I read a lot of blogs about happiness and personal growth, etc.  This video popped up on one called Shapely Prose. If you are (or know someone) who is fat, check this out.  If you are just generally dissatisfied with your body and can’t accept yourself, check it out (and read my book! )

For the record, I have been thin.  I know what it takes to be thin.  I am not interested.  I disagree with the statement “nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”  I am perfectly content with who I am at this place in my life. If my size becomes a barrier to my desired lifestyle, I will do something about it.  In the meantime, I am fat and happy.  I wish the same for all of you.

I became a hairdresser in the late 1980s.  It was the era of the spiral perm.  As a new hairdresser, I had no clients, therefore I had plenty of time to spend four hours perming long hair.  I was good at it.  I was creative and thorough.  (These happen to be the same things that make me a good colorist.)

So the nineties came and brought with them the flat iron.  It’s a lovely tool.  But enough, already!  Step away from your flat iron!  You think a perm is damaging?  I have seem hair beat to hell by flat iron abuse!

Every once in a while I will mention that I have a perm client on the books and people look at me like I have grown an additional head and say ” People still get perms?”

Yes, Virginia.  People still get perms.  Some people have such crappy hair that it needs the boost a perm can give it.  Some people just like not looking like Morticia Adams.

Here is this week’s before and after.

The president’s daughter got married. It was an outdoor wedding. OK, so by definition, it is already less formal. Fine. But she is wearing a dress with a train. That’s formal to me.

Do you think her hair looks formal?

Oh, I hear you talking back to me, “I would totally wear this hair to my wedding. I’m not really a formal girl.” Whatever. It is still your wedding day. It is the most dressed up most women will ever be. And there are pictures. Boy howdy are there pictures, and you will look at them for the rest of your life.

Is messy hair really the image you want to remember forever? And do you really not want to look more special on your wedding day than you do in your everyday life?

There are reasons women get “updos.” One of them is the actual art of the hair dressing. Hair that has been dressed can be both a work of art and a feat of architecture. One big reason is that an up style stays put for hours. It will do a better job of withstanding weather than down hair. And let’s not forget that an up style looks more “finished” than a down style.

There is only one time I think that “half up - half down” makes sense. If your hair is down to your waist, it is logical to not try to put it all up. (Unless you are hoping to look taller!)

For the rest of us, we have icons we can turn to to see what is considered timeless, classic and beautiful.

This is the wedding style by which all others are measured. Just say the name Grace Kelly and people instantly imagine beauty, style and glamour.

Audrey Hepburn is another icon of style and glamour.

“But, Aura, these women were from a different time. I want to look fresh and up to date. ” Fine. Here’s a couple of modern day glamour girls.

Sloppy hair, I am afraid, is a symptom of our casual society. We Americans rarely get dressed up the way our parents or grandparents did. People wear shorts to church and jeans to fancy restaurants.

Don’t get me wrong. I love casual. I wear jeans to work and sweats around town on the weekends. But if I were going to the Oscars, you can be damn sure I would dress up to the nines!

This year’s Oscars were the most casual I remember.

I can’t even begin to guess what the hell Cameron and her hairdresser were thinking. This is an adorable hair style for going to the beach, but an abomination for the Oscars (our American Royal Ball.)

Cate looks like she drove to the Oscars in a convertible and pinned it back on her way down the red carpet. (Maybe she had bobby pins hiding in that necklace.)

People Magazine raved about this hair style. It looks to me like she checked the clock and had five minutes before she had to leave and shoved a clip in the back. Again, it would be adorable anywhere else. It is not formal.

Kristin Chenowith had essentially the same style, but somehow it looks better than Jennifer’s. Must be the jeweled clip.

So, what’s the bottom line here? Are we just so casual a society that we can’t be bothered with getting all dolled up? Is it too much work? I would love to hear your thoughts.

In case you were wondering if I practice what I preach, this is how I wore my hair for my wedding in 2003.

I am the one in the dress.

And if you want a hairdresser to style your hair messy-casual for your wedding, don’t call me.

When you are in the salon, you may feel like you are in a different country where a different language is spoken. Hairdressers speak a language of color that may be unfamiliar to you if you have had no art training.

