Top 5 Reasons February Doesn't Suck . . . .

Top Five Reasons Why February Doesn’t Suck:
By Chris www.shoeboxblog.com

1. The weather. No, that’s wrong

2. Summer vacation is just around…no it’s not.

3. You can start wearing…wait. No you can’t.

4. Valentine’s Day was happy. If you were already happy.

5. It’s two days shorter than the other months. But not this year.

A New York Times article suggested that John McCain had a sexual relationship with a female lobbyist. An indignant McCain responded, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman... Okay, let me rephrase that.

"The Teamsters are backing Obama. Look for this development to be reflected in Obama's new slogan: The Teamsters Are Backing Me. You Got A Problem With That? Yeah, I Didn't Think So.

A Navy missile has shot down a failing U.S. spy satellite, marking the first time in years that military officials have been able to say, "We meant to do that" and mean it.

Oil prices are up again near $100 per barrel. Senior oil executives are saying, “mwaa, aa, aa, aaaa!!” while rubbing their cold, bony hands together.

Florida schools are only now officially allowed to use the word “evolution.” Even the creationists are happy about this because it makes it way easier than saying, “we deny that dinosaur monkey can hail a cab now changey thing.”

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Nevada this morning, but the damage was not wide-spread because when shock waves got to Vegas, they stayed in Vegas.

Chinese officials are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of that nation's most polluted lakes. The fish are especially effective because after eating, they're always hungry again an hour later.

St. Patrick’s Day is causing a dilemma for Catholics this year because it falls during Holy Week. Church officials are recommending their standard approach of party/feel guilty, party/feel guilty.

Pop star Pink says the end of her 3-year marriage is "not about cheating, anger or fighting".

So it's probably about fighting, cheating, and anger.Lindsay Lohan's mom assures us that her daughter’s nude photo shoot recreating a famous session by Marilyn Monroe was a "tasteful and artistic honor to the late icon, especially her boobs".

I got a chuckle . . . hopefully you do ;)

Sometimes the best thing in life, can be a chuckle

Toner or Tone Him; Either Way its a Kick Ass Solution, For A Way Too Common Hair Problem

Toners are a long time celebrity secret, so many of them get one once a week, the deal is most of them have a Salon in their home.

As I wrote this I realized that I keep forgetting to point out the celebrity WHO-HA that I have been involved with. I leave myself notes to use celeb photos...and forget as well ....why? I don't like people to set unexpected & unrealistic goals, and that happens with the celebrity race. I dislike using them as a reference, I feel our society has gotten all out of whack about them and gone ape-shit crazy over them. 

Some of my best friends have been in the genre,and Holy Batshit - Batman . .they're as nutty as the rest of us. I know everyone is interested in celebrity "everything", I am just trying to point out that most of what I say comes from that world, I just neglect to point it out - I hope you will remember that. 

Toners are a total celebrity luxury, and they really don't need to be. Applying a toner is so simple and so easy. . . anyone can do it, they really can.

TONER: A pastel color to be used after lightening

Toners are semi permanent, demi permanent, and permanent hair color products that are used primarily on lightened(pre-lightened) hair to achieve pale and delicate colors. They are applied to the lightest degree of contributing pigment that remains after the de-colorizing process. You may hear the term "double-process" application in association with a Toner. That means the first process is the application of the lightener; the second process is the application of the toner.
I try to explain it to newbie's in the chair using the reference to a "Nylon" on a leg. The leg is one color(white) and if you want it to look tan> you don't buy brown tights...you buy a "tan" colored nylon, opaque - sheer nylons. That is what a Toner is.... Opaque-sheer-pastel-color that slips over the hair. So you slip the nylon on the leg and poof - you have a Tan leg. Same thing with blond hair, applying the toner is exactly like the nylon, only the toner covers all the strands of your hair with the opaque-sheer- pastel color.

Why do I say "anyone can do it"? What's the difference between this color and any other? The hardest part of this process? Access to getting them!



