Thursday 24 March 2011

Going Blonde - just like magic???

"I'd like to go blonde please" is a request I hear many times from clients. They think I can wave a magic wand and when I explain it's simply not easy to do (near on impossible) they seem to think my skills aren't "up to it"

I am so {SO} pleased to see that Katie Price addressed this issue beautifully on her latest show Katie on Sky Living. Watching late last night on catch up -as we call it- (sky plus) I could have squealed with delight (but there was a snoozy husband beside me) as I could see that the story unfolding in front of me was one which would do the hairdressing industry endless favours.

A massive icon such as Katie Price is well known for her utter devotion to image (I know it is her job but nevertheless) and she was definitely a woman with a bee in her bonnet wanting to change her hair colour from black to blonde.

Stylists would tell clients, this cannot be done in one go. For me, I have recommended to clients that they start with a few highlights and they will look kind of orange and build up and up until after a few months (if they visit the salon every 6 weeks) they will start to see some blonde resemblance. This is not an exaggeration or a lack of skill. It's Science!!!

Bleach lifts colour out of hair.
Tint adds colour to hair.
Black is tint.
So everytime you top up your roots with black and think "I'll just pass that through the ends for a nice bit of shine" you are adding another layer into the core of the hair. Consequently, the bleach will need to remove those layers of colour that months and months of tinting have added.

Katie showed her hair at various stages and you could clearly see a rainbow type effect from root to end of the hair as the several applications of bleach were beginning to strip the colour out.
Needless to say she was using TOP salon experts for this and they were obviously and expectantly struggling. It's an impossible task-really-not one that can be achieved in normal circumstances within the couple of weeks that Katie managed to achieve it.
I think I recall that it took 19 hours of bleaching and while Katie was training for the marathon she confessed that her natural hair was a combination of cotton wool and chewing gum now. This is what happens when you loose the condition of the hair and by using back combing and heat treatment on the hair for her photo shoots she will do well to get her experts to use the best conditioning treatments on the hair. Breakage will happen and there will end up more extensions than anything.
After trips to LA to have more colour correction and extensions added for more blonde colour (plus lots of hat wearing while avoiding the paps) you could clearly see that Katie was 100% committed to the cause of changing hair colour.

It also cost her over $11,000

Why?

Because the products used are expensive, and the skill and expertise of the stylists comes at a price. Often people complain that it's expensive to get your hair done. Have you tried doing it yourself? :o) I have seen the result of people who try it at home.
We goto college for years and continue to learn constantly and this truly is a skill that takes much practise.


Your hair is the outfit you never take off.
Invest in it, look after it and just think before you decide to dye it from blonde to dark! Going back is not quite so easy.......Katie spent lots of money, loads of time (had to laugh at Gary saying he was exhausted after spending hours in the salon watching her - tho his hair was a fantastic cut! WHO did that?) and she was very very patient indeed. I must say, in this latest photo, her look works fabulously!
I LOVE IT

So, Katie; it was all worth it and thank you for educating people that these things are not achieved easily, no matter how much money, where you fly, the best experts you can give to this delicate operation! But I love this colour!

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Tuesday 15 March 2011

Weight Loss emotions

Ok, so most of us have gained a few pounds here and there over the years.

A pound on, a pound off, not really noticing much.

Funny how it can add up to 7lbs, a dress size and before you know it you are joining Weight Watchers!

That happened to me. I was stunned to realise that I had spent lots of my life yo-yoing and going from quite skinny to really overweight.  Enough was enough. A neighbour talked me into joining Weight Watchers and I was up for it. I needed that level of support where somebody inspirational would help me acheive a figure just like my idol Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer-Aniston.jpg

She is gorgeous, no denying that!

Ok so there is no way folks I'm going to post my FAT picture after this one, maybe on another post! 

Anyhow, sadly the neighbour didn't join me at the meeting. My mum did though.
Dissapointingly, we both found the weight watchers leader far from inspiring and we left after a few weeks. Although the plan seemed easy to do we needed someone else. 
My mum found another leader who was ok and kept going, having quite a reasonable weight loss. I gave up. And gained more weight!

Wedding fast approaching, no diets working, I decided to hit the gym EVERY DAY! Thanks Roko
Much as I loved it, I didn't loose any weight.........so  I got married a very curvy (but fit!) girly.

Hubby loved me anyway and I was happy. I just craved a different look. Was that Jennifer dream gone forever?

After being spolit in Venice on honeymoon (tiramasu-YUM) and then also giving my taste buds even more to smile about in Florida for the family holiday my weight was at an all time high. I joined Weight Watchers again with high hopes. 

Desperately unhappy with how every item of clothing looked, I clung onto the leaders every word. She was Amazing with a capital A. Her name was Lee and she was the inspiration I had been waiting for. The weight came off slowly at first and although I hadn't realised at the time, I actually had a pretty serious illness (that's another post entirely) and once that was diagnosed I went off armed with information and decided to research.
Able now to eat according to my illness, I adapted the Weight Watchers plan and I was home and running!

3 weeks after my 40th birthday I got to my goal weight and boy did that feel good. I cannot describe the feelings of pride and joy I felt. Right up there with the good events in life!

Everybody seemed pleased for me and even school mums who I didn't know would stop me in the street and tell me how good I looked and asked how had I done it. Can you imagine that? What a BUZZ!!!

The new Propoints plans from Weight Watchers became a new area for interest for me now as I am such a huge (Now not so huge!) ambassador for "You are what you eat" and for me, healthy eating is the key to life. If you put rubbish in, you won't perform to your best. So this new plan made me sit up and listen. It was much more encouraging of healthy eating and I finally did agree to go on and train to be a Weight Watchers leader.
Well, I was asked to be a leader  when I lost the weight and wasn't sure. Seemed like a lot of hard work to me. Yet this overwhelming desire to help other people like me who have been struggling makes me want to shout "Come on Down! The time is right! I'm here to help"
Starting training was a massive step and it has been very intense indeed. After qualifying, I have been to the handover of a lovely group of ladies and spent time contacting those who have missed a few weeks - "Come on down! The time is right!"

Tonight, my first group kicks off at 7pm in the Lordswood Leisure Center, Chatham. 
I will motivate and inspire these ladies and look for a nice weight loss next week! Imagine the feeling you will get from seeing that happen for these ladies.  

Watch this space for another post on how I get on!
Oh, and here is my "after" photo...
Ok so me and Jennifer look nothing alike

But as you can see, I'm happy with that!!
First Choice
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