Color Protection Tips

Tip of the day:  How to HELP prevent color Fade.
1.  Do NOT Shampoo with extremely HOT water.  It opens up the hair cuticle and allows the chemicals to strip out the color.
2.  Wait as long as you can after your color BEFORE shampooing your hair for the first time.  AT LEAST 24-48 hours.  The longer you wait, the more it has time to stain your hair cuticle.
3.  Do NOT shampoo everyday!  This enhances the "Fade factor" and you will find yourself coloring more often and your hair will become more porous and dry.  Dry hair or porous hair will fade quicker.
4.  Be sure you cover your hair when you are out in the sun or in a tanning bed.  UV Rays are the death of hair color.  If you don't have a towel for the tanning bed, just pull your shirt over your hair.  Anything is better than nothing at all.  PROTECT YOUR HAIR!!
5.  Spray a leave in conditioner in your hair before you go out in the sun or go swimming.  You will be getting a "heated" deep conditioning treatment from the sun and the conditioner on your hair.  For BLONDES, wet your hair and rub some conditioner on it to prevent chlorine from going into the hair and preventing the "green" look from the pool.  Chlorine dries out all hair and is a killer on the ends of hair. 
6.  Be sure you are using a good quality shampoo and conditioner for your hair.  You need a good hairspray too with UV Protectants to help keep your color from fading. 
Michael O'Rourke's 3-Way Hair Spray is Humidity Resistant and has Sunscreen!!  What better way to protect your hair??
(334)446-0465 for appointment or to stock up on some great Rock Your Hair Products.

Update & Tips of the day

It has been a while!  I apologize!!  BUT, if you like the page on Facebook, you can easily see the "Tip of the Day" posted if you check the page daily.  There are GREAT tips posted.  I try to post something for EVERY hair type and every hair issue I hear my customers bring forth to me.  I also try to incorporate some easy ways to best utilize hair products they have at home to achieve the style they are looking for.  With some of the Facebook changes the Page tips may not appear in your news feed, so be sure you like the page and hoover over the "LIKED" button for a second and then click "SHOW IN NEWS FEED" to assure that these tips WILL appear in your daily news feed.  I encourage you to check the page often for new pictures, updates and promotions.
I have received such positive feedback on my daily tips from my Facebook page that I've decided to include some of the most popular ones in this post and then do blogs on "Hair Tips" and "Product of the Week".  That product will be 10% off that week at the shop.
Here are some of the most popular hair tips.
1.  Tip of the Day: Don't limit yourself to thinking FOILS are the only way to achieve Highlights or Lowlights!! Cap methods have come A VERY LONG WAY from the old days! They are no longer the double-ply, pre-marked caps that defined where the stylist put your color. They still do make those and some stylist are "old school" and prefer those caps, but I use a light weight cap, that is like a saran wra

p plastic, and I can free style your highlights or color. I can place natural looking highlights all over your hair, or place funky, chunks of color to make a bold statement. Cap highlights WITH A CUT take half the time of a foil color and start at $65.00!! With Foils, you can do more than one color. Caps, you can only do ONE color. That is the down side. So consider Cap Method Highlights if you want just a one color highlight or low light next time, to save time or money. (334)446-0465

2.  Tip of the day: Not sure you want highlights? Start with a partial foil, right around the face and part to see if just a subtle glow or lighter is for you. Not much investment and you may find that the change is just the perk you were looking for. Most stylist offer a partial foil at a fraction of the cost of the regular foil job. Just 8-10 strategically placed highlights/foils can make a world of difference in your look!!! (334)446-0465 or book online at http://www.styleseat.com/simplystylin
3.   Tip of the day: Itchy scalp? Dry or flaky scalp? Shampoo your hair twice, massaging your scalp well with the palms of your fingers and being careful NOT to scratch with your fingernails. Rinse well with warm water. Squeeze out excess water. Pour a cup of the Original type Listerine over your scalp. Yes, Listerine mouthwash. It will stop the itching and burning and kill bacterial growth on

the scalp! Dandruff is usually from a bacterial growth on the scalp. If mouthwash is safe for your mouth, surely it is ok for outer use on your body. (It is also good for cuts, scrapes, burns, etc) It is an antiseptic. Let it sit for 3-5 minutes and rinse. Follow with a good conditioner and rinse with cooler water. Style as usual. You can do this twice a week. FEELS WONDERFUL!!!

