Step by Step for creating large waves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkPjduVkJnw

So this is the step by step on how to create large waves on medium to long hair in 10 minutes or under. The most important things are the quality of your products, styling tools and knowing how to use them properly.

So initially I washed my hair at night and let it air dry. In the morning, I prepped my hair with Unite Session Whip. Applying a plum size amount, I worked it through mid-lengths to my ends. I then roughly blow dried my hair until all the product was adsorbed into my hair.

I started by sectioning my hair off at the nape area (which would be the top of one ear to the top of another ear, just below your occipital bone) Then I divided that section into 3, fairly large sub-sections and curled each away from my face. Now the trick is to keep the iron vertical and wrap the hair around the iron, starting mid way. Then working the hair through, by very minimally opening the spring lever on top, that hold the hair in.

After this, you keep on working through your hair, dividing it into panels, and then curling fairly large sections.

Some pointers to watch out for;

1.) Curl Away from your face, on both sides. So often we curl towards ourselves on one side and away from our selves on the other side. If you want the same result on both sides, you have to do the same thing.

2.)Quality of your tools and products are important. You want an iron that is professional, so you are not wasting time and/or damaging your hair. As far as the product, you want something that will provide weightless, long lasting hold and shine :)

3.) Keep the curling iron vertical and wrap it around the iron verses wrapping it ends to roots, which is how our moms taught us:P This will give you more wave and less 'curl'.

So basically, its pretty basic. 10 minutes to 15 at the most. Go to the link provided to watch the full step by step.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkPjduVkJnw

Winter Fashion Update

So with December coming, we are transitioning from fall to winter. What does this lovely season bring us? We are still seeing quite a lot of 60's glamour, military influences, lots of varying textures merged together, leather being quite popular. We are still seeing lots of strong shape upon shape in the cut of the piece.

Hows does this affect how we wear our hair? Fashion influences hair by taking the 'feel' of the piece and translating that to hair. Well take the 60's glamour. Right now with hair, every thing is going away from the undone beachy look, to more of blowout look. Lots of waves, curl and volume. Within this look though, it is very worn and torn. Last year we saw lots of short, strong bobs cut at the chin to jaw bone. This year, as these are growing out, we are seeing a longer bob with a bit more of a raw edge, that's a little less polished. If you are in for a change, short, simple and geometric is the way to go.

With color, we are seeing softer more lived in looks. If you have been highlighting your hair quite blond and want to transition out of it, perhaps the way to go is for sun kissed highlight, with a softly broken base. What this means is you still have your blond, but less is more. The application of the highlight is done to reflect a natural effect.(Not stripey :) Then the stylist applies a color 1 level lighter then your natural to soften the over all look. Lastly all your old blond tresses are ever so slightly toned down to more of a creamy beige blond.

Really the hot colors that we are seeing a lot of right now, are sitting at the darker end of the spectrum. Matt auburn's and reds are popping up everywhere. Browns are rich with jewel under tones. Shine is your must for an accessory this season.

Got a weekend packed with holiday parties? Why save yourself the hassle and book in early in the afternoon on a Friday and get your hair set into waves or curls. When done professionally, you should get a few days out of this style, which means less stress on getting ready.

Well that's it for this post!

Thanks,
Angela

Check out these links for some hair product tips

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39613193

http://www.intouchweekly.com/2010/10/hollywoods_musthave_hair_care.php

SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa brings home 2 National Awards

I am very proud to announce that my Salon went to a national awards ceremony and brought home 2 awards this year from the Contessa's. A Contessa award is highest accolade a beauty professional can achieve in Canada.

SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa was awarded Salon Interior Design of the year and Community Service of the year.

SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa was designed by Daniel Lewis, Architect, Designer and co-founder of SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa. Modeled after W hotels, SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa has a unique approach to the Salon Industry. Firstly, the Salon is separated into a 'His' & 'Hers' approach. Sang Froid, meaning to be without a care in the world, is the Women's side and 'M', for Men's is the High end classic barber salon. The goal of SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa is to deliver affordable luxury. Each area is designed for relaxation. Even when the Staff are fully booked, the spacious design has allowed for the salon never to feel chaotic.

When founders Wissam Akl and Daniel Lewis opened SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa, their first priority was to give back to the community. In our industry, our average clientele are females aged 25-45. So when we looked at giving back to the demographic that give to us as a clientele, naturally it made sense to establish The Butterfly Project. The Butterfly project is designed to bring together a collection of resources with the vision of assisting in the empowerment of women to create a positive control within their lives. How it works. Clients of the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter are provided support and Guidance by their shelter counsellors. Women from the community donate their gently used clothes and accessories to The Butterfly Project, which go directly to the clients at the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter. Clients are also provided job skills training and interview skills training through the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter. SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa provides hair and spa services for the clients of the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter.  This all in preparation for job interviews etc. Lastly Kids Upfront provides tickets to cultural and sporting events for clients that have young children, to encourage a healthy family setting.

I think its important that we take time out to recognize the many small businesses in our community that  collectively make Calgary a great place to live.

Congratulations SFM Lifestyle Salon and Spa!!

Winter is here-aaaahahh

So the first real big hit of snow has hit Calgary. Already I can feel the change in the dryness. After I got out of the shower, my skin is all blotchy and red. Love winter. Super. And my hair. My poor, poor hair. So what to do? Here's some solutions...

