Sunny With The Chance Of Highlights

This is the time of the year when it is all about renewal and revival. It is time to celebrate this beautiful warm sunny weather by treating yourself to a fresh new lighter and brighter hair color. Don't be afraid to try something new or dare I say different.

For all the blonds out there, the lighter always seems to be "better". If your not already changing your base color, I suggest you do. Even taking your natural hair color one shade lighter and warmer will brighten up your face giving you that instant sun kissed glow. The best part about changing your base color is that you need less highlights to give you that blond look. Less highlights means less bleach and healthier hair. Not only that but a base change will extend the life of your highlights, requiring fewer highlight visits saving you time and money. All this makes it worth the try.

For the darker headed and some timid ladies, going lighter does not have to be scary. Sometimes dark, cool and drab locks can make your skin look sallow and lifeless. How about trying a beautiful rich dark chocolate hair color with some yummy caramel balayage highlights. With a hue that is so soft and natural, keeping up with your new base color is all you need to do to keep this look alive. With that said, many do look amazing with black or extremely dark hair, but sometimes it can look plain and boring. Adding some natural sun-kissed balayage highlights a couple shades lighter then your natural hair color will add a whole lot of interest and really showcase a fabulous cut and brighten your face. With this look you will only need to retouch your highlights every 4 - 6 months!

The Den Salon in Chino Hills
Stylist and Hair Color Artist Sheena Rush

Prom 2010 Hair Ideas

Its that time of the year and prom is just around the corner. Every year gals prepare for the biggest dance of the school year, prom of 2010 is no exception. The most important rule to prom is you have to look amazing...preferably sexy. You found the perfect dress and your super hot date, and now the hair. Prom hair is the important finishing touch on your look...and that is where I come in. I hand picked some of my favorite prom hairstyles that are a must do this year. 

What I like about this half down look are those waves. The look is sweet and soft and can be incorporated in many different looks. The use of a braid in the fringe area will give this style a bohemian flair. Want to turn this style into something with a little more sass and edge....instead of loosely pulling back the top hair pieces from a center part....take hair further away from the face and let these sexy waves fall from a soft bouffant.

I am in love with the faux bob! The best part about this look is that you don't need to have short hair to create this sexy tousled look. Long hair is pinned underneath soft curls and waves to fake short hair. I must say that short hair is so much fun and even better when you don't have to commit to it. This look screams confidence and a sure way to make a statement.

The messy up-do is a super chic look that's a favorite of many celebrities. This is exactly the kind of stylish but unfussy look that screams the image of sexy, confidant trendsetter. Headbands and this imperfect hairstyle go hand in hand. The tousled and quite wild look can instantly be softened with a pretty accessory to really tie the hairstyle together. There are no set messy up-do rules. Messy up-dos can work with any type of hair, texture or color and with any length.

Neat yes. Boring no. This soft sweeping up-do is romantic, feminine, carefree and quite timeless. There are many variations of this popular up-do...such as leaving some side swept fringe or soft layers around the face. You can also make it more of a side up-do or instead of the tousled curls in the back, trying a messy bun. This look is clean and is great to wear if you want to showcase earrings or the neckline and simply looks amazing on everyone.

www.sheenarush.com 

Day 4 of the series: The Importance Of Styling Products

The 4th in the series: The Truth To Creating Salon Style At Home

Here is a quick overview of what you really need to achieve your favorite salon style at home.

First: Keep your hair healthy with professional shampoo and conditioner. healthy hair is not rebellious and more responsive to styling. I also shared with you that store brands have low quantity of quality ingredients and use fillers that add to dryness or buildup.

Second: Use a professional blow dryer that has the heat, power and technology to correctly dry hair, smooth frizz and control flyways without causing extra damage.

Third: The right brush will make your end results easy to achieve

and fourth and final tip in this series: The Importance Of Styling Products

What we love about styling product is that they instantly make your life so much easier when it comes to styling. For a fine haired gal a root booster will instantly add texture to her roots to create exciting volume and fullness. What I must share with you is with the changing seasons and the changing trends our hair tends to pay a price. As we fight with it to stay straight through all the humidity, static electricity, and bump up the volume, we seem to torture our strands with more heat tools. The importance of utilizing products is not only to assist us when creating lushes long lasting curls or silky smooth hair, but its to protect our hair from our curling irons, blow dryers and flat irons. Constant heat from our styling tools and even sun exposure and chlorine can cause major damage to the structure of our hair....making it dry, brittle, frizzy and possibly even breakage. Here is the dish on what you should be using. 

Products don't cause damage -- misuse does. Especially with heat styling tools! Apply mousse, sprays and creams to well hydrated and wet hair and remember that less is more! People often use to much product, which can cause hair to get weighed down. Moisturizing products are great for the health of hair and can help repair and prevent damage from heat styling. When using, gently comb the product through your hair to insure that each strand is coated. Also don't forget that when you are blow drying your hair...remove most of the moisture prior to styling. If you are using a flat iron or curling iron...remove all moisture or you will burn your hair!

