Tag: Hairstyling

Spring Hair Refresh: Cut and Condition

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Haircut &Deep Conditioning Treatment-2

Is your winter hair feeling damaged & dull? Just wanting a fresh, new look?

Come in this month for a special treatment that will leave your hair LOOKING AND FEELING great!

Click here to book an appointment with April at the Dandelion Salon in Clovis CA. When you book please choose a Haircut and the add-on conditioning treatment.

You’ll enjoy a 2-step Marakesh & Wella Luxe Oil Deep Conditioning Keratin Treatment to restore moisture and manageability to your weary locks. After conditioner is applied to your hair we’ll add heat for maximum penetration. This makes a huge difference. Then finish with a fresh cut or a whole new look!

I just tried this treatment and was convinced I need to invest in my own hair more often. My processed, dry hair felt soft, soft, SOFT without being weighed down.  KEEP your hair in great condition by using a weekly deep conditioning mask at home for best results.

 

 

 

 

It’s NOT TOO LATE For Valentine’s Day!

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It’s not too late to have really beautiful hair for your special date.

If you have waited this long to think about Valentine’s day, there is still hope!

I have openings next week, and if you come during the month of February you get $10 off a cut and $20 off any color.

Great hair is a gift that both of you will love.

Book online here for a hair appointment with April at the Dandelion Salon in the Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis, CA.

Hair Is Love FB App

Visiting a new stylist can cause anxiety.  But it doesn’t have to, check out what my clients say about me here, and on my Facebook page here.

It’s not too late, but time is running out!

 

Consistent Care: The Real Reason for Rebooking On Time

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Before. In this photo the client is still wearing the black drape.

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After. 

 

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After

I hate going to the dentist! It’s not that I hate dentists. I finally found one I really like. But there are so many that I don’t trust. I go in for a toothache, and they give me an estimate to reconstruct my mouth for $18,000 using new technology from NASA. It feels like they’re trying to sell me things I don’t need.

I’m sure some people feel this way about their hair stylist. “We just finished, why are you trying to rebook me?”

I had a beautiful client come in recently who reminded me why regular rebooking is important for the client. She had just moved into town, had a job change (she has the COOLEST job BTW), etc. Consequently, she couldn’t see her previous stylist, and hadn’t found a new one that she trusted. And she ended up waiting longer than normal to get her highlights touched up. I have done this myself so many times, I can’t even count!

The truth is that waiting too long not only affects the way your hair looks now, it makes it more difficult for your stylist to get the color you want and a perfect match. Here’s how it works: After a color treatment your hair continues to grow. Highlights are added to small groups of hair for best effect. If you wait too long, the hair grows out and can leave the appearance of lines, hazing, or other color inconsistencies in the overall canvas of your hair. When that happens your stylist is not just working on highlights. They are working to cover up the problem areas in your hair. This means you could be spending more time in the salon, and you may not even know why. In some cases, it may take a second visit to get a perfect color match. All of this means more time and money out of your life. Not good.

If you are in this situation, don’t worry. Most stylists can make these kinds of corrections. But once you finally get the look you want, your stylist will offer to rebook your next appointment before you leave so that you have greatest chance of keeping the look.

If you’ve waited too long between highlights, I’d love to help you! You can book here. And as I have written elsewhere, you are the boss. My number one priority is to listen to you. I will never use pressure tactics to sell you stuff you that don’t need from NASA.

Also, if you are a dentist, I love you! And I brush and floss everyday.

Follow me on Instagram @Grateful_head
Side by side highlights

“She Listens”

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What My Clients Say About Me

Choosing a new stylist can be scary.

Everyone says they are wonderful. But what are they really like?

You’ll have to decide for yourself, but here is what my clients are saying about me.

You can visit my testimonial page to see photos and screen shots of hair and comments from real clients.

You can also check out my Facebook page, April Troupe Hair & Lifestyle to see my reviews.

Here is what THEY say:

“April made me feel really comfortable and took into consideration everything I wanted in my haircut(I cut a lot off!) She asked good questions and made sure I was happy with everything before I left”- Grecia Enns

“April is great and truly spends time doing what YOU want done with your hair. She listens and keeps listening on subsequent visits. I brought my daughter to her and now my son as well and we all love her work and commitment to excellence. Thank you, April!”- Robyn Reilly

“April is amazing. She listens to what you ask for and her execution is flawless! I would highly recommend her to anybody looking for an excellent hair experience.” –Janine Fitzgerald

This makes me really happy! My clients love that I take time to listen to them. This is one of the most important things to me! What matters is that you get the look YOU WANT, NOT the look that I WANT.  So I spend a lot of time asking questions and listening.   I do this at the beginning, and I do this throughout the process of cutting and styling your hair. My goal is for you to leave feeling great about your hair. My greatest fear is that you will leave the salon feeling disappointed.  What matters most to me is that you are happy with your look.

