Look after your crowning glory

Whether it’s the odd strand of gray hair, the annoying gray roots that ruin your expensive color job or the increasing number of bad hair days – there’s no denying that age affects the way our hair looks and behaves.

Taking better care of your hair is vital as you get older – what you got away with when you were twenty just won’t work in your forties or fifties.

Hair changes in a number of ways as you age – here’s some of the things you need to look out for.
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Hair care over 40

Hair care becomes more difficult over 40 – your hair, just like your skin, changes over time. Yet for most women – a great hair day can be a huge confidence boost.

Hair that’s in top condition, cut and colored beautifully – will make you feel a million dollars and make you look years younger.

Hair care products have been slow to cater for the needs of women over 40. The good news is that things are changing as companies wake up to consumer demand and introduce more hair care products just for us.
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Prepare your hair for the summer drought

Summer is a testing time for hair – sun, salt spray, chlorine – all play havoc with more mature hair – especially if it’s been color treated.

Not only that but dry, brittle or damaged hair will be cruelly revealed by the intense clear light of a summer day. The beginning of summer is just about the best time to give your hair a bit of extra tender loving care.

Add an intensive deep conditioning mask to your weekly hair care routine to restore glossy shine and superb condition. Read more

Five step guide to choosing your hair color

Hair color is the quickest and easiest way to cover up your gray locks – but making the right choice of hair color is the key to a successful younger look.

Get it wrong and you can end up looking years older – nothing is more aging than flat heavily dyed hair.

But a great hair color job can add warmth and radiance to your looks and give your confidence a turbo charged boost.

If you’re using a hair coloring kit at home the choice of hair color becomes even more difficult without the advice of a professional color stylist. Read more

How to prevent hair color disaster

Anyone who has used a hair coloring kit knows they should test the product before using it on their hair.

The instructions are right there in the pack – and yet most of us choose to ignore them.

Hair color products nowadays are safe, effective and mostly foolproof.

Yet every year hair color disasters happen with hair color kits because people like you and me chose not to follow a few simple steps.

You need to do two tests – a patch test and a strand test. You can do them both at the same time to avoid remixing the product. For the patch test you apply a small amount of mixed product to an area of skin usually the inside of your forearm and wait 48 hours for any sign of allergic response.

For the strand test you apply the product to a small piece of your hair to check the final hair color result and how long it takes to develop.

Of course your’e longing to get started and see the new you – do you really need to test? We’ve all been there – ignored the sensible instructions on the packaging. Well – here’s some very good reasons why you should do a test before you color your hair.

Hair color results vary – especially for gray hair or hair that has been previously bleached. If you don’t do the strand test you might find out too late. Then you’ll end up spending a lot more time and money correcting the bad hair result afterwards.

Manufacturers vary their formulations – you could react to a new ingredient in the product. Not only that – even if you have used the product before – your body changes. It’s very common to suddenly become sensitized to certain stimulants later in life. Don’t assume everything will be OK because you’ve used it before.

It will only hold you up 48 hours – surely not too long to make sure you get it right?

You can complain to the product manufacturers. If something goes wrong you have that right of redress – if you didn’t follow the instructions on the pack – forget it!

So be sensible – next time you have a hair color session at home – follow the manufacturer’s instructions and you’ll avoid any unexpected problems and get the result you want..

Hair color – salon or home?

Maintaining your hair color over 40 can be something of a pain.

Those grey hairs just keep on coming. You may start off in your early 40’s with a light sprinkling of gray and by the time you’re in your mid 50’s you have half a head full of gray hair.

And of course – the more gray hair you have the more difficult and time consuming it is to cover it up.

So – do you go for hair color at home or do you find the best hair salon in town?
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