Product Review: Aveda's New Smooth Infusion Line

Name: Aveda's Smooth Infusion Product Line (Shampoo, Conditioner, Style Prep Smoother, and Glossing Straightener)

Price: $87 for the full set (products can also be purchased individually)

Where to purchase: Stacy Davis: sgrahamhunt@gmail.com, Aveda.com, or any Aveda retail store or salon

Key Benefits:

- Helps hair get really straight

- Makes hair feel smooth

- Makes hair shiny

- Reduces the visibility of broken ends

Disadvantages:

- If you don't use the entire product line together, the products don't work as well individually.

- You need to have a really good flat iron or blow-dryer that gets nice and hot

- It's expensive

How to Use:

1. Shampoo and condition hair as directed.

2. Apply the Style-Prep smoother to hair.

3. Blow dry hair.

4. Apply the Glossing Straightener to hair.

5. Flat iron hair.

6. Add a few more drops of Glossing Straightener to hair.

Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Credits: Photo taken from Aveda.com

Winner of OPI Nail Polish Giveaway

Congratulations to Michelle Reid of New Haven, Connecticut. She has won 3 free OPI nail polishes by simply leaving a comment on my blog. I randomly selected her name out of a bowl in my kitchen. lol. Congratulations!!

Visit "The Hair You Wear" every week to learn about new promotions and giveaways.

Tyra's Natural Hair

I'm not the biggest fan of the Tyra Banks Show, but I found the episode of her wearing her natural hair to be entertaining. Enjoy!

Weaves and the Workplace

I recently received this e-mail from one of my sorority sisters, and I wanted to share it with you. She wishes to remain anonymous, but she is interested in any comments that you have.

After thinking about this for a while, I finally decided to try something new and get a full weave. My “real” hair is really thick and shoulder length. The weave is right above my bra strap. Why are people talking to me like this is my hair. I mean I had it done on Thursday, came to work on Friday and they are like, “Your hair is really growing," and “OMG, your hair is so long."

Now I wasn’t too surprised that the “other” people would be a little clueless, but the sista's (black women) are really just throwing me off. I EXPECT them to know better. Yeah, the weave hair matches my hair, but it’s not a perfect match. I just look at them like, “Are you serious?”

I keep wondering if they are trying to be silly or maybe they really haven’t seen me in a while and are a little confused. I don’t know.

I didn’t know a change in my hairstyle was going to cause a response.

Has anyone else gone through this?

Everything You Need to Know About Shampooing and Conditioning Your Hair

I am currently writing a booklet on how to wash and shampoo your hair properly. Many women don’t realize that when done properly, shampooing and conditioning your hair can be one of the best things that you can do for your hair. This booklet will teach you how to do that. It will also teach you:

- Techniques that will help your hair grow stronger, healthier, and thicker.

- What shampoo and conditioners will work best in your hair.

- How to wash and condition your hair to cause the least damage as possible.

This booklet will be available for sell on this website only for $7 beginning October 1, 2009. For more information, please e-mail sgrahamhunt@gmail.com.

I'm Going on the Floor!

On Monday, I will start taking clients at the Aveda Institute of Los Angeles. I will be able to perform the following services:

• Haircuts
• Updo's
• Press and Curls
• Perms (Chemical Curling)
• Relaxers (Chemical Straightening)
• Roller Sets
• Manicures
• Pedicures
• Hair Removal
• Massages

If you are interested in booking an appointment with me, please call the Aveda Institute of Los Angeles at (310) 209-2000. For a full service list with prices, please click here.

The Problem with Bleach

This week on the Tyra Banks show, Nelly Furtado, a natural brunette, told Tyra that bleaching her hair destroyed it. ATTENTION LADIES:

Bleaching your hair will damage it.

Bleaching your hair will damage it.

Bleaching your hair will damage it.

You still don’t believe me? Here’s the deal…

Brunettes love to lighten their hair, whether it’s highlights, or a full head of hair color. However, in order to lighten your dark tresses, you have to use some kind of bleach or “lightener.”

The bleach contains ammonia and peroxide, which remove or diffuse the melanin from your hair. In order to remove the melanin, layers of the hair strands are stripped in order to achieve your desired the color. The lighter you want your hair, the longer you have to keep the bleach on it, and the more layers are stripped.

So, if you want your hair to go from black to blonde, which many women want, the bleach will strip a considerable amount of your hair strand, leaving it weak and brittle, which will eventually cause it to break. Your hair cannot survive being stripped of so many layers. It’s a fact.

Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Photo Credits: Tyrashow.warnerbros.com, Salon Fundamentals Textbook

Dumb Blonde

"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb - and I'm not blonde either."
- Dolly Parton, entertainer

Credits: Picture courtesy of bfeedme.com.

