WOWps: Day One

Hello Gorgeous,

This week I take a break from hair posts, I am in Denver. Today is the official start of  WOWps, but quite a few of us arrived yesterday or the day before. I am kicking myself for not taking any pictures. I am really bad about that. I get so caught up in enjoying the moment, that  I forget to pull out the camera. Which is a shame, because poets have some style. I will really try and remember to take pictures the rest of the trip.

It's been fun so far. Last night was the "Last Chance Slam", which is a chance for poets who didn't originally qualify to win a spot in this weeks competition. There  were some powerfull poems last night, and a little bit of comic relief, and mostly a chance to see old friends.

Last night after the slam, Chantay and I suddenly got a deep craving for dessert. I love that this woman is a food lover like me. Diets have no place on vacation. So we wandered around Denver trying to find somewhere open late with dessert. It took a bit, but we found a little 50s style diner with amazing wings and berry coblers (the baileys and coffee was nothinbg to sneer at either.) We had the cutest little waitress, cheerfull, attentive. And she had cute hair. We took a pedi-cab ride home. It was really fun even though it was colder than a witches boob in a cast iron bra.

Only thing I'm not loving is the cold, dry air. My skin is not looking it's best. I normally have very oily skin, and right now, it is so parched. I feel like It looks cracked and crinkled. I am going to have to overdose on my moisturizer. I also need to make a serious drugstore run. I discovered when I was unpacking at the hotel that I forgot my makeup bag. I keep a small one in my purse, but it only contains powder, chapstick, black eyeliner, nude lipliner, and about 6 lipsticks/glosses. I can pull that off for day, but I really need to pick up some inexpensive make-up and brushes to get me thru.


Make-up free morning, yes, I go down for the free breakfast in my pajamas, no make-up, I have no shame.

Just a little quickie

Hey folks,

Sorry I haven't had time to finish part 2 and 3 in the haircare series. I've had a couple of late nights at work and tonite I only have about 5 minutes tonite before I get ready to go hit an open mic downtown.
I will try and finish part 2 and 3 before I leave on my trip Wednesday.

Wow Lynn, where are you going? I'm glad you asked. I will be spending 5 days in Denver with one of my dearest sisterfriends. It is an annual girls trip we make because we all live so far apart. It's hard enough finding the time (and cash) to visit each other individually, so much harder to get the whole gang together. So we chose an event and decided that every year we would go. Husbands, boyfriends, sometimes girlfriends (unless they are involved in the event too), kids all get left behind. So what is the event, you ask? WOWps (Women of the World poetry slam), is a national spoken word poetry competition featuring some of the most bad-ass female poets in the nation. Our little crew met years ago through our mutual interest, formed an artist collective, and a non-profit org, and these women have become like my true sisters, I miss them like crazy all year long. For 5 days it's like one big slumber party. As an added bonus, we also get to see WOWps, which is the most mad, crazy, dope, fly, awesome poetry slam on the planet. Over the years I have made friends with so many poets across the country and many of these chicas come every year either to compete or watch. I have never competed there yet, but our sis Succinct has competed twice, and last year our baby-sis Safia not only competed but made it to finals. During each night the actual competition takes place. In the daytime the host city has open mics, just for fun slams, workshops.

Me and the lovely Legacy from 2010

2010 WOWps champ Eboni

Succinct, Legacy, and Ms. Scorpiana X (a.k.a. me)

doin my thang at an open mic

finals night after party

imani & me

me, legacy, mani, and safia

dinner with the detroit contingency

Attending a large poetry event like this, is a lot like going to a hair show. You get a hotel full of crazy artistic types. A lot of serious partying. And fabulous hair. I love checking out everyone's hair and outfits, poets have just as much style as hairdressers.


As you can see from the pics, I don't wear vintage everyday, and when I don't, I usually have some variation of this choppy layer, somewhat emo haircut, flat-ironed, the lighting didn't do the color justice.

On to something more hair related. Like I said, I don't do vintage everyday, partly because I don't have enough vintage clothing, but mostly because my style is too ecclectic to rock the same look everyday. I maybe wear a vintage/retro looking outfit about once a week. But even in modern styles, I will mix in a vintage hairstyle and red lipstick about 2 to 4 days a week. Like today: skinny jeans, t-shirt, lace-up military/doc marten style boots, shrunken cardigan. The hair: rolled fake bettie bangs, curls, victory rolls, and a red and leopard print hairflower.

