Save Your Hair this Summer!

My middle daughter is a brunette. She loves being a brunette. She wants nothing to do with highlighting her hair. Her biggest concern this summer is how to keep her curly locks protected and especially how to keep them from lightening up. So this post is for you cutie! :)

1. Soak it first. When swimming in chlorinated water, always soak your hair with tap water before jumping in. Think of a sponge. If you soak it in water first, then throw it into a bucket of bleach it is going to soak up a lot less of the bleach than it would if it was dry. 
2. Always use a shampoo designed for color treated hair. These products use the most gentle cleansers on the market to prevent "lifting" of deposited color. So even though your hair is not colored you want to use a the most gentle shampoo available.
3. Use a conditioner for color treated hair. Using a rinse out conditioner helps your hair to be less tangled, easier to comb or brush through and consequently less damage occurs to your ends. The more damaged your ends the lighter they will become. These types of conditioners typically have a sunscreen in them as well. 
4. Use a leave in treatment. Look for products that have sunscreen in them to protect your hair from UV rays. They also work well to help keep your hair from getting tangled.
5. Keep it covered. When possible wear a big floppy hat, a fashionable scarf, cowboy hat or a baseball cap when you are going to out in the sun for extended periods of time. The sun is your worst enemy when it comes to keeping your dark chocolate hair from melting to milk chocolate. 
6. Treat your ends. Apply a little argon oil in the evening before bed and braid it before bed. This will give your ends the much needed drink from a day of dehydration and keep it from getting damaged and tangled while you sleep. 

And before you do all that get a trim. Trimming the split ends will not only make your hair appear darker but it will keep them from splitting up higher. Below you will find links for my favorite UV hair care. Hope you are having a fantastic week and enjoying all this heat while protecting your hair! 

Thanks for stopping by,
Michon :)

Colour Fanatic by Pureology

BC Sin Protect
Shimmer Oil Spray

BC Sun Protect
Spray Conditioner

BC Sun Protect
Treatment

Short Summer? Keep it beautiful!

With the new "Balanced School year" here in Washoe County this year, many of my young school age friends are having more than a tough time finding employment this summer. I mean really, who wants to hire a person to train them for 6 weeks just to have them leave again. Enter the new generation of self employed, self motivated and self starters to find the answer. 

I would like to introduce a friend of mine that is one of the brightest, smart, young entrepreneurs in the beauty industry. She has a passion for makeup and specializes in Bridal Looks and Makeovers. Heidi is heading off to beauty school this fall after graduating from Galena High a couple of weeks ago. But she is not waiting till fall to get a jump on the career path she has chosen. She has signed up as an independent beauty consultant  with Mary Kay for her summer job. 

I thought is would be interesting this week to hear from one of the beauty industries "up and coming" to see what Heidi's best tips would be on how to stay beautiful and keep it cool this summer. Here's what she has to offer.

1. Self tanner! We should all be minimizing our exposure to the sun. But if you are going to hang out at Tahoe this summer you need some color. Just remember to exfoliate before, to avoid streaks.
2. Mary Kay carries this great set of products called Satin Hands. This includes a hand softener, a smoothing scrub, (which works great to scrub the self tanner off your hands after applying) and a hand lotion that moisturizers for 24 hours and will last through up to three washes! You can use these products on your feet for great summer feet! But I do suggest getting a pumice bar to scrub at your heels also.
3. UV protection for your hair. No, your hair cannot get sun burnt but the sun can fade hair color and dry it out. Bumble and Bumble makes a UV hair primer for $24. You also want to use this to avoid burning your scalp.
4. Are you trying to grow your hair? I sure am! Here are a few things I do to help hair growth. Massage your scalp for at least a minute a day (I do this in the shower). Minimize heat damage by simply not using heat stylers as often and using heat protectant when you do.
5. Now that we are all wearing shorts, we tend to shave our legs more often. Using baby oil gel as your shaving "cream" allows for your razor to last longer and it helps moisturize your legs at the same time! 
6. Typically your makeup is more minimalist in the summer so one of the best assets to play up is a beautiful full lip. I have a line of  lip sticks called True Dimensions. I think this line is a grab because it is an anti-aging lip stick! The lip stick contains ingredients to help boost collagen in your lips which makes them look fuller. And they come in 20 different shades!
7. Did you know that layering a scented lotion over a matching scent perfume intensifies the scent and it will last twice as long? This is helpful when you are out in the sun breaking a sweat.
   
   
   Do you have some great summer tips you would like to share? We would love to hear them! Please post a comment below. Share with your friends! Sharing is caring!! ;)
   Thanks for stopping by the blog! See you next week! 
   Michon :)
   
   
   
   Heidi Hunter is an independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay that lives here in Reno. She is passionate about her new up and coming career and excited to help others discover their ideal beauty experience.  
   You can shop Heidi's Mary Kay page here.
   You can also see contact Heidi on her business Facebook page here. 