A toner is a very light color usually a Level 10, sometimes a Level 9 or even an Level 8. So its a very light color to make it a toner, the goal is only to deposit color so one uses a 6 Volume - 10 Volume - 15 Volume - 17 Volume - are the 4 levels of Peroxide I have in my Lab for this purpose.
{ Remember like a "nylon"} . So you have a low volume peroxide and a HIGH Level of Color which makes for "NO" lifting action. Therefore the chemical reaction is very mild, no color is being lifted out of the hair....so you don't need gloves (use them anyway) , the color does not stain your hands, or the furniture!, and there is NO line of demarcation, so you can kind of slap it on {although "I" never do}, being careful to make at least 1/2" parts to apply the product. Its just not that critical - I have put them on myself {a LEVEL 8RG-red-gold} without even looking at the back, just doing it by feel. Apply it every where then comb it through.... wham bam thank you mamn.

Its even easier than applying those color conditioners, it truly is because there is NO MESS from the color pigment. ++ the biggest advantage to me is you are not screwing your hair up for your next color. Just be sure to apply the last toner application 2 weeks before your next appointment or the next time you will color your hair.

What do you need to apply toners? I use the tint brush and tint bowl method, I'm a colorist, I doubt I will ever be able to break that habit. But truthfully - for a toner - those dumbass bottles I see at the beauty supply should work just fine > If you buy Color Touch, the ratio is 1:2 which makes up 6 whole ounces of product with one tube. One tube will do 1 head of super long <> super thick hair. Everyone else may get 2 applications out of the one tube. I have re-priced the Colour Touch, as it comes with the developer, tail comb and gloves for $18.00 - so its my homemade Kit <> THE RIGHT WAY.



Toners & Uses(samples)

• Toning highlights to give warmth ( gets ride of 'gray' highlights)


• Color Touch 9/36-Light Golden Violet Blonde (sugg.)


• Tone down Brassy highlights - CT 10/01 Lightest Ash Blonde


• Platinum toned Gwen Stefani style- combined Colour Touch 10/89 + CT 10/7 Cafe Latte


• Tone blocks of platinum - silver - CT 8/81 Silver


• Molly - I used 10/6 Lightest Violet Blonde - was out of 10/89 the strongest yellow-killer


• Coral Rose - RenColor - for Fun And Fashion!

If you click on these charts these are the Color Touch Color Charts, the top 2 rows are the colors usually considered "toners".



I suggest studying these charts just spend some time looking at them, it will help the "level system" sink in. We will review them again and some additional ones, but for now try to become familiar with them.

Now to order any of the dozens of Professional toners I have - - - please join our Group . . . so you have access to our UNDERGROUND STORE .
First apply to the Group which gives you access to the Store :
http://groups.google.com/group/killerstrands?hl=en
We have lots of Goodies there . . . . for hair health and hair color. . .

The Real McCoy or Fake-y : Hair Products Up For Review

The dark side of the beauty industry : DIVERSION of hair products

How many times have wondered about those high end hair products that have sprung up in very weird sources like Target....CVS.....Longs Drug..... Rite Aid and so on? I do all the time and I know what the rules, laws and codes are.
The topic of DIVERSION has long been talked about to industry professionals, and have never understood why they don't talk to the public about it, I sure the hell would want to know - I bet you would too.
Diversion: the act or an instance of diverting from a source
Diversion is the unauthorized distribution, buying and selling of professional products to unauthorized outlets outside of the professional industry. Perhaps you've seen professional hair care products sold in your neighborhood grocery store, drugstore, pharmacy or on the Internet. Most likely, these products were acquired through a "collector" who, by operating in a "gray market", acquired these products from various sources and, once they collected enough product, sold them to a mass distributor who specializes in selling "gray market" product to unauthorized retail establishments.
It baffles me that the stores buy them, if more people reported them or didn't buy the products the problem would be eliminated. Not trying to blame the wrong people, just trying to make it clear how to get rid of it.
Professional companies like Joico, Redken, ISO, Wella, Matrix, etc., and so on DO NOT sell their products to drug, discount, stores - they just don't. Part of their agreement & policy with hair stylists is that they will only sell their product to Salons so that the customer has to get the product at 'the' Salon. Its a kind of a Gentlemens agreement they have had for many years and they do stick to it. The manufacturers will only guarantee their product if its bought at a Salon. If you buy those products at those stores you are taking a giant risk in my opinion.
The products in those stores are not supposed to be there, Period. They have gotten there by one of two ways - both wrong.

