How to Care for Color Treated Hair

Almost every woman I know, even some men, have colored their hair at some point in time. Whether you are trying to enhance your natural God given color,( most women have no idea what that is :), cover gray or have highlights, there are definitely tips to help prevent fading and help keep your color looking fresh until your next appointment. Not to mention, keeping your money from going down the drain!

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• If possible, wait at least 48-72 hours to shampoo your hair after having your color done.

• Only use sulfate free shampoos and conditioners on your hair. Sulfates are detergents to help create lather in shampoos. Sulfates remove color molecules right out of the hair shaft which results in fading.

• Do not use super hot water on your hair. This causes the cuticle to swell and all your color will go down the drain. Literally.

• Condition your hair with a conditioner made for your hair type...this applies to fine hair too. If you fall into the" fine hair" category and are nervous that your hair will fall limp, only apply to your ends and not at the scalp. After conditioning, rinse your hair in a cooler water temperature. This helps close the cuticle which promotes shine and reduces fading.

• If you color your hair red, auburn, chestnut, copper, strawberry, anything that could be in the "red, orange or violet" family, try to go a couple days between shampooing. Same goes for resistant gray or gray hair that fades quickly.

• Try using hair powder or a dry shampoo to help absorb excess oils and add volume to your hair instead of shampooing everyday. 

• You can rinse and use a conditioner on your hair, but try to limit shampooing to every other day.

•  When shampooing, keep the shampoo off your ends. Your scalp is what needs to be cleaned, not the ends of your hair, unless you have product build up.

• If you have any color on your hair, DO NOT use a clarifying shampoo. This will strip the color out of your hair. If you must use a clarifying shampoo, make sure to do so closer to your next color appointment.

• If your hair is over-processed, damaged or breaking, ask your colorist about re-constructive treatments. Most professionals will have a line or products designated to help rebuild and reconstruct the hair shaft, which will minimize breakage.

•  After shampooing and conditioning, spray Seal liberally all over the hair. Seal is a SEVEN product that helps seal in moisture, (hence the name :), and closes the cuticle to reduce fading.

• In the spring and summer keep sun exposure to a minimum. Ultra violet light is a killer for colored hair.

• If you love to swim, try to keep your hair from absorbing chlorine by wetting your hair down before entering the pool. 

Happy Coloring!!!

Wedding Diary - What Kind of Flowers?

Being a girl, I love flowers. Being that I'm planning my wedding, they are definitely an even bigger element. I still haven't decided on "the flower". Naturally, my bouquet will have an assortment; but for the ceremony, reception, and general feel, I do want to decide on a single type of bloom. Below I present to you my top picks so far. Keep in mind my wedding colors are black and the palest pink, as well as sprinkle of deeper pink for accent.

Peony:

Such a beautiful, full, lush bloom. This bouquet is breathtaking. But they are expensive, so I will have to decide accordingly.

Dahlia:
Dahlias are so unique looking; they almost look like little honey combs!

Hydrangea:
I fell in love with these a few months ago when I first saw them in a magazine. They are such nice and full blooms, they create the appearance of abundance with really quite little.

Lilac:
These are fast becoming my number one pick of flower. I like that they aren't hugely popular, and you can also get a light pink variety. I think it would look nice for my bridesmaids to hold just a couple of the slender flower, with a simple ribbon tied around the stems. Not to mention their amazing scent

What is your favorite flower?

Wedding Diary

bonjour, poupees=)

I'm happy to announce I will be starting a new blogging series!

In Wedding Diary I will invite you along the journey of planning my special day - the dress, the dance and all the details.

Follow along as I plan my big day and share with you my finds, thoughts and ideas along the way.

And if you're already married - even better. I gladly welcome your first hand experience=)

Stay tuned for this fun-filled series.

You're Invited

{To My Masquerade}

Wanna Play?

^Look familiar?^

Ahhh, memories. I remember playing My Little Ponies with my sister in the landing of our staircase many, many years ago. I loved them, and still do. They are just too cute for words.

The Big Day/Night Part 1

freestyle THEORY

Yesterday and last night were amazing and a HUGE success!!! I'm pretty sure this was our best show yet. The Creative Team was definitely on it's "A" game and it showed :)

We started around 11am at Bellevue SEVEN for our 8pm show. Lots of work and planning go into these shows. It is almost like planing a wedding. Months of meetings and going over every detail...only to be over in 30 minutes once it starts. And like most weddings, it's always worth it in the end.

All the models were wonderful to work with. Without boring you to tears on all the details, we had 30 models all together. 10 of which are non-professional and 10 of which are professional. All that means is that the 10 pros have runway experience and they are signed with the agency TCM. We also had 5 male models and 5 pedestal models.

The pedestal models are one of my favorites to work on because they get over the top creative hair. Each of the girl's hair represented a city:  

Seattle, London, New York, Tokyo and Paris.

Richard working on the London look

Dani receiving the Paris look

Yuriko for Tokyo

Getting hair prepared for Jade

Evan curling wefts

                              

Evan working on braids for the Seattle look

Masumi and Evan prepping hair wefts

Noah creating the "I love NY" heart on Jade

While the Pedestal models were getting their BIG do's...the 10 non pro models were getting their hair cut and colored. They either represented Tokyo or London down the runway.

Color time

Antonio and Richard at work

Processing color

Jodi being a trooper

Tony working his magic

Nicole

Here are some of the final looks before show time

Yuriko proudly representing Tokyo

Nicole working London

Me with Yuriko and Jeana

The London and Tokyo Models dressed and ready to go!

The entire day ran pretty smoothly. We did have 1 model that came down with a stomach bug, but we saved face and our very own Masumi filled in and walked the runway. A special thank you to Masumi for being the ultimate team player! :)

More runway and backstage shots later...