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Health & Fitness

HairIgoAgain: It's all in the Product

A hysterical insider's look at hairstylists, what we go through, and a bit of education thrown in!

I love when I get a new client in my chair. Fresh blood, new ideas, new conversations and best of all, another mark made by me in the world! 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE and am very thankful for my “ol’ faithfuls” (you girls KNOW who you are). I’ve been blessed with a truly great clientele, and most of my “peeps” allow me to make suggestions and offer true opinions that they take into consideration when it comes to their hair and overall look. 

What will always crack me up…no matter how long I stay within my beloved profession, are the people that come in and want me to preform a hair miracle but want to take no further ownership once they leave my chair. Once I bipitybopityboo your hair into a glamorous look, the buck doesn’t stop there … no pun intended. 

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When you tell me “I would love Drew Barrymore’s Ombre (the color job that is meant to look like grown out roots, with the bottom of the hair lighter than the top…yeep, people pay for that..) including that “beachy wave” look.” And I ask you how committed you are to achieving that hair style? I kinda need you to tell me the truth…the whole truth. 

Because I can absolutely make you LOOK and BELIEVE you are Drew Barrymore upon leaving my salon, going out for dinner and drinks with the girls and home with that hot guy you picked up at Roof Top 120 (who really thinks you ARE Drew), but when you wake up the next morning and try to recreate Drew…well she won’t work with your Pantene shampoo and Garnier hairspray…

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I’m a BEAUTICIAN, not a MAGICIAN!!

EG Salon is a Redken and Pureology Salon.  Those are the products we use in house and retail to our guests.  We (I) feel that they are the best in the industry.  The owners of EG (Ellie & Georgi) were born and raised on Redken. Ellie is a former Redken educator. 

Redken and Pureology are sisters. 2 amazing companies, partnered to bring the best of each world from my hands to your head. Have you ever heard “You get what you pay for.”? It’s the truth. When you commit to using professional products BOUGHT IN A SALON, the sky is the limit for your hair. No joke. Redken and Pureology are both prescriptive lines. What does that mean?? Let me tell you.

If you tell me that your hair is unruly and dry, I have two options for you and your budget. You can go with Real Control by Redken, or you can go with Super Smooth by Pureology.Real Control is a nourishing shampoo for dense, dry, sensitized hair. If you use this and it’s counter part conditioner for three weeks, the results will be amazing. Honestly.

Super Smooth by Pureology,  gently cleanses and tames unruly hair. It is 100 percent Vegan and Organic, and concentrated…which means a little goes a LONG way. Do you know that most other professional hair product lines are not prescriptive? **I’m not bashing** but if you go to a Paul Mitchell Salon and tell them that your hair is dry and unruly, good luck. 

See my second blog and RUN from that Awapuhi (Crap-a-puhi) shampoo that drys your hair out further. Many other product lines don’t have options. It’s cut and dry, you need color-safe shampoo, here it is — this one and this one only. And for the people who think that Pantene has a color-safe or smoothing shampoo. CALL ME, we’ll have a class … when I show you the PH of that product, you’ll be crying!!

Back to looking like Drew…despite Drew claiming she uses Cover Girl makeup and Garnier hair color, she (obviously) doesn’t and I’m sure NEVER has. But what Drew does use, is professional products. That’s why her hair looks shiny. That’s why you don’t see any frizz, and that’s why when she walks the red carpet she looks better put together than your present on Christmas morning!

I once had a client tell me very proudly that she ONLY uses professional products.  She would never use anything but professional. Impressed, I asked her what she was exactly using (thinking this is great!) She said “oh, I’m always switching it up, but this month I’m using Chi shampoo and conditioner and for hairspray I’m using Sexy Hair and for mouse I’m using Keratin-something, and for an oil, I'm using Moroccan Oil (**NOT A FAN, but i’ll save that for later**).

I said, WOW, sounds great…where did you get all of these products? Her: Marshall’s. Me: longgggggggggggggggg pauseeeeeeeeeeee….REALLY? wow. I didn’t know they sell all of that. 

Her: Oh yeah, but not faithfully…you have to take what you can get…and they don’t carry each product all the time…and there is always something new…

Sounds great. NOT. #1…professional products sold at MARSHALL’s no longer qualify as professional. Just like Coach bags and Louis Vuitton sold out of some guy’s van at the New Haven Flea Market don’t qualify as real. There are knock-off hand bags, and there are knock-off hair products. 

It’s a MILLION dollar industry friends, google it! Now, sometimes what is sold as far as hair products in Marshall’s are authentic. But, how long have they been on a shelf prior to getting to the department store is just one of the questions. Most what is sold in a department store has been discontinued or re-packaged. 

So, what good does this do you? Find the product you like and now you can’t get it again?! 

#2, You are self-diagnosing your hair troubles and purchasing on what the bottle says, “color safe,” “anti frizz.” Because you are not a professional, you don’t even really know what you need or don’t need, and the dude stocking shelves in aisle three has no clue where he even is right now..so he’s no help! 

#3, You don’t even know how to use the product. You just saw “anti frizz” and said…yup, that’s me, that’s what this mane needs. You didn’t see that you are only supposed to use the “anti frizz” every other day.

#4, Chi is a flat iron that they sell in a kiosk at the mall, that’s how they got their industry “in.” Sexy Hair can be bought at WalMart and CVS and contains more alcohol than a Dirty Martini, and Moroccan Oil is tinted brown…good luck dumping that in your platinum hair..hope you were going for low lights! It’s been known to stain!! And, it’s all the rage now, but move over because almond oil is making its way up and will be all the rave by January. Then it’s all Moroccan who?…

If I prescribed Pureology Pure Volume shampoo to you and you felt that it wasn’t rinsing out good, or that it just wasn’t working, you would bring it back to me. It wouldn’t matter if the bottle was half-full or half-empty. You aren’t happy, no problem. Let’s try something else. Try bringing back the half-used bottle of Chi to Marshall’s. They aren’t taking it. If the bottle says “100% Guarantee” well it’s null and void because it wasn’t purchased in a professional retail store. The guy in aisle three could care less that it weighs your hair down…Next customer, please…

Are you sitting there saying, “Well, of course you want me to buy products from you at your salon because you make money off the sale…”?? Well, that’s partially true, I do make money off the sale. But what I make in retail money, goes toward my EDUCATION. 

So, when I’m not able to accommodate your partial foil next month because I’m in New York City for two days, I’m not touring the city, I’m taking classes. I’m educating myself on what the new hot and trendy products are, how to use them, and who would be the best client to offer them to. Then, I can educate you. 

I want your hair to look BETTER than Drew Barrymore’s!! I want you to feel the difference in your hair! I want you to be HAPPY with your style and look. And, honestly, that cannot be achieved with whatever the flavor of the month is at Marshall’s!!

If you are going to throw your money away product testing things that you think might work, then stop. You will spend LESS money purchasing an authentic product with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee in my salon where I can inform you on the best use of the product that fits your hair and beauty budget!

***This month, all REDKEN LITER Shampoos and Conditioners are two for $39.99*** Fabulous deal and should last you six months at least!!! Hurry down!!

Stay Gorgeous~
Shana

EG SALON

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