“Just For Men” = ‘ Just For the Trash Can’ – Replaced by a new Kit by L.A. Colorist from Killer Strands

NON-IRRITATING Kit to Cover Gray on Both: Head & Face

Recently,men have contacted me regarding covering their gray and wanting to know how to do it successfully without irritation to their skin/scalp. Its really quite simple, but with finding out what they were using yesterday in the ingredient list sent me into a mild Coronary…. it took me a day to recover and explain…please read yesterdays post, for further info.Now, with today's post, I’m addressing the issue I began to yesterday.

Personally I would stay far away from any kit that says “Just For Men” “Loving Care” & there is a 3rd one I cannot remember the name of??? - PLEASE –PLEASE get over your fear of using regular hair color. There is no “trick” to only covering the gray hairs and leaving the rest alone…..NONE –ZERO ….JUST GIVE IT UP. Its Bullshit, they are trying to trick you into thinking there is a nifty- trick to coloring only your gray hairs and THERE ISN’T ! There is no way to only color select hairs on your head short of painting each hair individually. BUT…………..that does not mean there is not a method of coloring men's hair where it looks realistic and natural. I’ve done it to hundreds of clients for 17 years – I had a huge amount of men’s color clients….I don’t know why….but I did.

PLEASE read all the POSTS and Testimonials that are everywhere on the INTERNET – all the complaints about "JUST FOR MEN" . But, anyway, finally you have your answer. I’m here to help and to be honest I’m sorry I have not addressed this sooner, I feel bad now that I have read all the problems men have been having.

Coloring Hair now-a-days is a very very simple and successful process.

Here is what it involves:

Mix 1 ounce of 1 Hair Color and 1 ounce of another Hair color into a bowl…….(into a $1.29 plastic Tint Bowl)

then add:

2 ounces of Developer…………….

then…….Stir/Mix …and Apply. …………and That’s It . . .

When you paint it on your head with a small paint brush ( pretend its a fence).

Now, there are just a couple basic supplies you will need to make this successful and you can be on your road to coloring your hair every 6-8 weeks at home. . . and it will look GGGREAT, I promise. Most of which you can get in our store:

http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/

You need:

• Tint Brush
• Tail Comb
• Tint Bowl
• Application Comb

http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/collections/tools-and-supplieshttp://

Then, all of you need to go to Home Depot and purchase a 3-Way WALL mounted extension mirror. Although I found a pretty reasonably priced one on EBAY and a few other online stores, I find men – would rather go to Home Depot.

Mount it in your Bathroom, so you can do the back of your hair YOURSELF. Take back control of your hair color, like the women are doing, please don’t think this is just happening to you…the women deal with this same crap, I promise you.

To be perfectly honest, most of you need to have this mirror anyway. I feel every single person on the planet should have one of these mirrors. I will stand in a line and glance at various peoples hair ( because that’s what I do!!!) 50% of them never even touch the back of their hair. Which is what the rest of us LOOK AT!

EVERYONE put it on your list of things to do this week….. Purchase an Extension Arm Wall Mirror – there is a well priced version on EBAY. . .

We will now have available for sale in the store, the following Kits:

• KILLER COVER GRAY – MR. Kit > In 2 Types….(1) KP – Koleston Perfect > Permanent Hair Color …….(2) CT- ColorTOUCH > Demi-Permanent Color,
• both come in 12 Colors , with us adding the 2nd color you will need + the Developer, 1 pair of Gloves, & a measuring Cup. EVERY thing you need but a "paint" {tint} brush , really.
• If you want any "red" or "reddish" tones in the hair color ...you MUST mark that at check out - that will require 1 email exchange....but that's all

http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/products/wella-koleston-perfect-permanent-color

• KILLER COVER GRAY – MRS. Kit……..in the same 2 options……this will be forth coming. There are hundreds of posts for the women, its about time I helped the guys out.

Doing my research on “Just For Men”it just broke my heart that they have absolutely NO options, but to go to a Salon. Well, at least 50% of them who want this service will NOT GO TO A SALON. . . . they can’t be bothered.