I think my first tutorial will be on how I did the bangs. I know there are a ton of tutorials on these type of bangs, but my hair has a unique challenge that i'm sure some of you also face. My real bangs are too long to be real bettie bangs, and most videos of the rolled under bettie/bumper bang are done by girls that either have no bangs or long,long bangs. My bangs arent long enough to roll up properly, even using a rat, so i have to kind of pin the rat in place, comb the bangs over, tuck the ends under the bottom of the rat and use a million pins. It's really very ghetto, but unless you get up close, it works.

Also coming this month: in addition to part 2 and 3 of the haircare series, I have had some topic requests, which I will hit in the order I recieved them. I did promise months ago to do some curly hair articles, so I want to do at least one. I've been asked for a post dealing with Sun In (yes, they still make that crap). And a request dealing with safely bleaching the hair. I won't be showing you how to bleach at home, in all honesty, I believe that should be left to us professionals (and yes I know some of you may have succesfully bleached at home, but at most maybe 10% of home bleachers do well. If you are one of the successful ones, that means you have the potential to be an awesome hairdresser, and might want to consider a career, the industry can always use more fresh talent) but i'll give you tips on how to keep the hair healthy, what to ask your stylist, and how to tell when your stylist has no idea what they're doing (so you can run).

So now I'm off to find a phone booth to change from mild mannered (ha) hairdresser Lynn Brooks, and into superhero poet Scorpiana X

smooches
Lynn

Haircare Regimens (part one)

Have you ever wondered about the difference between conditioner, deep conditioner, and leave in conditioner? What's the difference between a rinse out treatment and a leave in treatment? Are leave in treatments styling products or haircare? What should my regular haircare regimen be?

Have no fear, Auntie Lynn is here to sort it all out. This will probably be a picturless post, I would really rather share some great info than spend time hunting up pics, and since tomorow is a hairwash day, I need to get up early. On the days I have to wash my hair my shower can take about 30 minutes, and it will take me an hour to blow dry, grrrr, the curse of thick hair.

So to break it down, there are 4 basic types of haircare products:shampoo, conditioner, treatment, leave-in.

Redken Color extend shampoo

1) Shampoo: so we all know what shampoo is for, but in case you have been living under a rock, shampoos sole purpose is too clean the hair. Cleansing the hair removes residue, dirt and oil, and enables treatments to penetrate better. For most of us, we want to shampoo everytime we wet our hair (there is an exception for curly haired folks, but thats another blog post)

Redken Time Reset Conditioner

2) conditioner: This is usually the last step in the shower. The main purpose of conditioner is to close down the cuticle of the hair shaft and bring the hair back down to it's proper PH level (both water and shampoo have a higher ph level than your hair, if you raise this level and don't bring it back down. While many conditioners do moisturize the hair and make it feel soft, mostly we want to lower the ph, and lay the cuticle back down so hair detangles easier, and we want to hold in the active
ingerdients in your products. You want to use a conditioner every time you get your hair wet.

Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat(my hair drinks this like crack.

3)Treatments: Treatments are designed to treat the hair, whether to address a specific problem, or just to keep the hair healthy. Most people should have treatments as part of a regular regimen, but these should not be done every time you wash your hair, too much of a good thing can actually cause more problems with your hair. These are usually products that will be rinsed out of the hair. Most treatments are done after the shampoo but before the conditioner, although there are some treatments that are applied to the hair before you shampoo. The two main types of treatments are protein (a.k.a. reconstructing treaments) and moisturizing (a.k.a. deep conditioner). Protein treatments deal with repairing the hair and adding strength back in. Hair is made up of 70 to 85% protein. Imagine that inside your hairshaft there are these spiraling ladders made up of protein, when the protein in the hair is damaged imagine rungs being broken off these ladders. The more protein you lose, the weaker your hair, until it breaks off. These protein bonds can be broken thru perms and chemical straightenening, haircolor and bleach, swimming in chlorine, excessive heat styling. Protein treatments help to replace the damage done and keep your hair strong. Regular protein treatments will also help your haircolor take better and last longer. Moisture treatments help replace any moisture loss we suffer from chemicals, heat styling, sun exposure. Hair is made up of 10 to 15% moisture. Even if you don't style your hair with heat, or get chemical services done, if your hair is naturally dry, you will benefit from regular treatments.
There are also treatments for smoothing hair, refreshing color, adding body, etc.