I found this amazing, in-depth article at Colour Lovers that explains the color wheel (the basis of all the work we do with hair color.)

Not only will this help you understand what we mean when we talk about your hair, it will help the next time you need to pick paint of fabric for your decorating needs.

The first color wheel has been attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, who in 1706 arranged red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet into a natural progression on a rotating disk. As the disk spins, the colors blur together so rapidly that the human eye sees white. From there the organization of color has taken many forms, from tables and charts, to triangles and and wheels the history.

Read the rest of the article here.

I am tired of clients asking me what is new and trendy in haircolor and then dismissing my answer when I give it.

The trend in haircolor is toward the incorporation of colors that don’t naturally occur in human hair.

What ever.  Don’t listen to me.  What do I know?

How about the North American Hairdressing Awards?  Is that a reputable enough source for you?

You may recall that I assisted at a photo shoot for a friend who entered this competition.

I am sorry to say that his beautiful work did not make the finals.  And as I look at the finalists, I can see why.  His work was in a more traditional palette.  No blue.  No green.  No pink.

Click over here to see what the judges found appealing for 2008.

There are 5 finalists.  Clicking on their name will show you their entries.  There are six photos for each entrant.  These are three sets of before and afters.  (If you can’t tell which is the before and which is the after, I will have to smack you.)

If you would like to see the finalists in the other categories (like Student and Master Stylist) click around on the row above the bold HAIRCOLOR heading.

Now, when ever you are ready, we can book an appointment for you to get some of these trendy colors.  And yes, you can just dip your foot in the pool, you don’t have to dive in head first!

I have read lots of books that talk about the practice of foot binding, and I have even seen illustrations. I had no idea, however, that their were women alive in our time who had been involved in this, and I had no idea there were photos!

I pondered whether to share this with you because it might be disturbing for some readers. But I decided that the opportunity for fully understanding the lengths to which humans will go in the pursuit of beauty was greater than the “eww!” factor. Feel free to disagree in the comments.

Our good friend Kris found this online and thought we would enjoy it. It is a quiz on iVillage UK.

Kris and I got the same results. Surprise!

Pop over and see what yours is, then comment and let us know your results.

I debated whether to put this under the Come Here So I Can Smack You heading, but I decided it was too sad.  Like many of you, I am shaped a lot like my mother.  And I am OK with that.  It is who I am.  Thank God I am not famous enough to have paparazzi and the attention of The Daily Mail.  I always felt sorry for Sarah Ferguson.  I was once the fat daughter-in-law (my former sister-in-law was a former model and ballerina) and it was never fun to be the ugly duckling in comparison to the beautiful swan.  I thought I understood how she might have felt when she got crap for not being as perfect as Diana.

So, now, here we are, a generation later, and it is Sarah’s daughter who gets the crap.  Very sad that we can’t let people decide for themselves whether they are happy with their body.

Bea, beach bodies and the thorny problem of the Mummy gene …

By AMANDA PLATELL - More by this author » Last updated at 23:49pm on 29th April 2008

Comments (21)

Princess Beatrice emerges beaming from the Caribbean Sea beside her boyfriend, Dave Clark, and the first impression is how in love they seem.

The second thought is how comfortable this comely 19-year-old is in her own skin - so at ease with her curves that she’s happy to be photographed in a skimpy blue bikini.

Thirdly, it hits you that a young woman can run, she can hide, but there’s no escaping The Curse Of The Mummy Gene.

Scroll down for more …

Curvy: Fergie in St Tropez in 2001. Beatrice in St Barths this week

Read the rest of the article here.

Got $300 bucks sitting around you don’t know what to do with?  Maybe you would like a pair of these.

CAMiLEON Heels: Exercising a Woman’s Perogative to Change Her Mind

Posted on 30 April 2008 by Judie Lipsett

I first saw a post regarding a concept shoe with convertible heels on Book of Joe back in 2005, and now it looks like an easier to operate variation of the same idea has actually come to pass. Say hello to CAMiLEON, a company which produces women’s shoes with heels that can adjust from a pratical walking height of 1½” to a sassy 3¼”.