I just read 103 Testimonials (Folica.com) about the disaster that JUST FOR MEN is creating against men of all ages and hair colors…Its time I helped them out and gave them a “Killer” KIT to purchase. So it will be easy for them.

Women, if you know of any men . . . please let them know….I really feel like I have “dropped the ball” on this one….and feel ‘just horrible’ …I truly do.

You have the choice of

1. KP – KOLESTON PERFECT – Permanent Color or
2. CT–COLOR TOUCH - Demi-Permanent Color within each Kit.

I’m trying to make it S-I-M-P-L-E

Within every Kit:

{in order to cover GRAY properly} 1/2 the Formula MUST be a “N” Series Color or a “Neutral”. If you want to know why its a very very long story, I know my men. . . they don’t care. They simply want to get the job done efficiently and correctly.

So that is how the Kits are referred to….You will ask or order a 6N – CT Killer GRAY Kit for Misters….. or a 8N – KP Killer Gray Kit for Mr. We will take care of the rest. But, you will need to take a little time and determine which color your hair is that is your own color……I highly suggest you get someone else’s help on this one little tiny matter. It is really hard to determine this on oneself…..Trust me. You will only need to do it once…..then you are home free.

It is not super critical…..within these Wella European Colors they run a full level darker than they appear or than any other American chart. The Level System is a Universal System for Hair Color … and is used worldwide in every country on the planet.

So, if you order a 6N and have not written in the check out box that you have taken the “darker factor” into account. We will send you a 7N.

I’ve been doing this a lot of years and have well over 10,000 Heads under my belt..I have had a huge male COLOR clientele as well….so tons of experience – I promise. With Gray hair; going one level lighter is also a smart idea . . .1 level darker….is NOT….It looks super weird- like shoe polish.

Whether you need a 6N-KIT in KP……or maybe a 8N Kit in CT….?all you need to do is figure out how light or dark your hair is. That is what the LEVEL SYSTEM is.

Level 1…………….is Black

Level 12…………..is Platinum/White

and here are all the colors in between:

The numbers in between are the different lightness of blonde’s to dark Browns. All you have to do is figure out how light or how dark your own ( non gray) hair is ---> simple.

A very common color is LEVEL 7, which ‘says’ its medium blonde…check that out…do you think that is medium blond or ANY blond??? I don’t , and I do this shit for a living. So once you figure out which Level of lightness or darkness you are – go to the Wella Color Page http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/products/wella

find, your Level and figure your percentage of Gray, if you have no one to help – join our group, up-load a photo of you hair in there…….and there are plenty of super qualified people to help. So many many options to solve your hair crisis….especially covering your gray. Also determine the percentage of gray to determine which color you should use. . .CT or KP. Another little tip > > > > if you want the color to fade out as you shampoo . . . then choose the CT (Demi Permanent) …..that’s another tip. If your gray is super stubborn, use the KP….another tiny tip.

I’m sure there will be questions but lets get this started and see how we do. . . remember when you make a purchase you are more than welcome to ask questions in the box at the end of check-out and they will be answered and applied to your order. For now, I personally do all the recommendations and color selections with all orders. So a nice little bonus when purchasing from Killer Strands.

The only color that won’t work this way is Red heads, which I am – so I have a special affinity for. They will need to purchase the REDHEAD Kit and you will be sent an email and we will figure it out, by you answering a couple questions…there are really only 2/3 Levels of Redheads. Be sure to purchase the REDHEAD KIT, and we will email you.

The next decision needs to be which color you want to use.

KP or CT

If you have 25% Gray as you see in this chart. . . . that is the cut-off point for going from CT {Color Touch} and bumping up to KP {Koleston Perfect} which is permanent and has the turbo booster to help cover the tougher gray. {just a play with words…}

If you want, try CT with your first order, you will see how it works and then decide whether you want to use Demi Permanent again or bump up to KP. Once you begin to use this level of color you can go between the 2 with no problem.

