“But I don’t DO anything to my hair! Why is it so damaged?”

I hear exactly this sentiment from about a third of my long haired clients. So let me explain how hair can get damaged even if you don’t use heat tools or color it. Some of these are big shockers to my clients!

1. Putting your hair up into one of those towel turbans after the shower. Towels are very heavy, especially when wet, and that is a ton of weight to put on your hairline, where the hair is already the most fragile.

2. Never brushing or combing your hair. A lot of long hair clients will put their hair back in a messy bun when it is still dripping wet and just leave it up until their next shower, where they rip through the knots while shampooing. Except for some of the curliest of curly haired folks, you need to get that brush though those strands. Brushing is great for hair!

3. ALWAYS having hair up in a bun/pony tail. Elastic bands are not great for hair for continuous usage. If you always have your hair back get a butterfly clip or something that won’t pull it as tightly. Braids are also wonderful. Styling hair (yes, even blow drying and flat ironing) can be great for your hair as long as you are using heat protectant, since you are thoroughly distributing the oil though your hair and stimulating the scalp from continuously brushing/combing.  And let’s be real, the scalp can get really weird really quickly if it is always wet… I’m talking fungus weird!

4. NEVER using product. I’m not sure where the rumor went out that product is bad for your hair…? If you use a product suitable for your hair it will not only look better right away, it will also protect your hair from the elements.

5. Never getting it cut. This one should be obvious, but doesn’t seem to be.  As hair travels through the world, the ends get battered by wind, water, changing clothes… everything!  The ends fray and if those ends aren’t cut, they travel up and up and cause tangles and the tangles cause more damage.  It’s a vicious cycle.

6. Not getting color. This is a strange one because, yes, some colors can cause damage, especially if poorly formulated, but a demi or semi permanent color can work wonders for the hair, adding shine, improving texture and sealing down the cuticle. Consider a clear gloss!  Even gray coverage goes a long way toward evening out the texture of salt and pepper hair.

7. Not conditioning enough. Many of my long hair clients should be getting a conditioning treatment at least once a month, either in salon or with a quality at home mask. Just conditioning in the shower a few minutes is probably not enough. The bottoms of your hair may have been with you two, maybe even three or four years! Give ’em some love. Leave-in conditioners and styling conditioners can work wonders for smoothing, silkening and protecting! Check out Potion 9 from Sebastian.

ADDITIONALLY, a leave-in conditioner is wonderful for protecting hair against sun, chlorine and saltwater!

Don’t we all just want beautiful, healthy hair?

 

Sydney Perez of Taxi Talent, Photo by Megan Gardner Photography, Hair and Makeup by Rachel Lynn Carr (me)

The Beauty Industry is for Everyone

When I set out to become a hair stylist, it was after several years of cutting my friends’ hair, and hair for friends of friends, and friends of their friends.  I loved the diversity of the people I practiced on, how they were all so chill and seemed more interested in just talking to me and hanging out than worried about any end result.  Obviously, anyone who was more worried about an unlicensed 18 year old was not going to be sitting in my chair, subject to my shears.  But the fact is, everyone gets their hair cut!  And yet, when I was going through school to become the best hair dresser I could, I had this fear that for the rest of my life I would be surrounded by a very particular types of clients, who eat, breathe and sleep for the health and perfection of their hair.  The pressure caused me so much stress, the fear that I could not seem fashionable enough, that I could not style perfectly enough, that the clients would not be able to relate to me as an individual who just wants a fun, interesting, wash and wear style.

I could not have been more wrong.

I could never be the sort to round brush my hair every single day.  And you know what?  There are a lot of people out there that are just like me!  It is not that they are completely ambivalent towards their appearance, they just can’t be troubled to fuss with it for more than x minutes every day.  And that’s ok!

One of the reasons I chose to go to hair school instead of grad school was a huge fear that I would need to be with the same types of people every day for the rest of my life.  I didn’t want everyone around me to be devoted to the same life path, I wanted variety and conversation.  I wanted to learn every day, not just about my field but about everyone else’s field, and I wanted the opportunity to live vicariously through my clients.  So I’m not sure why once I entered hair school I grew in fear that every one that came into my chair would be a ultra-intimidating fashionista.

There are a lot of people that I talk to and I would never figure they care much about makeup or hair products or things of that nature, and admittedly those things are pretty low on their list, and then they ask me questions that let me know they’ve been reading online beauty reviews and articles, they have been wondering about a lot of things, they’ve just been intimidated to talk about them with other people.  These are the people that don’t prioritize good looks on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to come into the salon every now and then to get all dolled up.

We live in a society now where women look in the mirror and see more than just their looks.  We see our accomplishments, our capabilities, our potential.  But that doesn’t mean beauty is forgotten about, or that it is only for young women, tall women, stylish women, petite women, exotic women, glamorous women… beauty is for everyone!  The smart, the strong, the unconventional… everyone.  And I love to celebrate that fact every single day.

And it happens with both genders.  It seems like at a young age kids begin identifying as “good-looking” or “not-so-good-looking.”  It is deeply ingrained inside adults.  With men especially, a hair cut can dramatically change everything about their appearance, make them hire-able or fire-able.  For men, women and children, I believe it is my duty to make sure they have the best possible image, outwardly and inwardly.

In other words, I never want to make anyone feel like “the beauty industry” is a place only for certain types of people.  I think everyone should feel comfortable with exploring their own image, and I think it is my job to make everyone more comfortable inside their own skin.