CAMiLEON’s heels contain “mechanisms that hold it into place for both the high heel and low heel positions and a stainless steel rod, which runs through the entire length of the heel. The portion of our heel that is stowed underneath the arch region of the shoe, when in the low heel position, is actually made out of aluminum. Additionally, every heel is coated with 6 coats of paint, resulting in a beautiful high-gloss finish. While essentially every other brand of high heel shoe attaches its heel to the shoe with nails, or nails and glue, we attach every heel with four screws.”

I took a look at some of the styles offered on their site, and I have to tell you that I like what I see. The Mary Jane shown in the conversion process is actually one of my favorite styles, and I also like the Mariella shown below. I love the idea of a lower heel for daytime that can convert into a dressier heel for evening.

Read more at Gear Diary.

Buy them at Zappos.

Ah, hair shows.

Much more fun (and much more work!) for the people who put on the show than for the people who attend.

The audience gets to sit for hours and (with any luck) be educated and entertained (I think they call that “infotainment.”) while the staff runs about in controlled chaos making the magic happen. It is a long, exhausting process.

It started Sunday afternoon in Seattle for the model call (that’s where the models come to be screened and consulted so that we can build the show around them.) These were all volunteer models that come from a craigslist post. In stark contrast to many platform artists I have seen over the years, my group will go out of their way to please the models. We want no crying here!

Sunday is also setup day. Pack in all the color and other supplies we will need and take over a hotel guest room to use as the salon.

Monday morning (bright and freaking early) we set the conference room with all the literature, AV equipment, and plastic for the floor of the stage area. Between the guest room and the stage, we use two rolls of plastic sheeting to protect all the floors and furniture. (Getting haircolor on the hotel property means we have to pay to replace it. Yikes!)

Show starts at 10:00 AM. We were setting up at 8:00 AM. We vacated the hotel at 7:00 PM. (And then we went up the road to have a drink and a wrap-up meeting!)

Since I was working the back room at this event, I was able to take pictures of the process. I have posted them (including a number of before and after shots of models) on Flickr (which is completely new to me and I am giving it a try, so I haven’t yet figured it all out).

You can see them here.

I wore myself out just telling you about it! I think I need a nap.

Ah, small business ownership.  The Great American Dream.

I talk people out of it all the time.

The biggest reason?  There is less money in it than you think.

The next biggest?  It is more work than you think.

The next?  Just because you are a good hairdresser doesn’t mean you will be a good business owner.

Here is an article for you that gives you some myths and realities about small business ownership.

(excerpt)

Myth #1 - Life is easier when you’re your own boss and you own the business.
Reality - Nope. Not a chance. You become the face of your company. Anything that goes wrong, or that doesn’t go perfectly right is 100 percent your fault. You have to fix it. If one of your employees drives your $45,000 delivery truck across a newly poured concrete driveway and cracks it to pieces, you get to pay for it. If your credit manager mistakenly writes down the wrong lien date on the legal paperwork, you get to eat the loss. If you screw up on your taxes, you don’t get to blame anyone else. If someone claims they got sick at your restaurant, I hope you have insurance and a good attorney. You get to pay both of those bills, too.

Here is another with reasons to not be an entrepreneur.

(excerpt)

8. Lack Of Reward Begats Lower Motivation - When running your own business, there really is no telling when you will be rewarded or even how you will be rewarded. You may hope for a bigger bank balance or aspire to develop an industry leading product, but that can’t happen without motivation and drive. Becoming an entrepreneur essentially means taking risks in hope of receiving reward, but without ever really knowing when the reward will come. If that’s something you can’t deal with, then starting your own business is not the ideal choice.

Yes.  I know that some people have huge success with their own salon.  But the truth of the matter is that most salons make little or no profit other than the income the working hairdresser/owner generates.  You can read more about this topic in  The E-Myth.

What is the E-Myth?

The “E-Myth,” or Entrepreneurial Myth, is the flawed assumption that people who are expert at a certain technical skill will therefore be successful running a business of that kind.

• “I want to be my own boss”
• “I want to make more money”
• “I want to have have more time to enjoy my life”

Most small business owners assume that owning their own business will deliver on these goals.

