Seeing Red At Believe

From I Love Lucy to Pippi Longstocking to the on-again-off again Lindsay Lohan, redheads may all be different from one another—except in one way…they are all unforgettable.

Redheads just flat-out get more attention than women with other hair colors. Sure blondes may be noticed (and only described as blonde) but redheads actually get talked about---their sass, their infamous temper, their joi de vivre.

So if you are ready to join the ranks of the notorious reds, how do you it and what should you know?

                     


Pick the color: From strawberry blonde to auburn to crimson and copper, there are so many ravishing reds available that it may be tough to choose. Start looking at celebrities on TV and photos in magazines. Notice their skin color—not just their hair color—if yours is similar, you may be in the ballpark.

Talk to your Believe stylist: Lisa, a trained Master Colorist and the talented staff at Believe will give you their honest opinion gained from experience with hundreds of heads and the color reds that look best. Bring in photos of colors you like as words are sometimes hard to find when trying to describe the perfect red,

Not all stripping is sexy: If your hair is dark, the Believe colorist will have to lighten it first before turning you into a redhead and stripping color is nothing you should ever attempt at home. (We have an article about that coming up in this blog soon.)

Keep it real: Unless you want to look like Rhianna or Katy Perry with crayon red hair, go for a natural shade—and that means a color found in nature—not a blue red or scarlet.  Stay in the red-orange shade family and you’ll be fine.

Learn about level and tone: The level describes the light versus darkness in the color. The tone are the highlights or reflections you see within the color, Ask your Believe stylist what type of highlights will help your new color shine like fire and not just lay there like paint on your head.  Highlights around just the face are perfect for some, while others look best with all over lights—as though you’d been kissed by the sun. Brunettes will look better with butterscotch or caramel tones as opposed to those that are more metallic. Bear in mind that warm tones reflect light and ash tones absorb it.

Be ready for maintenance: Because of the large size of the color molecule (making it hard for the hair shaft to keep a grip on it) red hair fades faster than any other color. Always use both a shampoo like Chromastics Tri Organic Sulfate-Free and a conditioner like Chromastics Extreme formulated just for red shades…and use them every time, right from the day your hair is colored. Keeping the color is easier than trying to retrieve it.

Better than ever: Red coloring often improves the condition of your hair (whereas bleaching it can make it brittle and dry). Just another benefit of joining the Rouge Sisterhood.

Get a whole new look: Your makeup will have to change (hit the cosmetics counter at a department store for a free makeover) and your new hair will require some new clothes. You might now clash with some oranges and reds, but will look boffo in greens and shades of brown.

Work on being sassy and sultry: Your new haircolor gives your permission—in fact, it’s not only encouraged, it’s expected. Come into Believe and we’ll be happy to show you some hair-tossing moves,

Give us a call at Believe at (914) 747-0778. and start seeing red.

Are You Ready To Be Blonde?

We talked last week about lightening your hair (and how you should come into Believe to have it done by Lisa, the Master Colorist or one of the talented and trained staff here instead of reaching for the Clairol) but this week we’d like to talk about the different facets to going blonde. Blonde isn’t just a color—it’s a lifestyle.

You may be old enough to remember the commercials that said “If I only have one life, let me live it as a blonde” or the ones that promised blondes have more fun…but what do you really need to consider before you join the bevy of blonde beauties?

No need to go all Harlow—You are probably too mature for platinum hair: Hair color ranges in shade from deep black (level one) to that white blonde of the Nordic race (level 12). Unless someone hails from Iceland, you’ll rarely see anyone past puberty with anything lighter than a level seven. So unless you want to be glaring, think golden, wheat, ash or even the lightest brown. Those shades will look more natural.

Keep the right temperature: Everyone knows now about winter, spring, summer and autumn colors in fashion and how one season suits your skin type best. It is the same with shades of blonde. There are cool and warm shades. Bring in color photos of blonde shades you like (and hate). At Believe, we will use our years of experience to help you pick the shade that will best suit you.

Going blonde is one thing, staying blond is another: Make sure you are ready for the maintenance your new color will require. You might have gotten away with looking a little faded as a brunette or even a tad orange-ish as a redhead, but dark roots in your new blonde ‘do just look trashy. Get ready to have your hair colored (by us at Believe, please) every 4 weeks or so.

