Remember When the UnderCut was Limited to Those w/ the Unfortunate Title:Trailer Trash?

Rhiannon : now the POSTER GIRL for it – and Never Did I Think I Would Love It As I do

I just love this new cut
Its hard to see on this photo, but what ‘Undercutting’ refers to is the sides and lower part of the back are either shaved very close to the scalp OR as we do in Vidal Sassoon- use the Scissor-Over-Comb Technique of shaping the under hair very close to the scalp. Leaving the top section very long, so it kind of flips flops across the head[……..and that is kind of a cult trend hot in Europe right now, with Rhiannon bringing it to the states.
But it makes sense I guess, I’ve always thought ‘outside the box’ - - and this cut is nothing - -  if not - - - - outside-the-box!

They say this cut works best if you have an oval face shape with petite features…..to determine your face shape  —> look in the mirror - - draw around the shape of your face on the mirror with an old sharpie. . . . check the shape on the mirror. WALLLLLA!

The fashion forward trend of Undercutting has begun and I’m hoping it catches on here
This cut is for :

• fashion forward
• makes trends not follows them
• works on thick, fine,curly , or straight hair
• needs a striking color ( of any type)

  Rhiannon has had many fantastic version of the UNDERCUT . .




For some extra PIzazz in the color department the trend for the summer is the newest trend of using PASTELS. AS you see here:


The method for making pastel Krazy Kolors will be talked about in TCE: the new underground private Forum & Store that will be opening within the next week   . Please stay tundeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


And Last but not least is the styling of the Undercut. You are going to need
VOLUME-VOLUME-VOLUME  …. of the long layers on the top
I would recommend 2 different products we carry for volume and hold … All I love
Kevin Murphy’s  - Anti.Gravity - - - which he advertises as “oil-free……….now remember my theory on all the years of hair products and skin products selling us “oil-free crap?
The reason it was ridiculous was because they were using silicone’s and esters which are not “classified” as Oils….and why was that any big deal???? Because Silicones and Esters are what they put in breast implants.. . . . and nothing clogs pores more than a “NON-OIL” such as silicone or ester. I always wished I could let everyone feel what a silicone felt like. You would never use them again.
Well, I was a tad leery of Kevin Murphy's oil-free claim although I have a lot of faith in every product he has..somebody  taught him right. But with ANTI.GRAVITY there are NO SILICONES + NO ESTERS…..there is lavender flower water, copolymers, honey extract, squalene, grapefruit seed extract . ….and on and on the ingredeint list is dynamite…. the way it works………….even better. Great Volume! Great Ingredients!
The other product? Schwarzkopf makes a whole host of excellent styling products…..I have loved every single one and they are probably the number one brand in southern California stylists…( I always have used a mish-mash of brands……But Schwatrzkopf’s OSIS LINE  has this amazing Spray Wax called AIR POMADE….light—Air-y- but with texture hold…non-greasy texture with natural shine and piece-y separation…TO DIE FOR. Just love it. I have always loved spray wax’s it leaves the hair in just the right texture….I LOVE IT>….
I will get this loaded on the store. . .  Asap. . .
Watch For TCE its getting Closer . . .   to REALITY I cannot believe it!

Bangs or No Bangs : That Is The Question

Fringe Benefits <> Cut Your Own Bangs/Fringe

The proper term for that triangle of hair across your forehead when cut to your eyebrows, is “FRINGE” - - - NOT BANGS. The Sub-title was truly the Title - - I was fearful if I titled this post properly no one would read it . Some-how, some-way … years ago, the slang term for it was started by some silly Yankee yahoo thinking he was being clever. Obviously he was either mentally ill or ‘on drugs’. The entire rest of the world calls that pie-shaped area of the hair “FRINGE”. Canadians & Americans are the only morons that use the ridiculous name, bangs. Having asked various elderly Stylists and instructors along the way – who-what-why-when the term was switched, not a soul had a clue. The word ‘fringe’ makes sense…bangs does not….I know – I know >>> a lot of words don’t, but I have always had a fascination with where words stem from….so I’m always looking for the root, just a silly hobby of mine. Having spent a career trying to change the word, with this Forum maybe I can make more of a difference. Now that you know, “ Fringe” is the word I will use to finish this Post. If everyone that reads this post begins to use the word “Fringe” maybe we can reinstate the proper word . . . however small the effort, remember “change” comes from one small step.

Now, in continuing my constant theme of finding the best hair “cutter” in your town to cut your hair and sticking to that. The very best method of trimming your own fringe is by starting with the fringe cut correctly to your specifications by a professional.

