Get a peak into my short hair curly collection

I am currently working on my short hair curly collection!

Take a peak on my website under "photos"!

HAPPY CURLS... AT ALL LENGTHS!!!

WE HAVE A WINNER for the CE2010!!!!

Thank you to all that entered!

As most of you know when I answer questions on curly-hair-styles-magazine.com about using oils on the hair I usually state that "oil and water don't mix" you will need a detergent shampoo to get it out. So, avoid oils. Oils can lead to build up and can alter the curl pattern over time. This is true of most oils and definitely synthetic ingredients.However,Tracy's experiment and some mental probing, lead me to some research on oils and sure enough there are a "hand full" of oils that do penetrate the hair. More to come on my findings until then, do some research before using oils because some will build up and lead to adverse hair issues.

Here is Tracy's entery ...

When I was 17 I had VERY LONG and VERY DRY curly hair (still curly) . I was at a barber shop with me Dad and the barber recommended without my asking using Hot Extra Virgin Olive Oil to Condition.....I would use about a cup and let it sit for 30 minutes under an old lady dazy hair dryer and cook in and wash out at night and shower again in the morning to get the rest of the oil out

My hair looked great after for about a month - I would do it every month back then.

NOW I use Emu Oil or Joba Oil on dry hair - I have been told by many stylist that the molecules of the Joba Oil are small enough to work into the hair. - It works great instead of Silicones for a finishing product for my very dry hair.

Tracy

CE2010

Curl Experiment Contest

December and January I am hosting my first blog give away
Curlslikeus.com have generously offered to send the winner their very own Curl Cloth
The curl cloth is a great tool for all curly hair people

If you would like to enter simply email me at: nicole@strictlycurls.com

I am looking for your curly hair experiment. Include details of age, length of time the experiment took place,details to the experiment, what type of hair do you have?coarse, fine ect. Hair condition before and after the experiment. My example is found in the article I wrote: Sulfates, what's the big deal? My experiment was using the Deva Curl product solely for 1 month. check it out
Remeber any submission may be posted so please let me know if you what your name visible to viewers.
THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING

Comment Responce

In response to a couple comments on the product I liked in the article: Sulfates, what's the big deal? I am referring to the Deva Curl line of product the No-Poo Cleanser and the One conditioner and the arch angell-gel

I am curreently working on a short hair collection so viewers and clients have pictures to take to their stylist of cute, doable short hair styles. I have a few posted on my websire.www.strictlycurls.com

Thank you to all those who have offered to model for me. I am however looking for models in the Seattle area. So, if you live close by contact me I still need models!

I NEED CURLY HAIR MODELS!!!!

I am working on a new marketing idea and I need curly hair models! I am interested in doing a trade with whomever fits the description and ends up working with me. There are three requirements: 1: You must have curly or wavy hair!

2: Friendly and likes to talk about their curly hair!

3: Must have time for "prep time" and "modeling time"

Email me if you are interested: nicole@strictlycurls.com

Styling tips:

~On dripping wet hair,divide your hair into three or four sections.

~Take a quarter size to a dime size of water base gel and rake the product in your hair with your fingers. working in sections.

~Work the gel in until it feels like you have the product evenly distributed.

~Then gently scrunch each section.

~You can take a cotton fiber towel to help absorb the water after you have put the gel in. Curlslikeus.com have a great towel for this.

~After the gel is worked in take your duck bill clips and slide them in your hair at the scalp. Remember to turn them on their side so you are cutting them like a knife. This will help add volume.

~Air dry or defuse.

~Finally,De-crunch! Take large sections of hair and twist them all the way threw the ends.

ENJOY!

Keratin Treatment Article!

Hi Everyone!

Check out the lastest Keratin Treatment informative article I wrote for Northern-Beaches-
Hair.com

It may answer some questions you have about the conditioning treatment that has made headlines in many popular magazines.

You can find it at:www.Northern-Beaches-Hair.com
~Enjoy

Mother Daughter Curl Gala!

Mother Daughter Curl Gala!
FridayMay 21
At Salon Soma in Bellevue, WA 425-455-1343
6:30-8:30P.M.
$10.00 cover to help support Project Pink
http://www.projectpink411.blogspot.com/
Sorry for the date change. If any of you tried to go on the 30th let me know when you come on the 21 I will have special gift for the inconvience.

Enviromental Working Group is awesome!

Just a little update: I am working in Bellevue,WA at Salon Soma
Things are going well! Thank you for all the curly hair support!

