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. 

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.

Clarifying Hair and Silicone Damage

What are Silicones?

Many people still don't realise that many hair care products contain polymers (including silicones) which sit on the outside of the hair shaft and can create a barrier.  Silicone molecules can be the worst for this because many are not water soluble so cannot just be 'washed off' in one go. You can spot silicone ingredients in products by looking for ingredient names ending in 'cone'.


Silicone Build Up in Hair

If you are using different shampoo and conditioning brands and then following with another styling product - which again contains silicones you could have three different types of silicone molecule on the hair.  Washing the hair with another silicone based shampoo will then add further silicone molecules onto the hair and result in the hair suffering heavy build up.

What is Silicone Damage?

If you use heated styling products such as hot irons you can seal this build up onto the hair, gluing down the cuticle layer, trapping in the silicone and making it difficult to remove.

In some instances a straightening iron can reach such a high temperature that the silicone molecule actually reaches boiling point and melts onto the hair shaft.  Please be aware this is the fault of the straightening iron and not the silicone and quite frankly if you are using a devise which gets so hot it can melt silicone imagine what it's doing to your hair fibres and proteins!

When hair suffers build up and/ or silicone damage, the surface is closed off to hair alteration meaning that colourants, perms, colour removers and even bleaches might not work on your hair.

If you are worried about silicone build up, hair should be clarified once a week to enable the hair to breath and function in conjunction with the products you are applying.

Hair Clarifying Tips

1.  Try using a baby shampoo on every third wash to prevent build up.

2.  Keep conditioner use to only the mid lengths and ends of the hair and use sparingly.

3.  Once a week use a Clarifying product such as Pin Up Clarifying Shampoo.  It's designed for use prior to perms and chemical services but is great for removing weekly build up  finish with the Pre Perm 'Leave In' conditioner as a light hydration product.

4.  For a deep clarifying treatment put two spoons of bicarbonate of soda into a mug of warm water.  After using a Clarifying Shampoo, pour the Bicarb rinse through the hair and comb through.  Leave for 10 to 20 minutes and rinse off.  The bicarb will help to break down any surface residue and over time can help with severe build up.

5.  If you have suffered silicone heat damage, clarifying the hair may not reverse the situation.  I would recommend you refer to Philip Kingsley products for your hair type for at least six months. Philip Kingsley products will not coat the hair any further and (overtime) will hydrate if the residue begins breaking from the hair.

Remember, if hair is very damaged from heated build up, the middle of the hair could be highly fragile.  Whilst it may look shiny on the outside, this shine is often synthetic and if a chemical product is successful in breaking through the build up the hair and entering inside, the hair could break due to its fragile state.  Always strand test before undertaking such treatments.