The Blog

Thinking about a new short ‘do? We recommend taking several key factors into consideration before chopping off your locks. When you catch the bug for a new look, it’s really tempting to immediately decide on this season’s “it” ‘do, and make an appointment with your stylist right away. However, it’s best to resist the urge for instant gratification, because while locks can be chopped in an instant, it can take months—and sometime years—to grow them back. And as much as you might love your favorite celebrity’s Instagram selfies of her chin-length textured style, it’s important to remember that same cut might not flatter your face the way it does hers. Don’t worry! You can achieve something equally sassy—and specifically catered to you. We talked to a few professionals to give us the tips needed for avoiding any short cut mistakes.

1. Don’t Take Off Too Much, Too Soon.

Because hair takes a lot longer to grow out than it does to cut, it’s important to take a drastic hair change in baby steps. Going from one extreme to another—say waist-long hair to a pixie—can have you regretting your decision and will leave you with few options to get back a look you’re comfortable with. It’s really important not to do something shocking. Your reaction to a new cut can be two-fold—at first people are generally excited and happy with the cut. Then they go have coffee with friends and get feedback that’s not exactly what they hoped to hear. That’s when the shock sets in. But it’s too late to go back. That’s why we recommend going shorter a little bit at a time. For example, go from shoulders to chin at one appointment, then chin to pixie the next time.

2. Always Consider Your Hair Type.

Your hair’s texture will be a big determining factor in how your cut turns out. Every cut isn’t right for every hair type, and it’s hard to know off hand what will be best for yours, so we recommend listening to your stylist. Stylists have been trained on this stuff, and have years of experience working with different types of hair. They know the outcome. Always listen to your stylist.

3. Learn How To Style Your New ‘Do.

You need training and education on how to style your hair, so make sure your stylist gives that to you. No matter how you cut hair or what style suits you the finish (or styling) is 50% of achieving the look you want.

4. Know What You’re Getting Into.

While it may sound counterintuitive, short hairstyles often require more maintenance than longer hair. You have to get your haircut a lot more often when it’s shorter or it loses its shape and looks messy. You normally go every 6-8 weeks, and you just can’t wait that long with a short haircut. That’s a common mistake that a lot of women make.

5. Get The Right Cut For Your Face Shape.

Just like in fashion where you have to dress for your shape, you have to cut your hair to flatter your facial features. So often people go into the salon & know exactly what they want, and it’s usually based on a celebrity cut they’ve seen. However, keep in mind that the cut isn’t going to look exactly the same on you because you have a different face. Spend the extra time on the consultation, you will be happy you did.

6. Cut Your Hair For The Right Reasons, Not The Wrong Ones.

There are all kinds of reasons one can decide on a short cut, but make sure yours are good ones. For instance, just because you’ve hit a certain age doesn’t mean you have to cut your hair a certain way. Age shouldn’t dictate your hair, as long as it’s healthy, it’s beautiful. You should also not let external factors influence making a dramatic hair change. It’s really common for someone who’s going through something tough like a divorce to want to get a dramatic change but remember, doing something drastic might be a source of more stress in an already stressful time.

In need of a new look but unwilling to chop bangs? Take matters into your own hands with these five hair trends that we think are going to be big for fall 2018. There’s something here for every length, texture, and skill level so start plotting your fall look now.

The Short Bob

The long bob has reigned supreme for far too long. We predict that things are going to come up shorter when fall rolls around. Celebrities have started to chop their locks chin length and are looking better than ever. Ask your stylist for a no-fuss, straight-across cut that will work with your natural texture. Be blunt, go blunt.

The Top Knot

There’s something classic about pairing a fall coat with a sleek top knot. Gone are the days of the messy buns – now it’s all about the snatched look. How exactly do you achieve the perfect snatched top knot? Use tons of hair oil and pull your hair into a very high ponytail. Once it’s secured, twist and twist and twist until it’s tight. Then sculpt it into the top knot shape of your dreams. Secure with elastics and voilà: a perfect top knot.

The Sleek Low Braid

There is nothing we love more than a flawless shiny low ponytail or braid. This fall, we predict that they are going to be everywhere. The key to getting this look is to brush or comb your hair into a low ponytail when it’s still wet. Working with a wet ponytail eliminates bumps and creates a super-smooth finish. Once it’s in a low ponytail, apply a hair oil for maximum shine. You can braid it or leave as it to live your best (sleek low ponytail slash braid) life.

The Perm

Before you panic, understand that perms have come a long way in the past 30 years. The modern perm is more about beachy waves, fullness, and a loose curl. The new perm formula is also far less damaging than it was in the ‘80s. Whether you need a little more volume or want to go full Carrie Bradshaw, a perm is a great option.