I also love the website:www.ewg.org it is short for the enviromental working group. They research product, among other important things, and report on their findings.
They rate products for toxcitiy. Scale of 1-10 (10 is high toxcitiy) Then, they break down the ingredients to tell you what ingredient is toxic and what health effects, if any, that ingredient has. It is a great tool to use when you're looking for products.

I hate to admit it but I feel the beauty industry has a big hand in all the negative health problems humans are facing today. We need to have more companies out there looking out for the consumers best interest! Way to go EWQ, I'm a supporter!

Short Hair Models needed!!!

Happy to say the short hair collection is coming along!

A little slower than I was hoping but... 5 models underway and a handful more to go! If you know anyone who would be interested in being a model let me know!!!

I need models in Arizona and and Washington State.

Funny, when I needed long hair everyone seemed to have short hair... now I need short hair and everyone is growing their hair out! What's up with that?!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year !!!

I wanted to take a minute and thank all my faithful clients who have been supporting me for the last year and a half in Virgina!

You all are great! I love seeing you every 8-10 weeks and I am looking forward to another year!

I also want to inform you of my additional place of employment in Bellevue Washington.

I am working Tues. and Thurs. and 2 Saturdays a month. At a fun salon named Salon Soma.

The phone number is 425-455-1343

I'm excited to meet curly ladies in the North West and see how I can help with their hair!

Looking forward to a great 2010!!!

Just a little thank you for all that support my visits back to Virginia every 8-10 weeks!You are the best, I really enjoy helping you with your hair!
My next visit will be July 10-12 followed by the last weekend in Aug. My Aug. date will be on the books at the salon by July 9th. Call the salon to make your appointment! 703-437-6444
I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Project Pink!

This month I am headed to Arizona to be apart of an exciting new campaign!

It's called Project Pink...www.projectpink411.blogspot.com

It will be a collection of motivational speakers, artists, and works shops. Sponsors are attending to help women of all ages to love themselves just the way they are.

To celebrate you!

I encourage all to check out the web site and show your support by getting a t-shirt if you think it's a good cause!

I will be educating on curly hair (of coarse!) It will be a curly hair workshop! It is free to the public and it will be a great day of inspiration and girl power!

Sulfates...what's the big deal?

For starters I'll give a little back ground. I have never been a big believer in product making a difference in my hair. I grew up on local grocery store brand shampoo and conditioner. My hair always worked. My mom permed my hair since Iwas say 7 years old. She said it was because it made it easier. I didn't like to brush my hair so a perm was the solution. All I needed to do was to "pick" it after I washed it. That's easy.

Moving into high school my sister (older sister) always went to the salon to get her hair done. Always spent good money on hair product and tried tirelessly to get me to see how much better my hair would be if I used her great shampoo too! Iwas fine with the grocery store brand that smelt like green apples!

I became a stylist 13 years ago and LOVE what I do! That is when I became a salon product jukie like my sisiter. Only I got most of it for a lot less than she. Perks of the trade you could say! So for the last 11 years I have used many different shampoos, conditioners and styling aids. I still perm my hair and now highlight. Needless to say my hair was pretty dry. That shouldn't matter though, I was using really good products. The products should be countering the effects of all the chemical processing I do to my hair. At least that is what the products claim they would do. After spending way to much money on these, so called great salon products I had enough. If I was going to spend any money at all on product, my hair better be the better for it.

When attending an industry trade show in New York two years ago, I received some information that changed my way of looking at hair product and changed my hair for the better. So from that day on I started an experiment on myself. I only used this product for 3 months. I wanted to give this experiment a good shot. So, I stopped using my ususal styling aids. My hair care regimen consisted of clenser, conditioner, leave-in conditioner and a water soluable hair gel if I wore my hair curly. If I blew it straight I just used the leave-in conditioner. I usually wash my hair 2 maybe 3 times a week.

The first week of using this product my hair was really curly! I was excited. Then, by week two my hair went back to its normal wave. This is where it stayed. A month or so after using the product the bounce and shine in my hair was better than ever. I did not need the after styling shine product to control the frizz and fly aways. I was previously over using! Perfect!I have been using this product for 2 years now and love it I have since started looking at products in a different way... looking at the ingredient in products, instead of following the marketing idea for a product.

Hair needs a balance of moisture and protein. Every head of hair is different. Some may need more moisture than another, but all need a combination of both. When your hair has the moisture and protein balance it needs it will be stronger, shinier and less frizzy.