The only thing you cannot do is go from brown to blond. The color must be removed to do that, and that is addressed on many other posts in this BLOG. These kits are only for covering GRAY...PERIOD.

{for those who are single or simply want to gain your own control of your own hair color, and have it turn out perfectly . . . this is your answer.

WE are on the road and will continue on with this. . . so please join our group . . . ask questions in there. . .lots of qualified people and myself stops by frequently. . .

Hope This Helps. . . . somewhat. . . . for now. . . .more to come

Killer Chemist

I have Hair (TIA) Advertising “BLOCK”. . .

. . . heard of Writers “Block”?

Once again, in my never ending attempt to write a post educating you on the wonders of hair color . .  I get side-tracked and stumped by this one topic:

(TIA)   TRUTH-IN-ADVERTISING 

Not wanting to talk about it, as I dislike people that harp on negativity - - it just keeps getting in the way. Many times I hit “DELETE” and you all get nothing. Which is simply not fair . .  I have soooo much to say and a list a mile long of topics to write on. So for just this once and because it is the first day of the New year, I will show you what happens - - so you understand…that way I can just tell you, in the future, to see the Post from January 1 on TIA and hopefully I won’t have to talk about it much any longer.

Interspersed with this yucky topic I am going to give you some gorgeous new photos of blond styles and colors that will set the trends for the beginning of the new decade ….so its not AAAAAAAAAAALL bad !

Another slight problem is:  I can see my writing on this subject has hurt me financially in the past 2-3 months  - - I used to have big advertisers run ads on the Blog which did help me afford to keep this entity FREE to you, the reader. These advertisers have left, and I am very very sad. But if they have not come back yet, I doubt they plan on it in the future – so here goes:

I would guess most of you at one time or another came to Killer Strands for the same reason that many continue to do today and tomorrow . . . and most likely the next day - - - and that is for one of the “BIG 3” I call it.…

The BIG #3 Hair Disasters that routinely happen by the thousands – 24 hours every single day  -- 7 Days of the Week – 52 weeks of the year… Year after Year after Year…..that is one Helluva lot of people being affected by the following:

1. Unqualified Hair Stylist
2. Boxed Hair Color - disaster
3. Incorrect recommendation by S_ _ _ _‘s Beauty Supply via – unqualified Sales person

The Big 3 get in the way almost every single time I attempt to write a POST to you about so many subjects….WHY? 

Well, here was today’s predicament – I’m hoping this will clarify easily :  I wanted to write about how to put together a very simple kit for those men out there that simply wanted to color/cover gray hair, they can do it at home, at their own convenience and I was going to give a tricky little method Sassoon came up with so it looks a little more natural with a Level 8..Level 6 and a Level 5. .  Simple enough – right?

Being as I am not a writer, but a very enthusiastic hair colorist/chemist . . . I find I must get inspired by some new facts, figures or theories, formulations…. and know my subject – learn more than I already know…hopefully more recent info than what’s in my brain already. So I always do some research on whatever the topic is for the day….

Now, I attempt to research Men’s hair color that is in those ‘boxed kits’ to figure out why it looks so weird . . . then I discover that many of them use metallic salts to color the hair, their kits aren’t even advanced enough to be like the women's boxed hair color kits. Where a Tint + a Developer is used  - - mix together / apply & process –  a very simple chemical reaction that takes place in order to color hair – most of you generally understand & its been around for well over 50 years. It is not at all degrading to the hair – in fact quite the contrary.

….BUT, Metallic salts is archaic, its so old and unpredictable I truthfully thought it was a banned substance. . . . it is very similar to Henna. Henna/Metallic Salts are the 2 applications that I was sure were not used and if they were I was to stay very very far away from them – I was told this 17 years ago. What is it doing in Mens Hair Color Boxed Kits?  Also….one cannot apply regular hair color on top of them….some sort of fizzling and hissing and yucky- dangerous reactions begin to take place… and Lord knows what could or could not happen to the poor hair strands.