My favorite styling products are from Bumble and Bumble and Kerastase. If your looking for soft touchable smooth hair, I would suggest using Kerastase. They have creams and serums for smoothing rough hair textures to create soft silky straight hair. Even there volumizing mouse and sprays are great for adding volume leaving a no product feel to the hair. Best of all, while all the products help protect your hair from heat damage, they have creams and sprays specifically for protecting and strengthening your hair against hot tools, pool water and sun exposure.

Volumizing products work! They provide the guts that are needed to build the style without weight, for volume and longevity.Bumble and Bumble styling aids are perfect for those looking to create texture in their hair. I believe that you get the best root boosting and volumizing results from using these products. While Kerastase results are soft...it can be to soft and sometimes you really want that extra help to give you the lift and lasting style that you need. You will get that and more with Bumble and Bumble. I like to start with the products Prep and Tonic Lotion because they protect and enhance the performance of styling products. Then if your going for volume, My favorite is Styling Creme. I Love Love Love it for its versatility and simple strength - slick back, add body, lift roots or define curl. You can use it on wet or dry hair and it holds like crazy without the stiffness! Going straight??? Use "Straight" and you will get the sleekest and straightest style easy.

Sure having training in creating the perfect blowout....or how to use a round brush may seem like it helps...but in reality without the professional tools and products...the styles you get at the salon are not possible. That is  the reason why you never see a stylist using a Conair blow dryer or drug store products on our clients. Those things will cause more harm than good. I hope that you all found this series helpful and feel free to give my any tip ideas. I love to know what it is you all want to know. Thanks again

www.sheenarush.com

The Truth To Achieving Salon Style At Home Series Day 3

The Truth To Achieving Salon Style At Home

Series Day 3: The Round Brush War

Half the problem of getting the right style and preventing damage is the type of hairbrush you use. As important as the brush itself, depending on the type of style your want to achieve, it is also important to know how wet your hair should be before you take a brush to it at all. Never ever use a brush on wet or damp hair.  Instead, use either your fingers or a high quality wide tooth comb and detangle your hair from ends to the roots. Most damage happens when the hair is wet. When hair is wet or damp, it's at it's very weakest point. Why?  When hair gets wet the water breaks down the natural hydrogen bonds in the hair.Yes, they reform again when the hair dries, but while wet, they are most fragile. So what are hydrogen bonds in the hair?  Within each hair the keratin chains are also linked by bonds of a different kind, called hydrogen bonds. When reshaping hair into different patterns the hair’s hydrogen bonds are broken apart when the hair is wet and then reforms when it is dried.  When the bonds break, the shape of the hair changes.  Therefore, when wet strands of hair are wound around rollers or any type, a new shape forms. To minimize damage, Allow hair to air dry whenever possible.  High levels of heat directed towards wet or damp strands may cause long term damage.  If you must dry your hair consider setting your dryer on a low heat and speed. Dry hair 50% for achieving straight hair and 85% for achieving body in hair.

The Round Brush 

Round brushes are extremely important  because their main purpose is to aid styling and blow-drying and using the right brush will bring you satisfying results. The different diameters are used to straighten wavy hair or to create volume in straight hair.  Choose a large diameter if you have longer hair and want straight strands. My brush of choice is a boar bristle brush such as the Marylin Brush. The mixed bristles are great for smoothing and straightening coarse or curly hair because it grips the hair and creates enough tension to get the hair really smooth without pulling. The boar bristle brush also is meant to distribute natural hair oils for a healthy shine.

 Though I prefer the Marylin Brush even to achieve volume and curl, a easier choice is a smaller diameter ceramic brush like the ceramic + ion thermal hairbrush by Olivia Garden. This synthetic bristle thermal brush features a vented ceramic barrel and ideal for faster styling while blow-drying. This unique brush also includes an ion charged material designed to help smooth and shine hair, distribute the heat from the hair dryer to speed up drying time, and reduce frizz and static.  The metal heats up like a curling iron, which leads to easy control over styling and are ideal for creating curls and body in straight hair.

As you can see, the right round brush can really determine your styles end result. So what brush are you going to get to create that perfect blowout???

For more information on the Marylin Boar Brush go to www.marilynbrush.com

For more information on the Olivia Garden Ceramic Brush visit www.oliviagarden.com

 www.sheenarush.com

The Truth To Achieving Salon Style At Home Day 2

Series Day 2: Tools Make Or Break It

Most people are very good about taking care of their hair and using the right products...they even buy styling aids to help them with volume or make curly hair straight. That is all great and those types of products do make a huge difference....but they are what they are, styling aids. The blow dryer is the tool needed to do the job. There are only three ways to alter the texture of your hair...1) chemicals 2) hot to cold 3) wet to dry. since we are not using chemicals, that means that you need a hot tool to change the texture of your hair. Styling aids will only assist your styling needs to make results easier, but they will not change your texture alone. Curling irons use hot to cool to change texture, a blow dryer uses both hot to cool and wet to dry. Professional blow dryers have more power, heat and technology to dry, smooth and seal the cuticle hair gently and quickly. A cheap blow dryer will burn hair and the lack of heat and power will not be enough to seal and dry the hair properly, leaving the hair frizzy.

