Hey everyone!  I get a lot of questions about my hair and what I do to care for it–whether it’s my color, cut, or how I style it so I wanted to put together a post for you to show the behind the scenes of my typical salon day.  Keep reading to see what goes into achieving my cut and color and get insight from Sassoon Salon’s Senior Creative Director Elizabeth Hartley and Color Director Nathan Booth as they debunk common hair myths!

Jennifer from Just Add Glam:  We have all heard of different hair myths but I wanted to find out the answers from the experts to debunk them once and for all.  First hair myth…when you come in for color service, I’ve heard that you want to come in with dirty hair. What are your thoughts about that?

Vidal Sassoon’s Color Director Nathan Booth: I think that dirty hair is really helpful for a couple of reasons. One is, it creates a barrier between your scalp and your hair, and the chemical of the hair color, so if you’re prone to sensitivity with a color service or you get a little discomfort when your having your color done, it’s better to have the dirtier hair, because you’ve got the layer of oil for protection. Secondly, from a color standpoint, when you’re working with somebody with a finer texture hair, it’s a little bit of, say, residual product or oil in the hair, it makes the hair easier to work with. If the hair is fine, and totally clean, the hair can be quite slippery, having a little bit of the grit from the debris is good. So yes, in theory dirtier hair is better to work with. 

Jennifer: I always have a hard time coming into the salon with dirty hair because I don’t want to seem like I don’t have good hygiene…haha!  But going forward I’ll definitely skip the wash.  So when coloring your hair, the hair myth is that it leads to damage and breakage, but are there color services that you can do to change up your style while still keeping your hair healthy?

Nathan: Absolutely. In using the non-permanent or demi-permanent colors, they’ll give you a hue variation to your color, and they’re nice because they don’t damage the hair, and they are non-committal, in the sense that you’re not locked into heavy maintenance of every four weeks, as you would be with other color applications. So, yes, there are other things you can do that are low commitment and low damage to the hair.

Jennifer: It’s great to hear that coloring your hair doesn’t necessarily mean you’re frying it.  How about drug store shampoo versus salon products: Is there a difference? And what are the products you recommend for healthy, shiny, beautiful hair?

Nathan: The main difference between drug store versus professional products is going to be the level of conditioning ingredients.  It’s like buying food from a high quality, organic store versus a mass market supermarket, where it’s still going to give you the same nourishment, but are you going to get extra added ingredients and higher quality.  That’s what a salon product is going to be like versus a drug store product. Then, as far as maintaining shiny, healthy hair, the Sebastian Drench product is a really beautiful shampoo and conditioner that helps promote moisture in the hair, and the Sebastian Penetrate shampoo and conditioner really helps to strengthen and restore hair that’s undergone a lot of damage. Both of those are really nice at home products to use to care for your hair by cleansing and conditioning.

Jennifer: So, you don’t want to wash your hair everyday, is this correct?

Nathan: Yes, that’s correct for a number of reasons. One, if you do have color, your color is going to last longer the less frequently that you shampoo it. Two, your hair is going to stay shiner and healthier for a longer period of time because you’re not stripping it of its  natural oils, which is what helps protect the hair and keeps it supple and shiny.

Jennifer: Dry shampoo is an absolute savior when not washing my hair everyday, so are there any dry shampoos or other products that you recommend that make the time between washing not as dirty looking?

Nathan: There are actually a lot of different things that you can use as dry shampoo, that you already have in your home, baby powder is great to, especially for someone that has lighter hair. Another option is baking soda, that will help to just absorb those oils. So working with household items too can help, when you don’t have time to run to the salon to pick up a product like a dry shampoo. 

Jennifer: A common hair myth is that you should cut your hair every six weeks in order for it to grow long and strong. What do you think about that?

Sassoon Salon’s Senior Creative Director Elizabeth Hartley: Well, what’s going to happen to your hair, is that it’s not going to grow evenly, because it grows at different rates all over your head. The advantage of cutting it, say every six weeks, would be that all those hairs that have been, perhaps dormant, are now starting to grow, and it gives you the opportunity to have a nice, fresh finish, particularly if you have really fine hair.  But to be really honest, if you’re trying to grow your hair, you need to worry more about the condition of the hair. If the hair gets to the point where you’re seeing split ends, then would be a very good time to trim your hair. So that’s not necessarily every six weeks, you could go two to three months between cuts.

Jennifer: Interesting. And they also say “don’t wash your hair every day”, Nathan agrees with it, what are your thoughts?

Elizabeth: Well, again I think it depends on the hair. Most people don’t need to wash their hair every day. I think that came out of that wash and wear era many, many years ago when women had stopped going to the hairdresser once a week to get their hair done. Then they started perming their hair, and we’d cut the perms, and it coined a phrase, it was “wash and wear hair”. So the idea was you could wash your hair every day, go swimming, hop in the hot tub, etc, and not have to worry about your hair. But in theory, it’s best to let your hair absorb its natural oils.

Jennifer: How do you feel hair is related to a personal style?

Elizabeth: It’s a very big part of most people’s style, I would say. Huge. You know, when people come in to the salon and say “you can do anything you want to my hair”, I think, really? You don’t even know me, I don’t know you, are you crazy? So, I think that when I’m trying to create a style for somebody, I need some feedback from them. Not only the obvious like, what kind of maintenance do you want? But, what is your lifestyle like? Even though we say that it’s just hair and it will grow, we don’t really mean that, and people will bawl their eyes out if they experience a bad cut. You know it got cut too short, or made too dark, or…it’s a very personal thing. Logically it shouldn’t be like that, but it is. So yes, it’s a big part of people’s style.

Jennifer: So what would be your top priority tips to have gorgeous hair?

Elizabeth: It’s all about the condition of the hair. If you want to curl, straighten, or otherwise style your hair, it needs to be in good condition to avoid breakage.  So conditioner is very important. I also recommend having a style that’s appropriate to your lifestyle. You need a stylist who’s going to be able to work with you and advise you with products, and I think to really understand that your hair.  I watch people and how they do their hair, and it never ceases to amaze me how rough they are with it. One of the worst things you can do is roughly brush through wet hair, because the hair stretches when it’s wet, it wraps around the brush, and that is when you see a lot breakage. So, I’ve been advising a lot of my particularly long haired clients to try shampooing the hair at the end of the day, don’t blow dry it, and go to bed.  When you wake up in the morning, you just touch it up, that will keep the health of the hair strong. 

For my color, Nathan did some ombre-style highlights in rich mahogany and caramel colors to lighten up my ends for summer.  For my cut, Elizabeth cleaned up my long layers and gave me a style that worked well with my hair texture (fine hair…but tons of it!) and framed my face so that I could wear it straight, wavy, curled, etc and it would fall exactly as it should.

It was so much fun working with Nathan and Elizabeth to create a fresh look for summer and debunk common hair myths.  The entire team at Sassoon Salon is so knowledgeable, creative, and talented–I highly recommend them for your cut and color!  Whether you’re looking to a major change or just freshening up your look for summer, Sassoon Salon has all your hair needs covered!