Summer Hair

I think with the 96 degrees being predicted this coming weekend it is safe to say summer is here at last! Yeah! I love to get out and walk and run a bit in the warmer weather. I did my first 5K in years last weekend, the Run or Dye 5K. Maybe you saw all the crazy looking, dyed people running around town last Saturday? (“Color stations” are placed on the route and volunteers were there throwing dyed cornstarch at us).

 Anyhow while running it I was watching these women with that ever so popular “white” platinum blonde hair and thinking “OMG! This is not going to end well!” Well, sure enough, I had stained armpits still and some red looking stain left on my hair after my first shower. My hair is not platinum so by the second shower the red is gone from my hair. (Not the pits though! I may be wearing long sleeves to work all week). Anyhow this whole thing got me thinking about all the fun things we do in the summer and the havoc it can wreak on your expensive hair color. Here are my best tips on protecting your tresses while enjoying your summer.

• Running/walking is one of the most popular sports this time of year. The thing to think about when doing any sports is the constant tension you are putting on your hair when it is in a ponytail all the time. Make sure you are using cloth bands and not rubber, and be sure to not to wrap them too tight. When hair gets wet it swells and can cause breakage if you are putting rubber bands or wrapping the cloth ones too tight. Try an occasional braid to give that same hair a chance to recover now and again. 
• Sun and surf are very damaging to your hair. If you are highlighted, be sure to use a leave-in filler in your hair to protect it from further damage, my favorite on is Pureology’s here. If you are sporting red or any rich brown colors you want to be sure that your leave in protection has sunscreen in it. These products will save your hair from getting over-processed or washed out with all the UV rays it will be soaking up. This one is brand new on the market and amazing!
• Swimming in chlorinated pools is death to your hair if you don’t take special measures so protect it! First thing you need to do is get your hair saturated before jumping in the pool. Even better, if after wetting you add a conditioner for increased barrier and then a cap. If a cap is not practical at least wet it well, cover with conditioner and braid it to protect it. Also do not over use swimmer’s shampoo. This type of shampoo is very high on the pH and is designed to “strip” your hair of chlorine, which in turn, of course will strip your hair of color as well. So use weekly at the most.
• Camping is a great summer activity that our family loves. Remember going with your family as a kid and your mom always had a bandana on her head? Bandana’s are great for protecting your hair from the camp fire smell saturating it too much and also from the those pesky no-see-ums that show up at night and bite at your scalp. Spray bug spray on the bandana instead of directly on your hair to protect your hair and scalp from the direct assault of deet. Bandanas are very retro and back in style baby! ;)

I know there are many more sports that I am missing here but the issues with cycling, hiking, golfing and boating will all be a repeat of what I have said above. You get the gist right? 

Oh, and Color Me Rad is coming up in September so if you missed the fun Run or Dye 5K you might want to jump in on this one. I would suggest platinum girls wear a baseball cap and I did actually see one woman run by me with her hair in a plastic processing cap under her baseball cap to protect every last inch of her beautiful blonde! Here is the short list of marathons/running opportunities around the Reno/Tahoe area this summer. Whatever you do for enjoyment this time of year make the most of it! It is a short 3/4 months before we may see snow again! 

If you have suggestions for how you protect your hair during your summer play leave us a comment below. And please be sure to forward this or email it to any of your friends that you think would enjoy this article. Have a great week! 

Michon :)

Fun Hair Tutorials

I thought this week would be the perfect time to direct you to some videos to spark your imagination on ways to mix up your style this spring. We love playing with these ideas around here considering I am living in a house of girls. Here are a couple of our favorite videos that we have actually tried.
No Heat Paper Bag Curls 
This is the look we ended up with...

Yes, I deserve mother of the year award for this! I must tell you it is very time consuming but should the REVOLUTION ever really begin, Lauren will be able to curl her hair just the same.

The next look we really liked, and had to try is the headband curls to beachy waves.
Ummm... if you end up with a good result from this one I would like to see it. We had some really definite crimps in the hair that didn’t look quite right. Maybe the texture of Sam’s hair not sure.
Can’t find the picture right now, but will post it as soon as I find it.


The next look I fell in love with was the Valentine Bride look. Here is the photo that was my inspiration.
And here is the video that Makayla and I made showing how to do it. Probably not yourself... but. You could take it to your stylist or to me and we could fix you up.

So this is the short list of styles you must try this summer. 

If you have any styles that you like to use that require no heat and would like to try this summer please drop me a link and show me or tell what you would like to experiment with. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. 

Hope you all have a fabulous week!
Michon :)