Are you noticing that your hair isn't as shiny and healthy as it was ten years ago? It's true, with age comes hair that is drier, breaks easily and lacks body and shine.
The recent issue (May 2010) of More magazine tackled this problem in an article titled "Ch-Ch-Changes!" More offered up a six week plan to bring back the silky texture we all love. Here are some highlights from the article, with tips from Michael's included (direct quotes from More in italics). Update (5/26/10) More's article on tips for aging hair is now available on their website. Disclosure: All product recommendations in this blog are by Michael's professionals:

Trim, then tame
Visit your stylist to get rid of damaged ends, then explore conditioning treatments. "Nearly every stylist we spoke to said for the most dramatic results, you can't beat an in-salon keratin treatment."

We've blogged about keratin treatments several times, but the treatment infuses keratin into your hair follicles to promote healing, block humidity, and prevent environmental toxins from entering the hair. It leaves hair smooth, frizz-free and manageable.

Give your do some downtime
After a keratin treatment, you should not wash your hair for 72 hours to allow the treatment to soak in. When you do wash your hair, use a sodium-free shampoo like Keratin Care. Salt will strip your hair of chemical treatments, which means your keratin, or color process for that matter, won't last as long.

Also, skip a day or two from shampoo. Your hair produces natural oils which help keep it moisturized. If you must, rinse your hair in luke warm water, and use a small amount of conditioner just on the ends.
**Personal note: Jodi talked me into shampooing every other day, and I'm finally able to keep red color in my hair, after many attempts that faded quickly. And as an added bonus, my shampoo and conditioner last twice as long!

Finally, go easy on the heat. When you do rinse or shampoo, use luke warm water, not hot water. When you blow dry or flat iron, use a thermal protectant like Iron It by Michael's, Aquage Beyond Shine or Trilliant by Sebastian.

Color Care
After taking great care of your hair, you might want to amp up the color a bit. The More article recommends 'Ask your colorist if (s)he can use an oil-based bleach, which processes hair more gently than a traditional bleach." Michael's uses Wella color processes, which are oil-based, and condition your hair as they color.

More magazine is a great resource for 'women of style & substance.' They celebrate women over 40, and offer tips on fashion, beauty, love, careers and more.

What do you think of these tips? Do you have other tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

Have you noticed how many celebrities have been wearing their locks in wavy curls? Have you tried to style your hair like this at home, just to end up with a tangled, half-curled, half-frizzy, doesn't-look-good-at-all mess? Here comes Myka to the rescue! She wears her hair in curly waves every day, so she took some time to show us exactly how to make your hair look naturally wavy, when it's not:

To style, Myka used products from Aquage and TIGI.

• While her hair was still wet, she used Sea Salt Texturizing Spray from Aquage to add volume, texture and separation to her locks.
  
• Once her hair is dry, she preps her strands with Bed Head Masterpiece shine spray by TIGI.
  
• When curling, Myka takes vertical sections of her hair, and curls by starting mid-shaft,  and working her way down
• She makes sure not to curl the ends, to keep the look loose and natural
• Once she curls the top front sections, she works on the bottom layers around her face, then curls sections in the back
  
• You don't have to curl every strand
• To finish, use a pea-size dollop of Bed Head AfterParty by TIGI to separate strands and add a smooth shine
• Flip head upside down and shake out curls, then use your fingers to separate and shape

What do you think - can you get this look at home? Is there a style or beauty tip you would like to see featured? Let us know, leave a comment here, on Michael's Facebook, or @michaelssalon on Twitter!

We've established that professional products are better than store brand products. Now, I would like to tell you about Michael's "Brown Label" products.

This is the only full line of all-natural, gluten free products available in the Dayton area. Not only are the products gluten free, but they are also free of parabens, preservatives and salt, ingredients that can damage your hair follicles, and that are commonly used to dilute products. Michael's line of products are highly concentrated - it takes less product for each use, so one bottle will last much longer!

What's the big deal about gluten-free?
For those who suffer from celiac disease or gluten allergies, ingesting gluten can lead to reactions that range from uncomfortable to downright dangerous. The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it absorbs everything you put on it - even hair products that touch your scalp.  Although it's not very common, severe reactions of gluten allergies have included hair thinning or falling out at an alarming rate. A good rule of thumb is if you can't put gluten IN your body, you shouldn't put gluten ON your body either.

