Mandy's Hair Tips & Tricks

Our stylists at Alter EGO love to share their hair knowledge. So much so that when I asked Mandy to share her favorite hair tips and tricks, she wrote up a huge list of all of her best styling tricks, shampoo & conditioning advice, and product tips because she didn’t want to miss a single thing! Thus, I would like to introduce… Mandy’s Hair Tips & Tricks!Shampoo & Conditioning Tips

-Brush your hair BEFORE you take a shower - it will be easier to wash/condition and it will save your drain from getting clogged.

-When shampooing, focus on your scalp!

-Don't shampoo everyday; it strips your scalp of its natural oils so then it works double time to replace it.

-Rinse your conditioner out with cool water. It seals your cuticle with all the goodies your conditioner is packed with.

-Clarifying shampoo is your friend! Your shampoo didn't stop doing its job. Hair gets bogged down over time with product buildup especially if you are putting drug store products on it. Giving your hair a good clean will give your hair life!

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-Pantene, Herbal Essence, Tresseme and other drug store brands might claim "color protection, heat protection, shine" but it’s really wax.wax.wax. If those products did what they said we would be using them in the salon or they wouldn't be as cheap! For example: if you spend $140 on highlights & a toner and you use a product that cost you $12 for shampoo and conditioner- your toner will be stripped off by the 2nd wash, if not the first. So $30 down the drain... literally! (I don't like to push people into) The products we sell here at Alter EGO aren’t the only ones that will take care of your hair, but we’ve selected the best of the best to (what I care about is) maintain(ing) the color we just spent 2 hours perfecting.

-Conditioning treatments! If you color your hair a lot, swim, or flat iron excessively then you should do a treatment once a week. All others, once a month! It helps with frizz, manageability, tangles, and increases shine!

Styling Tips

-Spray bobby pins with hairspray before putting them in.

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-Make sure the wavy side of the bobby pin faces down towards your scalp. It is designed to grab hair—the straight side holds it down.

-Want a fuller pony? Place two bobby pins on the bottom, pushing your pony up!

-Pony tail curls= less time to look FABULOUS!

-After you blow dry your hair, push the cool button to set it in place !

-Curl your hair different ways to add texture

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-Know your hot tools! And use heat protectants. Never put a flat iron/curling iron on wet or damp hair. Fine hair should not be flat ironed at 450 degrees. Don't go over a strand too many times or you will cause breakage! -If you flat iron your hair straight up towards the ceiling you will create volume. -BANGS: 1) if you have a cowlick use a fine tooth, heat resistant comb to control the cowlick! 2) When blow drying straight across bangs start by pushing them from one side to the other with the brush following through the hair dryer. When they are 90% dry, blow them straight down until completely dry. 3) To get side swept bangs to lay across your forehead , blow them dry on the opposite side of where they lay. If you use a round brush put the brush on top and roll up instead of under. When they are dry push them over to "their" side with the brush and round them under one last time.

Product Tips

-Apply dry shampoo the day you wash your hair--Right before bed will start to absorb those oils

-Most hair products should be applied at the ends first then work your way up... but not to the root!

-Don't waste product! A pearl size amount of gels, creams and serums go a long way! I rub mine on my hands like lotion and begin at the bottom and underneath. Each strand that touches any part of my hand gets product! Mousse is a little different... the type of nozzle has a lot to do with that. If you can spray it directly on the root in a line, put it where you want/need lift (all around the hair line, down the part and a few sections at the crown); no need to put mousse at the bottom of your hair. If it is a foam dispenser I would say start with a golf ball size and begin patting where you want the volume. When you are finished rub it all in!

Miscellaneous Tips

-Bring pictures to your appointments when going for a new look! Communication between you and your stylist is key to you loving your hair!

-Before getting in the pool wet your hair with water from the shower... You know, the one in the corner we are suppose to use before getting in the pool? Having your hair wet reduces the amount of chlorine it sucks up in the pool leaving your hair soft and healthy.

