Autumn and Winter Hair Trends E-Magazine

Instead of a blog post today, I would like to invite you to download my Autumn and Winter Hair Trends E-Magazine for free. Have a read to find out what will be a hot trend this season and read some of my tips on how to achieve them, you can find my product recommendations and some information on my consultation classes.

12 Tips for Colour Removal and Correction

1. A hair colourremover and a hair colour stripper are very different.  

A colour remover contains a sulphite agentwhich works only on destroying the artificial colour molecule so it can beflushed from the hair, it cannot affect natural pigments present.  A stripper contains a peroxide agent and isdesigned to gently remove both natural and artificial pigments so you canre-colour immediately to a different or lighter permanent shade.

2. Fading unintentionally dark hair colour.

If you haveapplied a colourant and it’s too dark wash it in baby or clarifying shampooseveral times immediately.  Most homehair colours contain an after colour conditioner which is designed to help thecolour molecules settle inside the hair. If you are not sure if you are happy with the colour, washing it willremove any barriers (from the conditioner) and unsettle the new permanentcolour.

3. Removing colour sooner rather than later.

If a colour istoo dark, try to remove it immediately or within 48 hours.  The fresher an artificial colour the quickerit will remove from the hair (especially if you have already washed andclarified it several times with baby or clarifying shampoo).  New unwanted darker hair colourants onlyrequire a hair colour remover, they shouldn’t need a hair colour stripper. 

4. Fixing hair colour that is too light.

If a colour hascome out too light (for your liking) try to do the opposite as to darkercolours and wait at least 48 hours before attempting to re-colour, ideallywaiting one week.  Lightened hair canlook brighter when first coloured and will often calm done over the followingdays, so judgement should be reserved before attempting to go darker.

5. Balancing warm tones in hair colour.

If a shade hascome out too warm, golden, coppery or gingery work out if you have applied acolourant which contains (gold, copper or red) as one of its tones or whetheryour hair has lightened in the colouring process and ‘kicked up’ your naturalwarmth.  If you have applied a neutral orash based colourant and are seeing warmth it’s because your own shade was toodark for the colourant applied and possibly needed pre-lightening or strippingfirst.

6. Use colour remover to remove unwanted tones.

If you haveestablished a shade applied and it has caused your hair to go warm, golden, copper orred due to the secondary tones featured in the product applying a hair colourremover should rectify this issue.

7. Options for covering unwanted shades.

If you haveestablished a shade applied has caused your hair to go warm, golden, copper orred due to the lightening of your natural shade you need to make a choice as towhether you want to strip the hair and apply the desired shade again (onto alighter base) or whether you wish to go to a slightly darker shade which wouldcover the unwanted warmth.

8. Do not apply aperoxide based colourant immediately after using a hair colour remover

Thechemistry of colour removal and peroxide contradicts - so you need to leave thehair ideally 1 week (to normalise) before attempting to apply a peroxide basedcolourant.  You can (however) use nonperoxide temporary colourants and toners after using a hair colour remover.

9. Stripper creates a blank canvas for recolouring.

Hair that hasbeen stripped has seen both natural and artificial colour pigment removed fromthe hair, therefore you should always have your selected subsequent colourantshade at hand to achieve your desired result after the stripping process.

10. Retaining a good base shade.

The key to asuccessful hair colour is mostly achieving a good base shade.  If you are looking to go blonde, obtaining adark blonde base shade can prove a good canvas for highlights.  If you prefer darker (brunette hair) alwaysensure you apply colourants only to your re-growth and do not apply throughoutthe hair.  This will prevent buildup.  Using toners and colour enhancingshampoos will also retain your shade and do not attempt to use severalpermanent colourant processes on your hair within at least a one monthperiod.  Very frequent exposure toperoxides, ammonia and PPD’s can cause the hair to become very porous anddamaged.  Once hair becomes damaged it isthen difficult to achieve a good colourant result as the shade could grabinitially and appear too dark (or patchy) and then fade fast over subsequentwashes. 

