When the Sky's are Gloomy and the Clouds are Grey.... it's time to SPARKLE!!

Just wanted to rave a little bit more about my GLITTER OBSESSION. Not to mention my ongoing infatuation with this cool little salon in LA where I bought EVERY SINGLE AVAILABLE COLOR of Major Moon Shine Glitter. I mean, check these guys out and tell me they are not the coolest:

Hair Los Angeles

Anyway.. here's some photos of yours truly wearing the hair glitter. I wear it relatively frequently and every time we go out and I have it on I get compliments!

My skin is looking my age in these photos, yet I still feel like I can rock the glitter. It's superfun and a little edgy, which I am totally into. And yes.. those top two photos are bathroom selfies at the International Beauty Show right after they painted it on me at the booth in June!

If you are feeling like you need a little pick-me-up we can ad glitter to any service, or - book a consult with me, come in with your hair relatively clean and styled how you want to wear it and we can add some sparkle! Won't take more than 5-10 minutes and it's no commitment at all as it washes out! And like I've said before I'm so psyched about this stuff I just love it so I want to pass that love and sparkle right on to you!

See you soon!!

Book Now: www.studiothreehairsalon.com

GLITTERAZZI!!

Well here's a fun one!

When I was at the International Beauty Show in Las Vegas this year I found this wonderful product that lets you get super creative with sparkle in the hair that I have never seen until now! It's called 'Major Moon Shine" and in a nut shell it's glitter added to a hair gel so you can paint glitter directly into the hair!

 

The stuff was created out of this really cool little studio in LA called "Hair." They were one of the coolest (and I mean cool, cool) booths at the show. Check them out HERE and you can also purchase the glitter thru this website if you are interested. Of course I would suggest you just book a consultation with me, come in with your hair relatively clean and styled and we can go to town painting some cool (there's that word again!) sparkles into your life. And one of the best parts is.. no commitment. It washes out with a shampoo!

Here's a little fun I got to have the other night.. after doing some blue hair color to my client we topped it off with matching blue sparkle highlights!

I am so excited about this stuff that I don't charge anybody to paint it in. I offer it complimentary after any haircut or color service. But, like I said, you can always just book a (free) consultation and I'd be happy to do it as a stand alone service, no charge. Just let me take a few photos!

Halloween is coming up!! You know you need some awesome hair glitter for it!
BOOK NOW!

Balayage from back in March 2015

I did this balayage on my long-time client back in March but forgot to post the pictures.


Here is the before photo. She had at least 6 months of growout between services:

I chose a very traditional balayage technique using deep, wide section in the under part for maximum color and thinner pieces toward the top to emulate regular highlights. I like this way of doing it because you walk out looking more like you just got your color done - not two months ago. But there are ways to mix and match for different effects obviously.

right around the face I used foils because I like to see as little marbilization around the face as possible.

The results were beautiful:

 Wet....

And dry...

Crazy Little Thing Called Love...

Man, do I love my work!

 So, I actually don't do weddings.. I don't offer it as a service on my menu. I do happen to love special event styling though, and this is one of the first photos of myself working I had ever seen and I really liked it so I decided to show it here..

Backstory:

I got a frantic call from the mother-of-the bride saying that their hair stylist had cancelled the week before the wedding and could I style the wedding party the day of without a run-through. I really wanted to turn it down because that's a lot of red flags all waving in one sentence, but a) I actually was confused and thought these were referrals from a long-time client of mine who had said her friend might be calling me about a wedding and b) I would hate for someone to have a hair misshap on their wedding day... like the one I had on my wedding day... but that's a story for another time. ;)

Well, everyone of them was delightful. The bride had emailed me some youtube videos of the styles she was thinking she might try on herself if she ended up having to do her own hair for the wedding so I had a good sense of what she was going for (relaxed boho formal with some braiding incorporated). It was altogether a lovely experience and they all txt me later and said how much they loved their hair.

That's a really good feeling for a hairdresser on a special day like a wedding!

*Big photo is the Instagram filtered one.. the one above is the unretouched shot. Like them both and couldn't choose ;)

Babylights, Balayage and Cool Beige Blondness

After this hair party of hand painted high lift blondes leaving the roots natural for a "shadow blonde" effect we went for a bite at Chiangs and I snapped this because I was and am so in love with it. 

Full disclosure it took over three hours to achieve this level of ash (no yellow or warmth leftover) and we started with hair that had had at least one all over color with a high lift base and highlights that had some gold left in (peanut butter blonde I would call it. Oh - here is a before from when we were snap chatting the cut part lol

So.. The moral of the story is: this kind of blonde is a journey and it takes time and patience. 

I don't believe in pushing the hair beyond what it can do but I am willing to figure out just where those limits are and moseying right up to them. Oh! That reminds me - I've been meaning to write a post about olaplex .. Still going to do that.. But what I will say is I tried out the brazillian bond reconstructor ampules and it worked like a charm - but I wouldn't say it worked any better than the kitoka protein reconstructor I've been using for more than a year now. It's really amazing the advances we've made in the last ten years in the science of hair color. It's a really exciting time to be a colorist!

In any case, she left with silky, lovely white blonde and beige blonde highlights. She is armed with the products to help her keep the tone and integrity of her hair intact and I am thrilled with the stunning results - as is she!

Win!!!

Quick Easy Hair Style, VIDEO

One thing I think is certain, these video posts can only get better!!

and just because.. here's the "outtake" lol

As you can tell, this was a spur of the moment demonstration. My long time client and good sport Lauren was the videographer and the whole thing came about because I had been wanting to do some video posts here and she asked me how to use that bun maker thing... so on the spot I said "here, I 'll show you - will you film it for me?" and she was game so there we are.