I will not touch a persons hair that has HENNA on it. I heard dozens of horror stories from European Hair Stylists, that pretty much scared the crap out of me. So if this is what a lot of these companies are using to color men’s hair, I just discovered why their hair looks so weird when they attempt to cover their own gray.  

THAT IS SO ILLEGAL, and just sooooooooo WRONG. Like so much of the PUBLIC HAIR COLORING choices out there, I don’t understand why these companies get away with… Why do they get to do things that are terrible for hair, encourage hair loss and don’t even color but build up layers of metal on top of the hair strands – that’s (vaguely) how the metallic salts work to cover gray. I never wanted to fully understand it, as I said I heard it was being banned and discontinued.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS when I go to write a post, I discover some other bizarre and weird/wrong and NOT COOL discovery about public hair color that I cannot believe exists and I am so shocked and confused….I can’t really tell the story correctly without telling people this type of background. This needs to be said, so that one person brings the topic up…its not fair to men. Why don’t they get a decent hair color system? Because they are men?? I LOVE MEN . . . . they are one of the greatest joys on planet earth… It would be absolutely no fun without them…and I feel they should be taken care of at the same level as we are. There is not a woman alive that would put up with Metallic Salts covering their gray, I guarantee you. Pieces of various colors of metal close to your own color build up on the gray hair ONLY to give the illusion of the gray disappearing. It does not work and looks bizarre.  . . .

SUN-IN used to used Metallic SALTS to lighten hair which is why so many had orange hair…. it depended on your DURP as to whether SUN-IN would WORK on a certain person’s hair. I had heard someone sued and won about SUN-IN and that is what stopped the use of METTALIC Salts for hair color about 18-19 years ago… so am still stunned that Mens Hair Color is using it..

I stopped writing about them… because of all the advertisers I lost, but I can see now they don’t plan on returning. I can understand I guess. But what I can’t understand is why these companies do this. There are such easy and gorgeous colors they could put in those boxes…. I don’t understand why they put crap in them . .  and why they don’t use the good products, I guess it all boils down to “PROFITS.

So, there you have it. . .TIA or TRUTH in ADVERTISING is a huge HUGE issue to me. It gets in the way of all the Posts…So, now that you (hopefully) understand I’m hoping it will be easier for me to just plow ahead…. But I have a BLOG that I am trying to use to get my message out, for everyone to learn how to properly care for their hair and to let them know that they too can have longer shinier, thicker hair. . .  if they just follow a few rules, its truly not that hard….

I know – first hand - - -  I live it. I follow every single thing that I preach to you about.

I’ve always lived a very disciplined life, 10,000 HEADS to me is just another extension of living a healthy life I feel. I can’t participate in any of the exercises….I come from a different place - - - I would give A N Y T H I N G to be able to exercise again. So its weird to hear people complain about having to exercise …or practice YOGA to improve their hair’s health. If I could do that again, I would be a super happy person. Remember that next time you check out the local YOGA schedule…

Remember how super lucky you are that you CAN practice YOGA, and that you have the health to do it with….it truly sucks not being able to to do those things. Boy do I miss it.. . .

Happy New Year one and all

Killer Chemist

Boys & Their Toys Are Changing: Men's Hair Color < Acceptable > as Well As Cool

 Boys Validate All the Bottles on Our Shelves

Men and their hair

In my Salon business in Malibu, which was located a stone's throw from the Pepperdine College campus (there were tons of 18-29 year old men) - I began with an 85-15% split women to men in my clientele. At the beginning of my career men came for a great hair cut, I had learned the Vidal Sassoon manner of cutting men's hair and I adored the process . . . It is "Sculpture" at is finest and my cuts were not cheap - but they were done with love, art and design in mind every single time.

