2010 Fall Hair – Portion Control : Cuts, Colors & Craziness

Receiving multiple HAIR magazines from Europe every month on the newest hair styles, I find it fun to look at what the 20 year olds in high fashion are wearing. No, it doesn’t fit me, most of my clients and NONE of my family or friends. . . yet still I find it necessary to staying on top of the hair world and many times will pick “pieces” of the visions to incorporate into someone's hair to update it.
From undercuts to fringes ( bangs) shaggy midi’s to super-sharp bobs check ‘em out and if you can’t take on the entire trend, take a portion of it. I call it “portion-control” in HAIR STYLE mode.
First we have the coloring technique we refer to as Drips. Tip Drips. Paint Drips. Hair Trends are repeated constantly and when they do this in England they bring the same look out 8-10, 14 months later - -  they simply change the name and use new photos to display it. In this months magazine “they” call it: DIRTY BLOND.  At the beginning of this technique some 8 years ago, I thought it was going to be a 1 season style never to be seen again, I was completely 100% wrong  -- on that one. Some of you will look at this look as though….”oh my Lord she needs her roots done….NOPE ….that IS the look. As I recently told a new client that was interested in the look . . . its not your own hair color growing in it is a darker more richer brown you actually “apply”  to made the  look “intentional” and not as if you just were too lazy to get your base done.


The GRAPHIC BOB


The Groupie
Mix up textures… Straight Fringe, braided or crimped ends…

Ruffle-up
…….Change short hair into a completely different vibe by using either pin curls ( yep we are back to those) or a small curling iron ( always using a protection spray http://killerstrands.com/protection spray )

COLOR: In Reds………..Fall 2010: say goodbye to subtle Copper Europe tells us, crank it up a few notches to
Rockstar Red

Remember with reds, if you want to keep it super vibrant to use  KillerStrands Product: GLIMMER http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/products/killerstrands-glimmer-colored-conditioners……..we will match any hair color with a sister colored conditioner to keep it bright and vivacious..between Color touch-ups.
the Brits call this the Sweeping Shortie……me?
I call it the Fem Bieber ( Justin)  - - until I saw the Video Music Awards last week I thought the whole Justin Bieber thing was really screwy. He is talented and he caught my attention, I admire A N Y O N E with talent. . .in an facet of life. I know men are asking for the “Justin”…..now women will too!

This is keeping the front layers of a crop longer, which allows you to sweep them over your eye. So much of this is the “cut”. Spend as much money as you can possibly afford to get a good hair cut – it is my recommendation to never cut corners in this area. Once you get a fantastic cut and someone who understands the geometry of cutting hair, you too will get it.
 

I am so sorry there is no access to “comments”  . . . recently BLOGGER changed their whole design and in the process I lost the ability to have “comments” to my Posts. Remember I am not a computer whiz………HAIR IS MY SPECIALTY!  If anyone would like to volunteer to help me fix this issue, please contact Betty, Nik or Adem in the group . . . .
Thank you soooooooo much for all of your support.
Killer Chemist

10,000HEADS (Healthy Hair Regimen) 10th Year Anniversary: Healthy Hair Never Goes Out of Style

Noting that it has been a little over the 16th year since I came up with the 10,000 Heads protocol, I felt the need to pay homage to its inception. The one and only reason the whole thing began? I just saw way too many young girls coming into the Salon with hair thinning/loss, I didn’t point it out to them, but I decided firmly I needed to try to figure out what it was.
The beginning. . . .
I made a turn off the path I was on working in a extremely busy Salon, with an overloaded book of clients, there was not enough of me to go around. The turn initially was not taken voluntarily ...I came down with a rare bone disease pushing me into a year worth of treatments, I wouldn't wish on anyone. In the course of that year, I too lost 1/2 of my hair. Which was an epiphany to me that I was supposed to be working on the hair loss issue, I became driven to solving the subject of women's hair loss ("womens hair loss" is entirely different, than men's).
There is plenty of research and clinical trials concentrating on the male world of hair loss, very little was being done to help women. I knew from my own clientele the problem was bad and getting worse. Think about it, men’s hair loss starts at the 2 temples (we call them bowling alleys) and on the very tip top of their head. Many times its a loved one who notices it first. As it progresses the hair loss of the alleys spreads till it meets up with the top of the head. They have this standard Norwood Chart {which really needs updating} depicting it :