Nail Polish Giveaway

Today is the last day to win three free O-P-I nail polishes. In order to be eligible, comment on any of my blog posts before 12 a.m. tonight. (PST)

Everything You Need to Know About Shampooing and Conditioning Your Hair

I am currently writing a booklet on how to wash and shampoo your hair properly. Many women don’t realize that when done properly, shampooing and conditioning your hair can be one of the best things that you can do for your hair. This booklet will teach you how to do that. It will also teach you:

- Techniques that will help your hair grow stronger, healthier, and thicker.

- What shampoo and conditioners will work best in your hair.

- How to wash and condition your hair to cause the least damage as possible.

This booklet will be available for sell on this website only for $7 beginning October 1, 2009. For more information, please e-mail sgrahamhunt@gmail.com.

Does Shaving Make Your Hair Grow Back Thicker?

No. You are born with a certain number of hair shafts. The shafts are located below the skin, and the hair grows out of them. The cutting that you do with your razor above the skin does not affect the hair shafts below the skin.

If your hair feels like it is growing back thicker, it could be because when you cut it, you create a flat edge at the end of the hair strand. When your hair grows, it naturally has kind of a pointy edge, which feels less coarse than a sharp edge.

- Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Photo courtesy of odec.ca.

The Hook Up

“I should let you do my hair one day.”

(Various People Who Want "The Hookup")

Uhm, excuse me? Let me do your hair? How about you make an appointment and pay like everyone else? If you are a receptionist, how would you like it if I said, “I should let you answer the phone for me sometime,” or a surgeon: “I should let you operate on my shoulder one day?” That sounds ridiculous.

The hairdressing profession is not as respected as the medical industry, but women are willing to pay just as much for a hair appointment as they are for a doctor’s appointment, if not more. How ironic!

Mario, one of my instructors at Aveda, said his friends and family try to get him to do their hair for free all of the time. He refuses to perform his services for free, except for his mother and sister. I don’t blame him.

Family and friends can make very difficult customers. They usually want the most services and have the most criticisms, but want to pay the least under “the hook up clause.” I personally don’t mind giving the hookup every once in a while, but then where do you draw the line? If I do Shaquanna’s hair for free one time, does that mean she will be expecting that I do it free all of the time? If I do Shaquanna’s hair for free, does that mean she thinks I will do her daughter’s hair and grandmother’s hair for free too? Where does it end?

I think my policy will be to have everyone pay. It’s fairest option of them all.

- Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Upcoming Events

Free O-P-I Nail Polish

This week a lucky reader will be randomly selected to receive three O-P-I nail polishes ($30 value) for free. O-P-I has some of the best nail polishes on the market. In order to be eligible for this offer, you must leave a comment on any blog post on the “The Hair You Wear” no later than Friday, September 18, 2009. For more information, please e-mail sgrahamhunt@gmail.com.

Everything You Need to Know About Shampooing and Conditioning Your Hair

I am currently writing a booklet on how to wash and shampoo your hair properly. Many women don’t realize that when done properly, shampooing and conditioning your hair can be one of the best things that you can do for your hair. This booklet will teach you how to do that. It will also teach you:

- Techniques that will help your hair grow stronger, healthier, and thicker.

- What shampoo and conditioners will work best in your hair.

- How to wash and condition your hair to cause the least damage as possible.

This booklet will be available for sell on this website only for $7 beginning October 1, 2009. For more information, please e-mail sgrahamhunt@gmail.com.

Bee-Dee-Bees

"Girl You Need to Clean Up That Kitchen."

Unfortunately, I heard this before as a kid. I wore a lot of ponytails. They broke my hair of around the hairline on the back of my head. My sweat, the water from the shower, and the humidity outdoors, would hit the newly created shorter hairs and cause them to curl up and create my kitchen.

I was never embarrassed about my kitchen until someone would make a comment about it. Then, whenever I got home, I would try to slick it down with as much Jam (a red pomade that smelled like candy) as I could. The Jam would only work for a few minutes, and then I would just be stuck with a gooey neck.. However over the years, I have come up with some ways to minimize a kitchen’s exposure.

1. Wear your hair down. Your kitchen will not get any attention if you cover it with other hair from your head.

2. Straighten your kitchen out. If you are going to wear a ponytail, straighten those curlies on the back of your neck with a flat iron or pressing comb.

3. Wear a low ponytail instead of a high one. If you wear a ponytail closer to your hairline, then you can catch some of those “baby hairs” in the ponytail holder. However be careful not to pull them to tightly.

