Hair Clinic Summary: Christmas Party Hair

Hi everyone, thank you to everyone who took part in the recent giveaways and thank you to those who asked questions on Sunday's Hair Clinic on Facebook. Here's a summary of some of the questions and answers that were asked this time.

Q: I've coloured my hair violet beautiful colour but every time its washed it ruins my towels and bath  x

A: I've had that happen to me lots of times. The solution is basic but simple, it's worth going to somewhere like Matalan and just buying black towels for you to use on only your hair. Fashion colour doesn't bleach so if you use black towels it will wash out. Cheers Scott

Q:  My hair was bleached (foils) and I put an all over v dark brown with red and it's gone black. How can I lighten it a few shades?

A: Use Decolour Remover on it, but apply to damp clarified hair and comb it through for only 10 minutes until it starts to reduce the colour down. Then rinse it out. That should work well for you. Cheers Scott

Q: Hi Scott, I've just had my hair cut to my collar bone, and as I've been poorly it's been falling out a bit. I want to style it into big bouncy 50's style waves, but don't want to use tongs or straighteners... Any ideas? Thanks! 

A: Go to my likes on the Facebook page and look for 'Pin Up' this site gives tips and hints as to how to achieve sets with standard rollers and setting lotions. This would be what you are looking for. Kind Regards Scott

Q: I have long red hair with a fringe and need an idea for a updo as I always wear it down and straight! Hope you can help x

A: I can give you a quick tip. If you pull all your hair into a ponytail very securely. Once in the ponytail, split the hair in three (as if you were going to do a plait) and neatly wrap one of the sections around the stem of the ponytail and secure with a grip. You should now have a ponytail coming out of the wrap area. Now take this ponytail and neatly wrap it in a round bun around your hand and curl under and secure firmly from the inside. What you should find is you have a very swish up do, that has a roll around the front and a roll going under. It should only take a few minutes to do. Kind Regards Scott

Q:  Hi Scott ive dyed my hair alot ALOT of the yrs been all sorts of colours recently went bk brunnette from bein blonde bt my hair just will not grow i had 2 inches off afew months ago n its sitting on shoulders n i hate it! ive got lee stafford growth shampoo n conditioner,usung hot oils got argon oil n just straightening it as much just want my long hair bk is there anything else i can do? ive got clip ins too bt want my own hair long asap! X

A: You could take a supplement like Viviscale and Cod Liver Oil this would help it grow. As you said the other alternative is to wear clip in extensions to add more length whilst you are wanting the hair to grow. The key is to take supplements and preserve the hair as it grows, so too much heat and chemical treatment will cause it to split, I think you are on the right track. It does take a while for the hair to appear to be getting length again. Regards Scott

Q: I have long straight hair and i want to give it some body and curls. I can't seem to curl back of my head when curling can you help

A:  You might be better off trying to wet curl the hair and using a hood dryer to set it. These curls will last much longer and you get more body with it. If you rolled the hair on smaller rollers (from wet) and sat under a hood dryer for around about 40 minutes, the hair will get volume. Also, its easier to roll the back of the hair with rollers than to try and do it with a tong or irons. Kind Regards Scott

If you'd like to take part in the next hair clinic or ask my any hair questions, please check out my Facebook Page. 

Christmas Party Hair Tutorial Part 1 – The Side Bun

This season I will be giving you some guides that demonstrate how to create quick but glamorous and effective Christmas Party Hair.  These how to’s are designed to be done very fast and can often be achieved at work in minutes, if you are heading straight off to a Christmas Party at the end of the day.
The first one I will be showing you is ‘The Side Bun’

To achieve it you will need...

• A-List Hair Feleny Georghiou Hair Scrunchie (in your matching shade)
• 1 hair band/tie  
• Hair Spray
• Some flat wavy grips (in your matching shade)

A-List Hair Feleny Georghiou Hair Scrunchies can be found in Tescos stores or direct from A List Hair .  They are manufactured with a completely realistic soft heat friendly fibre hair that can blend perfectly with your natural colour.

To create your Side Bun all you need to do is...

1. Brush out your hair thoroughly and gather all hair neatly, but directly behind either your left or right ear.  
2. Using your hair band create a secure side ponytail.   For the most effective results, create a strong sweeping side parting across the forehead and use a little hairspray to secure the ponytail and side parting as you create it  The top areas of your head should be sleek and neat.
3. Now take your Feleny Georghiou hair scrunchie and just as you would a regular scrunchie, wrap it around the stem of the ponytail (again securely).  
4. Next, split and take large sections of your ponytail and begin twisting and stuffing this ponytail hair underneath and around the hair scrunchie.  Use the flat metal wavy grips to pin these wrapped and rolled ponytail sections very securely underneath the scrunchie hair, so no ponytail hair can fall loose.
5. Continue dividing up and wrapping, stuffing and securing all your ponytail hair in this way until you have a very firm and full bun at the side of your head.
6. Using either a pencil or the tail of a comb, very gently dig in and start to loosen the secured hair, do not ‘pull’ the hair out too far but just enough to create a textured and tousled effect.
7. Mist the bun with hairspray and secure with a few more flat wavy grips if you feel any loose areas. 

Hair Clinic Summary: Red Hair Colour

Hey everyone - here's some of the best questions and answers from my Red Hair Colour Clinic that took place on Facebook in September. Be sure to check out the Facebook page to catch the next hair clinic.

Q: what would you suggest is the best home dye to achieve bright red hair, on dark hair? and would your deep red colour restore help maintain the brightness or would it be too dark for such a shade?x

A: You ideally need a permanent level 3 red as it will lift up the base enough to deposit the red colour molecules. Feria, Receital Preference and Garnier have some deep red permanent shades in their ranges. Yes Colour Restore Deep Red would really top up the red in the hair. Also, if you are very dark sometimes doing a 10 minute stripping on the hair (prior to colouring) will lift away the natural dark molecules and expose the natural warmth. Then when you apply a permanent red colourant on top of this you will get a very vibrant red result. Kind Regards Scott

Q: How can I remove red from my hair... I've bleached bathed it now I'm a ginger/pinkish colour?

A: Hi Terri, if you've bleached bathed it and it's showing pink you have cuticle staining in there. My immediate advice to you would be to apply a 6.0 permanent colourant onto it and get he hair to a soft brown. Try to leave it as long as you can (even a few months) and either remove this artificial colour and see what of the cuticle staining is still there, or you could have highlights over the top of the new 6.0 base to create a lighter effect. Fine Highlights done on top of new base shade will not tend to display the cuticle staining as much and can be toned to cover much better than if its the whole head. Kind Regards Scott

Q: In between dyes if I use the colour restore which option do I use? Is it just the wash in and rinse or were you leave it in for 20 mins? And can I wash and condition my hair before I put the colour restore in?

A: A rinse through Colour Restore will keep the existing tone topped up, where as if you leave it for 20 minutes it will go very vibrant. You don't really need to use Colour Restore with a conditioner, so you can shampoo the hair and then use the Colour Restore as you would a conditioner on either methods if you choose to. Kind Regards Scott

I've written a few blog posts on red hair already. If you want to know how to create vibrant red hair like Florence Welch or if you want to try a balayage effect, you can read my colour recommendations.

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.