Over the next 12 years the numbers got closer and closer till when I had to shut down my business the last time I checked into the hospital - but  it was at 50% - 50% - a dead even split and I could see that if I was to keep going I was going to maybe bump over the line. Yes, I adore men . . . and was raised with 2 brothers so I feel a certain kinship to them, something most women have a hard time with . . .when a guy sat in my chair it was just easier for me to rattle off questions and BS than if a woman did - which has nothing to do with "likes" "dislikes" or anything but just plain being "used to".  I will admit they were a lot prettier to look at...
 for me and the smell of a well dressed man with  a great cologne wins hands down over a woman - any day to me. . . . but still  - when you get down to brass tacks. . . you make a helluva lot more money off of a woman in your chair than a man and I knew it..
It never stopped me from trying to get men into my chair, ever.
Completing a 100 minute men's hair cut was one of the most rewarding acts I could complete in the art of hair. I sculpted each head of hair to 'each' specific man and accomplished that very meticulously - I guess loving Sculpture was the catalyst I had for that.

So when the tide started to change and men began coming to the Salon for highlights, bleaches, relaxers and most everything we offer women - there was not a soul happier than, yours Truly. Problem is, men's hair is very difficult to do and difficult to do correctly. Why? It is so damn short . . .  and it needs to be done in such a manner that it does not look like he has gone to the $29.95 Car painting shop and has race stripes down the sides. Most of what needs to be done is good - honest - Hair color - usually just one color .
Stylists should not try to get the man to pay for a number of things he doesn't need.
He doesn't need . . . . . Highlights.
Not only do I dislike highlights for women - for men I want to cry and I bet most of you will agree with me.
I will admit I- myself- have given slices - ribbons and veils to a number of clients but they were NOT highlights and the difference is huge if you were to see them side by side. Some day I will find comparable photos to show you the  difference > visually.
Most of my color work with men was like this gentleman - here. With interesting placement of the color, instead of stripey stripes on the hair - just to say you have them.
Men have become interested in their hair, their skin and their overall appearance in phenomenal numbers which is good news for us girls. We no longer have to push them into it, they are truly turning into mini- beauty junkie's on their own . . . isn't that the most exciting news> ?

You know how you will sit across from them at the table in a restaurant, wondering why they don't give a crap how their hair looks . . . why will they get a Fantastic SAMS  haircut for $10.00 when a nice $50.00 scissor over comb hair cut looks 150% better on them?  They care what "we" look like and we try to improve our appearance "for them". . . its the least they could do in return - we like to look at a nicely shaped head as well.

Well, according to all the numbers across the board : 'men are turning into chicks'. Which is a statement I refuse to say too loud or the men will go running from here and I may disrupt a very encouraging 'shift' in culture. Men need to become more sensitive - more caring of their looks - its an attractive feature  --  I guarantee you.
According to AC Nielsen, sales from men's grooming products and services grew almost 70% between 2002 and 2005 compared with only a 6% increase in the women's market. Take notice next time you are in Sephora, Macy's, or your favorite Beauty Supply, almost every major manufacturer in the professional salon business has a men's brand.

Statistics show that men are now spending more than $4 Billion dollars every single year on Grooming products. I hope you think that is as insane as I do. Men's attitudes have changed, they are now interested in a variety of products instead of a bar of soap and stealing your shampoo. It took years of them wondering why we had so many damn bottles in the bathroom to finally catch on that maybe  - - just maybe... there was a point to many of them.

The men I had as clients were much more willing to try new products starting back 14 years ago, yes it was Malibu and "yes" many of the trends start here . . . but still it was pretty unusual and rare -- even then.

I will never forget seeing  3 of the local professional surfers running with their capes blowing in the wind to get in their trucks and head to local McDonalds with Foils in their hair ( begging me to go while their hair processed !)...

It was truly an amazing site... The big - butch - surfers - finally let down their barriers and simply did not care that they had foils in their hair and a cape around their neck - they thought it was "cool".  That's when I
knew a shift in the tide was here to stay.

Here is some work I did on one of the Local surfer boys . . . he had his coat painted by a car painter for Malibu HIgh PROM  - wanted his hair to match  ! !