It’s a common misconception that because someone understands the nuts-and-bolts technical work, they will similarly understand how a business providing that sort of product or service should function.

If you are hell bent on the idea of going into business for yourself, please do yourself a favor and spend a good year researching the industry and deciding what you will do to be different and to stand out in a crowded marketplace.  Don’t do it because you think the salon owner you are working for is getting rich off of your hard work (chances are they aren’t.)

Here is an article with a very basic checklist for first time business owners.

Here is an article about determining startup costs.

The last thing the world needs is just another salon.

If you haven’t seen Split Ends, you need to catch it on the Style Network (watch some clips here).

The premise? Take two hairdressers from wildly different salons and make them swap for a few days. Sample comments? “There’s no assistant? Does that mean I have to do my own shampoos? But I’ll get my rings dirty!” I watched all of the first season and came away with an interesting observation. Unlike other “fish out of water” shows (The Simple Life, etc.) what makes this interesting is that hairdressers are often “pleasers” by nature. If you throw them in a strange environment, they might piss and moan for a bit, but they will more than likely do their best to adjust and fit in.

This is the only salon-based reality show on which our salon would be willing to appear. Yesterday we were trying to convince Jonathan to audition. If you are interested in spending a week working in a salon that differs greatly from yours, click on over here to get the info on how to audition.

The Small Business Administration has come a long way since I first looked to them for help when I started my salon.  Now they are all about the internet and there are LOADS of resources and TONS of information there.  Not a bad place to start if you are in the “Should I open my own salon?” stage of planning.

There is a great article at Small Biz Trends that breaks down what is available and where to find it online.

Remember, there is no reason to feel alone when starting a business.  You are not the first one to do it and there is no shame in taking advice and assistance from people who have blazed the trail before you.  Save yourself some headaches and read up before you jump in, or use their resources to re-focus if your existing business has drifted off course.

Pull your hot rollers out from under the sink and go watch another great How To video on StyleBell.  (The same place that brought you “how to curl your hair with a flat iron.”)

We have been seeing lots more curl and movement in finished hair lately.  Really.  You don’t need to flatten your hair anymore to be hip and cool.  Sexy glamor is back.  Think Brigitte Bardot.  And think about using a heat protecting product while you are at it.  Just your luck, we happen to sell such a thing in the salon!  Ask your hairdresser for a demo.

I just read a story (with pictures) written by a young woman about her devastating salon visit and her oath to never visit a male hairdressser again.  Objectively I can say that a.) she is percieveing her end result differenly than most of us would and b.) the gender of the hairdresser had nothing to do with what happened.

I want you to read it because it will help you understand that what you see and what the client sees are often different.

This client states that she only wants a maximum of 2″ cut from the bottom.  She also makes it a point during the cut to chat about past cuts that had gone awry where she ended up too short.  When you have a client in your chair that is giving you these signals, please heed them!  Hairdressers have a reputation for being scissor happy and for wanting to chop off long hair.  Please do your best to listen to the client and when they give specific requests, please grant them.  If you think the client needs more length removed, explain what you think and why and then let them make an informed choice.  My favorite technique is to turn them around and use a hand mirror to view the back of their hair.  I show them where the cape can be seen through the hair and suggest that the hair might look thicker if we trimmed it up to that point.  It is often effective.  (I know that to us their is no difference between a “cut” and a “trim” but to many clients there is.  Try to pick up on their cues.)

When they say 2″, I grab my old-school plastic comb from the back of the drawer (you know, the one you used in beauty school that has the inch markings on it) and I show them 2″.  Then, using the comb as a guide, I cut 2″ off the bottom and show them the hair I removed.  Next I ask them if that is OK.  Now we can proceed with the rest of the haircut and the client can relax.

When you meet a client who has already had bad salon experiences, handle them gently.  Talk them through the process so that they feel that they are being heard.

Anyone disagree?

These photos are from America’s Top Model.

In my two decades of doing hair, I have been to many a hair show. I have attended, assisted and presented. In these capacities, I have been a witness to many crying models. This morning I read a post from someone who’s experience as a hair model did not meet her expectations. Depending on your perspective, you will find it either sad or funny. You can read it here.

