Making Your Baby Even More Beautiful

With so many gorgeous grownup heads to cut and style, I sometimes forget to talk about Believe's smaller customers-the kids. From baby's first haircut right up that perfect prom do, we love being the salon that parents and grandparents trust with their little ones.

But to make the experience of going to the salon a positive one right off, here's a few tips for Haircuts For Kids:

• Don't let anyone else dictate how long your child's hair should be-even the well-meaning Grandma who says your son, "looks like a girl. Until last century, no babies got their hair cut till after their second birthday and many a mother loved those soft baby curls. And hey, if Kate Hudson can let her little boy Ryder's hair grow past his shoulders, why not you? (Make sure to use fabric covered rubber bands whenever you pull it back, however.)
• When your child's hair starts to flyaway or get split ends or falls in their eyes, it may be time for The Big Day--The First Haircut. You'll want to do a little prep work-find out if your stylist can and will cut kids' hair. Some will, some won't. If yours will, take the child with you to watch you get a haircut at Believe. Children get less fearful when they know what to expect. We'll be glad to recommend a stylist here at Believe who is known for being good with kids.
• Set the appointment for the time of day when the child is most awake and least crabby. Once a tear-a-thon starts, it's hard to stop, so best not to let it get going. (Make sure you aren't rushed, either. Little kids pick up our anxiety and stress.)
• It's usually better to use another word than "cut"--little kids associate that with "boo boos"-- "trimmed" or "snipped" are better choices.
• Bring some toys and books along for distraction--and a little snack is good, too. We have lollipops here at Believe but will always ask you before we offer candy to your child.
• Offer your lap for your child or grandchild to sit on if they are still fidgeting in the chair. You'll both need some brushing off, but the session will go faster with better results.
• Bring a new superhero or princess T-shirt in a big size to slip over the child instead of the cape. Get a kid-size one to offer as a reward for good behavior in the chair.
• Remember to bring an iPhone or camera to catch the big moment.
• The front desk staff at Believe will happily give you an envelope to save some of those too-soon-gone baby curls.

Don't forget to pick up some fantastic products for kids from Circle of Friends at Believe. Circle of Friends' organics products are specially formulated for infants, children and adults using only the finest, gentlest ingredients. They are all dermatologist-tested, allergy-tested, clinically-tested and non-irritating. Try shampoos like Ana Banana and Susie's Root Beer Roundup, and their Conditioners and Detanglers (with yummy scents like Pineapple and Coconut) are sure to make comb-outs less traumatic on little heads.

Everybody at Believe wishes you--nd the little people in your life--a tear-free summer.

Travel Beauty Tips From Believe

Memorial Day weekend is the checkered flag for the opening of travel season and I can't help it, when a vacation is coming up, soundtracks start playing in my head...from Steppenwolf's “Born To Be Wild” (Get your motor running. Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure, in whatever comes our way,) and Willie Nelson's (On the Road Again, like a band of gypsies, we go down the highway) to Springsteen's “Thunder Road” (Hey what else can we do now? Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair. Well the night's busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere...)

Now that I've got those tunes stuck in your head, too (you're welcome) let me share a few Traveling Tips to make your Summer trip a little more beautiful:

(Remember, if you are traveling by plane, the only toiletries you can put in your Carry On bag must be no more than 2 ounces of liquid in any container; all containers must fit in a one-quart Ziploc bag; and TSA will confiscate any scissors, manicure sets or tweezers. Pack any overflow in your checked luggage.)

Come get your skin exfoliated with a great facial and body scrub at Believe. You will keep your summer tan much longer (with lots less uncomfortable peeling.)


• Whether you are headed to the beach or your neighbor's BBQ, sunscreen is vital. Make sure your foundation has it (at Believe, all the custom makeup by GIELLA has got you covered with an SPF of 15 and higher.) You'll want to pack more for your body. Try baby suntan lotion (which provides almost total sunblock) or carry a solid stick (like Neutrogena's Solid sunblock stick—it has no scent and can fit in your purse or beach bag. Reapply often, particularly if you are sweating or swimming.)

• If you do over-indulge and are as red as a lobster, here's an old wives trick: You will smell like an Easter Egg for a night, but douse your burnt skin in white vinegar. You will turn brown by morning.