#1)There are companies in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, etc. that have gone to the trouble of duplicating the bottle and packaging of your favorite products. Stuffing it with some random concoction of ingredients, and selling it for the 'real' thing. Yep - they are completely bogus.
Today while I was waiting on a prescription , because I was contemplating writing this post, I meandered over to the aisle, found a bottle of Biosilk, opened it, sampled a little and was horrified. I used Biosilk for years (before I learned about ingredients & cosmetic chemistry), I know exactly how it should feel, and smell. This formula was full of some liquid laced with over 50% alcohol,it was no where even close to what it should be. So there it was....my sign for today on what to write! Not only was there none or very little of the cyclomethicone or dimethicone necessary to protect your hair (the most expensive ingredient) I checked the list of ingredients and they did not have a preservative listed. That can be a very dangerous avenue, products can become contaminated without the proper preservative as I have spoken about before. Its not the Preservative that is dangerous its the amount of it , that is crucial. But having none, is not what you want to see.
These companies fill the bottles with the wrong ingredients...in bottles that look exactly like the original - then sell them to you for as much as 15% higher than they should be. Please don't buy them in those stores, for your own good.
#2) The second method? Companies that have the real product, that are old -- way past their shelf life and should have been thrown away - decide to re-sell them to another outlet. So there are some that are in fact, real, but past their shelf life. Again, they charge too much for them and the safety is compromised with an out-of-date preservative.
There is virtually no way to tell which one of these problems is which. But the point is neither are any good, and both should be avoided.
I would guess over 60% are counterfeit, so please don't waste your money or ruin your hair with these bogus replicas!
DIVERSION : help to prevent it, only buy your high end hair products in appropriate Salons or the Beauty Supply.

In The Pink . . What one little Swish can do

Applying one little semi permanent ribbon of pink adds oodles to your style . . .

ask Avril

Why Do I Have (very expensive) "Gray" Highlights?

Does this problem haunt you? Why and how to fix it

A new Killerstrand-er wrote in with a question off my List of "Future Post Titles" therefore the age-old cliche: '2 birds--one stone' fit the bill.

Its an excellent question, & as I told her, for great general questions I am going to have to ask you all to post the question in the COMMENTS section or in the Killerstrands GROUP Forum. I have started to generate an extraordinary amount of email. In order to keep up with the quality of my advice I am going to need to answer more in the Comments section of any post or the Killerstrands GROUP http://groups.google.com/group/killerstrands ... simply so > I don't end up having to repeat myself.

How common are Gray highlights? Very. Even here in LA, I was just in the post office behind 2 women with the dreaded head. I wanted to hand them my card with the comment, please...let me fix your hair. In order to avoid decapitation, I decided against it.

Its nice to hear someone admit they have them so its not just Colorists that see them.

The problem stems from one or a combo of these 4 issues which are all interconnected:

• too-white highlights


• hair color Basic Rules not followed


• "over-busy" Stylist


• Using only 1 Color


• too many foils

1.)Too-White Highlights: The number one reason for 'gray' appearing highlights is having too 'white' > highlights. How do they get too white ? The bleach is left on the hair too long, pushing the color of the hair past the lovely golden blonde stage and over to the bright white stage.

I will gamble that most of you that have this problem have a brown base. You've gone into the Salon and asked for the Jennifer Anniston color and come out with something more on the line of the Golden Girls, sound like you? If you place too many white highlights on top of a brown base...the overall appearance is "gray" . That is just how it looks, and I know it confuses the client. What colors make gray? Black and white. Brown is the closest color to black and close enough within the context of hair to give the effect of gray. Brown and super white highlights -appear 'gray'. Now if you have your base tinted brown first, you have an even higher chance of having that "gray effect".

What stage comes after the too white stage>? the 'breakage stage" which I am sure many have discovered that have this problem - so if you are here - stop the madness and get off the train. Put your foot down, ask for a change or you change Stylists. Please see the decolorization chart posted here. Which shows "how" color comes out of hair as it is lightened. If you understand the process it will make it easier for you to solve the problem.