Hopefully I will get more sophisticated at this over time. 

Fingers crossed!!

xo

5/23/15: I got a video editing program for my surface and signed up for a tutorial class at the microsoft store to learn how to use it. Better video's should be coming soon!!

Certified Lash Extensionist since 2012

I always like continuing education and staying up on the latest trends so when lash extensions first came on the market I was one of the first people (I knew) to try them. As soon as I found a good certificate program I jumped on it.

I recently came across my Lash Extension Certification Certificate and that prompted me to make this post. I don't actually offer this on my service menu but I went thru the course and can answer questions if you have some.

I have had eyelash extensions myself and enjoyed them but what I found for me that I like as a routine is an eyelash serum coupled with a 3D fiberlash mascara. I find this a more affordable option than the expense of extensions which I recommend only for special occasions like a vacation or important trip or wedding. I happen to have fairly long lashes anyway and a serum (like latisse) really makes a huge difference for me. I have friends with more "normal" length lashes and the serum doesn't give them the bang for their buck they are looking for. Still, extensions for long-term are, in my opinion, a bad idea. Special occasion only is my opinion and I'm sticking to that.

For fiber lash mascara I use Cherry Blossom which I used to sell in the salon but didn't find much demand for. Between Cherry Blossom and Younique I probably like Younique better because it's "blacker" and looks more dramatic. The Cherry Blossom is good but a bit "natural" ..so if that's what you are looking for, maybe go with Cherry Blossom. 

For serum I LOVED LiLash but it's not available anymore (and my secret back stash is all gone -think Elaine's "sponge" stash from Seinfeld - lol). I am using a few different serums now and recently got a new one called NeuLash from Skin Research Laboratories that I have high hopes for. Once I use up my current experimental one (that I don't love) I will try it out. Fingers crossed!

Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald. ~Proverb

I love styling hair for a special event.

My long-time client asked me if I wouldn't mind giving her a blowout on the day of a networking event for her company. Of course I went one step further and fashioned an up-do based on her dress... duh!


We were pressed for time and she was working on the presentation while I did her hair, but we got her out the door both hair and presentation looking great!

I wasn't able to take a whole lot of photos but I was able to snap a few.. here's the highlights:

In case anyone is interested in my "process" I had her txt me a picture of the dress and I sent back a few ideas for hairstyles which she ok'd ahead of time. Then, I sketched my intentions and the above photos are the result. Maybe she will be able to send me some pictures taken at the event and we can see how my sketch compared to the end result. It's always a rough idea... you can't get an updo nailed down until you actually working on the hair itself. I say it takes two tries -minimum- to find a way to engineer a formal hairstyle. And in a perfect world you'd get three... A first time trial for the basic idea. A second to try out your "engineering" (for me that's the plans in my sketchbook) .. and a third to re-work after you run across all the quirks of everyone's individual heads... density and texture of hair etc.

Of course, according to this very client, I am a bona-fide "hair nerd" ...and I think I could actually be quintessentially, THE bona-fide hair nerd, if that were possible. So.. I probably over think this stuff.

Ha!

“I think that the most important thing a woman can have- next to talent, of course- is her hairdresser.” ― Joan Crawford

I had the best time last night making someone who had a really bad experience with a haircut (not at my salon) feel like her hair looked even better than before the miscommunication happened. It was one of those times when you meet someone and really get to see them completely light up because they are happy with what you do - and THAT is what I love about my work!

This client is the sister of a long-time client and she had gone in to a walk-in salon for a trim. They discussed layers and I guess there was a miscommunication. One very aggressive snip later this clients hair was what I would categorize as "extremely" layered and not blended at all. As she had one length hair that was about 14-16 inches long this was a very dramatic change. Unfortunately, when she washed it herself and tried to style it at home, the un-blended layers coupled with the extreme difference in the shortest to longest lengths made things quite difficult. She couldn't even really wear it in a ponytail because it just accentuated the 'shelfiness' of the new layers.

Here is what her hair was like before the bad experience at the other salon:

Here are some photos of the ponytail that really show how choppy these layers from the other place were:

And then the fun starts!! We agreed we wanted to keep it as long as possible.. but make the layers more manageable. So I washed and flat-ironed it using Keratin Complex Anti-Frizz Creme (for added conditioning.. since, why not?). Then, I took down a section and determined the minimum I should cut to make the bottom as healthy and full-looking as I could, while still maintaining really long hair. (Sure we could have cut 6-8 inches off, but what's the fun in that?) This photo is that first section and I decided to start at about 2 inches to even it all up:

Now this photo is the super exciting photo of all the hair trimmed, section by section (after flat ironing w anti-frizz creme)  but not yet blended. You can see even here, though, that meticulous layer cutting pays off over one big snip and letting them fall... especially with fine textured hair! My peronal opinion is that being meticulous in a haircut is the only way to be sure that hair cut is going to hold up over time and grow out well. I love my clients but I want them to be able to go a really long time between visits. That's why I do a really precise cut, every single time, that I know they can count on to have built in structure and style! Anyway..here's the photo (pre-blending): 

At this point I was feeling really good about the cut because the over-all foundation was solid again. The rest was details.. blending the layers, taking out weight here and there so she should get height and volume... here's the photo's her sister took as well as some I took myself:

And then I did a quick curl with the flat iron to show her another 'look' she could get with the layers. She was really happy - and so was I! 

Such a fun evening!! And so much more fun than just throwing in the towel on that length and cutting a bob to start growing out. With regular one inch cuts every two months her hair will be easier than ever with solid, manageable layers and she wont have the pain of the "growing out short hair" feeling to go thru. I'm so excited for the evolution of her hair! I just love it when people walk out loving their hair...