Even if you don't suffer from gluten allergies, Michael's line of products is specially formulated by cosmetic chemist Irma Jobst to protect your hair from damage caused by environmental factors - it protects against sun damage and fading - and from over-styling. Irma (right) was here this morning training our staff on product chemistry.



Are you ready to try our new line of products yet? I understand if you're a little hesitant, so ask your designer at your next appointment. She or he will be able to recommend the products that are best for your individual type of hair. And, here's a good deal to sweeten the pot a little more:

Our short answer: YES

 

Yes salon products are better, and here’s why. Look at the ingredients on your shampoo that you purchase at any retail store. I’m willing to bet that one or more of the following will be the top ingredients: water, salt (sodium chloride or ammonium chloride) or a sulfate.

 

What are these ingredients?

While water is a necessary ingredient, most store brands are highly diluted – to the point that it takes much more product to get the job done. For products that are diluted with high quantities of water, there will be lots of salt. Salt is a thickening agent, so that your product will seem to be of a good consistency. Sulfates, often listed as ammonium laurel sulfate, sodium laurel sulfate, or sodium laureth sulfate, are lathering agents. They make your shampoos or foaming products get bubbly to make you think they’re working. Salon products include these as well, but in smaller amounts, and at gentler doses. Sulfates at high doses are harsh on your hair, especially your hair color.

 

Why are they bad?

If your product is diluted, it will take more of the product to achieve your desired result. Which means that one professional bottle might last longer than 3 or 4 bottles of store products. Multiply the cost of a store product by 4, is it still cheaper than a professional product? Still, why are you spending so much on salt and water?

Salt is very hard on your hair, especially if your hair has been processed. If you are willing to pay 70, 100 or 150 dollars on a process, why would you strip it with cheap products?

 

Professional Recommendations

Of course, not ALL store brand products contain harsh elements, and some professional products do. One of the most important reasons to use professional products is because you can get specific recommendations from a licensed professional. Michael’s designers train with cosmetic chemists and understand what ingredients are in the products we offer. They will recommend the products you need to get the style you are looking for. And the best part – Michael’s guarantees the products we sell. If a product you purchase doesn’t work out for you, bring it back within 30 days and we will be happy to find another product better suited for your needs.

What do you think? Do you use professional products or store brand products? Are you satisfied with your hair's texture? Does your color last as long as you think it should? Let's get a discussion going.

It's How To Tuesday (a day late) again at Michael's! Do you have problems recreating your salon look at home? Michael's Salon is putting together a new how to video each week to teach you how to style your hair at home. But here's the difference: our designers are demonstrating the styles on themselves!

We didn't want to leave out the guys, so this week's video features Michael Ison, a new designer and intern here at Michael's. Ison gets questions all the time about how he styles his hair, so here's his video to show you exactly what he does:



Ison uses products by Sebastian to hold his look: the Volupt Spray before blow drying, and the Microweb Fiber to style.

It's How To Tuesday again at Michael's! Do you have problems recreating your salon look at home? Michael's Salon is putting together a new how to video each week to teach you how to style your hair at home. But here's the difference: our designers are demonstrating the styles on themselves!

Ladies, you can throw away your bump-its, because Elise is about to show you how to back comb and tease your hair to get volume, without having to use an uncomfortable plastic head piece!

Elise used products by Osis to get this look: Dust It mattifying powder and Freeze Fix spray.

It's How To Tuesday again at Michael's! Do you have problems recreating your salon look at home? Michael's is putting together a new how to video each week to teach you how to style your hair at home. But here's the difference: our designers are demonstrating the styles on themselves!

This week Ali is demonstrating something that is usually very hard to do on yourself - a long hair updo. Once the steps are broken down, she shows that this style is actually pretty easy and quick!

One thing you need to keep this look in place is great hairspray. Ali used two different hairsprays by Aquage - the Freezing Spray to smooth and hold the look while styling, and the Finishing Spray to set it in place.

We're back with the 2nd edition of How To Tuesdays at Michael's Salon! This video features our owner, Michael Schuh Jr., demonstrating round brush techniques. Obviously (once you see Michael you'll understand why I say obviously - he has no hair) he can't demonstrate this technique on himself. So he used model Rachel Novick to demonstrate how to straighten her curly hair.