4.   Tip of the Day: Big Hair is IN!! Here are some helpful hints on how to get voluminous hair.
Add layers to your hair to increase volume.

When styling hair with flat irons or hot rollers, spritz roots with an aerosol hair spray instead of a spritz. Aerosol tends to dry faster and won't be as hard to brush out. Then tip head up side down & shake. Volumizing styling products cause the hair cuticle to swell. Thus letting pollutants and excess heat, damage the cortex of your hair. Use moisturizing, volumizing products. Good quality salon volumizing products will not weigh yout hair down.

Use a lightweight volumizing conditioner everyday! YES, you must still condition your hair. As above, volumizing products swell the cuticle. Therefore, you need to protect your hair! If your hair is weighed down by conditioner, then you are using the WRONG kind! Come see me and get a bottle of MIRACLE from Michael O'Rourke's Rock Your Hair line. AWESOME stuff!!
Ask your stylist to give you a point cut. Point cutting creates uneven ends and texture creating the illusion of volume in the hair.
Blow hair upside down, while lifting roots to add volume.
After drying is complete, spray hair lightly with an aerosol hairspray and blow-dry hair again for a minute.
**Try my new line of Rock Your Hair Products for Big, Voluminous ROCKER Hair!**

5.   Tip of the Day:  Hair loss after pregnancy or major medical procedures.... this is a common problem.  ESPECIALLY AFTER PREGNANCY!  Most new Mommies find it easiest to pull up their locks into ponytails and go.  BUT BEWARE.... this can be doing more harm than good!!  Hair tends to be fragile after pregnancy and stretching and pulling the hair will weaken it.  Make sure those ponytails are LOOSE!  No metal clips.  Use cloth head bands instead to push your hair out of of your face and leave your hair down instead. 
These are very good tips, simple but interesting.
    Eat and have a good diet. Give attention to nutrients and vitamins you take. Eat natural foods and avoid processed foods. If you are pregnant you should not eat junk food.
    Use a good quality shampoo; if possible, use a special shampoo for hair loss. Always using natural shampoo and avoid chemical shampoo.  (Dandruff shampoo, etc)
    Do not pull your hair too tight and do bad hairstyle because that can hurt your scalp and hair.
    Avoid using chemicals on your hair, use natural oils. Give oil massages like coconut oil or olive oil to your scalp, do it two or three times a week.
    Talk with your doctor, because if your hair keeps losing, it could be a symptom of postpartum thyroiditis.
(334)446-0465 for appointments for deep conditioning treatments!

**Product of the Week**

Rock Your Hair's MIRACLE Leave in Weightless Detangler.

It's a Leave in Treatment that makes your hair Shinier, Stronger and Healthier!!

It's is Soy, Wheat and Oat Proteins that reinforce the hair from the shaft to the ends and replenish the moisture and shine to dry, color treated hair but also detangles and tames ALL hair types without weighing it down.  See me and ask about this product to get it for 10% off until Next Friday. 

Appointments & Cancellation Policy

Most of my clients are AWESOME and never, ever miss an appointment.  This blog is mainly for new clients who call and want to book.  I do have a cancellation policy in place.  And for my standing clients, remember this policy.  Please take my job into consideration.  I do not have a steady paycheck, benefits, sick leave, paid days off.... etc.  If someone is not in my chair, I'm left with no income.  I am depending on those appointments to pay my overhead, rent, and for those products I've ordered to complete those booked and projected appointments.

Since August of 2011 it has been my policy to charge a missed appointment fee to all persons who fail to keep their scheduled appointment(s) unless I receive notice at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment. The fee varies depending on the time period reserved & service(s) that were booked.  With each missed appointment, I am left with a minimum of a 2 hour slot allotted for a highlight, 1 hour for color, 30 minutes for hair cut, and 2 hours or more for consultations or the installation of extensions.  I make appointments to devote strict time for each and every customer so I don’t overlap into each person’s pampering time, and that I don’t feel rushed causing me to miss something very vital in my client’s service.  I stay booked more than a few days in advanced and it’s very rare I can take walk-ins anymore because of this.

I do make exceptions for true last minute emergencies, when I receive timely notification there-of.  Each appointment is VITAL to my business, because unlike normal jobs, I do not make a steady salary.