• Something that smells much better and also fits in your purse is Aura Cacia Soothing Lavender Stick. It's lavender essential oil, in a roll-on so you don't have to worry about spills. You can roll it under your nose in restrooms, dab it on your temples to get rid of an in-flight headache, rub some on a washcloth and add to your hotel bath water or while washing out your dainties in a sink and it can even double as perfume.

• Hair conditioner, like CHROMASTICS LIGHT/ IDEN TREATMENT doubles as shaving cream—not only for your legs, but for the men in your family, too.

• Avon's Skin So Soft keeps mosquito at bay and doesn't smell like you are covered in pesticide.

• Pack a small plastic spray bottle. Fill it with mineral water when you get where you are going. It's magic for travel: Spray it on those tight places on your jeans (maybe after overeating at that family picnic?) and they loosen up immediately (and dry quickly). It will refresh and moisturize your skin at the beach, set your makeup for that perfect night out, and even can be used to help steam out wrinkles (spritz water-safe clothes lightly—no silk, unless it's washable—and let the clothes hang in a steamy bathroom while you shower.)

• You shouldn’t change your skin care routine on vacation (just add more moisture and sunscreen)--the last thing you want is for your sin to rebel and break out just when you are taking photos for the family album. Save and empty hotel toiletry bottles. Put your own cleanser--(like GIELLA'S MAKEUP REMOVER, shampoo like WHITE TEA SULFATE FREE and conditioner like WHITE TEA RESTORATIVE-- into the bottles with a small funnel and throw them bottles away before you come home. Less to carry.
• Pack a Pashmina or two. They don't have to be expensive (and might even be found at an airport store on sale!) They do double duty and can be a shawl, a blanket, a pillow, a skirt or even a bathing suit coverup.

• Always carry AESTELANCE TRAVEL SIZE SHAMPOO, a must for chlorine removal and salts after ocean or lake swimming. It's also great for washing clothes in the sink and gets chlorine out while keeping colors bright and is hard to find elsewhere. Keep one in your carry on, along with an extra pair of under in case your luggage gets lost.

• Check out this website for all things miniature: http://www.minimus.biz/ so you aren't at the mercy of your local drugstore for travel-sized items.
• Let us at Believe cut your hair before you go. We'll help you pick a style that not only looks great, but is no-fuss, no muss (maintenance-free) for your vacation.

• Lay off the hairdryer for a while (airplanes and sunshine dry out your hair as it is) and take along some AESTELANCE HAIR CREAM hair balm. (We stock it at the salon.) Slather it on at the beach (instant conditioning) and use it to keep a wild mane at bay for a night of dancing under the stars.

• Shiny face? Traveling is a dirty, sweaty proposition, it's true! Organic baby wipes(with great scents like lavender) help clean you up at rest stops during a hot car trip or a stressful flight. You can use them on your face, under your arms, around bra lines and they keep your hands from drying up when you use all that hand sanitizer on the road. Baby powder makes your entire body more comfortable, too—and you will smell great (even when you shouldn't.) And, believe it or not, those toilet sheet covers in airplane and turnpike restrooms are the same material as oil-blotting tissues and work like a charm.

• Fabric softener sheets have more uses than their original design, too. Pack them in your suitcase to keep clothes smelling fresh, eliminate static cling by rubbing them on your clothes and avoid your shoes smelling bad after a run or hot day of shopping—stuff fabric sheets in them at night and the next day you will be as fresh as a daisy.
• Pack some Vitamin E geltabs in your Carry On and break some open for use on a long flight—under your eyes and also slathered on your hands. Cover them with clean socks before you take a nap and your will wake up rested and moisturized.
• Carry a travel candle with you to make hotel rooms smell more like home and give you a better night's sleep (always the best beauty tip). Choose CLEAN LINEN or one of the other fabulous scents we have at Believe.

• And when all else fails--Never underestimate the power of a (crushable) hat and a great pair of sunglasses.
• Safe travels and have fun this summer.

Best Graduation Speeches (& Congratulations From Believe)

It's graduation season and we at Believe would like to offer our congratulations along with those proud family and friends who are doing a lot of hugging and back-slapping about now. Whether the superstar graduated from high school or college, here's a hearty “well done” from all of us. We'd also like to add to the good advice being handed out to the graduates with a selection from some of the best commencement speeches of all time:

Mary Schmich, Columnist, Chicago Tribune gave one of the most famous commencement speeches without giving a speech at all. She wrote it for her column Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted on the Young in 1997:

“Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now...
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.”