Change your hair products: Coloring your hair blonde requires bleaching products that may change the texture of your hair. You may need less shampooing and more conditioning. Use a sulfate-free shampoo like Chromastics Tri-Organic , a conditioner like Iden Treatment and a reconstructive treatment mask at home like Agadir Moisture Mask. Schedule a deep conditioning treatment every month with us here at Believe. When it comes to farm references, you want hair like corn silk, not like hay.

Pay attention during the process: If you have hair that is on the scale (see above) at level seven or higher, you may get to become blonde with just highlights. Darker than that and you need a “single process” or even a “base breaker” or maybe both, depending on how dark your natural hair is---we’ll educate you on this when you come to Believe for lightening. You’ll need to know to allow enough time at each appointment or if <sob> you ever decide to get your color done at some other salon.

Glazing is not just for donuts: There are sheer shade glazes that are a non-peroxide treatment that add the perfect shine to your new blonde look (and seal in that glisten-in-the-sun look).

Stop by your favorite department store makeup counter: Duck the women spraying perfume and ask for a free makeover. Your new hair color will require new lipstick certainly and maybe new brow and lash color as well. The opinion of a stranger is good here as they won’t be “blinded” by the old you—they’ll only see the dazzling blonde you are now.

Everyone’s got a blonde joke: And they are guaranteed to trot it out when they see your new color. Grin and bear it. They’ll soon run out of steam. You’ll have the last laugh knowing you look younger (lighter hair does that), that you can now be that hot blonde your partner is now ogling, and that now when people meet you, they’ll be wondering if you are having more fun. At Believe, we hope the answer is a resounding “yes!”

Lightening Your Hair With Believe

Now that the warmer weather is here, everyone’s hair is no longer hidden under hats and what that means to us at Believe is that we are seeing an awful lot of very bad hair color applications—many are do-it-yourself at-home jobs.

The reason we see none of our clients among those who look like refugees from tin foil and paintbrushes over the kitchen sink or (men, are you reading this?) the ones who look like someone applied shoe polish to their heads is because we are lucky enough at Believe to have a Master Colorist. Lisa, the owner of Believe, spent years learning her craft and consulting on every hair coloring session we do here at Believe.

And while we can’t condense all her training into one article, here is the first of a series of articles revealing some things you should know about hair coloring (even if you insist on doing it yourself—and again, we beg…please don’t!).

Lightening the hair

This is a preparatory process for the application of a single-action, penetrating tint or toner and a lightening product used to lighten the hair to the desired shade.

Professional hair color lighteners were created to lift dark hair to light by diffusing natural melanin present in the hair's cortex. Experts like us at Believe know, they can’t always guarantee that you’ll walk in with black hair and can walk out a platinum blonde. (The underlying pigment might not allow that.) We may be able to take your very dark hair and make it much lighter—but that might take more than one application of lighteners and (do-it-yourselfers take note) you could be playing with fire.

Each application may damage hair due to the level of lightening and chemicals required to achieve it. The stylists at Believe are looking out for the long-term health of your hair. Listen to us!

The over-the-counter lighteners may contain a lower level of potentially harsh chemicals (and may not lighten your hair properly either) but don’t be fooled. They can still severely damage your hair. If you must lighten your hair at home—do a strand test in some inconspicuous place. Remember…Hair lighteners actually remove color—to just minimize the color, but remove it completely.  We really do recommend you step away from the box and make an appointment at Believe. We can assess your hair and tell you if it’s even a good time to consider lightening your hair. If we find it so, we will use one of the following hair lighteners: Oil, Cream or Power of Paste.

Oil Hair Lighteners

Oil Lighteners usually consist of the mixture of hydrogen peroxide with a sulfonated oil. 

Oil based lighteners are usually mixed with 20 volume developer and one or more lightening activators. Many of the lightening activators do contain ammonium persulfate.  It is the ammonium persulfate working in harmony with the hydrogen peroxide and the lightener to remove any unwanted red, orange or yellow tones in the hair.

Oil lighteners can provide maximum control when lightening naturally dark hair, which may take an hour or more.

Neutral oil lighteners can be used without adding color to soften the hair to better take a tint later or Colored oil lighteners add temporary color and highlight hair while they lighten. Gold lightens the hair while adding red highlights.
Silver lightens the hair while adding silvery highlights to gray or white hair.  It also minimizes red and gold tones on other types of hair. Red lightens the hair and adds red highlights.
Drab lightens and adds ash highlights, toning down or reducing red and gold tones.