To be perfectly honest, if you have a great cutter…they should offer you complimentary fringe trim touch-ups in between hair cuts. That is an age-old tradition every great Hollywood cutter I know offers regularly. I always offered it, as I changed the norm in “haircut frequency” rules: I’m sure you’ve always heard you should have your hair trimmed every 4-6 weeks, which once I got into the Salon world found absurd. Its much too frequent I felt…with the range of hair growth being from 1/4 inch to 1 inch in a months time….the average is 1/2 inch. Now in my experience a great Sassoon cut – really does last about 7-8 weeks. The only time I would shorten it is on very short hair styles & super fast growing shorter hair styles, certain short haircuts might need to be cut at 5-6 weeks but that is very few and far between. When I got so busy I couldn’t cram anymore people in my book, I had to begin coming up with methods of jamming more people in an already filled up book. This method, worked well – made my clients happy and truthfully I learned the standard rules for haircut frequency were made to increase business, not because it was necessary. It was the first rule I was taught in Academy that I learned to rebel against, learning not everything they taught was strict fully for the “art of hair ”… although do not take this wrong….no company on planet Earth is more into the “Art of Hair – cutting, coloring and styling” – more than Vidal Sassoon. I was so fortunate to have an education like that. So get your fringe trimmed to your liking FIRST by your Stylist, then if and when you aren’t able to make it into your complimentary trims { which btw I found no one ever took advantage of } this is how I would recommend you trim your own. Once you have it trimmed correctly, its pretty darn easy to give them a touch-up till your next hair cut. I know it scares people, but don’t let it. That’s the first thing, ‘fear’ gives people of confidence and talent -- the ‘Doctor Jekyll <> Mr. Hyde Syndrome’…I used to see it all the time as a Stuntwoman. Some of the actors that you know and admire, when confronted with a scary situation of a stunt -- would turn into whimpering yahoo’s – it was remarkable to me. So, do whatever you have to do to keep your confidence intact, maybe reading this will help somewhat.

Another misconception is when you come in for your next haircut appointment, we can tell that you have trimmed your own fringe. Nothing could be further from the truth. As your hair grows out. . .different areas grow out at different rates, have you ever noticed that? The center of the back of your hair grows the fastest on pretty much all women, as in this picture . . .

See how the hair grows longer in center-rear?

Ever let your hair grow out for a year or 2 without a hair cut? This is a mellow photo (couldn’t find a better one), most of us would have a radical dip from the side of our hair to the tip of the back. Its a little weird quirk of the hair rarely spoken about. Notice how the sides of your hair are never as long as the back? This is what I’m talking about…how the hair on different parts of your head grows at different speeds. Inevitably, every single person that has come in for that first trim after letting their hair grow for 6 months, 1 year or longer, has hair that comes to a long point in the center back. This is why a hairstylist cannot tell whether YOU have trimmed your hair or whether it was another stylist or ‘what’ {?}….DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. I learned to never expect my clients to come in for that free fringe trim… they never had the time.

Now I am going to over dissect the art of trimming your fringe to the ‘N th’ degree, please take what you need and leave the rest.

Remember my rule about parting the hair for coloring…that same rule is the “Sassoon method” of accomplishing most everything on the head of hair. Sassoon took what was a random, fairly unorganized way of cutting hair and turned it into geometry and precision. DON’T LET THAT SCARE YOU, let it comfort you. Before him there was no “plan”…there was no guide, not even a hypothesis that made sense that would work on everyone. With Sassoon came the art of dividing up the round surface ( the head) with strands that fell from it. . . followed by the use of shapes…which equaled continual successful haircuts – because it was based on science -- the science of GEOMETRY. It sounds harder than it is, I promise. Just trust in me that the Sassoon method of dividing up the head in equal ‘quarters’ before any procedure whether it be cutting, coloring, trimming and even styling…truly helps and makes each procedure easier. For all you /Stylists that follow along (btw: which there are many) I would encourage you to purchase some of the Sassoon DVD’s – I actually worked on a couple of them – although I never felt like they taught enough to really learn all the various techniques. They put on Advanced cutting classes at the Academy here in LA {only one in United States} and I always felt they didn’t teach every step of a certain haircut via the DVD’s in order to force people to attend the Adv. Classes {which are expensive – though well worth it}.