-The sun is super damaging to your hair! Cover it up or use a uva uvb protectant

-Don't forget about your scalp at the beach! If you have a part that is exposed to the sun it can be burned! Spray some sunscreen on it!

-If you have well water, buy a water softening shower head at a home improvement store! It will cut back on the chlorine and other minerals!

-When combing hair out of the shower use a wide tooth comb or a wet brush (a brush designed for wet hair that has flexible bristles to easily slide through knots!) don't just rip through those tangles!

-When washing your face, be aware of your hair line! Some face washes are pretty powerful and can't strip the color right off!

-About 6 months after having a baby you will start shedding... A LOT. Calm down, it’s normal. While pregnant you don't shed your typical 100 strands a day, so after your body starts getting back to "normal" it starts the shedding process. All the hair you accumulated during pregnancy starts to "fall out.”

-Color cannot lift color. If you have color on your hair it is a process to change it or lift it.

-Be open and honest with your stylist. If you color at home... let us know. If you are a get up and go… let us know. Getting a high maintenance cut or color is not for you.

-Camouflage your roots by zig zagging your part! And then book an appointment!

-Know what you want before heading to the salon. A big change needs discussing. When booking your appointment let the front desk know you would like a consultation or if you book online write it in the notes section. It helps us as stylist get prepared for what we are doing. After we get to know you ( 3+ appointments) we will get a better understanding of you and your hair and we will then be able to tell you what we think would look great on you.

Have fun with your new tricks, and enjoy your hair! Give your hair the life it deserves!

Tips & Tricks to Make Your Color LAST!

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“If I pay for a color, I want it to stay, ya know?” An exact quote from a conversation with a friend recently, but anyone who has ever paid to color their hair (and even if you’re a box color DIYer, you pay for it) has either said or thought these words. Whether you were born to be a redhead (but genetics made you brunette), or you’re convinced blondes have more fun (but the sun just isn’t working fast enough) once you decide on your hair color and invest in it, you want it to last. And really, when you think about it, your hair color IS an investment. The saying goes “you get what you pay for,” but I’d like to rephrase that to, “When you invest in quality, you get quality in return.” If you want your color to last, there are a variety of actions you can take to increase the longevity of your investment.

1. Embrace the idea that water is the enemy. 

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We’re talking in terms of hair here—you better be drinking that 64+ ounces a day. When it comes to hair color, water is the number one cause of color fade. Why? Short answer: science. Long answer: hair color is essentially a manipulation of the pigment molecules in your hair. Different levels of color work in different ways (Demi, permanent, etc) but ultimately, they all have to do with influencing or altering molecules. Water, particularly hot water, opens the hair cuticle, which allows the color molecules to escape more easily—which is why you see your color draining away into the bottom of your shower. If you want your color to last, reduce the amount that you wash your hair. Invest in a good dry shampoo that will prolong your clean hair, and if you have medium to long hair, learn to work that day three updo (my personal fave trick).

2. While we’re talking water… let’s talk about the COOL factor.

As mentioned above, hot water opens the hair cuticle the most, so washing your hair with cool or cold water will reduce the amount of color leakage (though not eliminate). No matter what, washing your hair is going to lighten or fade the color eventually. That, again, is a matter of science.

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3. Rolling with the washing topic… Every shampoo was NOT created equal.

Utilizing a color-safe shampoo is essential for prolonging the life of your color. There’s a variety of ones available—our favorites, of course, are R+Co’s Gemstone, and Oribe’s Shampoo for Beautiful Color. Or for blondes… Oribe’s Bright Blonde Purple Shampoo. When it comes to the topic of shampoo, there’s a lot of terms thrown around that can make the search for the right one confusing. Sulfate-free, clarifying, paraben-free to name a few… but the reality is that you should focus on the quality of the ingredients in your shampoo. Sulfates are what make the suds in cleansing products of all kinds, but like most everything else in life, there are extremely low-quality sulfates (the kind that can irritate your scalp, and can contribute to a quicker loss of color), and there are extremely high-quality sulfates as found in some of Oribe’s shampoos along with other salon-quality brands. Clarifying shampoo is another case of quality DOES count, and sparing use will not have a significant affect on your color. For more info on parabens see this article (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/08/image/la-ig-beauty-parabens-20110508).