If you are a civilian (not a professional paid model that has been hired for the show) here are some things you need to know:

Prepare to be bored. Bring a book or a video game. There is a ton of down time during show prep.

For example, here’s the time line for the even I am doing on Sunday (and it is a tiny event!)

11:00 Model Call
4:00 - 6:30 Stage Presentation

7 1/2 hours is a long time to sit and have nothing to do. The hairdressers will be busy and can’t entertain you. Plan wisely.

You must be open to anything. Yes, you heard me. Anything. Don’t walk in and say “You can do anything as long as you leave the length.” or “I just want my highlights touched up!” The person doing your hair is there to demonstrate a specific technique for the audience. What you want is of little importance. A kind Guest Artist will consult with you first and if you aren’t open to what they have in mind, they will ask you to leave. Not all are so kind. And that is why some models end up in tears. You might spend the next two months getting your hair back to the way you like it, but the Artist has moved on and forgotten you even exist.

I know this sounds harsh. But better you listen to me now than end up crying in the model room later.

The comment section is open for any heart-wrenching (or hilarious) stories you would like to share.

If there is one thing that makes you look like you know what you are doing, it is a spiffy logo.  A salon logo should be designed to help customers get a feel for what the salon is like.  Potential customers should have an idea what they are in for long before they step inside.  Your logo is a HUGE part of that branding.

Logo creation can be intimidating.  I understand.  But you still have to do it.  If you don’t have a client in the graphics world who can help you, there are other (affordable!) options.

Click over to Small Business Trends to see the process from start to finish.

We have some new products coming from Brocato in a few weeks.  One of the things we like about the Brocato line of products is that there is a person behind every bottle.  Sam Brocato is a hairdresser and not only understands what we want products to do, he cares what we think.  There are a lot of companies that make hair care products, but it’s hard to find one that isn’t owned by a giant corporation. Brocato is owned by Sam and Sam cares passionately about his products. You can watch this video and see for yourself.  Sam has some other videos on YouTube you can check out.

from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

I am sharing with you a story I found today that I think you will enjoy. Maybe it’s just me, but I often think of the perfect comeback long after the moment has passed. This woman nailed it. Enjoy.

I nearly punched someone today.

The scene is Book People, a Monday evening. The cafe area. Having spent the day feeling like ass and laying around watching TV bundled up in various wubbies on the futon, I decided to make a pilgrimage to the library, then on the way back to Mecca itself, my all-time favorite bookstore and Austin landmark. I can’t count the hours I’ve spent at Book People curled up on a couch or in the cafe sipping chai and collecting recipes, or paging through the latest metaphysical tripe. It’s a comforting ritual and a way that my last couple of bucks could support local business.

So I score a table against the wall, put down my stack of cookbooks and various other and my purse, grab my wallet, and head for the counter. (My purse is in plain sight, don’t worry; I wanted it to mark my table.) Today’s coffee jockey is an adorable pierced-and-tattooed boy en flambe, as most BP baristas tend to be. There’s one woman in line in front of me, waffling between a decaf skim milk latte and some other thing.

Read the rest here.

(You can pick up this children’s science book at Amazon.)

Many of us spend the early years of our lives wishing we had someone else’s hair. Mine was straight and fine and stringy. In third grade my mother grew tired of listening to me whine that it hurt when she combed it (Me: It hurts! Mother: Oh, it does not. Stop whining or I’ll give you something to cry about.) and cut it off and I got my first perm of many.

One of my co-workers had curly hair in the hippy-like B.P. era (Before Product). She has many frightening pictures of this time.

In the salon, we have come to believe that it takes most women some serious time to make peace with their hair. Into their thirties, usually. I find it so sad that we waste those years (when we are the cutest we will ever be!) bemoaning our imperfections rather than embracing our beauty.

My female child seems to have a fine opinion of her hair (wearing it curly some days and straightening it on others) and seems not to care what other people’s opinions are about her personal style. I think that’s pretty good for a teenager, and may or may not have anything to do with having a hairdresser for a mother and unlimited access to hair product and tools.

I read a touching post this morning from a woman who was learning to make peace with her hair (and her Self.) Check it out.