Pregnancy and Hair

Have you just fallen pregnant and get your hair done regularly? Some things you should know.

Firstly, during the first trimester of pregnancy, mothers should avoid hair colours that come into contact with the scalp. 

This is not just to keep chemicals off the skin and therefore entering the body. When using colour products directly on your scalp in this stage they can react with the hormones in your skin, heat up in ways that are irregular and the colour you’ve been getting every time you retouch your hair will come out completely different at your roots.

This won’t happen with foils luckily. You can get your highlights retouched as regularly as normal. But with an all over colour in the first trimester (and I’d recommend during your whole pregnancy and if you decide to breast feed) stick with a semi permanent if you have grey hair you need to hide, they have less or no ammonia compared to tints, and avoid other chemical treatments.

Secondly, you need to know about hair loss. 

Once, a few months after one of my clients gave birth, she called me super stressed out because she was losing clumps of hair. Scared to brush it or wash it incase she was making it worse. I told her to treat her hair as normal as treating it delicately wouldn't change a thing.

Throughout the duration of your pregnancy you may notice your hair getting thicker. This is common during pregnancy but doesn't happen with everyone and the degree in which it happens varies between pregnancies and people. 

The way this seems to work is that, instead of losing the average 100 hairs a day (as a rule, refer back to Hair Loss blog) your body retains that hair and around 3 to 5 months after you've given birth, all that hair that you retained starts to fall out rapidly. If you're pregnant and your hair has gotten a lot thicker enjoy it while it lasts as unfortunately the hair loss is unavoidable. But don't worry, it will all come back. it all starts growing back and you'll notice short hairs sprouting all over the place and then you'll have your hair back before you know it. It may come back a little different depending on how your body copes with all the changes. The case will be different for everyone. Hormones are very powerful. 

In the case of my stressed out client, her hair has grown back completely. Nothing to worry about.

Platinum Blonde! MX article

Mx magazine asked me to do an article all about platinum blondes. So I thought I'd share it with you.

Here is the Q&A:


Is it for everyone? 
Definitely not. First of all its a very extreme look and so you need to have the right personality and sense of style. Platinum is very high maintenance, if your natural colour is quite dark it may be hard to achieve. Also if your hair is not very strong, it wont handle the damage bleach can create, very well. 


What kind of skin tone suits platinum hair? 
In my opinion anyone can have this look, its all about how you wear it and how you alter your other features to suit it, eg. you may have to lighten your eyebrows. But in saying that it definitely looks better on someone with fair skin.


Would you have to alter your make-up with this dramatic style? 
Yes, the clearer your skin is the better your hair will look when its platinum so a cover up or concealer will probably be necessary. Eye make-up is also a must, the minimum you should wear is mascara as your eyes will look washed out without anything.


How is it achieved? 
Primarily bleach directly on the scalp and most of the time a toner will be needed at the end of the process to create that icy cool feel. Brands of colour that get the most even result are Wella and L'Oreal. 


How often does it need to be refreshed? 
Every 4 weeks. Never leave your re-growth longer than that or you'll find it very hard to keep your colour even.


Does it damage the hair? 
Definitely, but different people will have different degrees of damage so some hair types will cope quite well with the colour. It can also be very harsh on your scalp depending on your sensitivity.


What about fading? 
Platinum doesn't really fade, it can get dull or brassy but most of the time if your using the right products (like a blonde shampoo which tones as you wash) and are getting it refreshed periodically you wont have any problems.


Is there a less extreme blonde look that is more manageable? 
Of course, you can get a light blonde tint which wont get as bright. Or my favourite alternative is a full head of high quantity bleach highlights. You can get almost as blonde without having to have your hair colour refreshed as often as the regrowth isn't as pronounced. (An example of this colour type is my client Ruby to the left)


Favourite platinum/super blonde celebs? 
Gwen Stefanie is the queen on platinum. Pink and Abbey Lee Kershaw also look great.

Summer Frizz

Summer has arrived! 
Loving that its hot enough to swim. The salt water is giving my hair a great beach wave but when I'm not at the beach the humidity is sending my hair into a ball of frizz!

The best solution for this problem is products. 
There are so many frizz repelling products out there from sea salt sprays which absorb the moisture in your hair, to shine serums which calm and smooth out the frizz. There are even anti-humidity hair sprays. But the most powerful product out there is the Keratin Treatment.
This product, in addition to eliminating frizz and adding long lasting strength and moisture to your hair for around 3 to 6 months, used to get your hair super straight also.

In the last year there has been a lot of controversy over Keratin treatment products. Mostly surrounding one brand in particular. As a result, all brands took their products off the shelf and reformulated to meet OHS standards. I was very disappointed (as were my clients) to find that after this reformulation, the once perfect and long lasting, smoothing straightening treatment, was not as good and in some cases not working at all. So I had to give some refunds and re-dos. I wasn’t going to give up though. 

Which Keratin Product works best?