For the skin. A problem most of us face here in Calgary is dry, but yet oily skin. Very challenging to tackle. So when you are out shopping for skin care. firstly you want to make sure that your soap is free of any harsh surfactants, like sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, MEA's, DEA's etc. The reason being is it unnecessarily drys out your skin and is responsible for a lot of skin irritations. Secondly, look for cleansers that have a mild, buffered glycolic base or salicylic acid base. These will help to gently exfoliate the surface dry skin and allow for your skin to breathe. Other good ingredients are tea tree oil, lavender, chamomile and rose. All essential oils are naturally anti bacterial. Tea tree oil is natures one stop fix it all. Great for controlling bacteria and break outs. Lavender as well is great for break outs, and also is calming. Chamomile will soothe irritated skin, and Rose is a natural toner and helps to balance the PH of your skin.

Now when you are looking for a toner, be very careful to not be buying one that is alcohol based. It is a common misconception that your toner is there to remove excess makeup that your cleanser missed. Wrong. It is there to tone, tighten and balance your skin Therefore allowing your moisturizer to be applied evenly, and absorb into the skin properly. If your toner is drying out your skin, then when you put your moisturizer on, it will only sit on the surface. If your skin is particularly dry look for hyaluronic acid. It is has a molecule smaller then water and penetrates into the skin deeper. It allows for more moisture to be absorbed into the skin.

Moisturizers. So commonly we look for oil based moisturizers. But this you have to be careful with. In climates like Calgary, it is the lack of water based moisture in the air that is so drying. So when you are shopping for a moisturizer, look for one that is emollient meaning it is balanced in oil and moisture.

Now while this describes your at home routine, I am a huge advocate of taking time to take care of ourselves. A large step in skin care maintenance is getting routine facials. This way your esthetician is monitoring your skin, and can help to prevent any challenges before they arise. Proper preventative maintenance means not having to back peddle our way out of premature aging, acne and the nasty scars it leaves and overall stress. My personal favorite facial is a gentle microderm scrub, followed by a light chemical exfoliation and finished with the once over of the hi frequency machine. This facial works for me, because it keeps the dead skin off and kills any bad bacteria laying underneath in the dermal layers of your skin.

Some skin care lines that I have grown to love are Origins (found at the bay downtown) Dermalogica, Image (found at SFM Lifestyle Salon Spa) and MD formulations (http://www.bareescentuals.com)

Hair. Our poor, dry, hair. So first off, with the change of season may mean a change in your haircare. Again, look to make sure your shampoo is free of sulfates and harsh surfactants. These will dry your hair out and can trigger dry scalp, psoriasis, etc. Look for a shampoo that is moisture based, but not too oily.

Conditioners are going to be where its at this time of year. Obviously a good daily conditioner is a must. Also a weekly deep conditioner is going to save your tresses. Look for one that is based with a nut based oil. Often that will give the benefit of strength and moisture. When looking for a deep conditioner, again we are looking for something that is rich and emollient. If you are wanting to leave it on overnight, be sure to buy one that is designed to be left on over night. Many deep conditioners are designed to be left on up to 15 minutes. Any longer, and you could actually damage your hair. The reason being that many deep conditioners offer protein to strengthen your hair. When the protein is left on too long, it can cause the hair to be brittle and break.

Again, a huge key to keeping everything in order with your hair is preventative maintenance. When you go in for your routine haircut and/or chemical service, be sure to request an in salon treatment. It takes about an extra 30 min, costs usually between 15-30$ and is a savior. My favorite treatment is the Kerastase 2 step oleo-relax treatment. It calms the most defiant, dry hair.

Remember, on average, most females will spend about a $1000 dollars or more a year on their hair. Ask your self, if you bought a 200 shirt, would you wash it in tide and throw it in the dryer? Or would you take it to the dry cleaners to preserve its integrity? Probably the latter. None of us likes throwing money out the window. Your hair and skin are the same. First thing in the morning, your hair and skin are what you have to deal with. So this winter, make sure to take care of them :)

Warmest Regards,

Angela

New Mascara review

For five years I had been a faithful user of Aveda's Mosscara. I liked it because it was free of any petrochemicals and was not tested on animals. However, I heard rumor that it was going to be discontinued, so I felt the need to expand my search. Which is fine. The benefit of the Aveda Mascara was the it didn't dry my eyelashes out and it gave fairly nice results. However, it did not stand up in heat or for long periods of time. After 5 hours or so it was to be found more in the fine lines beneath my eyes and less on my actual eyelashes.

So I thought, screw it. Go hard or go home. So off to Sephora I went and picked myself up a tube of The Dior show Extase. So for the first month, I hated this mascara. It dried my eyelashes out, sending me on the hunt for almost like a deep repair conditioner for my eyelashes. It went on clumpy. Having said this, a month in, all of a sudden it started to work. Wonderfully. Like 2 strokes and WHAM! holy eyelashes.

Now, by this point I had gone off and bought 2 more products for my eyelashes. One being Cargo's Day/Night Lash activator and Covergirl's new Lash Blast Fusion.

So first off. Cargo's Lash activator. After using this product, I do not feel any girl should ever be without this system. One is a serum that goes on your lashes at night to condition and strengthen your lashes. The other is a lash primer which protects your lashes from the mascara. Within one week of using these two morning and night, I noticed a considerable length and thickness difference. My Mascara went on effortlessly.

So then I there's the Covergirl mascara, Lash Blast Fusion. For the economical price of 8$(walmart) It is decent. You don't get nearly the length of the Dior Show, but the brush allows for perfectly clump free, natural looking eyelashes.

So now here's the predicament I have myself in...I start my routine with my Cargo Eyelash activator-primer. Then apply Dior Show Extase for the length, and finish with the CoverGirl Lash Blast to declump and detail the tips. Then at night after washing up I put my night time activator from cargo on.

So I am left with two questions. Is the effort worth luscious eyelash look? and if so will there ever be one product to do all three??

Next up to try is Lancome and Cargos Mascara....