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.

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.

How to Ombre your Hair at Home

Do you want to be able to achieve a creative and professional looking Ombre hair look at home? It's a technique I've been getting more and more enquiries about lately, so I've pulled together my technique that  will help you get it right at home.

What will you need?

• Tint Bowl 
• Brush 
• Decolour Stripper or Decolour Remover 
• Two hair bands 
• Colour Restore of your choice 

Ombre on Dark Hair

If you currently have a dark hair colour, you can use a Decolour product to ombre your hair with no extra hair colouring.

• If you have dyed dark hair with a lighter base underneath, you can use Decolour Remover to remove just the artificial dye. 
• If you are working on a naturally dark colour, use Decolour Stripper to remove artificial and natural colour from your hair.

Ombre on Fair Hair

When working on a fair hair base you have two options:

• If you are looking to add a fashion colour to your ombre such as red or pink with a chosen hair dye and are looking to create a light base for a more vibrant outcome, use Decolour Stripper to remove natural and artificial colour. 
• If want a dark colour on top and lighter ombre tips, you will need to dye your hair a darker shade all over and use Decolour Remover to remove the artificial colour only from the chosen ombre area.

The DIY Home Ombre Technique by Scott Cornwall

All hair treatments and colours work best on clarified hair, so wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo a few washes prior to treatment.

1.Work with towel dried hair pulled into two ponytails.

TOP TIP: Rather than mixing the product in the supplied bottles, combine them in a tint bowl for 1 minute, you may not require the whole mixture.

2.Using the suitable Decolour product (see above), use the tint brush to apply the product to the ends only. Allow to develop for 10 minutes.

3.Now apply the Decolour to the next section of hair and leave for 10 minutes, continue this process until the desired result has been achieved. Applying in stages will help to achieve the dip dyed or fading out effect.

4.Leave Decolour on for a further 10 minutes to develop to the desired results.

5.Reapply Decolour to the entire length of hair to even out application, leave to develop based on personal removal requirements, see pack instructions.

6. Rinse and apply the Conclude Balm or continue to use the Colour Restore product of choice.

Want to enhance your at home ombre hair? You could apply a fashion colour of your choice or use Colour Restore to improve and maintain your ombre colour.

To use Colour Restore with your Ombre

Colour Restore Cool Ash can be used to remove unwanted orange tones, Colour Restore Iced Platinum to remove unwanted yellow tones and Colour Restore Deep Red can be used to add a vibrant red pigment to your ombre.

1.Rinse out the Decolour product and apply the Colour Restore shade of your choice like a conditioner, before rinsing towel dry and reapply Colour Restore and allow to develop as instructed.

2.Rinse and dry as desired.