The second reason they would be too white? Using the heat of a hair dryer. Especially when it says right on the package of every bleach I have ever seen, DO NOT USE HEAT. Heat speeds up the processing, which in turn speeds up the lifting action .. again zooming it right past the "golden blond" stage and up to that old "white" blond stage. Whiter is not better in highlights, nor is yellow the desired color either. Its those couple levels in between, and its not that hard to hit them. Just takes a little practice and using the proper rules and techniques.

2.) Hair Color basic rules that need to be followed - there is a reason Stylists are required to attend a specialized school for 1 year. Even if they did not learn it there > right on the package of almost all colors and bleaches it will say "DO NOT APPLY HEAT" . I was so shocked when I moved from the Academy to the Salon and saw this trick in action. I would say 90% of all hair color specifically says not to use heat. Most color that is professional says right on the package: DO NOT USE HEAT... in giant -- all capital letters, in many different places. Yet, in the Salon every single Stylist I watched in action was shuffling their clients in and out of hair dryer chairs, does this happen to you?

I would worry greatly if a stylist is not even following something as minor as directions on the package. By using heat on a product, especially bleach, you speed up the action of the product which in turn will make those highlights go from a nice golden blond to a raging white. WHITE highlights are a huge no-no by anyone with any sort of artistic vision and eye for the health of the clients hair.

Its also dangerous to apply heat to chemicals not designed to take heat. That is a very basic hair color rule being ignored by these people.

3.) Over Busy Stylist: This person is overbooked, has clients coming in every 1/2 hour or even every 15 minutes -- with no assistants. They "buy time" by slapping clients under dryers ... making them think they are getting something accomplished - by sitting under a dryer, instead of sitting in a chair with nothing "going on". This buys her time to juggle the next client/clients. By leaving the product on the hair too long OR too long PLUS with the heat ... again...they create the "too white" highlight. This stems from being over-booked with too many clients.

. So to use a hair dryer as a means of stalling so they can cram in more clients, is the base of the bigger problem. Too white highlights. They need to plan their day better, clients deserve individual attention, they can hire an assistant ...there are many ways around those issues.

I would rather rinse the color off at proper stage, then apply a deep conditioner, if I need to buy a little time. Everyone benefits from an extra dose of deep conditioner! Especially the hair. Care about the hair.

4.) Using only 1 Color in Highlight formula. Another simple rule to achieve a standard Jennifer Anniston-type highlight is, to use more than 1 color. I never use under 3 colors, with 5 thru 10 my normal array, its just not in my make-up to not use a variety of colors. I don't know how any Stylist can arrive at a decent look without at least 2 lights and 1 dark if not many more. A variety of tones are needed for a natural look.

The idea in hair color is to go for the color of a child's hair. That has been a great goal in all my work and one of the reasons for my success. A child's hair color has dozens of colors in it and that is why it is so beautiful. That would need to be part of the formula for any Stylist/colorist that you see. If the stylist is using only one color, you should ask for at least 3 and if they balk at that you are in the wrong chair...to avoid the confrontation in the chair clarify this when making your appointment. If you have gray highlights, do not put up with them... that is terrible that you are paying good money for a huge mistake.

5.) Too Many Foils. Along with the other 4 reasons, I have noticed that these Stylists put hundreds of foils in clients hair. Yes, that justifies charging more money, but there is no reason to put that many foils in the hair. It will never make the hair color look better if you are using one color, bleach.

If you are only using one color you are making more white stripes which adds to that brown plus white equals gray 'look'. Therefore, too many highlights/foils will only exacerbate the problem.

If you are one of the many people out there with the Gray Highlight issue. Try to figure out which of the 5 issues is the root of your problem, one or all will be I can guarantee you. Either speak frankly with your stylist, get a new one, or join the many that are starting to learn the basics of hair color and beginning to figure out how to professionally color their hair at home with us on Killerstrands. This is not a subject anyone really talks about, but isn't that what Killerstrands is all about.

Talking about any and every issue that no one else will in regards to hair, hair color or anything hair related.