The 60’s Flip

Inspired by Marlo Thomas’ classic ‘60s hairstyle, the modern flip is sleek, smooth, and flips out just as the ends. It’s the perfect romantic look for fall. If you’ve had beachy shoulder-to-medium-length waves all summer, this look will take the hair you’re already working with and add shape and dimension.

Sadly, hair can be damaged relatively quickly, but bringing it back to good health can take some time. Don’t fret: Veronica, our in-house Beauty Expert, offers tips on how to restore your damaged hair as quickly as possible.

Early Detection is Key to Repairing Damaged Hair

Is your hair dry and dull? Do you have split ends and frizz? Scalp acting weird? If so, you have damaged hair, but the good news is that it’s not too late to begin the healing process. There are techniques and treatments for damaged hair, as well as gentle shampoos, conditioners and styling products to help bring your wrecked hair back to life. Start these healthy new habits now to help your damaged hair look better in the short run, while bringing it back to good health in the long run.

A Good Trim Can Revive Damaged Hair!

If your damaged hair has a straw-like texture the first thing you can do to make it look better and restore body is to get a trim. To accomplish good results, you don’t have to get a super short cut; you can leave some length and treat the remaining damaged hair. If you are bold enough to chop it all off, a short bob or cute pixie can undo all the damage in one clean sweep.

If you don’t want to go this extreme, however, a healthy trim with layers may be the direction to go to help your damaged locks look their best. This should be followed by a health care regimen for damaged hair, including use of a restorative shampoo, conditioner and styling products like our Rejuvenating Argan Oil Collection.

Nix Hot Styling Tools When Hair is Damaged

If you use heat, prepare the hair with a fortifying leave-in conditioner, and finish with a protective spray. And make sure that the hair is completely dry before using heated tools like flat irons and curling irons so it won’t cook from the inside out.

Say Good Bye to Chemicals, & Hair Color… At Least for Now

If your hair is extremely damaged, reconsider chemical processing for the now. Certain types of hair color—like harsh bleaches–can damage hair or stress hair that is already damaged.  Talk to your stylist about gentler approaches to hair color, such as ammonia-free and demi-permanent formulas.  Likewise, discuss healthier alternatives to permanent waves or straighteners—which can also be damaging to hair.

Shampoo and Conditioner Know-How For Damaged Hair

Carefully select a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner formulated for damaged hair. Sticking with shampoos and conditioners that contain natural oils and herbs will help repair your damaged hair.  And don’t shampoo more than twice a week if possible. Shampooing too frequently can strip damaged hair and create brittleness. If your hair needs a pick-me-up, use a dry shampoo in between washing’s. Look for a gentle shampoo with a pH of 4.5 to 5.5.

Hot water can damage hair, so wash your hair with lukewarm or cool water, and finish the shampoo process with a shot of cool water. Cool or cold water can help damaged hair by closing the hair cuticle and causing the hair shafts to lie flat, resulting in shinier, smoother hair.

If your hair has damage due to build-up from product, hard water deposits and minerals, a good clarifying shampoo can help. How frequently you need to remove build-up depends on how hard the water is that comes from your tap, and the products you use on your hair. Build-up is a serious issue and can cause damaged hair to be limp and lifeless and cause the ends to split and feel brittle. Typically, a clarifying shampoo and treatment should be used just once or twice a month.

When selecting a conditioner for damaged hair, look for those with active components such as macadamia nut oil, argan oil or shea butter coat each strand of hair with a fine protective layer that helps repair the cuticle. This helps damaged hair look healthier and thicker.

Styling Product Savvy Helps Restore Damaged Hair

When restoring damaged hair, keep hairstyles simple and stick to those that don’t require a lot of product to hold them in place. Applying a leave-in fortifying spray on wet hair is a good way to prepare the hair for styling or the stress of the day and protect it from environmental factors. A detangling spray can help protect damaged hair while brushing. Spritz it on before brushing wet hair to avoid further damage to tresses.

Use a light oil, pomade, mousse or gel to control frizz, and look for styling products that will reinforce damaged hair by infusing protein, amino acids and other strengthening properties. If necessary, finish with a light hairspray.

Bringing Out the Big Guns: Use Treatment Masks to Rescue Damaged Hair

When shopping for a hydrating treatment for damaged hair, look for products that have restorative, moisturizing ingredients, such as olive oil, keratin, protein or shea butter, and avoid products that contain silicone or parabens. Twice a week, apply the treatment or mask and leave it on for a full hour, using a plastic shower cap to help the product penetrate. Additionally, once a week you can apply the treatment in the shower after shampooing. Leave it on for three to five minutes for quick hydration and then rinse it out.