Alterna Bamboo Kendi Oil

4)Leave-In Products: These are products that are usually apllied to towel dried hair. The purpose is to further support whatever your hair needs. For example, if you have very dry,frizzy hair, a leave-in made for your hair type will give extra moisture and frizz control to your hair. They also help with detangling. Also, if you don't like using styling products, leave-ins will give some protection from the sun and heat styling.

So that's the basics. Part 2 will deal with finding the right products for your hair. Part 3 will deal with how best to use them.

I apologize for the science lesson (boring I know), but I feel it's really important to understand your hair so you can make the best choices as a consumer. I actually held back on the chemistry a bit. But for any of you chem heads out there, here's a quick science/hair lesson.

The composition of hair:
*70-85% Protein: adds strength
*10-15% Moisture:softens and adds flexibility
*3-6% Lipids: keeps the hair supple (oils)
*1% Pigment: this is where the color comes from
*.05-.5% Minerals:attracts and binds the proteins together(a good reason to take your vitamin and mineral supplement)
*.1-.5% carbohydrates: Intercellular cement that binds moisture and protein together.(another reason why low carb diets are bad for you, we need carbs.

And with that, I am off to bed.

Lynn.

The aches (and a coming trend)

So, I have yet to get this blog off the ground. I have a head full of topics, but things keep cropping up. I strained a muscle in my shoulder, neck, and arm right after New Years. Sitting down to do a blog post has been pretty painfull. But yesterday I finally made it to the doctor, and with the help of vicodin, I should be back in the swing of things.

Today will be a little teaser about Spring Hair Trends. Last week I was flipping thru the March issues of a few fashion mags and the recurring theme I kept coming across was vintage hairstyles. Now for those of you that know me, I looooooove vintage, and while I don't do vintage everyday, it is one of my passions: the clothes, hairstyles, hats. I started teaching myself vintage styling a little over a year ago and seeing it as a mainstream fashion trend has me turning cartwheels (well, I would if I wasn't injured).

The thing I really like about this current take is the variety. I have seen hairstyles from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. I have seen them done very authentically, and I have seen modern translations. For spring and summer, we will be seeing variations on 1920s and 1930s fingerwaves and fluffy brushed out waves. 1940s victory rolls and pompadours. Swingy 1950s ponytails, rolled under fake "betty bangs". "Mad Men" inspired beehives, the Bridget Bardot teased crown (not to be confused with the tacky Snookie Pouf". There's even a bit of 70s disco glam complete with frizz (yes, frizz is now acceptable).

Once my shoulder heals, I'm hoping to throw together some tutorials. Possibly some links to hair tutorials from some of my favorite vintage bloggers. In the meantime, if you want to start playing a bit, there are a ton of tutorials on the internet. All it takes is a little practice, some product, and a few tools. The dollhead pics are my own, sometimes when I'm bored I like to style up my dollheads and do photo shoots.

part of the hat collection

 To get you started, for products, you should have a jar of pomade (my favorite is Redken Water Wax 03), a can of hairspray, a thermal heat protective spray (if your using heat appliances).

one of my many vintage looks

For tools, I recomend a curling iron, if you have rollers, you can practice wet setting your hair. long and short bobby pins and open pins. single prong roller clips (for pin curls), a rattail comb, wave clamps, teasing comb, wide tooth comb, a flat bristle brush. If you can get your hands on some foam hair donuts and hair rats, grab those too. There's a ton of other stuff that can be added to your styling kit (I like to refer to it as my hairstyling wardrobe), but this should give you a good basic starting point. Sally's Beauty Supply is a great place to find inexpensive updo and vintage styling tools

My Grandma Eva in the early 1940s doing her pin-up cheesecake, she just knew she was fly.

Grandma Elsie with her half-sibs. The photo wasn't dated but I'm assuming this was late 1920s

Hope you all had a good valentines day!

Lynn

That Jersey Look

Saturday was our Salon Xmas party. We do something different each year. Last year it was a bowling party. This year our theme is "A Very Jersey Christmas". Inspired by the fact that most of us watch at least one of the Jersey based reality shows (Jerseyliscious, Jersey Shore, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Mob Wives). Jerseyliscious is a favorite because it's set in a hair salon. I'll post pictures. We've been buzzing about the party at work all week.

So the question I've been getting asked by folks that haven't seen the shows (and don't live in Jersey, Brooklyn, Philly, Queens, etc) is what is the Jersey look?

