Love That Hat?
If you find a baseball cap or hat of any kind has suddenly become your trademark, it's time to get to a salon. The single best thing you can do to immediately improve the look and condition of your hair is a good precision hair cut.

Just moved to a new location or city or maybe just looking for a new stylist? The very best way to find a skilled new stylist is to stop people whose hair you admire, (great cut and superb condition and even better if their hair has a similar natural texture as your own), and ask them where they get their hair done. Time and time again we have new clients that say they had to come and check us out because the last five people they stopped came to us. And we have always found without exception, that people are happy to refer you when asked to their salon.

Always communicate clearly with your stylist, letting them know your exact wishes and the goals you wish to achieve for your hair. This way you will not end up with a cut or colour that you're unhappy with. Ensuring a flow of constant clear communication will in turn allow your stylist to please you, and not disappoint you, and maybe losing you as their client.

Split ends cannot be repaired by treatments or conditioners Period. Just as when you tear a fingernail, it has to be trimmed before the tear continues to worsen, you cannot repair it. The same goes for your hair. If you have split ends you must trim them before they continue down the hair shaft making your hair in a much worse state.

Wide Is Best
Always style your hair using a wide toothed comb. The teeth should be rounded on the ends to avoid scratching the scalp and without any seams from manufacturing which can snag on your hair.

Curl Hot
When using a curling iron always use one that has a temperature control; that way it cannot become too hot. Leave your hair very slightly dampened before curling and styling. We recommend always using a thermal styling spray before curling for added protection against the heat. And never use a curling iron on dirty hair.

If you want a longer hold for your style when using a curling iron, try spraying the hair before you iron with a thermal styling spray.
To increase the texture on thick or wavy hair, long layers will boost up the wave and curl.

Brush Basics
Be careful when brushing hair that is relaxed, colour treated or permed because of its weaker condition. When your hair is growing out, it is weakest where the processed hair meets the new growth, and improper brushing may snap the strands at this point.

Gel Right
Liquid hair styling tools such as mousse, hair sprays or gels when used at the base of your hair near the scalp add lift and volume to your hair. When they are used at the ends they add weight.

Sleep Basics
Since most people toss and turn while they sleep you should never go to bed with your hair in rollers or pony tails. This tossing and turning during sleep with rollers or pony tails, may cause the hair to pull and break.

If you find your hair tends to tangle or mat at night when you sleep, try using a satin pillowcase to sleep on.

Tieback Tribulations
Really try to refrain from puffing your hair into ponytails. We find they tend to put too much stress on the hair, and the bands (elastics are the very worse) cause breakage when putting them in and taking them out.

Ageing Long
When you get over 35 years of age your face will be affected by gravity and the natural aging process. It's a gradual thing, but after a certain age longer styles will start to make you appear older rather than youthful. We recommend that you try keeping your hair in shorter styles, which generally speaking are more attractive on mature women.

Talk About It
If you do end up with a cut or colour you are dissatisfied with, call the salon and let them know. True professionals will always welcome feedback from their clients both positive and negative. A reputable salon will do all it can within reason to satisfy an unhappy client. But please call right away to allow them to see the problem when it is still fresh.

All in a Lather
AVOID USING shampoos that will strip your hair and leave it dry. Shampoos that are formulated to cleanse well but not strip the hair are the only shampoos we recommend.

Depending on the length of your hair, the chemicals you have in, the natural texture of your hair and the condition it is in, you can manipulate your hair to varying degrees when you shampoo. We will describe two ends of the spectrum.

If you have short, naturally straight hair, with no chemicals processes done to it, then you can give your hair and scalp a good scrubbing and suffer little or no damage, or consequences.

If you have long, relaxed and or coloured treated hair, then we ask that you treat your hair as you would a fine silk blouse. Do not scrub or rub your hair while shampooing, it's not necessary in order to achieve clean hair. You may damage the cuticles of your hair in the process. Gently massage the shampoo into and through your hair, working it into a lather on your scalp as you gently remove dirt and dead scalp cells. We recommend that you shampoo two to three times, rinsing well between shampoos.

Condition your hair every time you shampoo it. You may not always have time to do a deep condition but there are conditioners that rinse out after only a few minutes and others that can remain in after applying. Conditioning is one of the most important things you can do to upkeep your hair's appearance and health.

After shampooing your hair, press the water from your hair, first with your hands and then with a towel. Always avoid rubbing the hair at all times, as your hair is at its weakest condition when wet. Avoid brushing or over manipulating your hair when it is wet, doing this may lead to breakage.

If you have longer hair, always start the detangling process with your fingers first, then move on to a wide tooth pick or comb. Avoid pulling and straining your hair.

Conditioners will not repair your hair once it is damaged. They may affect its look and feel, as well as detangle and improve the wet combability of your hair. But they will not repair any structural damage present in the hair.

A reconstructor, if it has been formulated with the proper ingredients, may be able to repair external and internal damage to some extent. It depends on the amount of damage already present.