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4. Your hair needs sun protection as much as your skin!

Sun darkens skin, but lightens hair, and that includes colored hair. Find a styling product that includes UV protection or buy yourself a really cute pool/beach hat. Just as your skin is damaged when out in the sun for too long with no protection, your hair can be affected in the same way. Not to mention, the term sun-kissed highlights came about due to naturally sun-lightened hair—the sun will do its best to lighten your hair whether colored or not.

5. Speaking of summertime… Chlorine is a chemical and it WILL alter your hair.

Avid swimmer? Live at the pool? If you swim for fitness and have colored hair, embrace the swim cap! Even if you don’t have colored hair… chlorine dries and damages hair, so strongly consider protecting it either way. If you just love to soak in the cool water… pin that hair up on top of your head and keep your head above the water. Refer to preservation tip #1… water is the enemy! Same goes for the beach, even though there’s no chlorine. The more you wet your hair, the more color will have a chance to escape whether there is shampoo involved or not.  If you do swim or want to dunk your head, consider investing in a chlorine neutralizer.  You can spray this on before, after, or both, and it will work to counter-balance the effects of chlorine.

6. Glazes/Glosses/Toners are your FRIEND.

If you love the shine of newly colored hair, or want your color freshened up without paying for another full on coloring session… ask your stylist about glazing or glossing your hair. Known also as toners, these are non-peroxide sheer colors that can brighten or subtly change your color, along with conditioning your hair. They last approximately 4-6 weeks, and are a great way to prolong the time between highlights or full colors.

7. INVEST in a deep conditioner or masque for your hair. 

Coloring or lightening your hair automatically alters it. Remember the manipulation of molecules? Science-y stuff happens no matter what kind of color. Thus, you want to make sure to treat your hair extra well following the color to improve its health. Using a deep conditioner once a week will add some hydration back into your hair, and helping to maintain the health of your hair.

8. Hand-in-hand with deep conditioners, heat protectants keep your hair healthy!

If you style your hair with heat of any kind—blow dryer, straightening iron, curling iron, etc… you should invest in a good heat protectant. This can come in the form of oils or a variety of sprays, and will act as a shield between your hair and the damaging effects of heat. Healthy hair takes color more evenly, so if you color your hair regularly, you want to take the best care possible to ensure your hair is healthy enough to smoothly accept the color treatment.

Natural progression of fashion color utilizing these techniques.

IN SUMMARY: Prolonging the life of your color requires an investment of more than just the actual color service. By design, color treatments alter your hair—ever heard the phrase “Every action has an equal and opposing reaction”? Coloring your hair requires a “reaction” (see: steps above) to ensure the integrity and health of your hair. If you have any questions about what might be best for YOUR hair… talk to your stylist!! They love to educate clients about the coloring process, and how to extend the life of their work… aka your hair!

Defining Hair Color: BALAYAGE

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If you pay even the teensiest morsel of attention to the fashion world, the obnoxious to spell and ever more challenging to pronounce, BALAYAGE is probably on your radar. If it’s not, it should be. Balayage, pronounced, Bah-lay-ahj, comes from the French word meaning “sweeping.” The coloring technique is thus named due to the nature of painting or sweeping the color onto the hair. Like most things in the fashion world, balayage has been around for a while (since the 70s), but has made a fierce comeback in the past couple of years due to it’s many enticingly fabulous qualities. The painted, free-hand technique of balayage is super cool for many reasons; first, it’s entirely customizable. Just like the ombre, we’re a huge fan of anything that can be catered to the individual. The tone of the highlights, the amount of painted pieces, and how bold or subtle they are can all be designed for your style and preference. No matter your hair color, balayage can be molded to suit you! The artistic technique of balayage also allows for a really natural looking highlight. Remember when you were a kid and your hair used to get those gorgeous natural highlights in the summer? Balayage can mimic that sun-kissed glow.

