More Hair Tips and Tricks

This week you'll read about some new tips and techniques that I've been trying out on my clients, including a really awesome hair straightening technique that I recently developed. The main impetus of any new technique is to save time, then the technique becomes a shortcut. A few of these techniques can actually be quite time-consuming, but I believe there is no shortcut when it comes to quality. In the salon, I believe on doing things the right way, even if it takes a little longer. I see it like this: I can spend thirty minutes on a haircut and charge $100, and the client may never come back. If I take my time and perform a quality service and charge a fair price, then that client will most likey return on a regular basis. For that reason, I don't really believe the easy way is the best way.

That brings us to my all-new technique used to take even the kinkiest and curliest hair and make it as straight as a nail. Be forewarned: this process can take about an hour for medium-length hair, and even longer for hair that extends past the shoulder. But there is no better method I have found to tame hair that has been labeled "untamable". This technique is very similar to a technique called hair-pressing, which is used to temporarily straighted ethnic hair types. I have adapted this process to apply to all hair types, even fine hair. Fine hair would normally burn and singe with the standard hair-pressing technique.

The first step is to shampoo the hair with TIGI's Bedhead Control Freak shampoo. Control Freak is an anti-frizz shampoo that helps straighten the hair. I condition the hair with Control Freak conditioner as well. This combination really makes the hairshaft smooth and preps the hair for blowdrying.

After conditioning, I towel-dry the hair and section the hair into four. The key here is to work with small sections. If it helps you to section the hair into five or six sections, then go for it. The less hair you work with, the better results you will achieve. I start at the nape, taking about a one and a half inch horizontal section. Apply a few drops of Bedhead Control Freak Smoothing Serum to each section and comb it through to the ends so that the entire hairstrand is coated. The hair should feel really slick and slippery. If it does, then you're doing it right. Using a vent brush (if you don't know what one is, read last week's article), blowdry the hair by aiming the airflow in a downward direction. Avoid the habit of moving the dryer back-and-forth. Keep the dryer on high heat and high speed and hold it about 8 inches from the hair. Using your vent brush, keep firm tension on the hair. The more tension, the straighter the hair will be. When the section you are drying is about 90% dry, bring down another section and continue working up the head in this fashion. When all the hair has been dried, it should be fairly straight. If your hair wasn't very curly to begin with, you can choose to stop now.

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