Women . . . I’m pretty sure most women would agree we don’t a have it quite so bad, because for us . . . its an all over loss, gradually. Mostly when it began -- it started a year or two before you noticed it. We are always losing hair  - - and that is completely normal ( a single hairs lifespan is 2-5 years on your head – it falls off and then it either does or does NOT replace itself ).  500 hairs per day is normal. . but when it turns to 700 then gradually to 900, you simply don’t notice it. I tell women this, so they don’t think it just started all of a sudden one day….it just doesn’t work that way. Many times you will notice the size of your pony tail being less thick than normal . . . and why? Because women lose hair gradually all over the entire head, instead of specific spots as the men do, which makes the way you tackle the problem completely different.Hair growth is also tied to hormones, and the 2 sexes have different hormones. When I began to dig into this problem the biggest difference I noticed, was how much research had been done in the area of men's hair loss and how little had been done on women’s. Just didn’t seem fair, although until lately no one was complaining of hair loss at a young age on the female side. Now it is out of control and someone needed an answer. I hated when people would sit in my chair with this complaint and I had nothing to offer them, people take their hair – very very seriously.

I had answers for my male clients ( Propecia, Rogaine & Cardio) and nothing for the females. Plus I was having more women with the complaint than men. I had to do something.
In order to properly figure this out I began my journey into Cosmetic Chemistry and Trichology. I spent the next 2 years, studying / apprenticing under a cosmetic chemist. That was the start of my goal in solving the problem of temporary hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) in women. I wanted to understand what every single ingredient was, what its chemical make-up is and how it works on the body. The idea of chemistry frightened me in high school but when I realized that cosmetic chemistry was simply organic chemistry ... I was disappointed in myself for not taking it, a way back when. Better late than never.

10,000HEADS started with 3 steps then went to 20. Over time I added, refined, subtracted, altered and finally... perfected... the individual steps. With the final critical discovery: the protocol works its best {with the highest success rate} when it is worked synergistically. In other words; each step depends on another, in order for all to work to their potential. Skipping steps is not allowed by anyone committing to the protocol, the first 90 days. It depends where your results are at, that 90 day test period, as to what you can let up on and what you can't, so it is not a lifetime of commitment. There is an end!
Fully aware that everyone wants a 'quick-fix' pill to solve this problem, I'm here to tell you...that simply does not exist in today's world. All the hair loss kits and pills and lotions and potions that you see are out there PLAIN and simply: DO NOT WORK. If they did, they would be approved by the FDA ( Federal Drug Administration) and the news would be all over the papers, news and TV. They wouldn’t be on infomercials at 3 in the morning, because to be perfectly honest- its against the law to advertise false claims. I know this, my claims are not false. What my program is………is a 14 step program you must try for ONLY 90 days to have an 80-90% chance your hair will be wonderful. My own hair is thicker and longer than it ever has been in my entire lifetime.

I promise you, solving hair loss and obesity are 2 of the top researched areas in every Lab of both the pharmaceutical & cosmetic industries. Solving hair loss is more important than solving cancer. Many cancer patients die, ending the need for their product, if they could get America a drug,cream or pill that solved hair loss they potentially would be a client for 50 years. Those industries are big business and any good business looks at the "bottom line" and profits.
I have absolutely no intention of badmouthing companies for their efforts to solve the female hair loss, that is not my goal here. The more people that work on it, the higher percentage rate we have in solving the problem. My concern is with the false advertising, its just not fair to the consumer . . they simply have not cured anything. I have heard the same from hundreds of clients, but more importantly I have tested all the weird products myself, in my own personal quest to improve my own hair. Hey, I am no different than anyone I want the quick fix pill as well.Can you imagine the day ( and it will come) when …….by taking 1 pill a day we would all have Jennifer Anniston hair, or even better….for life? How much would you pay for that?  

There are hundreds of companies that exist on a one time sale of a product to a consumer..in other words - no repeat business. Which is what all these hair loss products out there EXIST on {just you trying it once to see if by a chance in Hell that it worked}. I experienced this at a Salon I worked in, the owners daughter was the single worst hair stylist I had ever seen touch a head of hair. She would burn hair, send clients out crying, colour hair gold when it was supposed to be red. It just blew me away, could not figure out how she existed there…. she had been working there for 3 years prior to me coming and still works there today.Why?
Why, is what I asked over and over and over.  It took me a full year to figure out.
She did only "one-time clients" they never came back for repeat business, it was in Malibu and we had a LOT of tourist walk-in traffic…people wanted to say they got their hair “cut/colored in Malibu”….I had to move chairs it used to upset me so much. It was just a terrible representation of southern California hair or hair stylists in general . The following appointment was either with someone else or they never stepped in the Salon again, they ran for the hills!
Same theory for hair loss products on the market. These companies survive on the millions of 'one time buyers' out there. The 10,000HEADS Protocol is your answer when everything else fails. It works, and no, it’s not easy, it takes commitment & work… BUT it has a 81-89% success rate (on androgenetic alopecia or temporary hair loss – there are many different types – this is the most common). That is a fairly high number, to most.
I’ve settled into 14 steps to the 10,000HEADS HAIR LOSS Protocol for Females, now…You start from Step 14 as the most important and go up….nothing will improve if you don’t do Step 14,13,12 and 11. Those are mandatory, then as you add the others . .better the results  . . . get. I dare you.


