Choosing the right hair products

After over 20 years in the salon industry, it still amazes (and amuses) me when I watch someone shopping for hair products. I see people open the bottles to smell them before reading the details on the label. Now, I do not deny that fragrance is an important factor in choosing personal care products but it should not be the #1 criteria. What a product is designed to do and it’s performance should be on the top of the priority list. If it smells good well, that is the bonus. Quite frankly, I have rarely found a shampoo or conditioner that smells dreadful. Some are just more appealing than others.

Having discussed products with literally thousands of people while they sit in my chair, I have heard a lot of perplexing things. Here is a sample dialogue to illustrate some people’s thinking in regard to personal care products:

Client: My hair has been so dry lately.

Me: Well, what sort of products you use?

Client: Oh...I use good products...I buy them at the beauty supply (or health food) store!

Me: Well, can you be more specific? What shampoo have you been using?

Client: “Brand X” (not a real brand)

Me: I see. They make several types of shampoo. Have you been using their hydrating formula?

Client: No, I like the smell of the volumizing shampoo better.

Me: Uh huh. Well, what about conditioner?

Client: Oh, I never use conditioner because it weighs my hair down!

There are several things going on in this conversation that need rethinking.

First, to assume that a product is “good” because you bought it at a beauty supply or health food store is a absurd. While you do generally find better quality products in the professional salon market than in the grocery or drug stores, there are still some lesser quality products found at that level. It has been my experience in this industry that you truly get what you pay for.

Secondly, regardless of the brand, the client chose the wrong formula considering the fact that her hair is dry. In fact, many volumizing shampoos can be a bit drying. Some allow the hair to be more voluminous by removing oils from the hair. With continued usage, these shampoos can dry the hair out even more.

Third, not using conditioner because it “weighs the hair down” is not helping matters. Although some conditioners coat the hair and weigh it down, a good conditioner penetrates the hair shaft and supplies it with essential internal moisture. Hair that lacks internal moisture can split and crack, won’t hold color molecules, lacks shine and appears dry. The solution for this particular client is quite simple. Switch to a truly hydrating shampoo and add a quality conditioner to their arsenal.

Since we are talking about conditioners, let me add that another  common mistake people make in selecting their products is that they will buy a “deep” or “intense” treatment and use it frequently, even daily. The logic here seems to be that if it is good for occasional use, their hair should be amazing with regular usage. Guess what? It ain't gonna happen!

Here is the scoop :

These types of treatments contain a lot of protein. Oftentimes they are called  “reconstructors”. They are designed to replace the missing amino acids (the building blocks for proteins) and strengthen the hair shaft. Too much  however, can make the hair brittle. They often lack the most essential conditioning factor which is hydration. The result of excess protein and lack of hydration will take the hair in exactly the opposite direction of where you wanted to go in the first place. 

As a rule of thumb, I advise my clients to hydrate frequently and nourish periodically.

Lastly, if a product is not working, change it! If you have no clue what to change to, ask a professional!

-Buddy Wilds has over 20 years of salon industry experience as a hair cutter, colorist, and educator. He is an expert in the art & science of Physiognomic haircutting®  which he learned from Calvin Basil.

Photogenic or not?

When you look at a photo of yourself, what do you see? Do you generally like or dislike photos of yourself? Most people I know are not fond of seeing themselves in photos and it made me wonder why.  Is it the lens, the camera, the lighting? Then in a flash, the reason came to me. It is because what we see when we look at a photo of ourselves is a reverse image of what we are used to seeing in a mirror! Conversely, what you see when you look at yourself in the mirror is the reverse of what other people see when they look at you. The part in the hair is on the right rather than the left. The corner of the mouth that turns up slightly more when you smile is on the opposite side. Your (very slightly) crooked nose has the reverse bend. All of these things make for what many consider awful portraits. 

The next time you have a photo of yourself that you do not like try this. Hold it up to a mirror and look at it in reverse! Does it look more like you...to you? It probably does. I suppose you could reverse the image in a photo manipulation program like Photoshop (http://www.photoshop.com) but then it would look odd to others that are used to seeing you the other way around.

Most of us see ourselves for a relatively small amount of time in a 24 hour period. I mean, how long does it take to shave, brush your teeth, comb your hair and if you are a woman, put on makeup? Even if you add the few minutes here and there throughout the day that we "freshen up" it still adds up to a small portion of a day.

So unless you are extremely narcissistic and spend a lot of time in front of a mirror, your friends and family actually see you more than you see yourself. The best thing to do is to trust your loved ones when they compliment a picture of you.

The next good thing...

"The way you support yourself can be an expression of your deepest self, or it can be a source of suffering for you and others. ... Our vocation can nourish our understanding and compassion, or erode them. We should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn our living."

--Thich Nat Hanh

As Tree and I both move on to "the next good thing" as we have become fond of calling whatever comes next, the above quote comes to mind. I think I am in a state of repair, realizing just how much my roots had been gnawed at in the past 12 months or so. It certainly is a case for Karma and so I suppose I deserve whatever I get.

OK. So what about "the next good thing"? When will it begin to manifest? What form or shape will it take?

These are all good questions. I have no answers yet but another philosophical tenet comes to mind when contemplating the future. Many have said this in slightly different ways but the meaning is the same. Here it is...

 "A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." — Mahatma Gandhi

I need to exercise patience and diligence. Keeping good, positive thoughts and continuing to walk in love, kindness, and peace. It is only then that I can find and move on to “the next good thing”.

Namaste...

~Buddy 

This past Sunday, my gal Tree and I had the privilege to play in the lush garden at Lulu Bandha's Yoga studio. I use the term “play” strategically as Tree and I manage to maintain a playful perspective on most things. You see, we share in the attitude that what many consider “work” can just as easily be viewed as “play”. Like nearly everything it is all a matter of perspective. For example, I have heard many people say that “relationships are a lot of work”. We prefer to play together and let work be work. Gardening is just one activity that we play at together. We love to play in our own garden and when the opportunity to play in that marvelously beautiful space came along, we jumped at it.

When I was about 13 years old I was hired by my Godfather, my Dad’s best friend Frank Elefante. He had a landscaping and yard maintenance business. Uncle Frank is a very wise man whose wisdom trickles back to me from time to time. Throughout my life, I have had many “Aha!” moments when I finally get what he was really saying. One such moment happened in Lulu's Garden on Sunday morning.

While Tree and I were playing in Lulu’s garden, I came upon some plants that had been allowed to become quite overgrown, stifling some of it's surrounding neighbors. Tree wanted to consult with Kira and Eric Ryder about cutting them back but the in deep synapses of my brain, some of the wisdom that Uncle Frank imparted long ago sparked and came forward. I said to her, “Everything needs to be pruned eventually so that new growth can happen”. I followed that loose quote with “Even people need pruning now and then”. That is when the “Aha!” happened. I continued playing, pruning, weeding and taking the various clippings to the compost pile in the back of the property. All the while I found myself smiling and musing on the memory of Uncle Frank’s words and how it took me nearly 40 years to get the metaphor.

I won’t be specific in this particular blog entry but I have recently gone through some serious pruning in my life. I am excited to see what shape the new growth will take. It is bound to happen and no doubt, it has already begun.

Look at your own life and see where you may need some pruning. It is only then that new growth can happen.

Namaste…..

~Buddy Wilds