Cream Hair Lighteners

Cream hair lighteners are the most popular types of lighteners.  They're easy to apply and will not run, drip or dry out, making them easy to control. With conditioning, bluing and thickening agents, they can protect the hair from harsh chemicals, “drab” or dull red, orange or gold tones, and make sure the lightener stays even and doesn't run (you don’t want streaks).

Powder Or Paste Hair Lighteners

Powder or paste lighteners are the fastest type of hair lighteners. These types of hair lighters contain oxygen-releasing boosters for quicker and stronger action in lightening. Your Believe stylist will mix these lighteners that hold really well and prevent overlapping with previously colored hair. You really need a professional to properly use these lighteners so they don’t dry out too fast, drying out the hair shaft and irritating your scalp.

Make an appointment with us at Believe to assess the condition of your hair prior to lightening it. We are happy to take a look, give our honest opinion, and recommend some next actions to get your hair ready to go lighter, Next week, check this space for some other things to consider if you taking bold action and Going Blonde.

Welcome All To Believe's New Blog!

When I opened Believe Beauty Lounge three years ago, I was delighted to be joining the wonderful community in Pleasantville.

Now I am just as happy to announce that Believe Beauty Lounge has fully joined the online community, too--expanding our web presence by joining forces with BehindBlogs.com, a social networking service.
BehindBlogs.com will help us keep you right up-to-date with the goings on here at Believe, with daily updates to our Facebook page and Twitter feed and, best of all, a weekly article on this, our new blog!

On our blog, we get to explain what we do here; introduce new staff, products and services; keep you current on the latest trends in the industry; let you know about discounts, fundraisers and other special events; invite you to seminars by industry experts and, through the comment section that follows each blog entry, we get another way to talk with you, our clients, and find out what you are thinking, what you need to know, and how we can best make your visit to Believe Beauty Lounge a relaxing and fulfilling experience and one you can't wait to repeat. We want you to come back again and again and enjoy it every time.

As this is our opening blog article, we thought we'd repeat for our regular customers and tell our new (and future) ones who we are and how Believe came to be...

As a graduate of New York's prestigious Wilfred Beauty Academy in 1984, I was well-trained, but inexperienced, when I had the good fortune to meet local hairstyling legend Franco Marino, who hired me for his business, presently Beautiful Hair Color Salon, and took me under his wing. Franco was a master (and former Colorist Of The Year) and as his right-hand woman, I got to soak up all the knowledge I could absorb and it was quite an education. I am ever grateful for all I learned from Franco.

When the time came to open my own salon, Franco and I became friendly competitors. Though I was scared to death to start such a new venture, I was encouraged by my husband Stewart (my partner) to "believe" in myself (that's partially where the name came from) and I was offered support, (emotionally and monetarily) by many of my clients, who I am thrilled to say followed me to my new salon.

I wanted Believe to be cozy and intimate (making our 500-square-feet shop an asset) and welcoming...a place where everyone who worked here listens to the customers and works with them, not on them. It is, after all, your hair, skin and body and you know them much better than we do (there's that listening thing again.)

There's no room for superstar stylists or divas with attitude here. (I think that's why we have such a good retention rate--our customers come back again and again...and recommend us to their friends.)

Our staff is entirely dedicated to you and is made up of:Caroline and myself are hairdressers and colorists (I am a board-certified colorist, one of only 2,500 in the country); my Personal Assistant/Manager Shannon; full-time makeup artist Katrina (who is training Sam to learn all she can about custom-blended makeup), and Jacqueline, our Medical Aesthetician. Michele has also just joined us as NYS-licensed massage therapist and we even have a pinch-hitter who can do a basic manicure for those special occasional when you are pressed for time.

We at Believe know we have to earn your business everyday and we do our very best to make sure your experience is a good one. We promise to never take our relationships with you, our treasured clients, for granted.

Thanks so very much for your trust and your business. We look forward to working with you again soon.

Lisa Koebbe Bevan

Owner

PS: Be sure to "like" our Facebook page and subscribe to our Twitter feed to be in on happenings and discounts at Believe and check back here next week for another article on our new blog.