11. Fashion colours can be difficult to remove.

Be aware thatfashion colours such as pink, blue and purple (and often bright red) do notwork on oxidation (peroxide) technology to evoke a long term result; insteadthey are a ‘direct dye’ which stains the hair. If the hair is bleached these direct dye molecules can stain the hairand make the shade impossible to remove. A hair colour remover is not designed to remove direct (fashion)dyes.  A stripper may have more successbut always give a strand test first.

12. Clarifying hair to improve results. 

Prior to anyhair colour removal, stripping or correction clarify the hair fully.  Even if you have just conditioned the hair,there may be a barrier on the surface which will prevent removal, stripping orcorrection working effectively.  If yousee absolutely no hair colour change from a removal or a stripping treatment theremay be a chance your hair has silicone damage. Here the hair has been encased in a silicone which quite often has beenmoulded to the hair by heat.  In theseinstances follow the blog advice for ‘Hair Clarifying’.  

Emmy's 2012- The Mad Men Women

Elizabeth Moss

Whilst Elizabeth lost out on the leading lady Emmy to Clare Danes, her role as Peggy Olson has taken her hair look from a ponytailed 1950’s teenage archetype to a Jackie Kennedy style businesswoman flip. 

Elizabeth was in my view a highly deserving nominee of Best Actress because she gives such an understated performance in ‘Mad Men’ and counter balances Jon Hamm’s male lead position demonstrating the uphill struggles women had to succeed in business in the 1960’s - during a time ignorant perception raged that being a guy, wearing a suit and just drinking with the boys made you somehow more credible, smart or a better business expert.

What excites me the most about Elizabeth’s bleached lightened hair is how remarkably well it suits her. She has very cool toned grey/blue eyes which have suddenly been exaggerated by the block blonde hair. As Peggy, she has a 6.3 (dark golden blonde) hair colour which works perfectly for the character but was subtlety muting her eyes and skin tone. 

Elizabeth’s was clearly previously artificially coloured (to Peggy’s shade) and if you take a look at her new blonde hair you can see some of the heaviness from this previous artificial colour applied is still evident in the mid-lengths and ends, whereas the new re-growth has lifted up evenly.  A great deal of the length cut has been off into a graduated bob because (quite frankly) Elizabeth’s hair wouldn’t have taken too well to this kind of all over lightening otherwise. 

A product such as Colour Restore Iced Platinum would work to keep this shade pure white and I think because Elizabeth has softness about her general appearance the overall colour would benefit from having some beige, blonde violet and deeper light blondes woven through it to take the edge of that pure block appearance. That said I’m nit-picking and actually think this whole colour and style has been created brilliantly.

January Jones

January Jones inclusion on Mad Men is like the reincarnate of Grace Kelly, her character Betty Draper is the ultimate glamorous 1960’s text book housewife yet flawed significantly in varying ways. January Jones usually sports perfect light golden blonde hair that is clearly based on her natural colouring (with some obvious enhancement). However, at the Emmy’s, she displayed a completely different look.  

January’s hair has now been coloured a light copper blonde (base 8.0) as she is currently filming the picture ‘Sweetwater’.  The colour has changed her appearance remarkably and coupled with this sleeked chignon has created a highly dramatic look for January who is usually famous for a softer edged styling. 

The hair is crucial for January’s red carpet appearance because she’s wearing a fairly dramatic Zac Posen gown, had she worn the hair softer it would have mismatched with the dress and ultimately January’s new light copper hair colour would have not particularly harmonised with the stark black of the piece she was wearing, she’s also compensated for the dark colouring of the dress with much heavier eye make-up. 

This is a great example of tailoring your usual look to suit an outfit.  Such severe hair styling is quite often a big risk, but if you have a dramatic dress to sport it’s one of the few occasions where hair can be understated to a large degree to showcase the garment you are wearing.