Oil treatments are another option to repair dry, damaged hair. They are simple to do at home and infuse damaged hair with moisture and shine. Apply the treatment oil of choice to clean, towel-dried hair. Cover your hair with a shower cap or plastic wrap, and apply heat by sitting in the sun, using a hot towel or using your blow dryer. After heating the oil, allow hair to cool at room temperature, and then rinse with cool water. Reparative oil treatments can be done one to three times per month on damaged hair depending upon need. Proper use of these treatments can increase elasticity to damaged hair and create sheen. But be careful–overuse might cause your hair to look greasy!

Protect Your Damaged Hair In the Pool and Under the Sun

Are you a swimmer? Then always wear a swim cap in the pool. Chlorine causes hair damage that builds up over time. If you do go swimming without a cap, wash the chlorine out right away with a gentle shampoo.

Don’t sit in the sun after swimming without a cap or hat; the sun’s rays will compound the damage to your hair done by chlorine. Or, wash your hair before you sunbathe if you’ve been in the pool and use sunscreen on your part to avoid burning and peeling on your scalp line. Although the sun’s exposure is more intense during the summer months, it shines all year round. After a long day in the sun due to an athletic event, a hike or a day at the beach, consider giving your hair a hydrating treatment to avoid additional hair damage

Nowadays, luscious locks that spring from your scalp are sought after. But they weren’t always and even now, they’re not always appreciated.

Let’s take a step back in time for a moment, to the 1500s. Just eight years earlier, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and Henry VII was ruling over England and Wales with his wife Elizabeth of York, bringing peace to the two warring houses for nearly 15 years. Things were peaceful in Europe and people’s global curiosity was growing.

About hair however, people were less than curious. If you were wealthy, the curls might add some glamour to your extravagant styles and to hang over your rich crowns and clips. If you were a commoner, let alone a schoolgirl, your curls were pulled into a tight bun atop your head. It was believed that hair curled due to sins or evil within one. People were wary of those with curls, who knew what they were up to.

Skip to the 1600s, hair styles grew ever more extravagant and artificial. It could definitely be referred to as the Century of Wigs, with locks heavily powdered grey and clipped in circular pillars that surprisingly never sent them soaring in flight. Curly hair was still, more or less, not perceived in a positive or stylish light, but was passed and allowed as the Renaissance deepened into the Middle Ages.

As we wander through the 1700s, we follow the traditions set by our predecessor with wigs and powder now lasting two centuries through wars and revolutions. Our perception of hair stayed basically the same, to serve as a societal mark for class and prestige. For two centuries our locks of all shapes and colors were ignored as battles flared and governments rose.

In the 1800s, hairstyles could be described in one word, “up”. Braided and clipped up, loosely clipped up to one side, a ponytail with clips, clips here and there and bands everywhere. Hair was sashaying with the pioneers as they rocked back-and-forth traversing West in their hunt for gold. No one had time to spend on his or her hair, constructing houses and monitoring the harvest didn’t leave enough time in the day, let alone while caring for a family. So, hair was over-looked and decidedly bland for everyone, the one tone of up hid any curious colors or shapes to be spotted or appreciated.

In the curve of the century time passed in decades, varying eras of styles and fashions. I’m sure plenty of you have seen videos of make-up styles, hair styles, wedding styles, this style, that style, of 100 years in a couple of minutes. If you have seen them, you’ll be thinking you saw curly hair there. And I agree with you, you saw curls, that’s correct, but you did not see curly hair. The bouncy locks you saw in those videos were not natural curls, the model’s hair was probably straightened and then curled to create those uniform loops or light wiggles.

It might surprise you to know, that up until very recently, society knew very little about curly hair. In 1984, a young woman who had created a name for herself in the hair industry opened her first salon in the heart of Manhattan. Ouidad, the name of the salon and of the woman. She began creating products specifically formulated to treat curly hair and have it growing strong and healthy. She had to create techniques on methods to properly cut the curls as to not damage the style or hang of them. She basically had to create the foundation for curls in society.

Even now, Ouidad is still creating and learning more and more about curly hair, what it needs and what works for it. She’s already deciphered four different types of curls and created countless products to treat all different types of problems. Ouidad’s flagship salon is still open and highly functioning in New York City on 57th Street, another one in Santa Monica, California, and Fort Lauderdale Florida. Sadly, that’s not enough salons to help every curly haired girl and boy in the world, let alone the United States. And to speak frankly, not many can afford the services or products that Ouidad has to offer. Luckily, society is taking a strong learning curve to curly hair.

In January of 2015, Dove launched a “Love Your Curls” campaign to teach young girls to love their hair. Hair has curled for centuries and it has taken us until the 21st century to teach people to appreciate them. So many girls have already been lost to the heat of a straightening iron, to the comments of classmates, to the lack of information circulated to parents. Curls are incredible and beautiful and we should appreciate them.

There was a time when washing your hair was seen as a perfectly acceptable excuse to decline an invitation out. It wasn’t so much the washing that was taking up your time, but the drying.