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Also like the ombre, balayage has more of a “grown-out” look than traditional foiled highlights. This means it’s a low-maintenance style that can be worn for much longer. In the fast-paced, always busy world of today, getting into the salon every few weeks can be a challenge. Those every-four-weeks root retouches can go out the window with balayage!

Take note though, balayage is not ombre. Despite the fact that they have many commonalities, the ombre and balayage styles are quite different. The ombre is a full color gradation going from one solid color gradually to another. Balayage is a type of highlight, where strands are chosen and painted. Due to their widespread popularity, stylists have experimented with a combination of the two so you MAY see the terms put together -- a balayage ombre. This would be lower balayage pieces that have a gradation of their own. The effect of lighter ends and darker roots, but not from one full solid color to another full solid color. The highly customizable nature of both color techniques, along with the artistic emphasis allows stylists to really experiment and create variable looks.

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 This brings us to our final favorite balayage feature. Hair stylists are essentially artists, especially here at Alter EGO. They love to create customized looks for their clients, and are inspired by each person’s uniquities. Because balayage can be done so many different ways it gives the stylist some flexibility to really be creative and design a look that is just perfect for YOU. It’s the perfect season for beachy sun-kissed highlights, and it’s always the perfect time for a new custom look. Now that you know how to pronounce the darn word, and what exactly it is, come in and see one of our balayage experts to enhance your summer style!

For more information about balayage, check out these two fabulous articles:

http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/545771/so-what-exactly-is-balayage-why-do-we-love-it.html

http://www.vogue.com.au/beauty/hair+insider/what+is+the+balayage+effectr,13857

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Defining Hair Color: OMBRE

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The hair world loves to come up with all sorts of names for different styles of color: highlights, lowlights, balayage, ombre, sombre, babylights, ecaille… the list goes on, and that doesn’t even touch on the different shades of color: warm, cool, golden, reds, etc. But what exactly do all of these labels mean?! Understanding what defines each color type can help you better communicate to your stylist what you are looking for. We wanted to explore the differences between these color types through a series of posts explaining a little bit about each one and then differentiating it from the others. Let’s start off with the OMBRE. An ombre is literally a graduation from light to dark. This word has become all-important in everything fashion from hair to nails to clothing fabric: ombre is everywhere. Some people would have you believe that the ombre is fading away, but it’s definitely still relevant, and there’s a few reasons why we still LOVE this trend.

First, you can completely customize it to suit your hair and style. Ombre can be vibrant and bold, or a subtle fade (aka sombre); it can be done on long hair, short hair, or in between, and each way gives a totally different vibe and style. The ombre is so versatile that people have taken it in all kinds of creative directions… there are red ombres, extremely dark to extremely light ombres, and even multi-colored ombres as well. Whatever your color preference and style, the ombre is the chameleon of hair color and will match YOU!

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Our second favorite aspect of ombres is the low-maintenance factor.   Because it’s designed to look like a “grown-out” color, the 4-6 week root retouch goes out the window, and you can wear the color for a much longer time, stretching out your salon visits. While this does mean that the ombre is significantly more work up front—expect approximately three or more hours in the salon—and comes at a slightly higher price tag, it’s totally worth it if you prefer the low-maintenance hair life.

Alongside the low-maintence aspect, ombres are pretty easy to transition away from once you’ve decided you’re done with the look. If you’ve kept your roots and mid-lengths at or close to your natural color, you can choose to either chop off the lightened ends if you’re up for a fun, shorter ‘do, or you can color the ends back to your natural color. Either way, there’s less of a growing out, transitional process as sometimes occurs when you’ve decided to grow out, say a full head of classic highlights.

