Beauty Of Spirit

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Everyone, including myself, was so wrapped up on how much romance that the day would hold for them. Would he give you flowers? Would she finally accept that date? and so on and so forth. Only concerned about our own feelings of being special.

Then today, something wonderful happens, and it makes me realize how trivial all those kind of things are.
I mean, imagine for a minute, that you have been diagnosed with the horrible disease that is cancer.

Yesterday, I doubt that you would have been worried if you got a box of chocolates or not. You would probably be concerned about other things. Like wondering if you would even be ALIVE to celebrate the holiday the next year.

You all know that I do out call hair/skin/nail services. It was time to go and visit one of my clients to cut and color her hair. She has a grown daughter that had been diagnosed with cancer and had been fighting it for quite a while.

Now, when you go through radiation and chemo, it takes a HUGE toll on one's body. But it also weakens the spirit. For a lot of patients, especially women, losing their hair is a soul crushing blow.

I have always known that, and to this day, I will always volunteer my services for any kind of cancer charity.

But the thing with my client, was that even though she was so ill and was losing all of her hair, she remained in high spirits for the most part. She even took the initiative and empowered herself by having me shave her hair when it started to fall.

She was always lighthearted and even playful about it, sometimes even wearing one of those caps with the fake highlighted spiked up hair.

So anyway, I went over to their house and her hair had actually grown out some. I was amazed at how well she looked. Her hair was kinda like a fuzzy blocky mess from having grown out after the chemo.

Then, she told me the great news...She is no longer a Cancer patient, but a Cancer Survivor! She beat the Big C!

I can not explain the feeling that came over me as I felt the tears of happiness well up in my eyes.

Not having all that much hair to work with, I gave her a cute pixie type cut. I left it soft and fringed around the edges to give it a more feminine look instead of a grown out mans cut.

She was so happy and you can see from the pix that she loves it. She hugged me and kept telling me "Thank you"

But ya know what? I thank HER, for putting things back into perspective for me. To be concerned with real things, and forget the petty stuff. And to always live life to the fullest, cause you never know what tomorrow may or may not bring your way.

Back In Black

I decided to color my hair dark again. It has finally reached a manageable stage to let it grow out. Being that I want to grow it long again, I know that it would be best to lay off of the lighteners. I do want it to be long, but I want it to be nice and healthy as well. I will post photos on the progress of growing it out from time to time. This will help motivate me into not having a "moment" and cutting it off. :)

Here is a photo from a shoot that I did on Wednesday with www.DavidCraigHarris.com
I also posted it to show my Hairstylist/MUA work.




He wanted to shoot Pin Up, as it was a new style for him and I must say, he didn't miss a beat.



This has also inspired me to start doing tutorial Hair and Make Up videos, so stay tuned for that in the near future. Feel free to let me know what type/style that you would like to see!

XOXO

Ditch The Itch!

Wintertime has us in it's grip. For many of us, that means dry skin...and scalp.

First off, let me point out the difference between dry scalp and dandruff.

Dandruff is thick, oily and sometimes yellow in consistency. This is what you need to be using a special shampoo on, such as one with coal tar or tea tree oil.

Dry scalp is flaky, itchy, and white in color.

Just like your hands, feet, and other areas of skin on your body, your scalp can become dry.

There are many causes of dry scalp. Dehydration of the body, hair products with alcohol, chemical treatments, etc.

If you have dry scalp and are tired of the itching and flaking, try these tips to help.

*Get plenty of water

*Look for shampoos and styling products with no or low amounts of alcohol. You can tell by looking at the listed ingredients. They are listed in the order of the amount of content. (The farther down the list, the less alcohol is in it)

*Try not to over wash your hair. You should try not to wash it more frequently than every other day. This gives the natural oil glands a chance to moisturize your scalp, as well as your hair.

*Perform a Dry Scalp Brushing treatment once a week. **See Below




If you take these simple steps, you should get rid of the itch in no time!






**DRY SCALP BRUSHING TECHNIQUE:

For this treatment you will need a few hair clips, a tint brush (a brush used to apply color. You can find them at your local beauty supply store that is open to the public)and a good moisturizing deep conditioner (watch out for the alcohol content!)



Starting with clean hair, part your hair into quadrants (4 sections)
Fist part hair done the middle, then part hair across the top of the head from behind one ear to another


Now you are going to work in one section at a time. Let the section loose from the clip and start at the top of the section. Take partings that are 1/4 inch wide and brush the exposed scalp a few times with side to side motion. Continue working in 1/4 inch sections until you make it to the bottom of that section. Put hair back into clip and move to the next section. Repeat on all sections.

Put some of the deep conditioner into a bowl. Using the same tint brush, begin sectioning like before, but this time put the deep conditioner on the brush and apply to the exposed scalp.

After the conditioner is applied to all of the scalp, take your fingers and massage the scalp in circular motions for 3 minutes.

Rinse your hair and scalp.