I’m one of those guys who are perpetually 5 years out of style. Do you ever offer subtle hints to hopeless men or women like me about maybe it’s time to consider a different hairstyle?
Thanks to a hairstylists telling me in a nice way recently that it might be a good idea to join the 21st century, I now have a cut similar to an Ivy League.
Also the last time I had my hair cut I noticed that when the girl was cutting my bangs she held the hair up with the comb and was cutting at about a 30 degree angle with short tiny cuts instead of cutting straight across, it looked really good that way! I asked her if that was a new method and she said no but not everyone does it that way.
She was really cute so maybe I was just paying more attention and just hadn’t noticed before. (Yes, I am a pig.)
Crowbar - I’m not sure I follow - the poof near your ear if you are male could be sideburn hair growing in. The texture is a little different than the hair on your head. Keep them trimmed tight and you should not have that problem anymore. If you are female, then I’m REALLY not following, could you maybe try to describe your hairstyle so I can get a better mental picture?
**RNATB **- Oh, do I? I don’t remember ever even going into PMs. I thought they just kinda worked. And can’t figure out how to make them work, so just send me an email if you need to. I’m slightly message board challenged - but really good at emails!
Wind - Obviously, if your hair is dirty, wash it. I was referring more to the lazy of us that DONT work out, and rarely, if EVER, get sweaty. Just make sure to add moisture if you are washing daily. Concentrate on the ends and work your way up.
Gravity - I like to use the phrase “Let’s give you a more modern look!” I tend to notice that the word “trendy” freaks people out and they, for some reason, associate trendy with outrageous. 99% of the time, they let me update them, no problem.
What the stylist was doing to your hair is called point-cutting. Point cutting is not right or everyone’s hair texture, and gives a different look than cutting square. Point cutting adds texture and removes bulk, rather than removing a whole lot of length. When I cut, I usually take the length off first, then go back in and point/slide/channel/twist/insert other texturizing technique here cut to give the cut personality. But that’s just me…what do I know?
Have you ever noticed hair texture/condition issues that you suspected were nutritionally based? I asked the owner of the salon I go to when he substituted for my usual stylist on my hair, about the amount of hair that I shed out. I suggested maybe it was because of being a vegetarian. He said it seemed normal to him (at least, the amount of hair being replaced was more than making up for the shedding) and that my hair looked healthy too. He mentioned a number of clients who are eating unhealthy diets (poorly balanced vegan diets, crash weight-loss diets) and their hair seems strangely thin and brittle, with an odd texture.
Do you give unsolicited advice on things like scalp condition? I’ve been fighting for years with some kind of scalp buildup issue and just realized my stylist hasn’t ever mentioned anything, which makes me wonder if it’s not as bad as I think it is.
If I remember hair biology 101 correctly, the average person can shed up to 400 hairs per day. It may look like more or less, depending on how much you brush it. For example, with my curls, I rarely actually run a brush through my hair. but when I wash it, it seems like GOBS of hair are falling out of my head. If you’re not brushing your hair, the shedded hairs will hang out, tangled, in the hair and sit until washed (or brushed). Long period of time between brushing allow for a lot of hair to wind up on your brush.
Hair is protein, essentially. If someone is not getting enough, it will, over time, change the hair’s texture.
I will make recommendations for scalp conditions that I can easily identify. Dandruff, dry scalp, psoriasis, and the like can easily be alleviated with certain shampoos or treatments. If it is so bad that my comb is getting clogged while I cut, or I can see the condition without actually parting the hair, then yes, I will absolutely offer some advice…in your case, Ferret, your stylist may not even know what he/she is looking at; that or he/she just doesn’t care enough to make a mention of it.
By the way, try shampoos and conditioners with Tea Tree oil in it if you haven’t already. Tea Tree is a natural anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, as well as a bit antiseptic. That pretty much will cover the majority of scalp conditions. Paul Mitchell makes a good one.