• Resist the urge to cut Wet hair, its easier to see what you’re doing when its dry. Besides until you are used to how much the hair stretches and shrinks from wet to dry…you don’t want your first attempt to chop off way too much a la --> Katy Perry fringe.
• Take the extra time at the beginning to SECTION the hair as I show here in these HEAD SHEETS:

QUAD SECTIONING

{ A good rule of thumb for any styling, coloring or cutting you plan to do: always begin with the QUAD sectioning }

• Invest in proper hair cutting shears { I am planning on finding the best hair cutting shear at the big Hair Show, in 2 weeks }. the scissors don’t have to be expensive just made for cutting hair. Having found a couple pairs, I just want to make sure there aren’t any better for the $$.

Assuming you have had your fringe trimmed previously by a qualified Cutter, at this point you are going to want to section away the hair you don’t want to touch with scissors. If they cut them properly the section should look like a triangle.

• Take the hair from the part behind your ear to the front hairline….twist it up and clip it…on both sides. This ‘should’ leave hair loose and ready to trim

• Now if the fringe hair is an inch or more, too long… the first step will be to get some of the length off. Accomplish that by turning the scissors perpendicular to the floor. In other words NOT LIKE THIS:

This way would be parallel to the floor…and is not going to give you the proper look. Therefore, with your scissors held perpendicular to the floor {like the photo BELOW} – take the tips off going all the way across the ends of the fringe

• Now with the length of the fringe about at the length of the above photo ( or about 1/2 inch longer than your desired length) section the fringe into 3 equal sections (approximate is fine) . Grab the first one, pull it straight up into the air and twist it.
• Snip the ends with the point of the scissors cutting diagonally,a little at a time,so that each strand is a different length.
• Drop each section to see where it falls, if necessary – redo…twisting and re-cutting.
• Pull up the next section, matching it to the length of the first one, before snipping. Repeat until your fringe is trimmed.

The twisting helps give that choppy look that makes a fringe look natural as opposed to a straight bowl-like trim, something I find is the biggest problem to ‘you’ the client.

In styles for 2010, a bigger fringe is the new look. The bigger fringe comes from starting the point of the triangle back farther and farther on top of the head. The advantage? It gives you a very healthy – very heavy looking fringe. The Disadvantage? It takes hair away from the sides of your hairstyle. Which can be fine for some and disastrous for others. Through this blog I deal with so many of you that deal with living in a town of unqualified hair stylists, many of you have gotten so discouraged with disastrous Salon appointments you have turned to teaching yourself how to do things correctly. If this is also your case with “cuts’’ that is a much bigger animal to conquer. The only part of cutting you have power over is your fringe….otherwise it is nearly impossible to cut ones own hair…

But, at least now you have the tools to trim your own FRINGE.

Are you used to the new word yet ? ? ? ? I hope so.

Big LOVE<>Big HAIR, 2010 Smokin’ Hair Styles

4 Lengths – How Lucky Can One Gal Be

The premiere of Big Love always puts me in a fun festive mood, have no idea why, its amazing what a great TV show can do to your spirit. For a very different Post from ‘moi’ I chose to simply pick out 4 great hair styles for 2010, I hope you enjoy and get inspired.

Instead of choosing 1 hot new look for the season, I’ve always followed the Brits, who choose the next “hip” styles by each length of hair – so there are always 3 or 4 and they chose these to show with each seasonal collection of clothes. Recently they showed the clothing collection for Summer 2010, with that comes this collection of hair styles.

Here in the USA, they go from super short hair style ( like the hard core crop ) one year to super long the next and back again. I don’t know about you, but most of my clients can’t just easily grow their hair to extreme lengths on a whim. So it puts the styles they are promoting out-of-reach and does nothing but frustrate women. They do this – on purpose – to boost biz, which I understand but going from super short to super long and back again is not an easy road. I’m all for bringing in new colors/new styles and inspiring the public, but lets be reasonable about it. Those long to short and long again (that only happens here in the US) encourages extension use, something I am SUPER opposed to.

Therefore lets start the Euro trend of picking the NEW “styles” for the 3 lengths of hair. Its a wonderful theory and an excellent compromise, that will still satisfy both sides – the public, the Stylists AND the manufacturers.

For 2010 I have picked out 4 looks I think are trend setting. Remember though, the public usually runs about 1 year behind what the shows and magazines depict. I’m not sure why, although I have always thought its because people are mostly afraid of “change”. I really respect people who change their hair up a lot, takes a lot of guts – a lot of inner confidence - - and a lot of cash ! ha ha

First is : Big Waves

Lets begin with the one style everyone wants, but few get….the long –long-long hair with scrumptious waves look : Big Waves. Remember though – NO extensions. They pull your hair out at the root. When that happens many times parts of those hairs will not grow back, I have seen so much balding as a result of extensions.