Christina Hendricks

By far my favourite character on Mad Men - Joan Harris is a complex lady who swings between being the series mother figure to resident shrew, giving little away as to goes on beneath the surface. Christina Hendricks has done for redheads what Harry Potter did for wizards!  

Naturally, Christina is blonde and she sports a shade that (whilst common with a lot of famous redheads) is actually very uncommon on a natural level.  In artificial hair colorants, the nearest shade to achieve this look is Feria Mango but the key is to make sure the hair has a stable base.  If applied to very blonde hair, the result could be a little fluorescent whilst attempting the shade on a darker brunette base would kick off a deeper red hue.  

The most favourable base to apply a shade such as Feria Mango is either a 7.0 (medium Blonde) or 8.0 (light blonde – which appears as a deep blonde).  With her own hair, Christina usually lets her signature colour do all the work for her (as demonstrated at the Emmys).  

Here her stylist has simply used a curling or straightening iron throughout to achieve a ‘Monroesque’ waved curl.  If you have this kind of deep auburn shade you can also create a similar look by using medium sized heated rollers.  

Sadly, Christina lost out on a deserving Emmy win to Dame Maggie Smith, who although now known as grey haired was (in her day) famous for sporting exactly the same vibrant ‘redhead’ mane Christina has now adapted.  Remember, if you are a redhead and want to retain the shade Colour Restore Deep Red is a great inclusion to your hair care regime.  Likewise, if you are planning to go red (from blonde) pre-pigmenting first with Deep Red will give you that even blanket of red colour molecules (within the hair) which will prevent colour fading in the subsequent shade applied. 

Garnier Olia Oil Based Colourant Launches

Being a complete hair geek I am really excited about the launch of Garnier Olia. Whilst we seem to have many home colourants on the market it's quite rare an entire new brand launches.

I wanted to tell you why Olia excites me. Firstly they use the ICC numbering system (this is the numbers salons work by). So it becomes very easy for me to recommend which shades for you to select. Secondly it's an oil base, which is a fantastic base for use on general permanent colourant, tone on tone or after stripping because it goes on smoothly. Thirdly, there are a few shades in the range I am thrilled about. Two in particular are 7.13 and 8.31 these are blonde bases which contain both gold and ash and are very common in salon colourants. They are perfect for use after stripping because often a pure ash colourant can make warm hair look muddy. Mixing gold and ash together in a colourant gives a high neutral so you will tend to find you get that 'biscuit' shade that looks good on deep blondes or very light brunettes.

I have (or have had) absolutely no involvement with Garnier Olia so I am looking forward to hearing how you all get on with it as a new range on the market.

Take a look at the shades and see if any inspire you!!

Garnier Olia Colour Chart

We had a discussion on Facebook about this new Garnier hair colourant, if you want to read the whole story, please check out the post on Facebook.

Hair Clinic Summary: Tone on Tone, Colour Glazing and Hair Colour Effects

As some of you will know I've been running a regular Hair Clinic on Facebook at 8pm every Sunday. This is where I set a topic and you ask me your questions around the topic. This has been really popular and the team has decided that we will record summaries of each of these chats on the blog for your reference.

Hair Clinic: 25th September Chat Highlights

The Topic

Top Questions Answered

Q: just wanted to let you know the advice RE: using crazy colour capri blue and a crazy colour bright red mixed together to create a decent purple worked amazingly well. even fine on my gross greeny/blue foul coloured hair i had haha. best purple ever!