When I attended the hair show I was introducted to a product that does not use sodium laurel sulfate in the ingredients. I had heard of this before but never really thought much of it. After the show I decided to look into it more. Especially since I was going to do this experiment on myself. This is what I found... Sodium Laurel Sulfate is a cheap filler among other things. It is usually at the beginning of an ingredient list because that is what fills the bottle up. Usually you'll find water first than a sulfate. Whether it is sodium laureth, ammonia laurel sulfate thay are all cheep fillers. They all are a little different from the other. They fill the bottle up to ceate the coveted and addictive bubbles in your shampoos, soaps, body wash. Although the bubbles do help move the product around your head and slighty break down the oils they are not nessicary to clean the hair. But, the beauty marketing industry did a good job at selling bubbles. People now feel they need bubbles in order to be clean.

Let's see what else you may get with those so called clean bubbles...

Potential for hair loss: Sodium laurel sulfates have been prove to damage hair follicle.

Skin Sensitivity: The SLS ingredient was actually creaed to irritate the skin. Depending on the % of concentration. If your head is itchy or you have sensitive skin, the sulfates in your product my be a factor for you. It takes moisture out of the skin and in my opinion out of the hair too. How tangled is your hair after you shampoo?

Damage to eyes: When the concentration % is high.

Suspect hormone disruptors,beacause of the oesrgen mimicking activity: Once the SLS molecule is in the skin it attaches to the oestragen receptors, then, mimics the effects of the hormone in other body systems.

Possibly Carcinogenic: This is up for debate becasue there is no proven evidence. The theory is SLS has a tendency t react with other ingredients. Thus, becoming carcinogenic.

After readng this I am sure some of you are a little dumbfounded, like I was, to learn that something you use everyday could be harmful. Especially something we associate with as "taking care" of our body like soap. It is suppose to be cleaning our skin not polluting it. We have to remember unlike the medical profesion the beauty industry does not have the same regulations to adhere to . We need to be a little more self reliant and investigate things that might not "sit well" with us.

I finally finished it! Sulfates...what's the big deal?

Seattle is BEAUTIFUL! Looks like all this rain is good for something!

We are all settled and adjusting! Funny how good news spreads fast. My daughters, friends mom's friend has curly hair.(did you follow that) They were talking and found out about my specialty and about the Curl Gala. What do you know... The friend of the daughters friends mom(Carol Ann) decided she would host a Curl Gala in her home with 10 of her friends!!! It was great!
Carol Ann was a great host, she had lunch set up. Had a great house with plenty of room and all the necessities for educating on curly styles.
Thanks to all who attended and to Carol Ann for her efforts in making it happen! In addtion to learning some new things and raised $110 for Locks of Love bringing our total donation for 2008 to $220!! Happy days!

Steps to Styling Curly hair

For those of you who may have misplaced the "steps to styling" your curly hair down, here you go!

1. Section hair

2. Quarter size gel in each section

3. Rake gel in, while holding on to the ends of the raked section; shake the hair.

4.Clip and dry

5. De-crunch

MOVING

I have mixed emotion on this... My husband is being re-located to Seattle Wshington we will be moving in a matter of weeks. I am excited for the new adventure and to meet new curly's on that side o f the conitient! But, I will miss all of those who have been a part of my life here in Virginia.
I will be coming back to virginia every 10 weeks to do haircuts!!! I can't leave my curly's stranded. For some of my clients it has been 7+ years and I truely would miss not seeing them. Plus, our move west is suppose to be short term 2-3 year deal?! Then potentially be back.
I already have my return date of Nov. 7-9 IF things turn out, I will have a curl gala on the 7th. Otherwise, I'll be working in the salon on the 8 and 9th. I am in search of an assistant. If anyone knows of someone interested in curly hair and assisting; I'd love to meet her/him.

Once I get settled in our new place I will post my views on Sodium Laurel Sulfate and other such ingredients in products that are not so good for the hair.

From one Washington area to the next!! Here we come!

Curl Gala held June 6th was a success!

I am not very computer savvy and it has taken me a while to figure out how to make a new post. I'm glad I figured it out...I have so much I want to share!
First, I had my first Curl Gala here in Virginia. My boss Nordine was nice enough to let me have it at his salon. I have wonderful curly friends in the industry that sent nice products that made up the gift packages and raffle prizes. Thanks to Naturallycurly.com and Mop Top hair products!
Thanks to all those who attended, I think it was a great success and I look forward to doing it again! I was so fortunate to have this whole event documented by Jenny Schomaker the photographer for my book Strictly Curls. It was fun to work with her again she was a great help and the pictures turned out beautifully (as always)! I am happy to as that we also were able to raise $110 for Locks of Love! Thanks everyone for coming and helping to make this event so memorable! Enjoy the pictures!

I finally figured out how to make a new post!