Naturally, the French, with their impeccable sense of style, were the first to come up with a solution. Blow dryers were invented in the late 19th century. The first model was created by Alexander F. “Beau” Godefroy in his salon in France in 1890. His invention was a large, seated version that consisted of a bonnet that attached to the chimney pipe of a gas stove. Godefoy invented it for use in his hair salon in France, and it was not portable or handheld. It could only be used by having the person sit underneath it.

Around 1915, hair dryers began to go on the market in handheld form. This was due to innovations by National Stamping and Electricworks under the white cross brand, and later U.S. Racine Universal Motor Company and the Hamilton Beach Co., which allowed the dryer to be small enough to be held by hand.

Even in the 1920s, the new dryers were often heavy, weighing in at approximately 2 pounds (0.9 kg), and were difficult to use. They also had many instances of overheating and electrocution. Hair dryers were only capable of using 100 watts, which increased the amount of time needed to dry hair (the average dryer today can use up to 2000 watts of heat).

Since the 1920s, development of the hair dryer has mainly focused on improving the wattage and superficial exterior and material changes. In fact, the mechanism of the dryer has not had any significant changes since its inception. One of the more important changes for the hair dryer is to be made of plastic, so that it is more lightweight. This really caught on in the 1960s with the introduction of better electrical motors and the improvement of plastics. Another important change happened in 1954 when GEC changed the design of the dryer to move the motor inside the casing.

The bonnet dryer was introduced to consumers in 1951. This type worked by having the dryer, usually in a small portable box, connected to a tube that went into a bonnet with holes in it that could be placed on top of a person’s head. This worked by giving an even amount of heat to the whole head at once.

The 1950s also saw the introduction of the rigid-hood hair dryer which is the type most frequently seen in salons. It had a hard-plastic helmet that wraps around the person’s head. This dryer works similarly to the bonnet dryer of the 1950s but at a much higher wattage.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission set up guidelines that hair dryers had to meet to be considered safe to manufacture. Since 1991 the CPSC has mandated that all dryers must use a ground fault circuit interrupter so that it cannot electrocute a person if it gets wet. By 2000, deaths by blow dryers had dropped to fewer than four people a year, a stark difference to the hundreds of cases of electrocution accidents during the mid-20th century. Faster, more efficient and certainly less lethal, there’s now no excuse to refuse an invitation as you tend to your crowning glory.

Whether you’re suffering in swamp-like humidity or heat as dry as the Sahara, we’ve got the answers to your summer hair dilemma.

Survival Tip No. 1: Lock in that style

Dry heat can cause curls to deflate and straight hair to, well, stay straight. You might as well work with it. Before you head to Palm Springs or Phoenix, give yourself a blowout using plenty of smoothing serum to lock in moisture. Another bonus to a blowout ahead of time: no need to style your hair when you’re there. Just freshen it up with dry shampoo at your roots and rub shine serum on your ends.

Survival Tip No. 2: Make Shine Serum Your New Best Friend

Even healthy hair can start to feel dry when there’s zero humidity in the air, so keep your shine serum handy to reapply to your ends. And if your scalp starts freaking out and producing more oil to counter the dry air, a spritz of dry shampoo to help.  If you want your style to last in this weather, try sleeping in a high ponytail. It’ll give your hair volume when you take it down the next morning and you can smooth any kinks with a flat iron.

Survival Tip No. 3: Give Your Hair a Break

If your hair is looking dry and scraggly, it’s time to bring in reinforcements. One of your best summer allies is a leave-in conditioner. It instantly repairs damage and detangles, protecting from breakage. This is especially important if you’re in a hot zone that’s also windy.

Try applying plenty of leave-in, then putting your hair in a French Twist or ballerina bun like Uma Thurman’s. And, if your hair is already feeling the heat, definitely stay away from the styling tools. Less is more. The less heat and stress your hair is under, the better.

Survival Tip No. 4: Toss A Detangle Brush In Your Beach Bag

Hair is more fragile when it is wet, use a wide tooted detangle brush to work out any kinks from the ocean.

Survival Tip No. 5: Invest in a UV Spray

Sunlight is the enemy of chemically treated hair (especially blonde hair). UV rays can strip color and weaken the texture of the hair, leaving it frazzled.

Survival Tip No. 6: Embrace Your Curls

Curls are having a moment, so if you’ve got them, don’t fight ’em. Curly hair is so versatile, plus there is no need to blow-dry, so you’re saving time. Also, avoid touching your hair throughout the day, which can cause frizz, and keep curls well moisturized for maximum bounce.

Survival Tip No. 7: Try A Cleansing Conditioner

Everything we love about summer – surf, sand, chlorine – also strips your hair of protein. Cleansing conditioners cleanse and condition in one step, helping to balance and refresh hair without stripping or depleting natural oils and nutrients, and they’re a space saver if you’re travelling.