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Scripps College, 2009 “(I) expect and want that most elusive thing for you: to be happy, to find contentment in this life that we have that is far too fleeting. It may be that you will spend this gift of life in pursuit of scientific discovery, making great art, growing our nation's economy, or bringing relief to the world's poor. It may be that you will find the calling of your heart inside the creation of a loving family. Whatever it is that is calling to you, I urge you to ignore the voices that are telling you what you ought to do with your career and your family choices. You cannot authentically live anyone's life but your own. That is the deal life offers us. We as women have fought too hard and for too long against the narrowing confines of social expectation to have anything less.

Here at this wonderful point in your lives today, this hatching into your future, it is now time for you to embrace what was denied those who came before — it is now time to follow the passion inside your heart and listen to its voice above all others.

And what it says to you in the years ahead may surprise you and invert the notions of how you thought your life would turn out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being confounded like this, especially in your early twenties. So yes, I am saying being happy is more than just something to hope for. It's something to expect.When you do this, when you tune out the critical voices in your head and embrace what your heart is saying, you don't just make your own life better. You make the world better."

Bono, Rock Star, U2, University of Pennsylvania, 2004:
 "You have worked your ass off for this. For four years you've been buying, trading, and selling, everything you've got in this marketplace of ideas. The intellectual hustle. Your pockets are full, even if your parents' are empty, and now you've got to figure out what to spend it on. ”So, my question is : What's the big idea? What's your big idea? What are you willing to spend your moral capital, your intellectual capital, your cash, your sweat equity in pursuing outside of the walls of this college? 
My point is that the world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape.”

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, Stanford, 2005: “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Recognize that there will be failures, and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, for there is very little learning in success.” 
Remembering you’re going to die, is the best way I know, to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, Harvard, 2008: “You might never fail on the scale I did. But some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you fail by default.”

Oprah Winfrey, TV host, philanthropist, Stanford, 2008: “I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school. And our life, the classrooms, and sometimes on this planet Earth school, the lessons often come dressed up as detours, or roadblocks, and sometimes, as full blown crises. And the secret I’ve learned to getting ahead, is being open to the lessons – lessons from the grandest universe of all, that is the universe itself.” 

We hope the advice comes in handy sometime in your bright future (which we can help make a little more beautiful with our services here at Believe) and truly hope all your dreams come true.

Let Believe Help Make Prom Perfect

Whooosh...Hear that sound? That is the school year flying by and, before you know it, Prom Night is upon us. No matter how long ago we graduated high school, Prom is one event we've never forgotten and the whole staff at Believe wants to help you make your own magical night one you will remember forever, too.

Here's some tips we've found to help make it a perfect prom night:

• Stop dieting now. It's too late to lose significant weight and it is time to pick out your dress. If you want it to fit on prom night, accept your body as it is (you are beautiful, you know) and pick a dress that flatters your figure as it is. Buy Spanx to make things smoother underneath, but extreme dieting will just make your skin dry and flaky, your hair dull and your energy low.
• Having gotten the dress, it is time to get the shoes and start wearing them for a longer period each day. You don't want to be breaking in new shoes on the dance floor. Give Insolia Inserts a try. They fit right in your heels and shift the weight off the ball of your foot--saving all kinds of pain. (You still might want to stash a pair of fold up ballet flats in your purse, just in case.) If you find your feet swelling, return the shoes and get a half size larger than you usually wear. Also (an old model's trick) drinking water that has been boiled with fresh parsley, then strained, is a safe way to get rid of extra water that causes bloating.
• Once you've got the dress and shoes, have your mom or friend take a photo of you and bring it to us at Believe. We can help plan hair and makeup that will perfectly complement your look. You should also make an appointment with us as soon as you can, so we can do your hair and makeup for the big night.
• You might want to glitz up your look with sparkling hair extensions (we'll put them in for you) or braided ribbons or (you do only get to go to one prom in your life)how about a tiara? If Kate Middleton can do it, why not you? Just bring your ornaments to us at Believe and we will work them into the perfect hairstyle.
• Get a Believe facial to start out with a clean slate for your makeup--but schedule the facial a few days before the prom. Give your new skin a chance to settle in--makeup will look better and last longer.
• Stock up on some blotting papers to slip in your purse to take the shine off before all the photos you'll be taking. And, on the subject of photos, be sure to empty your PDA of all photos before you leave. You'll need all the memory space you can get to capture your friend's dazzling ensembles. Even guys clean up great for prom.
• This is a night for waterproof mascara! Not only will you work up a sweat dancing, but emotions may get the best of you. You'll be moving on in your life soon--college, travel, joining the military--and the realization that your high school days are drawing to a close might bring a tear or two. Pack a few lacy hankies in that purse of yours.
• If you need the perfect jewelry to complete your look, check out our collection at Believe. Each piece we carry is designed by an artist, not mass-produced. The last thing you want to look like at prom, is like everybody else.