I thought of this recently when I saw this commercial for Progressive Insurance. It is very funny, but reflects something that is rather telling about this industry. I’m always reluctant to believe criticism about another stylist. No one is perfect. But too many times clients have come to me after they were unhappy with their previous stylist. And the truth is they didn’t even know why. When we talk and begin the styling process, something clicks. They say, “my last stylist didn’t listen to me. They didn’t even ask what I wanted.” Let’s change that!

Click here to book an appointment in the month of February 2016 for $10 off for new clients.

How To a Get The Hair You Want: Communicating With Your Stylist

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Communication

I have recently had a number of clients come to me after having a bad experience with another stylist. Here are a few things that stand out to me as important steps toward getting the hair you want. And it all starts with communication.

1) Schedule an appointment with a stylist someone has recommended; preferably someone  with GREAT HAIR. New to the area? Visit  Yelp or other reviews so you aren’t going in blind.
2) Every stylist should begin your appointment with dialog about your hair. Even if you’re shy…please ENGAGE! Share with them any concerns you may have about your hair, its overall condition, and especially, talk about how you want your hair cut, colored, and styled.
3) Whip out the PHOTOS. Stylists are visual artists so pictures speak a thousand words to us. Try hard to find pictures of celebs or random people who have hair similar to yours in fullness and texture or desired color (if it’s a color service). Be open to reality or a change-up if need be. Trust us.
4) SPEAK UP in the middle of a service if things are taking an ‘unusual turn’. You wanted a lot more off the overall length, you wanted more face-framing, shorter bangs? Say it. Nicely, of course. You are making an investment.  When we hand you a mirror to see our finished work, you need to communicate with us.  We’re not afraid of you asking for another snip here or there. And nothing beats our client saying “Yes! This is just what I wanted!”. We kinda love that.
5) Re-book and share your positive experiences. There is just no greater compliment to a stylist. Blab to your friends about why you like this stylist. Who doesn’t talk about a good hair day?

5 Steps To Serious VOLUME: Pump It Up!

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SO:  You have straight, silky (often ‘virgin’ or natural) beautiful hair BUT you are bored to tears with your lack of styling options. Or you are prepping for a special occasion and are wondering how to give your hair some Va-va-Voom? This one’s for you!

Getting the most potential volume out of your fine, straight, healthy hair:

1) Shampoo with a clarifying formula (with any haircolor, be sure to use a color-safe formula or your will be stripping your hair of expensive work). Focus shampoo on your SCALP. As you rinse, the shampoo will cleanse the rest of your hair without over-drying it. If you need to, shampoo it twice to get as much oil as possible out of your hair.

2) Condition with your favorite formula, but focus only on your ENDS. Okay, maybe some got halfway up your hair? Perfect! Keep the moisture where you want it, which is never at your scalp…

3) Power-Dry

Apply heat protection (again) only to the ends of your hair, then begin to blowdry hair from your scalp out (this is called the ‘base’ of your hair) in the opposite direction of its natural ‘fall’. Adding a ‘Root-Boost’ lightly at the top of your scalp is great here.

This means: feel free to look silly and hang your head upside down, force all your hair into your face…basically you are trying to begin the drying process with the ‘base’ of your hair getting as much volume as possible.

When hair is about 75% dry, apply styling product to ends of hair, working up to the mid-shaft to give some hold for curl (foam/mousse is great here since it is generally light and doesn’t weigh hair down). Complete your blowdry with a quality round brush. This will generally smooth the ends of your hair.

Summary so far: Keep moisture away from the base of hair and blowdry for volume. If you haven’t followed these cleansing/blowdry steps before, your hair may already look fuller!

from loxabeauty.com

4)Style:

Assuming you long for a voluminous, curly or wavy style, this is your best bet:

Divide your hair into at least 3 sections: Crown, down to your ears, and nape. Clip sections to secure out of the way.

Start at the bottom, and don’t worry much about volume here unless your hair is relatively short already (shoulder-length or shorter). In small panels, focus your curling iron, wand, or smoothing iron(for curls) on the mids-ends of your hair. **Alternate the direction of each curl for more separation**.For extra ‘hold’, after dropping each curl into your hand, secure with a clip or pin against scalp and let cool. This ‘sets’ the curls. Give a super-light spray with finishing hairspray before moving to the next section.

At the MIDDLE section, change the way you are curling! Curl each small panel from the BASE of your hair out. Do not start at the ends and ‘wind’ your hair up. This can actually remove volume. This takes a little practice at first but is well worth the effort. Again, clip each curl and spray lightly with a quality finish spray.

At the CROWN section, keep curling from the base out…but add to it a bit of ‘overdirection’. This means: sectioning your hair into small panels, gently pull your hair forward (or UP) as you begin to curl the base of your hair on top. Then don’t just drop the curls but secure them ‘barrel-style’ to the crown of your head and let cool (5 mins or so). You should look exactly like your Grandmother at this point! Again, lightly spray…

5)Pump It UP!