Now, this hair should be long with minimal layering. The hot color this year has numerous names depending on who you ask, I call it BLONETTE, some call it BRONDE, there are all sorts of funny names….you get the idea – a Level 7NBG is how I would best describe it.. Most important for this hair type? EXCELLENT condition. Also –> naturally wavy hair has an advantage, otherwise be ready with a Curling Iron or even better Velcro Rollers – using a spray serum to cover the hair before the iron.

Next : BOXER BOBS

The Bob is hard to get people to go for, and am not too sure ‘why’. It never goes off the style radar for long – this season both with and without a fringe (bangs), although the shape is sharper than ever. Its a great look for thinning hair…really gives the illusion of thicker and healthier hair than you may have.

The cut needs a strong, sharp shape with no layers and should be worn sleek and straight to enhance the lines. Some think thick hair suits this style….I happen to disagree. This can be the loveliest style for thin hair. Suits many face shapes, I wish more would try this.

HARD CORE CROP

Sides should be kept short, tight and tailored, but keeping the length longer on top for versatility and to give you lots of styling options.

Another hard style to get people to try, but when they do most fall head over heels. Great for thin – thick or medium hair . . . adding an interesting color is truly the cherry on top. Color “Flashes” are super thin little slivers of color. Whether it be slivers of red-violet on Level 1 hair…. or tiny bits of silver on platinum….try it. Its so very very easy to do to oneself. For the first time you have a store to purchase anything you need, here is the coolest silver I have ever used ( although it is permanent – so be very VERY sure you want the color!): http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/products/pravana-chromasilk-vivids-semi-permanent-crazy-color

Last but not least: the SURFER SHAG

Disheveled texture is a favorite of mine and many of the ‘surfer chicks’ sport… we lovingly refer to them as. Those that don’t see fit for a chic look seem to adore the sexy surfer shag.

The style must-haves: should be loaded with short choppy layers to take the weight out of the cut, enhance the texture and natural wave. This is a great for growing out another cut, it can turn a ‘nothing cut into a something with guts and style cred. For me it is difficult to describe ‘cuts’ to the non-pro. . . its an art and geometry is involved. Which is one reason I ALWAYS ask people to use photos when they want a cut or are talking about a cut . If I used the proper words I discovered no one in the public knew what I was talking about, that is how intricate Sassoon autopsies a haircut .

This Surfer Shag is named after the culture, its meant to look rough and as though you just stepped out of the water. This is my fav for the year. Open your heart - - open your mind, become brave and give a new cut a try one of these is for you.

I have forgotten the days when I didn’t know how to do hair. So that is a super valid trick for you . . .ALWAYS use photos to show your Stylist the cut you want…the discrepancies in the meaning of “descriptive words” can give you LAYERS…when what you wanted was “TAPERING”. Words can give you the wrong cut….I can’t tell you how many times I have seen that one mistake. How many of you think that when your hair is cut like this ………

……see how her hair ‘frames’ her face . . . its cut in a manner to wrap around the facial features. I think 90% of people call that “Layers”…..well, its not. . . . its called “Tapering”.

I still feel that spending as much as you can afford on a good cut every 2 months ( so only 5-6 times a year ) is a great investment, all 4 of these takes a Stylist who understands the “basic's” of haircutting, try your hardest to find a Sassoon grad. We are trained and honed in artistic geometric hair cuts like no one else on the planet. Sassoon and the couple that bought it from him were the Worlds Master Cutters.

. Open your heart - - open your mind, become brave and give a new cut a try……… one of these cuts ‘could’ change your life. I cannot tell you how many times a new cut/color has completely changed a person’s life ! !

thank you,

Killer Chemist

Precision Cutting Techniques ; Contemporary Hair Styles

  a  great Hair Cut is the beginning 

of

               a great Hair STYLE                 

Terms Your Hair Stylist May Use

I have noticed over the years that clients get terms we use as Stylists mixed up, which is not the clients fault at all. Nor is it the Stylists fault.

(Please click directly on this article for an UP CLOSE view of what it says....thank you)




Instead of argue about who should know what - when - and "why" . . . how about I throw this very cool list out to you about Hair "cutting" terms - - - although I find it is missing the most misunderstood term of all.

Tapering.

Most clients think that when you cut the hair surrounding the face as in this photo, that it is called "layers"...at least that is what I get here on the WEST COAST of the USA. See how her hair is tapered around the shape of her face ?

Its called "tapering".

Layers are when you cut into the entire head of hair giving you multi-lengths - instead of one length. This model also has Layers - as well as Tapering.

I've often felt that layers were developed for clients that have long hair and they don't want to cut it, but they want a change.
I find most clients find "layers" a lot more work, than one length hair.