Our last piece of advice, but an important one...

• Pose graciously for the ten million photos your Mom and Dad want to take of you before you leave. It will only take a few minutes and means a lot to them now (and will mean a lot to you later.) Thank them for the time and money spent, give them a kiss, and then...

Head out to have an awesome Prom Night.

Let Believe Make Mother's Day Special

Mother's Day started in England in the 1600's when Mothering Day was declared by the Church as one Sunday when servants and other working class stiffs were allowed to take the day off and travel to their homes to visit Mum. Naturally, when The Puritans came to this country, they cancelled the day off as slothful (those people really knew how to wreck a good time...)

It was up to Julia Ward Howe (who wrote The Battle Hymn of The Republic) to resurrect Mother's Day in 1870 to put behind all mothers the horrors of The Civil War and to celebrate peace and motherhood. She tried to hijack the 4th of July as the day, but had to settle for July 2nd, when women in 18 cities came together to celebrate. The holiday stayed in July until around 1883 (when Julia stopped footing the bill for the celebration.

Mother's Day was resurrected again in 1908 by Anna Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia, who wanted mothers from both the Union and Confederacy to come together in friendship. When she died, her daughter lobbied the local church to host Mother's Day to honor her mother and gave out carnations (her mother's favorite) to all mothers in attendance-thus beginning the tradition of giving flowers to Mom on the day.

Soon Senator Elmer Burkett of Nebraska, proposed making Mother's Day a national holiday (his fellow senators shot the notion down even though 46 states were already holding Mother's Day services.) Anna Jarvis, Jr. quit her real job and made getting Mother's Day made into an official holiday her lifeswork and, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed Mother's Day-the second Sunday in May--into law. By 1948, when Anna Jarvis died (mad that she hadn't been allowed to copyright the holiday's name) Mother's Day was being celebrated in 40 countries. It is celebrated a little differently (and at different times) wherever you go:

• In Mexico-The mother is usually treated to a song sung by her family, or a serenade by a hired band, followed by a family brunch.
• In Finland- Mom gets breakfast in bed.
• In the UK- violets are given and a Simnel Cake(a glazed fruitcake both baked and broiled, based on a folk tale) is served.
• In Yugoslavia -Mother's Day is celebrated by tying the mother up and not letting her go until she gives the family candy and treats. (She gets to tie the kids up on Children's Day soon after.)
• In Ethiopia-a feast is made with girls bringing butter, cheese, vegetables and spices, while the boys bring a bull or lamb. The mothers and daughters then ritually anoint themselves with butter on their faces and chests. They dance while the men sing songs and the celebration lasts three days.

Here in the USA, florists sell the most flowers for Mother's Day, restaurants claim it is the busiest day of the year and, according to Hallmark (who ought to know), 96% of American consumers buy something for the holiday.

We, at Believe, love Mother's Day! Some of us are mothers ourselves and all of us are happy to pay tribute to the women who gave us life or changed our life or helped us grow into women ourselves (yes, even our mother-in-laws.)

To help you celebrate, here are some suggestions for great gifts from Believe for Mother's Day:

• Zum Organic Goat's Milk Soaps has come up with a specially selected scent for the big day—Zesty Coriander and Lime
• 20% off on natural bristle hair brushes (offer to brush Mom's hair 100 times like in the old days.)
• 20% off on Believe soy candles
• 20% off on all jewelry, including Minh-thu Silk Paper Necklaces 
• Blow-dry gift cards (only $25)

Or buy Mom a Day of Beauty at Believe. 

How about a refreshing facial, a relaxing massage, a cut and color and a luscious manicure? Call us today to arrange Mom's special day. And if you are just flat out of time, run by and pick up a gift card--worth any amount you choose. It let's Mom pick her own special treat (and you still get credit for getting her a gift.)

To all mothers everywhere, the staff at Believe wishes you a wonderful day!