A: I'm glad it worked for you, I used to constantly try and achieve a deep royal purple and tried all types of pre-mixed fashion colours but found the mixing with the bright red and capri crazy colours gave by far the best purple! Cheers Scott

Q: Hi my friend has bleach hair with pink semi over she wants to go blonde, will the de- colour work on the semi pink thanks pxx

A: Hi Paula decolour isn't really designed to remove fashion colour. She can try it and see what it removes, she just needs to be aware sometimes pink can stain bleached hair and it becomes tricky to remove - it depends how porous her hair was when she applied the original pink shade. Kind Regards Scott

Q: Hi Scott, my roots will not lift and keep going a golden colour whilst the rest of my is ash blonde! I use 40% and leave on for an hour.. Toner doesn't do anything.

A: Hi Sarah, 40 volume is way too strong to go on the scalp and I often found it will kick up more ginger (with colourants) than all the other volumes as it lifts too quickly, it will also boot out the colour pigment you are trying to add to the hair. Have you tried using a high lift ash tint with 20 volume? You may find this gives you a better level of lift and goes past that coppery shade. Let me know - regards Scott

Q: Hi Scott, I use nice n easy sb2 for all over colour, it can go brassy at the root, anything I can do to tone the roots and make sure the lengths are the same colour?

A: Hi Sarah have you tried treating the hair afterwards with Colour Restore Iced Platinum? If you haven't I'd suggest you apply the colour as usual but wash out with baby shampoo (not the colourant which comes with the Nice and Easy as it's a colour sealer - use this in later washes). Then after washing the colour out with baby shampoo apply the Iced Platinum throughout it develop for 10 minutes and finish. This should tone the hair for you. Also, you might want to look at a lightening Nice and Easy that has more ash in it, but I think you should try toning with the Colour Restore immediately after colour application first. Kind Regards Scott

Q: Hi Scott, I used your Decolour remover on my very red hair, fabulous product btw, very impressed with the results, I then went over it with a medium ash brown and the bleached into an ombre effect. As expected, a it brassy so then toned with purple shampoo. Still a bit on the warm side so toned with a neutral blonde, literally for 20 seconds as the bleached hair completely sucked up the colour on strand test and didn't want to end up purple grey. It's cooled considerably, but still some warmth, which of your Colour Restore products do you recommend?

A: Hi Jana use Cool Ash on the hair, for a tip Cool Ash takes the best on clarified hair (without conditioner barriers on it) and if your hair is porous it should pick up well. It also needs a few applications to hit optimum coolness as it can start neutralising first. If you use a blue shampoo to wash and a little Cool Ash as your 1 minute conditioner (after every wash) you should find you get quite a cool effect. Kind Regards Scott

If you would like to take part in the next Hair Clinic be sure to keep an eye on the Facebook page every Sunday from 8pm.

DIY Coconut Oil Deep Conditioning Treatment

Dry and damaged hair can happen due to a number of reasons ranging from chemical treatment to heat exposure. When the cuticle layer is damaged the protective shield around the hair is broken exposing the hair's natural protein (keratin) to risk of depletion from washing and general styling.  This can then cause the hair to feel dry and become unmanageable.

Coconut Oil has a molecule small enough to filter inside the hair fibres and fill any gaps in the hair. Using a pure Coconut Oil on the hair can assist in recovering hair health and reversing dryness. 

It's important to understand that very damaged hair has been destroyed and cannot be salvaged, however if the hair is simply feeling dry a weekly treatment with Coconut Oil can make all the difference.

Pros for Coconut Oil Hair Treatments

Coconut Oil is a rich fatty substance that adds extreme moisture to the hair and can filter inside the hairs fibres and contribute to genuine hydration of the cortex (the hair's centre).

Cons for Coconut Oil Hair Treatments

It's unbelievably greasy, this is not a cosmetic composition - it's purely natural.  You must only use a very tiny amount (less than a teaspoon for long hair).  If you overload the hair with Coconut Oil it will become incredibly greasy and you may find this grease difficult to remove.

How to Give your Hair a Coconut Oil Treatment

1.  Firstly wash the hair in baby shampoo, do not use your regular shampoo as it may contain conditioning polymers (silicones) that cause the Coconut Oil to sit on the surface of the hair rather than penatrate it.