To clarify, not everyone that lives in New Jersey looks Jersey. That would be like saying everyone in Cali dresses surfer style. And Jersey style is not limited to Jersey, it's a common look in Brooklyn, Queens, staten island, Long Island, and quite a few other spots. If you watch Jersey Shore, you might have also heard it refered to as Guido or Guidette style. Keep in mind, not everyone sporting the look is Italian, and not all Italians dress Jersey style. Having actually grown up in New York (and having a ton of cousins in Jersey) I have to say that while fashions come and go, the overall style has not changed since I was a kid.

Ready to go Jersey?

Let me start you off by saying, if at any point you feel like you look a little gaudy, tacky, trashy, keep on going, if you're going for the stereotypical look there is no such thing as too flashy, too gaudy, too trashy, too tacky.

Specific items may vary depending on what age group you fall in. If you need inspiration, Jersey Shore is more young adult, 20 somethings, Jerseyliscious girls are mostly in thier 20s with a few older cast members. Real Housewives is more 30s 40s and 50s. But if you prefer the younger styles, go for it, part of J style is about wearing what makes you feel hot, if your 40 but think you can rock that micro mini with the 6 inch heels, go for it (lord knows I do).

Color: while you can never go wrong with black, J girls love bright color, metalics, mixing black with brights, mixing brights. And let us not forget the most important color in a jersey girls wardrobe: Animal Print. Yes animal print is a color, and it is a neutral cuz cheetah, leopard, and zebra go with everything.

Anything with bling: sequins, metallics, studs, rhinestones, beads, or fringe.

denim, leather, and spandex are important elements of the look.

when it comes to picking wardrobe best bets are skinny jeans, mini skirts, mini dresses, and leggings. If you are reading this and live in NJ please send me a pair of Jersey leggings, they seem to be so much thicker than California leggings. With cali leggings you have to make sure that your shirt covers your booty or your panties will completely show thru. I've seen Jersey girls wear leggings with short tops and you can't see thru them.

Tops: because of all the leggings, tunic tops are common. make sure yours are either cleavage bearing, halter, strapless, one shoulder, figure hugging, or blinged out. If not wearing leggings (or if you're skinny enough to pull it off) shorter tops are fine. It is perfectly acceptable to wear evening wear style tops in the daytime, so feel free to rock that silver sequinned tank in the a.m.

Carry an enormous purse. If it is animal print, metallic, or blinged out in any way, all the better.

shoes should be high heeled, the higher the better. But you can wear flats if they are boots, especially if they are over the knee boots, or furry like snookie's.

Belts, preferably wide, especially with tunics and minidresses.

Jewelry: you can never wear too much jewelry. your jewelry can never be too big. there can never be too much sparkle. Mainstream fashion rules might dictate that if you're going to wear a bold staement piece (like a necklace), keep the rest of your jewelry small or don't wear anything else. Jersey style means wear the big statement necklace, bracelt, rings, and earings all at once, and when you think you have enough jewelry, add more.

Jackets: being winter some type of coat is needed. Make it leather, faux fur, and if it's cropped, all the better.

Hair: while long extensions are popular, they are not necesary. Jersey girls rock a variety of lengths and styles. The one common thing about Jersey hair is it must be big. Tease, tease, tease, and a ton of hairspray. Jersey girls spend a lot of time on thier hair. I had washed and blow dried my hair that morning. Before the party I sprayed sections of hair with spray, rolled them on large velcro rollers (on base for volume), used my blowdryer to heat up the rollers. I flat ironed the bottom layers. then left the rollers in while I did my makeup and got dressed. After I took the rollers down I back-combed the holy heck out of my hair until it all stood straight up. I inserted a bump-it (a plastic half-moon shaped object used to keep the teased hair from falling down), the largest size, in my crown area and smoothed the hair in the crown area over it. I then smoothed the surface layers on the rest of my hair down (be carefull when smoothing that you don't completely flatten out the underneath hair), and sprayed another 5 pounds of hairspray over it.

Spray tan: Tanning is an important part of the look. Whether you get your tan from the sun, a tanning bed, or self tanner, you can never be too tan. I'm gonna take a quick sec to implore those of you pusuing a tan to avoid the tanning beds, extrememly dangerous, no tan is worth skin cancer. And please use sunscreen outdoors. If you must tan, either get spray tanned, or use a self-tanner at home. Now I know some of you are thinking, but won't it make me orange. There are actually some good ones that give a natural color, but if your going for the J look, orangey skin is perfectly acceptable. The thinking is that it's better to be orange than pale.