To recap, here are Michael's tips:

• Apply product when hair is wet, beginning at the roots and spreading down to the ends. Michael used Elixir and Swell Gel on Rachel.
• Finger dry hair until it is about 80% dry. With Rachel's curly hair, he then smoothed her hair with a denman brush before round brushing.
• When round brushing, hold the dryer at the nozzle so you can control the direction of the heat.
  
• After you round brush a section, bend it to the side so the section keeps its shape and you can continue underneath.
  

This demonstration was part of a training video produced by Michael on how to cut a swingline bob. Rachel had a dramatic makeover that day - her hair was down to the middle of her back - and after Michael was done it was at her chin! Here are her before and after photos:

New in 2010 at Michael's Salon, we will feature How-To Tuesdays. Women in Dayton - heck women around the world - are frustrated when they can't reproduce their salon look at home. So to combat this problem, we will produce a weekly video starring one of our designers demonstrating how they style their OWN hair! Sure, it's easy to understand what your stylist is teaching you when you're in a chair in front of them and they have two free hands... but it gets a little more difficult when you're solo in front of the mirror.

Our first brave designer is Tonya Verhoff, who has been at Michael's for many years and is known for her cute and stylish short hair. In this video, Tonya will show you how she gets her short hair just right:

Ladies, don't be intimidated by the steps to achieve this look! If you pay attention to the clock behind her, you see that it took Tonya less than 20 minutes from wet to set.

To recap, here are some of Tonya's Tips:

• Tonya uses Styling Creme by Michael's when her hair is wet, applying from root to tip.
  
• When blow drying, begin by finger-drying your hair until it's 80% dry and then use a round brush to add body.
  
• If you use good products and a good flat-iron, you should only have to pass it through your hair once. More than once and you will burn and damage your hair.
• Tonya uses Beyond Shine by Aquage to protect her hair from heat damage.
  
• To finish her look, Tonya uses Michael's Shine It paste to give her hair flexible hold that's not too sticky.
  

Since we started carrying MoroccanOil products earlier this year, all of the hair designers here at Michael's Salon have been going crazy over how great this product is for your hair. Designer Kat Bissonnette loves it because "it is great for all hair types. Moroccan Oil actually heals and repairs hair with every use, and adds shine to lifeless hair. I love it!!"

We love the product, and now we love the gift box set that MoroccanOil has put together for the holidays.

The box itself is a perfect makeup case, and inside it is stuffed with wonderful MoroccanOil products. The Moisture Repair Shampoo and Conditioner is sulfate-phosphate paraben free and is designed to soothe and repair chemically damaged hair. The Oil Treatment has the unique quality of instant absorption into hair, creating an instant shine and long term conditioning without leaving residue. And the Restorative Hair Mask offers a therapeutic remedy that penetrates deep into the hair to help reconstruct and rebuild, undoing damage done by chemicals and other environmental elements like sun and wind.

We also have a box set for curly hair, which substitutes the Restorative Hair Mask for the Intense Curl Cream. With impressive antioxidant and intensive hydration capabilities, this breakthrough styling product is used to enhance and define curly hair. Repeated use will result in extraordinary hold, shine and protection.

This MoroccanOil gift set is available at Michael's Salon and Spa in Dayton, OH while supplies last.

Moroccanoil is an ultra-light formula which is absorbed by the hair instantly, resulting in a natural, silky finish and brilliant shine without leaving a residue. It restores over-processed hair damaged by environmental factors (sun & wind) and chemical procedures. InStyle Magazine noted that it’s one of Hollywood’s Elizabeth Stewards favorite instant makeover tricks. Her stylist gave her a bottle to try and she loved it. Moroccanoil - now available at Michael's Salon. www.michaelssalon.com

Allure Magazine's August 2009 issue selected the TS-2 Detailer Mini Flatiron one of the TOP 3 TOOLS to achieve the trendy styles of the Hollywood stars. Number 1 on the list, this mini flatiron is just 6 inches long and heats to 400 degrees. It great for short hair, bangs, touch-ups and roots. It's perfect when traveling. When you've only got a few inches of hair, meticulous grooming is key. For professional styling the price is awesome. The TS-2 retails for $25 at Michael's Salon and Spa in Dayton, Ohio.