2.  Towel dry the hair and take a teaspoon sized amount of the Coconut Oil and rub vigorously in your palms to heat up, apply throughout the hair and comb through to the midlengths and ends.

3.  Wrap the hair in some cling film and leave for up to 1 hour.

4.  Before rinsing, take a small amount of baby shampoo and work through the hair, this will begin lifting the excess Coconut Oil from the hair.

Remember: oil and water do not mix so you may find if you just proceed if you trying to rinse the Coconut Oil out you may find much remains within the hair and leaves it greasy.  Working some Baby shampoo into the hair before rinsing will begin lifting the excess grease out of the hair.

5.  After working some baby shampoo through the hair, apply a very small amount of water and lather.  Once lathered proceed to rinsing and then give the hair one to two full washes with the baby shampoo.

6.  Do not condition the hair as it is not necessary.

If you you have applied too much Coconut Oil to the hair and it feels greasy, simply wait for the hair to dry and comb baby shampoo through it, leave for 10 minutes and rinse out.

Coconut Oil is an excellent weekly conditioning treatment for dry or naturally coarse, curly hair types.  Due to the small amounts of the oil required for use in each application one tub could last you well over a year.

I recommend Coconoil or you can visit Holland and Barratt for a selection ranging from £4 to £17.

If you have any questions on hair please leave me a comment on Facebook and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

How to Create Vibrant Red Florence Welch Hair

So many people want to display a vibrant permanent red shade but often find this particular colour a difficult one to achieve for a whole variety of reasons.

The biggest problem with red hair colourants (in my view) is a lack of understanding as to the level of depth in the actual colourant.  If a red shade uses a brown as its base (such as deep auburns and mahogany's) and is subsequently applied to hair that is already fairly brunette the result will be much darker than expected

Remember, red is a tone not a base – meaning the more base which is presented in the hair (or added to it) the darker it will become and the less the (red) tone will be displayed.

The Perfect Base for Red Hair Colouring

In order to achieve a true vibrant red shade (in a natural brunette) the base colour must (initially) be a medium blonde or copper.  This will allow for the red pigments to fill the inside of the hair and display the colour 100% accurately. 

The key to retaining a good redhead shade is to try to avoid pre lightening with traditional bleaches (designed for blonde results) and use only non-ammonia products to lift up the base.

In addition, very bleached or pale hair should always be pre-pigmented before applying a permanent red shade.  Pre Pigmenting will fill the empty hair with additional red colour molecules and these pigments can form a layer underneath the permanent shade (applied) which not only reduces fading but also add to the vibrancy of the overall shade.

The Florence Welch Red Shade

The Florence Welch shade is a really popular example of the ‘vibrant redhead’.  Florence’s colour is prone to changing in intensity from being a more muted auburn to a fiery pure red.  This demonstrates that Florence (herself) has issues with both getting the vibrancy right in her colour and finding a shade which doesn’t slip out too aggressively during washing.

I would imagine that Florence’s natural base is a medium blonde to auburn, for this reason she would be able to apply a colourant directly onto her hair without prior stripping.  However, for the purposes of this how-to I am explaining how to achieve the shade on darker light to mid brunette bases or for those with lighter (natural) bases who have been previously colouring to achieve the look.

You will need

• ·         Decolour Remover or Stripper (depending on camouflaging shade desired)
• ·         Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Colour Fiery Red  - 6.60
• ·         Colour Restore Deep Red (if using Decolour Remover)

Step 1 – Removing or Stripping

Remember, this how to is designed for brunettes (who wish to achieve a vibrant red) or lighter bases who have overlaid previous red colourants and achieved a darker than expected result.

Step 1 - For natural and artificially coloured dark blondes to brunettes

The key is to firstly strip the hair of both base shade and artificial colour molecules.  In order to obtain a true vibrant blanket of red you must start with an even lighter canvas that will display the colour effectively. I've outlined my step by step instructions for stripping hair colour below, or you can watch my tutorial.

