this is, and the amount of hair loss seems to coincide with the likelihood of a heart disease victim. At hair-news.com we are a little alarmed by the disclosure of this information. Many of the sites who have reprinted this story, have also embellished the facts. For example, that male pattern hair loss is inherited from the mother’s, father. This is inherently false. Male and female pattern hair loss can be inherited from either side of the family.
Further, just because you may be suffering from male or female pattern hair loss, does not mean that you will suffer a heart attack, only that people who suffer from male or female pattern hair loss, seem to have a higher chance of suffering a heart ailment. On the other hand, there are other causes of hair loss that show no association with heart disease whatsoever, such as post-partum alopecia. DO NOT LET THIS PANIC YOU. The stress that such a statement can cause is far worse than any other cause of heart attacks. For more information on hair loss, be sure to read, “Why Is My Hair Thinning?”
On the other hand, if you are suffering from male or female pattern hair loss, you would be well advised to see your doctor for a regimen to reduce heart risk, such as stop smoking, reduce stress, and eat right.
June 16th, 2006
by: Damien R. von Dahlem
The day will come when you will have to find a new stylist. It is as inevitable as death, and about as pleasant.
In the days before I became involved in the beauty industry, I can recall when my very pregnant stylist informed me that after the baby was born, she would no longer be cutting hair.
Once the initial shock wore off, I manifested emotions such as - denial, anger, pleadings to God, and pretended acceptance. When at last it was time for my next haircut and not knowing what else to do or where else to go, I simply returned to the same salon and another girl cut my hair.
Not only did she do a fine job on my hair, she changed the look altogether and it was much better than the already terrific job her former coworker had been doing and I remained a client at that salon for the next fourteen years.
I took this lesson with me when I entered the beauty industry. You might argue that it was just dumb luck, but it wasn’t. Throughout those fourteen years my stylists changed many times, but the quality of service and workmanship did not. This was because I went to an excellent salon with superior staff training and mentoring.
In other words, it is finding the right salon that is critical, not the right stylist, and all the better so as stylists tend to move on every year or so for no particular reason.
Over the years I have been asked many times how to find a good stylist or salon and over time I have worked out the following formula with very good results:
1. Do not ask friends, relatives or coworkers whom they recommend.
As it turns out they will rarely tell you who their stylist really is because over the course of time they have told that stylist every detail about their personal life and they don’t want it to slip out. They also don’t want you to show up with the same cut and style that they have.
What they will do is give you the name of a relative or friend who cuts hair because every single person on the face of the earth is related to a hair stylist, or at least knows one socially. If you actually go there and you are unsatisfied with the service, there is no graceful way out of the situation without offending the person who gave you the referral.
Instead I recommend asking a total stranger. If you see someone on the street or at the grocery store who has a cut that you like, simply stop them and ask. You needn’t be embarrassed, it is quite flattering to the person whom you stopped and they will be eager to brag up their salon or stylist. After you have done this a few times you will see a pattern emerge.
2. Age, gender, sexual orientation, race, and years of experience, have nothing to do with the talent of a stylist.
Don’t get caught up in those nonsensical stereotypes. They will neither serve you, or become you.
Instead I recommend screening the salon. Do they have an internship or apprentice program for training their new stylists. How often do they have education in the salon, (other than product education). How often do they go to an IBS, (International Beauty Show), in Long Beach, Chicago or New York. How many of them have been to an advanced academy with Toni & Guy, American Crew, Paul Mitchell or the like.
In my salon we bring select beauty school students into our internship program for six months. By the time they graduate beauty school they hit the floor running and are usually better than stylists who have been cutting hair for five years or more. We have mandatory technical training in the salon every two weeks. Failure to attend is grounds for immediate dismissal. Stylists are required to either attend an advanced academy at their own expense, ($1,000 - $3,000), or attend an IBS at a minimum of once every two years. Once per year our stylists are required to compete in a National Cosmetology Association hair cutting competition. Every single stylist is required to do straight razor cuts from day one.
Now, I don’t expect every salon to meet our standards, but I do expect to see some degree of professionalism above that of the average salon or they don’t get to touch my hair.
3. Last but not least, I always give the straight razor test.
Walk up to a stylist in the salon who isn’t doing anything and ask him or her to show you their straight razor. If it isn’t in their tool belt or on their station ready for use, or if it has a guard on it, turn and go. Those people are not serious about hair cutting. Imagine your plumber not knowing how to use a wrench.
If the salon is dedicated to being the best, you can bet the stylists are too, and it does not matter a hoot whom you choose in that salon.
June 16th, 2006