I took it upon myself to sample several different brands and start stocking the best one.

I’m very excited to have found it! Global Keratin. Its not as great as the original product in the sense that it doesn't straighten the hair as well, but it and definitely reduces frizz, improves the condition of the hair and lasts around 4 months. 

But, I am continually testing out brands as they come out so if I find one that works better I promise to update this post.

Get the most out of your colour.

I forget sometimes that a lot of people have trouble making their colour last. This is a problem I constantly manage to avoid for my clients. I'm all about creating low maintenance colour while giving them what they want.
I recently had a blog request on the subject though so I thought I'd share it:

"In your blog, I wonder if you could include a tip or two about getting the most out of your colour? I noticed shampoo ads are always talking up how they make your colour more vibrant for longer or some such, Is this really possible? Are there any other tips or an idea of how long a colour should last / how often you should have to redo it?"

Such a great question. Firstly, all colours fade, grow out or become dull over time. Do not believe these ads when they say that they will make your colour more vibrant. You can, however, use shampoos that aren't as harsh and don't strip out your colour. Please refer back to the Oily & Dry blog for how these shampoo's and conditioners work.

Secondly, it all depends on what kind of colour you have. You cant slow down the rate your hair grows so re-growth is always going to happen. If you have an all over permanent colour you aren't going to notice the regrowth as much if its close to your natural colour. Highlights are going to grow out better than tints as they're scattered colour so the regrowth line is less defined. The more natural the highlights are made to look, the less obvious the regrowth will be. You can get up to 3 months out of your highlights in some cases. If your permanent tint isn't close to your natural colour then I'd suggest getting it done every 4 to 6 weeks.

Thirdly there are ways to touch up your colour to make it last longer at home. You can buy salon shampoos that have toners built in. Red For red hair, Brown for brown hair etc. There's a great range in Goldwell for these type of products.

For a great colour alternative you can always get a semi-perminant. You wont have any regrowth as it is supposed to fade out. Although you can only deposit colour pigment with semi's which means you cant get a lighter colour without it being permanent. But please do not get a semi-permanent home colour. Every time I work with hair that has had a home job "semi" permanent, there is always a regrowth proving that it isn't a semi and will never fade out completely.

Losing Hair? Don't stress

On average we lose 100 strands of hair a day. This is relative to how much hair you already have. For example, if you have thicker hair, you'll lose more, if your hair is fine, you'll lose less. Pretty straight forward. But if you're finding that you're losing more than usual there could be a few reasons why.

Change of season, diet or medication can all cause you to lose more hair. Also if you're a woman who has recently given birth you will lose a lot of hair in most cases. Then there's the hereditary reasons. If balding is in your family then you should probable see a Trichologist (a doctor who specialises in hair and scalp) to see if there are any solutions for your particular problem. 

If you're still losing hair and can't relate back to any of the above reasons then here is the last and most common reason for hair loss. Stress. Long term stress and anxiety will cause you to lose a lot of hair and you'll notice when you calm your nerves for a long period of time there will be a lot of short hair growing at once from your roots. This looks dreadful and makes styling your hair that much harder. So avoid it before its too late. 

Relax, do some meditation or let that stress out whatever way works best for you. You'll thank yourself for your thick healthy hair

Fringes!! (or "bangs")

I love a good fringe, whether it’s blunt over the brows, the side fringe or long and messy. Fringes or “Bangs” can be a fun addition to your look when you’re bored and want a change without doing anything too dramatic. They also give you some style when you decide to pin your hair back.

Unfortunately there are many cases of fringes gone wrong. This happens when you don’t have the right hairline for the fringe you’ve decided on. A low forehead or cowlick hairline can almost always struggle with a fringe that sits full and forward onto the face. In this case I would always go for a longer fringe or side fringe or short loose layers that shape the face more

When deciding what the best option is for you, you must go with your hair and DON’T FIGHT AGAINST IT! Gently style it forward and see where it parts and how it sits. If its separating and pushing itself back then go for a longer option.

If you still really want a fringe then look into the clip in human hair extension bangs. You can get these cut and coloured to 

suit your face and hair and you’ll never have to worry about fighting to style it again.

Sea Salt Spray!

Sea Salt Spray, Ocean Spritz, Salt Water Hair Products!

My favorite product out there! Giving your hair body and texture without making it greasy. It’s primarily used to enhance the curl or wave in your hair and give you a sexy beach look. But if you spray it moderately into your roots before blow-drying it is a fantastic body builder! It gives your style amazing long lasting volume. It’s a water based product with salt, so it actually absorbs the oil in your hair adding days to your blow-dry.

So what brand should you buy? Well you can't really get it wrong. They're all great. I even worked with a hairdresser once who lived up in the Central Coast of NSW and would fill a spray bottle up at McMasters beach. Apparently it was a great salt to water ratio. He used the spray like liquid gold in the salon.

So no matter what you try, please enjoy this product. Its one of my go-to's