4. Slick the kitchen down with a gel or pomade. Then, tightly wrap your head with a scarf, making sure that you are pressing down the kitchen with the flat part of the scarf. Keep the scarf on your head for about 30 minutes.

5. Cut it off with clippers. I personally do not recommend this method because when you decide to grow the hair back, you will still end up with a kitchen, and having to do one of the previously mentioned techniques anyway.

Stacy L. Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Deep Conditioners

For stronger, healthier, and softer hair, deep condition your hair once per week. Conditioners like cholesterol and those that are protein-rich work great as deep conditioners.

Steps for deep conditioning your hair:

1. Shampoo hair and rinse hair thoroughly.

2. Towel dry your hair.

3. Rub a generous amount of deep conditioner between your hands, and apply it to your hair.

4. Apply a plastic cap (i.e. Jheri curl cap or shower cap) to your head.

5. If you have a hooded hair dryer, sit underneath it for 15 minutes. If you do not have a dryer, then let the conditioner sit for 25-30 minutes.

6. Rinse out the conditioner. Comb out any tangles in your hair with your fingers as you rinse out the conditioner.

More details about shampooing and conditioning your hair will be available in a booklet titled, “Everything You Need to Know about Shampooing and Conditioning Your Hair.” The booklet will be available on this website October 1, 2009 for $7. If you would like more information about this publication, e-mail me at sgrahamhunt@gmail.com with any questions.

An UnbeWeaveable Tail

I attended dancing school when I was in third grade. I got to wear all kinds of wigs and fake ponytails as part of my costumes for the dance recitals. I used to beg my mom to let me wear my fake hair to my Episcopalian private school, and she would always say, “No."

After several times of me asking her, she finally changed her mind.

“Ah what the heck,” my mother probably thought to herself. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

We woke up early morning, my mother pressed my hair, made me a nice slick ponytail, and braided the fake hair into the ends. I thought I was the bomb. I was shaking my head and my new hair around all morning.

“Stacy, is that your real hair?” My gym teacher asked when I arrived to school. She probably remembered my hair being a foot shorter the day before.

“Yes, it’s mine,” I answered her gleefully, just as my mother had prepped me.

One or two of my classmates also asked me about my new hairdo. They were used to seeing me wear lots of ponytails and barrettes all over my head. But this day, I had one long braided ponytail hanging off of the back of my head. I looked like a Black Pocahontas.

Recess time rolled around. My friends and I were playing tag. Even as I ran across the playground, I swung my ponytail from side to side. I was “it.” I tagged my friend Emily. As I tagged her, she gave me the strangest look. Her eyebrows furrowed. Then, they jumped into her hairline as her eyes popped open wide. She quickly pointed her long, narrow finger to the wood chips.

“Stacy!” She screeched.

“What?” I said, as I turned around. I saw a small pile of black material resting on the ground.
I touched the back of my head. It was bare. My ponytail was gone. Where was it? OH MY GOSH! That was my ponytail on the woodchips.

Emily had shouted so loudly that our classmates looked over towards us to see what was going on. I laughed nervously as I picked up my ponytail. That was all I could do. If I seemed embarrassed, then everyone else would have started making fun of me. Luckily, my plan worked, and they laughed with me.

“Stacy, we thought that was your real hair. That’s what you told us,” my gym teacher and my classmates said.

“It was,” I tried to explain. “It was mine, it was real, and it was hair.”

- Stacy L. Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Say what you think, act how you feel...

Say what you think and act how you feel, because those who matter won't mind, and those who mind don't matter. 

 - Dr. Seuss 

Last week, I was venting about how I like to wear my hair curly, but sometimes feel pressured to wear my hair straight by other people. It just so happened that the very next week, my teacher wrote this exact quote on the board. (She usually writes inspirational quotes on the board every week.)

After I read this quote, I immediately thought about my curly/straight hair dilemma. At first, I thought this quote was true. I thought people who really care about me won't care how I wear my hair. But then I thought about it some more. Now, I disagree with my previous thought. The people who give me the most grief about my hair are the ones who are closest to me and matter the most. I could wear a crazy curly 'fro, and I know for sure that my mom, my dad, my aunt, and my husband (yes I'm calling you out) would certainly comment on my hair. 

"What's with your hair?"

"What's up with the new do?" 

"What are we doing with your hair?" 

"That's an interesting style."

I can hear their voices in my head as I type. Even though I may be acting how I feel by arranging my hair a certain way, the people closest to me may mind...and I kind of like it that way. One of the reasons these people are closest to me is because they are not afraid to "mind" or tell me the truth. 

So while self-expression is important, it is always good to have people to reel you in when you get carried away. And its not that they don't matter, or that they are judging you, but you need people in your life that will help you present your best self. 

 - Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com