Hair Information

The Truth About Hi-Lites
In the 60's and 70's, long hair was in, but we had a problem. Women wanted to get their long hair hi-lighted, and we couldn't get all that hair through the old rubber "frosting cap". So a guy in France came up with the idea of using a rat tailed come and weaving it through the hair and putting wax paper over the color. By the time the technique came to the United States it had evolved to clear plastic strips which were sold as a kit. Now the problem was we could only color the hair on top. So someone tried "potato wrap" and that is how foil came about. Later, the "disposable" plastic cap came out which would allow closer and better control of color. Especially dark hair. But hair colorists like the money that foil brought them and didn't want to do "caps". So they convinced their customers that foil is the "only" way to hi-lite the hair. Wrong. Both methods work depending on the hair, its condition and the results the customer wants.

The Truth About Hair Color
Most European hair color is 2% ammonia. Their peroxides have cream buffers in them to make them as mild as possible. The European products are higher priced because of the quality but they last longer than the American colors. You can always tell European color because it shines. So if you're trying out a new hairdresser make sure to ask them what kind of hair color they are using.

The Truth About Hair Damage
Most hair damage is caused by chemicals such as hair color and harsh shampoo. The rest comes from climate. We are constantly in the sun or exposed to salt water or chlorine. Click here to read more about the nature of hair damage and what you can do to prevent it.

The Truth About Shampoos
The difference in shampoos is fragrance, ph, and chemical detergents (ammonia and laurel sulfates). They are basically all the same, just soap. A shampoo for color treated hair simply has a lower ph.

The Truth About Conditioners
The hair accepts two chemicals. Fatty acids and Protein. When your skin dries out, you rub on some kind of lotion, which is usually fatty acids to help the dryness. This works on your skin but not on your hair. It builds up and makes it heavy. You switch shampoos (they have a different ph) and it removes some of the Cosmetic buildup, but your shampoo gets use to the conditioner and it builds up again only to have you change shampoos again and again trying to get rid of the heaviness of your hair. The problem lies in the conditioners, which contain wax and oils (Paraffin) and also are over priced. They coat the hair and weight it down. Even the so-called "protein conditioners" don't work. Water loves protein and when you rinse your hair, whatever protein was in there is washed out.