Remove all clips/pins from your curls starting from the bottom.

Turn your head UPSIDE DOWN and run your fingers through your hair to separate the curls! I think of this a ‘frazzling’ and there’s an art to it…separate without completely brushing the curls out. It works. If you want waves, feel free to pick/lightly brush through your hair at this point. In this upside-down position, apply a light allover mist of finishing spray and let dry for 15 seconds or so. Stand up.

This is one of the best parts and the one thing I sincerely wish I could perform in a salon but alas professionalism…

WITH FINGERS: Gently re-arrange those curls. Don’t do too much pulling, but separate and place them where you want them. Add some light teasing if needed for really flat areas, then give a last finishing spray.

Last Important Note: Now Leave Your Hair Alone. That’s it!

I would love to hear if any of these styling tips were new to you, or if you know of other ideas I left out, but mostly if any of these tips actually WORKED on your fine hair!

To read more on this check out

10 VOLUMIZING HAIR HACKS FOR LIFELESS LOCKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Went *SHORT* For The Weekend: Here’s How!

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Stylists get bored with our hair too! Should I cut it (trying to grow it out forever…), should I color it? Since I couldn’t decide, I went with a more temporary solution! If you have thought about going shorter but can’t commit the act just yet, try this out: When I went to work at my salon, some of my favorite fellow-stylists instantly commanded me to CUT IT NOW! I went with plenty of teasing in the crown and a few curls just falling over the ‘bun’ in the back. Easy-Peasy.

I followed the tutorial on this site, and here’s how it turned out:

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Source: Crop Your Mop: Go Short for a Day with a Faux Bob! – Story by ModCloth

Got ‘Jacked-up’ Layers?

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Layers

I have a few friends in this position (as well as a couple of desperate new clients) and was so happy to run across this post. If your over-zealous Mom or stylist leaves you with CRAZY AMOUNTS OF layers, what do you do? Here is a good article from the beauty editor.

“Read it and weep: “Last (ever) visit to a trendy, high priced salon: I found that their “let’s choppy it up a bit shall we!” handiwork was actually NOT the easy-care, sleek, jolly little shoulder-length bob my fine-to-medium (lots of it), dark brown (and actually very healthy and shiny!), straight hair required.” 

If your over-zealous Mom or stylist leaves you with CRAZY AMOUNTS OF layers, what do you do?

Source: Q: How Do I Grow Out My Layered Haircut? – Beauty Editor

The Privilege of Caring For Your Hair

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The Privilege of taking care of your Hair

The magazines on our salon’s retro coffee table blaze with colorful airbrushed images of the latest, lushest hair trends. Fall Color, Bridal Updos, the latest Pixie style worn by Hollywood starlets…and I love it. The thoughtfully selected, hip-yet-relaxing tunes hum in my ears as I introduce myself to my new client. We stroll toward my chair, and I’m mentally running through the current condition, texture, chemical processes…the possibilities for her long hair, chattering as always: “So how did you hear about us, Meredith (not her real name)? Are you from Fresno? What are you wanting for your hair today? Are you doing something special after this…?” STOP.

Meredith’s reply was a reality check: “Yeah…I’m going to a funeral. A double funeral.”

One of my favorite guest speakers when I was a cosmetology student was a middle-aged stylist. He didn’t dance onto the stage with trendy shades and record the action for his afternoon Instagram post. No banners and not a lot of branding. But I will never forget the words he spoke:

“Being a hairdresser is a privilege; never take this for granted. People trust you. Complete strangers let you TOUCH THEM. Their hair, even their faces. This is as close as you can get to someone without being a physician. And these people will lean on you to make them look and feel beautiful through every important life stage. Weddings. Children. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Graduations. Illnesses…Deaths.”

Today, the weight of these words settled a little deeper than the first time I heard them. I found myself quieting down, relaxing my smile, speaking less and with a tone I hoped would convey that this was her time to unwind and go numb if she needed to. I asked a few questions but mostly I silently studied this woman in shock and grief. I FELT this privilege. Touching her hair. Massaging, rinsing, brushing, elevating, snipping, drying and curling…nothing I could do in an hour would lessen her grief. Nothing could ease the huge decisions looming over her. Nothing could make a difference. Nothing could make her ‘feel beautiful’ today and I knew it.

She smiled a bit wearily but with appreciation and a thank-you; we shook hands and parted ways. Her family had preparations to attend to. Funeral clothes and meals and the viewing. And I had thoughts to think. I fell naturally into my re-organizing routine.

The music played on. Colors flashed; in fact I didn’t even hear the words of our receptionist at first: “New Guest”: Meredith’s daughter. Maybe I did make a difference…