Oh, it’s not bad enough to see without parting the hair, though occasionally you might see a few teeny white specks on a dark shirt. It usually looks like it’s a white or pale, vaguely oily buildup on the scalp that can be scratched off with a nail. I’ve tried every store brand of dandruff shampoo, as well as clarifying shampoos, avoiding putting conditioner on the scalp or near the roots of the hair, changing frequency of shampooing… at this point I’m ready to do a vinegar and water rinse except that it might strip the color in my hair. I saw your tea tree mention before but the only kind I saw when I looked was some unknown brand. I’ll have to look for somewhere with more of a Paul Mitchell line.
My stylist also might not have said anything because the salon is in a well-to-do town that tends to have a lot of snobby patrons, and there are a ton of salons and spas there, so competition for customers is fierce. It’s possible they’re reluctant to offend customers by offering unsolicited commentary unless asked about what to do about X problem.
Are you grossed out by people with eczema? I get it above my ears and it often looks like a series of small scabs, which I’d probably find a little icky.
Nope. I’ve seen way worse than that. It’s like anything else - you take the good with the bad at your job, and get really used to the bad. If I got squicked out and refused to work on clients like that all the time, I’d be pretty broke.
A lady I work with, very outgoing, strong, optimistic personality wise, and white, early 40’s, with very dark roots that shades into lighter hair…well…
Today I walked into a room where she was working and had to look 3 times to realize it was her, because her hair was glowing quite red. Previously it’d looked like dark roots with sunlit strands, and I have always assumed she just didn’t color very often.
Well…turns out she doesn’t color at ALL, never has, but her hair has literally changed color many times, and she relates it to stress. Her doctor is always baffled, hairstylist too…she really does not color it, and though the sun here in California is strong, we are below sea-level and it’s just too HOT in the summer to go outside much at all, so it’s not just sun shading.
Anyway, her hair has gone from deep black to bright auburn and back…I have been wondering if this is more common than I might have thought? I will say I am 99.9 percent sure she isn’t fibbing in the slightest, but just wondered if you’d seen or heard of this before.
She says that when she’s pissed off, her dad’s red hair starts showing up on her head…literally!
By her eyebrows, her ‘natural’ color is an ash brown, but her hair is a multitude of colors right now.
Hm, I’ve never heard of such a thing…at least not over short periods of time. Haircolor will change as a person ages, but I’ve never heard of it changing in periods of months - into multiple colors. Curious…
Here’s a very badly taken picture (wish my camera phone has a higher resolution)
If you look at the left side of the photo, the hair there are, eh, shooting up? So I comb over that side (actually it’s the same on both side), it would just bump up.
I don’t recommend putting hair lightener on your face at all. The pigments in the hair lift through 10 stages all the way through very pale yellow. If you actually get to white, you have overprocessed your hair, destroyed the core proteins, and will have a gummy, mushy mess on your hands. I replied to someone in this thread about bleaching a beard once already - there’s more info in there. If I can find it, I will link you to it.
“I can’t seem to get the haircut I want” seems to be a common refrain. I suspect it has to do with a communication breakdown, that customers don’t know stylist’s terminology. For example, you’ve used terms like “shattered” and “Ivy League” and I’ve seen things like “directional styling”, etc. What I would love to see is a glossary of hair cutting/styling terms so I could more accurately explain what I want/don’t want. Does that exist?
For example, I hate the way layers are cut now (to make them look like I have split ends. Yuck!). I want my hair cut the way everyone was cutting layers in the late 90’s/early 00’s. I know it when I see it, but I don’t know what the technique is called. Hell, I don’t even know what this “chop your hair into split ends” technique is called so I can say I don’t want that!
I feel like if my stylist and I were at least talking the same language, I could get what I’m imagining in my head. Do you know of any websites or books that list these techniques with examples?
Should you wait a while (like a day or more) after getting your hair colored before washing it? How long? Any truth to the tale that washing with hot water strips the color faster?
Just make sure to add moisture if you are washing daily. Concentrate on the ends and work your way up.