I apologize for having to resort to this. My only other alternative is to raise prices for those customers who keep their appointments and I do not think that is fair. I attempt to keep my prices down, and missed appointments drive up my costs.

Sherri Carroll

(334)446-0465

Helpful HOME Hair Styling Tips

Every stylist is asked "How can I do (insert your dream hairstyle or hair horror here)?"  So I have decided to give my customers some of my most requested tips and hints and home remedies here.

1.  Easy home remedy for dandruff or itchy scalp:  Listerine.  YES!  I said Listerine, the mouthwash!  Don't get the blue, or the new flavored kind.  Get the old fashioned original kind.  It can even be the generic from the Dollar General. Shampoo your hair with your regular shampoo and rinse, and then pour a little listerine (usually a cup) over your scalp and let it sit for 3-5 minutes.  It will be cooling and soothing.  Then rinse.  You may want to follow with a conditioner if you usually do, or even if you don't because it can be a little drying to your hair.  I don't recommend using it more than twice a week unless you have severe dandruff just for this very fact.  In 2 to 3 uses, you'll see the flakes are gone.  Listerine is a wonderful antibacterial agent.  GREAT for cuts, burns and scrapes.  Good for eczema and staph on the skin.

2.  Brassiness in the hair.  Use a blue/purple toned shampoo like Shimmer Lights.  You can usually find this at Sally's.  RUSK makes an AWESOME version with great shine factor.  It has to be purchased in a salon.  The purple counteracts yellow and brassy tones in blonde hair.  Because of the blue/purple tones the shampoo doesn't need to be used every day.

3.  Build up on the hair.  Usually caused by product.  Be careful if you have dark or fresh colored hair.  It can dull the color.  Use a good conditioner.  If you have dark hair, I'd recommend just using a daily clarifying shampoo to remove build up, or just a light sprinkle of baking soda.

4.  Want to perk up curls.  Comb your hair while your shampoo or conditioner is in and you are in the shower and don't comb it anymore once you are out.  Scrunch your hair, DO NOT RUB with the towel!  Scrunch up with the towel.  Add a tablespoon of sea salt to a mister bottle of water and spritz on the hair lightly.  Scrunch up the ends lightly with your fingers.  Add your gel or hair products.  Again, scrunch up with the towel, removing as much moisture as you possibly can with the towel itself.  Be careful not to rub and to keep the curls define with the scrunching.  Once the hair is about 80-90% dry, spray lightly with a scrunch gel.  Use diffuser at roots.  Finish with a hairspray.

5.  Rocker waves.  First work some texture balm through your palms to warm it up and really work it into the strands of your hair.  Too much will weigh the hair down, so don't get too much.  Remember....... Less is More!  Flip the hair over and spray a little scrunch gel into your hair.  (yes, scrunch gel into your dry hair)  You don't want frizzy hair making your rocker style looking sloppy, do you???

6.  Quick fixes.  Dry Shampoo!  Yes!  It is the latest and the greatest invention.  But avoid the powder based stuff and go for the higher grade Big Sexy Hair which is Clay based.  You don't want that Talcum build up on your hair from the cheaper stuff I've seen in some stuff.  It just feels gross!!!! Yucky.  I couldn't WAIT to wash my hair.  What's the point!?  My favorite is Big Sexy and TIGI BedHead.  They have done it right and it smells divine!  Big Sexy even adds alot of volume to the hair which people LOVE!

7.  Want to avoid green tint in blonde hair during the summer?  Wet the hair before getting in the pool and add a little conditioner to the ends.  It does 2 things.  It pre-soaks the hair so it can't absorb anything else, AND it adds conditioners to the hair, and allows the sun to penetrate for a deep conditioning treatment.  But really the conditioner seals the porous ends and coats it so the chlorine can not go into the hair shaft.

Hope you may have found out something you can use!  

Sherri Carroll

~Simply Stylin~

(334)446-0465

Pravana Perfection Smoothing System

Keratin treatments have exploded in popularity in the past few years.  Women have raced to the salon to try them in order to tame their frizzy manes.  Some are misinformed.  Some have NO IDEA what chemicals are being applied to their hair.  And MOST have no idea what toxins they may be inhaling!  Boatloads of women have gotten hooked on the way these “treatments” turn their frizzy curls into sexy, smooth, silky tresses.  Then it was uncovered that the formaldehyde used to seal the hair’s cuticle (which is what prevents moisture from getting into the hair shaft, thus making it frizzy) is actually toxic.