To strip the hair

·         Firstly wash several times and towel dry. Comb the hair smooth and make sure it’s parted correctly.

·         Now mix the Decolour Stripper as instructed and apply firstly to any areas which appear heavy or dark.  These will typically be the mid-lengths and ends.  Once you have applied to these darker areas leave for 10 minutes.

·        After 10 minutes, apply the remainder of the Decolour Stripper to the damp hair and comb through evenly from roots to tips, the hair should be damp as this will enable the stripper crème to work evenly throughout the hair.

·        Once the crème is combed through the damp hair (as you would a conditioner) leave to develop for a further 20 minutes and proceed to rinsing and applying the conclude balm.

·         After stripping you should notice your hair is a lightened coppery shade.  This is good as you now have a base on to which to apply the Fiery Red hair colour.

Step 1 - For natural but previously artificially coloured medium blonde shades

Repeat the above steps using Decolour Remover, but ensure you give a full development (once the crème is applied throughout the hair) of 60 minutes.  A full development of remover will ensure all the artificial colour molecules are eradicated and the natural (light) base is exposed.

After using Decolour Remover you cannot apply a peroxide based shade for 7 days.  Therefore, to achieve your desired ‘Redhead’ effect, follow the removal immediately with an application of Colour Restore Deep Red.  This will create a short term ‘redhead’ result and will also act as a pre-pigment.

After 7 days (or so) I would recommend applying a second Colour Restore Deep Red application (to further pre-pigment the hair) and then proceed to applying the permanent colourant as outlined below.

Step 2 – Applying your permanent redhead shade

Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color Fiery Red 6.60 would be my recommendation for achieving the Florence Welch shade at home.

REMEMBER: If you have used Decolour Stripper to create your new canvas you can proceed to the colour step immediately, however if you have used Decolour Remover (to expose a natural lighter base), please ensure you immediately re-colour with Colour Restore Deep Red (as outlined above) and wait 7 days before applying this permanent colour.

I would recommend you apply the Fiery Red shade to slightly damp (non-dry) hair as this will ensure the colourant goes onto the hair smoothly.

When applying, use a tangle comb and work the colourant evenly into the hair and develop for the instructed development time.

Step 3 – Maintaining a vibrant red shade

It’s crucial to maintain red shades with appropriate haircare products.  Using a red enhancing shampoo will ensure the hair is cleansed but the artificial red colour molecule is not depleted in the hair by the regular washing.  I would recommend using ‘John Freida Radiant Red’ shampoo as your home care solution for this purpose.  It is also worth giving your hair a weekly (or bi monthly) ‘Colour Restore Deep Red’ infusion to retain the overall red shade and vibrancy.

 

Step 4 – Regrowth Application

If you are a natural brunette, I would recommend a monthly (to 5 weekly) re-growth application of the Garnier Ultra Colour Fiery Red 6.60, as soon as the hair demonstrates a very small amount of re-growth close to the scalp.  Scalp heat will accelerate the strength of peroxide and offer more of a lift in the base shade.  If the dark roots are allowed to grow through too much, this scalp heat will be less effective and not lift the overall base shade to a level which will display red vibrancy.  Therefore, subsequent red applications may start appearing too dark at the top sections as the hair grows.

Whenever you conduct the ‘redhead’ re-growth application, always apply with a tint bowl and brush to the new growth only.  This will ensure precision of application.  Try to keep your head as warm as possible and this will also aid lifting of the base shade and a good overall display of the red colour.

Do not pour the entire contents of the colourant over the head, as you will subject the previously coloured hair to unwanted chemical treatment.  However, 10 minutes before the end of the regrowth development, wet a tangle comb and begin working that root colour through to the mid-lengths and ends.  This will ensure the old hair colour is refreshed and the red shade remains fully vibrant.