             

             I also fell victim to buying a cheaper dryer...I felt with all my training I have mastered the art of blow drying to not need to spend money on a good quality dryer. So I went to Sally's Beauty Supply and got a blow dryer for $30. I will tell you right now that my hair looked as if I styled my hair with my feet. My hair had static because it was so dry.... my hair is curly and the lack of heat was not able to smooth out my curl...and because of the lack of power, my hair didn't dry properly and turned frizzy right away! Another thing I notices was that even though I was using great products, my blow dryer was so damaging it made that effort obsolete.

              I learned real fast that a good blow dryer does make the difference and from experience I am sharing this with you. My blow dryer of choice is the Parlux 3200 Compact Hair Dryer and is also what I use when working on my clients. In Parlux ionic blow dryers, the flow of negative ions bombard the drops of water molecules, transforming them into micro-molecules which are absorbed by the hair, leaving it soft, shiny and healthy. As much as I use my dryer....I have not had the need to replace it with a new one. This has truly been the longest lasting dryer I have ever had...so imagine how long this will last you. Though the professional quality dryers are more expensive, not only do the dryers last years, but your style can last for days. Less need to style your hair everyday means less time wasted and less products used. You save time and money. Well worth the investment.

For more information on Parlux Hair Dryers go to www.birthofbeauty.com

www.sheenarush.com 

The Truth To Achieving Salon Style At Home

Do you ever find yourself saying..."I never seem to be able to style my hair at home the way my stylist does my hair in the salon". Or how about, "My hair always looks great when my stylist does my hair but never looks the same when I try to do it myself". I will bet you a million dollars that the problem is not you!!! That's right... it is not your lack of skills that is giving you all those bad hair days. The trick to styling hair is NOT many years of training on how to use a round brush. Healthy hair and professional tools are the key to achieving beautiful long lasting styles.

The reason your hair looks and feels so great  when you visit the salon is because of the products and tools we use on your hair to achieve those favorite looks. From the shampoo and conditioner...styling products...and yes... down to the type of blow dryer and brushes contribute to amazing and lasting style. During this 4 day series I will share with you the real deal on how to achieve salon hair at home... none of which will have anything to do with skills.

First Things First: You might be washing your hair the wrong way...
Most of us think we have this down pat, but for all we know, we might be wrong. After all, we have been washing our hair all our lives. How could we go wrong with something like washing our hair? However, we might be washing our hair the wrong way and contribute to its damage without actually knowing it. When your hair is damaged by the use of hot flat irons, highlights, pool water or sun exposure, your hair is dry, brittle with blasted open cuticles making it frizzy. When your hair is in this condition, it is rebellious, at times full of static and unmanageable. Your hair color also appears dull and shine free. All of these negatives work against you making it harder to create great looks fast and easy.
( Damaged Hair Follicle)


                                                                            






Professional vs Cheap:
               Cheap shampoo and conditioners coat the outside of your hair in wax or silicone!!! That's why it feels soft, and "repaired" but it is doing nothing for the internal structure of your hair. All it actually is doing is coating your damaged hair w/ a waxy buildup that will take a lot more shampooing w/ a clarifying shampoo to remove. And that is only going to dry out your hair further! The stuff you get at the drug store or market is basically like throwing detergent on your head with a little silicone for temporary softness. Your hair is extremely delicate...more so than your face. Would you use detergent on your face??? Unlike your skin... hair that is out of the scalp is dead and cannot repair itself.
               Professional products are more expensive because of the quality ingredients to improve your hair from the inside out apposed to using cheap fillers and temporary coatings. Because professional products actually produce results, adding moisture, filling and repairing the holes of the hair follicle...you will start to need less and less product. A quarter size of shampoo and conditioner is all you need. You will find your professional products lasting longer then your cheap stuff...saving yourself money in the long run. So please stop if your going to spend money...spend it on something that works. Why would you spend a bunch of money on getting your hair colored and cut to ruin it with cheap product.

               My favorite professional salon brand of shampoo and conditioners is Kérastase Paris and I use it on all my clients at The Den Salon. I like this line because every person is unique and each hair type has its own particular needs. For these reasons Kérastase has an entire collection of personalized haircare products that target and tailor to all of those individual needs. With some of the most advanced technology in the industry, Kérastase products transform your hair instantly. It is their promise that you receive immediate, visible results....and believe me....they deliver.

For more information on  Kérastase Paris please visit http://www.kerastase-usa.com

Tomorrow please visit again for Day Two of "The Truth To Achieving Salon Style At Home"
http://www.sheenarush.com