Pravana has come out with a smoothing treatment called Perfection which provides all the same results as that harmful “Brazilian Blowout” without the harmful formaldehyde.  This is HUGE!!!  Most salons make this claim either don’t get the same results as keratin treatments or are using some type of product that still has some type of formaldehyde.  Pravana actually submitted to extensive testing to prove to disbelievers that it truly is as good as it sounds.

With Pravana, the client is first shampooed with a special sulfate-free shampoo.  Next the Perfection solution is hand painted onto every strand of hair.  It is a labor of love, but the results are SO worth it.  At this stage, if you want silky, straight hair, the hair is combed with a fine tooth comb to be as straight as possible, or if you want to retain curls or waves without frizz, the stylist can gently tousle the hair. Then the hair is blown dry.  This takes no time because the treatment cuts down drying time by 50%.  Then the solution is flat-ironed into the hair to seal in the solution.

Blonde hair is usually duller in appearance than brunette hair because it does not reflect the light as well.  But this treatment will enhance light reflection and make blondes have more shine than normal.

The Pravana Perfection Smoothing treatment is safe, and even when the curl comes back in a few months, the hair will be softer than before.  It last 8-12 weeks.  No harsh chemicals.  Safe for color treated hair.  FORMALDEHYDE FREE!

Call for an Appointment!  (334)446-0465

Cinderella Hair

Thinking about Cinderella Hair Extensions? Wondering WHY Cinderella Hair?
1) Last anywhere from 3-6 months
2) Can be RE-USED Once after the 1st 3-6 month time period
3) Two different application methods
4) Safe & Completely Damage Free to your own Natural Hair
5) Multiple shades and textures to mix and match to your own hair
6) 100% Human hair, of the HIGHEST quality and best grade around for a silky and shiny feel and look. Not frizzy, stringy or "different" looking from your own hair
7) Can be used to provide highlights to your own hair
8) Can be used to provide length to hair
9) Can be used to give texture & dimension to your own natural hair
10) For thin or fine hair, Cinderella Hair Extensions can add body & thickness

*Cinderella Hair is GREAT for someone who is letting their hair grow out & looking for help!*
It will require some investment, but in the long run, you WILL get 2 uses of SAFE, high quality hair & know it's from a company that has been in business since 1994! WAY before Extensions became popular in this area. They've been serving the stars for years!!! Why not get your extensions from a stylist who is CERTIFIED by Cinderella Hair?
(334)446-0465

Balayage Colors

NEW COLOR TECHNIQUE at Simply Stylin'! New technique to this area, been used in New York & California to the stars for several years. Balayage color!! No foils! The color streaks are hand painted on freely and the hair is allowed to breathe & blend to provide natural hues. Be the first to try this color trend! 

  People often ask the difference between traditional foiling and the artistry of hair painting. Not only is the result or hair painting far more beautiful but it is much healthier for the hair. Aluminum foil is a conducter of heat which almost bakes the bleach into the hair creating a very brassy effect .

Hair Painting is a process that requires training. Be sure your stylist has practiced this and you've seen pictures of their work or know a client of theirs who has had this process done!!

Originating in France, the word “Balayage” translates to “sweeping”, and the actual sweeping of color can be placed more exactly on the hair. As a colorist we can place the highlight more exactly where nature intended it to be. The result from using foils can be color that has obvious strips of color that can look brassy or too white. The art of hair painting is a process that gives more dimensional natural looking color.

The beauty of Balayage is you can embrace a natural hue or natural color without feeling drab, because you can still have the enhancements of highlights. Essentially, balayage involves painting sections of the hair freehand, rather than using foils or a streaking cap. The end result is a sexy “grown out” look that takes literally minutes to achieve, and requires less maintenance than traditional highlights. It's like the Ombre highlights, but Ombre focuses only on a few sections and mainly on the ends. Balayage actually does streaks from roots to tips to provide hues and highlights. Society’s elite moving towards a more natural look in hair colour, and consequently stepping away from stripy, zebra-like highlights. Elite fashion models, socialites and Hollywood’s brightest stars have lately been embracing the natural look, and of course, where the stars lead, the people shall follow!