The use of a leave-in-conditioner is recommended to seal and protect your hair from airborne pollutants, weather elements as well as to help prevent damage from thermal styling tools.

Mineral oils clog pores. They should not be used on your hair or scalp as dressings. Read your products ingredients and if you see mineral oil or any petrolatum product as an ingredient, make another choice. There are many other products that will do a much better job. Ask your stylist to explain the latest products and make a recommendation for your hair type.

Hair can be sunburned, be careful of the sun. If you are going to be spending any time in it, protect your hair with a hat or by a applying sunblocking product.

A thermal protection product is a must if you frequently blow dry, or curl your hair with a curling iron. They contain conditioners and polymers that form a protective barrier around your hair that can help it withstand the heat from thermal styling tools.

If you find you have a dry scalp, your sebaceous glands may need a liffle help. We recommend the use of an EFA (essential fatty acids) product such as Kerasoft Prinioils. There are essential oils found in these types of products that closely resemble the natural sebum produced by our scalp's sebaceous glands. These oils will lubricate both your scalp and hair.

Drink six to eight glasses of water a day when possible. Water flushes your body's system of toxins that can cause general health, skin and scalp problems

Follow a well-balanced diet. Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables provides the body with the natural and necessary vitamins and minerals that are the basis for growing healthy hair and skin .

Products purchased in retail stores will not perform as well as professionally formulated products that are recommended for you by your stylist. It would be a lie to say that they are all no good. However, a great deal of them are formulated not only with inferior ingredients, but with ingredients that will cause product build-ups to form on your hair. These build-ups lead to many problems, such as uneven perming and colouring processes, dull lifeless hair without body and bounce and can even stop any conditioning or reconstructing treatments your doing on from penetrating into your hair and working properly.

IF YOU plan on both relaxing or perming and colouring your hair. The rule is; you must never perm a colour, you always colour a perm. What this simply means is that you must always do your colour after your perm. If it's a protein colour, also known as colour glazes, it's best to do it the same day as your perm, when the cuticle layers of your hair are more open from the perming process. This way the colour will penetrate deeper into the hair shaft. This is both befter for the conditioning befit as well as making the colour last longer. If it's a semi or demi-permanent colour, they also may be done the same day, depending on the condition of your hair. However, for all permanent colour we recommend that you book your appointment a week to 10 days after your perm, no more. This is the best possible timing for colouring relaxed or permed hair, if you wait longer than 10 days, the process of combining these two services becomes much more problematic.

Watch For Chemical Compatibility
Be aware that when reperming your hair different products have very different chemical formulations which may not be compatible with each other. If they are not compatible you could end up seriously damaging your hair and causing severe breakage.

When relaxing your hair you must avoid any overlapping of the chemical onto the previously relaxed hair. The previously relaxed hair doesn't need to be relaxed again. The relaxer must be applied to the new growth area alone, only this hair needs to be processed. By overlapping on the previously relaxed parts of your hair you are continually over processing these parts. It will definitely break.

Straight Scared?
Removing all of your hair's natural curl is all right (usually referred to as "bone straight"), if the hair is going to be kept short.

In Straight Focus
We strongly recommend relaxing your hair only up to 80% maximum, unless as we said before it's going to be keep short. This will allow some elasticity to remain in your hair. This elasticity is essential for body, bounce and strength, When you take your hair "bone straight", you also take out most of your hair's elasticity. The result is flat, lifeless hair. It is this elasticity that is crucial to hair being able to stretch when you are styling or manipulating it in any way, and not break.

Trying It At Home?
It's imperative if you are relaxing your hair at home that you make sure that you remove all the relaxer from your hair. This means that to be on the safe side you must thoroughly shampoo your hair 3-4 times. If you run out of the shampoo included in the kit any shampoo will do. It is does not have to be a neutralizing shampoo, it's the water the really does the neutralizing. If you leave even very, very minute amounts of chemical in your hair, the process of what's called residual chemical action will occur. What this means is those trace amounts left in your hair continue to work causing your hair to overprocess and then break. We find that we can trace this to be a main reason of the breakage problems people come to see us with.

Post Braiding
We do not recommend that you relax your hair in any way when you first come out of extensions or braids. We have found that both of these services inflict on the hair micro nicks and abrasions. When you relax your hair the relaxer works quicker at these areas or "hot spots" causing an uneven process and usually causing breakage that may not show up until a number of months later. If you must have a straight style, your much better off doing a deep reconstructing treatment and light press the first week. And if you must relax the same day you take out your extensions or braids you must fill your hair, this is the method of using a process protector on your hair to fill in those hot spots so that you will get an even process and minimize breakage.

I'm pregnant. Can I perm?
The answer is yes if by perm you mean relaxing in any way with any hydroxide and not perming with rods using a thio-based product. By their nature hydroxides are inorganic, meaning they don't off gas or have volatile compounds in them so we feel they are safe to use during pregnancy, especially with our off scalp technique. Thios, on the other hand we don't usually recommend at this time because they do off gas.