Makeup: Like everything else, there is no such thing as too much. The most popular look is a smokey eye with pale lips. Pile on the shadow, eyeliner, mascara. Pop on a pair of false eyelashes. Keep the lip color light but go for something either glossy or shimmery. Add some bronzer (substitute it for blush), because again, you can never look too tan. And although not a requirement, feel free to add glitter anywhere, or glue on some rhinestones.

Nails: Usually long, usually fake. If you don't have long nails and don't want to get acrylics, pick up some press on nails. J girls sport quite a few different nail looks , from french manicures to bright polish, to over the top nail art. Think bright polish, or airbrushed designs, animal prints, rhinestones. Like everything else, there is no too much. The gaudier the better.

Men: The guys get to be a little more comfortable than the ladies but Jersey boyz are more high maintenance than the average guy. For your outfit, snug fitting Ed Hardy style t-shirts (v neck being the hot style right now, or a printed button down shirt and jeans. or you can go soprano style with either a gangster looking suit or a track suit (bonus points if it's velour). Throw on a gold chain, a ring(at least one), a gold bracelt, and maybe an earing or too.
And while the grooming routine is simpler than the ladies, here is a few things to keep in mind. Tanning is important for the fellas too, embrace the orange. And while Jersey men while put on a macho swagger they are worse than girls when it comes to the hair. Barbers do well in Jersey because the men get thier hair trimmed every 2 to 3 weeks, very particular about keeping whatever style haircut they choose clean trimmed. And J men do not wash and go with the hair. Take the time to apply gel after your shower and while some men can get thier hair in the desired style while wet, and just let it dry, many styles require some blow dry time,(like Paulie D's spikes). J men hair is frequently either somewhat spiky, or slicked back. Don't be afraid to use some hairspray after, or a styling paste, pomade, or clay after.

I'm going to have to put pictures in another post. I'm new to this blog thing and haven't figured out how to get pictures up.

Also, coming up this month: holiday hair ideas, and I had a special request for some articles on curly hair.

Lynn

Welcome

Hi Folks,

Welcome to my blog.
 I have been talking about doing this for a few years now. I have been wanting to write articles and things regarding hair (and occasionally other aspects of beauty and fashion), to help my clients take better care of thier locks and make better informed decisions. My regular clients can tell you, sitting in my chair is definately educational, my ladies and gentlemen are some of the best educated consumers around.

So, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Lynn and I am a Diva Hairgoddess of Humility, or to put it simply, I am a hairstylist. I work in a salon in San Jose, Ca. I have been doing hair for 20 years. I have studied extensively over the years. I attend at least one hair show a year and at least one advanced hair class a year. I really believe there is always something new to learn. I am especially fascinated with the science of hair, ask me a question about your hair and you will probably get a chemistry lesson. I also worked for Redken (2001-2009) as an educator and performing artist. I am a certified Redken colorist.
My latest obsession has been vintage hairstyling and studying hairstyling from ancient times to the present. Fashion throughout history has always been an interest and lately the blogs I follow are either hair related, vintage fashion related, or historical clothing.
the advantages to an educated client. 1. the better I educate my client on her hair, the better she will take care of her hair. The better she takes care of it, the better it looks and behaves, which not only promotes loyalty, but will bring me more referals because when someone needs a new stylist they are going to ask someone with fabulous hair. 2.An educated consumer makes wiser decisions.

Wanting to do a blog stemmed from the constant e-mails I get with questions about hair and beauty. Years ago I started getting emails from friends and aqauintances with questions about thier hair. These were folks that lived all over the country (and obviously unable to get thier hair done by me). A lot of them were concerned that the stylists they were seeing were not givng good advice, or wanted to know how to find a good stylist, or how to fix a bad color job. Some wanted home hair care tips. Some were just curious about how hair works. So I figured why not share some advice and knowledge with whoever might be interested.

This blog is not meant as a do-it-yourself manual. While I may do at some point an article on which services you can do yourself and which ones you should ALWAYS leave in the hands of a professional, and the pros and cons of various salon services versus do it yourself, the blog is more about well everything: from how to explain what you want in the stylist chair, to how to properly shampoo your hair, to fun history of hair, to products, etc, etc. And while I am gearing this blog more toward civilians (non-hairdressers) than professionals, there will also be stuff posted that other hairdressers may enjoy too. And occasionally some do it yourself styling.

Enjoy

Lynn