We definitely still dig the ombre, and are looking forward to customizing YOUR ombre look. Look for our post about BALAYAGE coming soon!

Rainy Day Hair Cures

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As the saying goes, April is the month of showers and it has definitely proven to be so thus far. We all know that the rain doesn’t end when the May flowers arrive, however. Here at Alter EGO we are armed and ready with all of our favorite tricks to combat the Spring air-induced frizz and the dreaded grey rainy days. Our newest favorite rainy day cure is the unstoppable FOIL spray from R+Co. Foil is as multifaceted in ability as the shiny silver bottle. It vanishes static, smoothes stubborn flyaways and frees your hair from frizz!

Our other Spring-Summer obsession seems to have been made for the North Carolina humidity. ORIBE’s Anti-Humidity Spray does its best work on those sticky humid days that we all know are right around the corner. The spray actually has advanced polymers that push moisture away from the hair.   It allows your hair to hold its style, even through our humid NC days.

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We are head over heels for Foil and the Anti-Humidity Spray, but sometimes you just need a really good thunderstorm afternoon hair-do. On those days, our fabulous stylists suggest the following tips and tricks!

Dig out those headbands and rock them in style! Alisha’s rocking her retro polka dots, but we also love the bandanas as headbands trend. The coolest thing about headbands is that you can mix and match them to your outfit. Simple gold headband for the office… switch it out for your favorite stretchy headband on your way to the gym.

Our other classic rainy day hairdo is braids and twists. Learning to braid your own hair takes practice, especially for people with slightly less coordinated fingers (aka me). If you’re not yet up for braiding your hair, twisting it back is something that everyone with a few bobby pins can do. Either choice gives you a styilsh updo that even walking to work in the rain can’t destroy.

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And of course, sometimes you just need to embrace the natural texture of your hair. With thick wavy hair, Alli knows the struggle of rainy days, but she looks absolutely fabulous sporting her rained on waves. Finding the right product to enhance your natural hair can make all the difference in being able to love your curls, waves, or straight locks on those days when the weather just doesn’t cooperate.

As always, if you need some hands-on help mastering your fave rainy day 'do just ask your stylist at your next appointment for some quick pointers and ideas.  Surprise surprise, Saturday's forecast is calling for rain... which look are you going to choose?

Keep Your Color Brilliant!

GLISTEN Color Reflecting Drops from star stylist Beth Minardi.  This luxurious blend of botanical extracts maximizes gloss and color reflection so color stays brilliant and lasts. Available at Alter EGO.

A Career As A Stylist

Know that your career can save you. When life hands you lemons -- and trust me, at some point it will hand you lemons -- your work becomes a steadying, ego-boosting knight in shining armor. The one place that reminds you of your value. It has for me...and I know it will for you.

- Beth Minardi, Celebrity Hair Stylist

Now Available: Mythic Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

POWERFUL OILS.  WEIGHTLESS NOURISHMENT.

FACT: Over time, the natural oils in each hair strand start to dissipate leaving the ends dry and coarse, while oils at the roots can build-up and weigh hair down.

New Mythic Oil shampoo, conditioner and masque use powerful oils to balance hair leaving it cleansed at the root and nourished at the ends for a weightless finish.

• Precious oils deliver vibrant shine
• Paraben-free formula
• Light enough for everyday use

Fiberceutic: 5 Treatments, Get Your 6th Free.

Now when you purchase a package of 5 in-salon treatments you will get your sixth one FREE! Also, as our gift to you, you will receive a FREE take-home Fiberceutic masque specifically for your hair type.  Call today to book your appointment and schedule your Fiberceutic Regimen. A revolutionary fiber-filling in-salon procedure that lasts for up to 10 shampoos.  Intra-Cylane helps reconstruct and strengthen the fiber of the hair from the inside out.  Treatment targets the cortex, cuticle and surface and helps sensitized hair regain its natural condition.  We recommend a series of six in-salon treatments to fully repair your hair.