To me . . . if you want thick gorgeous hair and other methods have not worked, 10,000 HEADS WILL WORK, but, you must commit to at least 6 Steps : half the program.. But that’s me and its why we are all different. 
As I said,Step 14 thru 11 are mandatory.
But I want the best for you, so I really hope and pray you will go for as many steps as you possibly can.
Killer Chemist

The “Motley” Color Technique – produces the “Un-Shoe-Polish” Look

Steps To  Natural Cover-up of Pesky Gray Hairs
  Want to turn back time and make you look as young as you feel? Killerstrands has a few tricks to turn men’s (and women with short hair) hair back to its original color. No, the boxed color kits you find in Walmart, Target or even Sally’s will not do the job, as a matter of fact those are the most harmful color one can apply to the hair, they do the worst job and contribute to hair loss & thinning.
You know what MOTLEY means? If you’re like me, you just thought it was the first half of Motely Crue’s name. . . . and a made up word…………….NOPE! Its a valid word and means something very specific. It means mottled . . .multi-colored.
Now in the first post I wrote a little while back I explained that you must learn the level system in order to ‘play’ in the world of hair color and accomplish it correctly. The level system is merely a 12 point System of lightness & darkness … you must figure that out first so we can all speak in “LEVELS” & tones in discussion of and about hair coloring.
Today's post is teaching those of you that want a blending of coverage so the look goes from this (approx):

to this:
~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~

“Motley Color” Technique
See how the gray is blended with the brown and it appears to be multi colors instead of just one? and its not a solid cap of solid dark brown or what most of you refer to as the “shoe polish” look. This is what I will teach you today. ( Women pay attention as you can take some of these concepts and use them with your hair issues )
The next thing you must decide is what type of hair color you should use. There are 2 to choose from, Demi- Permanent and Permanent.
You must decide that, before you begin this whole process. I know how men work, they want the simplest directions possible and the easiest road to a good result. What I always have to remind myself of, is……that 95% of you do not have access to the type of hair ‘cutting’ and “coloring’ techniques we have here in LA, that is one of a couple strong reasons I go to all this trouble, in basically giving out a career full of hair secrets & tricks. I feel everyone in the country should have the same advantages, not just us that live near the 2 biggest cities in the country. For some reason that just doesn’t seem fair to me . . . it seems like the same info should be available to everyone in every state in every city (large and small). So, I just keep writing and divulging my career secrets.
There are 4 different combinations of Color and Application Techniques you have a choice of to accomplish the above look.
First the Hair Color types to choose from:

1. Demi Permanent Hair Color w/ the “Motley Color” technique( as seen above
2. Demi Permanent Hair Color and the “All-Over” Technique ( different strokes for different folks)
3. Permanent Hair Color w/ the “Motley Color” technique (above)
4. Permanent Hair Color and the “All-Over” technique

Demi-Permanent Hair Color : We carry and recommend the Number 1 brand in the world, Wella’s : Color Touch. Demi permanent is the one that gradually shampoos out over time. Now just to confuse things a little more, This particular Demi Permanent color has 2 options . . . the developer you mix the actual Tint with comes in 2 strengths…..6 Volume and 13 Volume. Using 6 Volume means it will wash out twice as fast as 13 Volume.
To be frank…….if you are covering Gray hair ( the hardest hair to cover) using 6 volume will be kind of a waste of time. . .  as it will wash out pretty fast. On the other hand, if you are nervous about coloring your hair and want to use the color with the least commitment (washes out the quickest) . . .  Wella Color Touch – Demi Permanent & 6 Volume Developer is your ticket.
Demi – Permanent Hair Color is the NEWEST category of hair color and was developed only in the last 12-14 years….  it is both determined by the “volume’” strength of developer (Demi = runs from 3 Volume to 18 Volume ) along with the tube of color being a Demi-permanent formula.
The choice I usually “begin” with a new client looking for a Blended look in calming down the GRAY in their hair is COLOR TOUCH(which runs a level darker than other lines, or it appears) and 13Volume (the stronger of the 2 developers) so it will last longer. As much as people of all races, types and genre’s worry about hair color, after doing it for years, you develop a certain confidence in the choice you make for people. Yes, they worry about the first time coloring their hair, but more often than naught . . . after the initial shock of having color on their hair for the first time I will say 10 out of 10 end up loving it. . . . and they ‘want’ it to last as long as possible.
Now, once I have gained their confidence after the first application….with the second one I will encourage the use of permanent hair color. The deal is, the best coverage of Gray hair is using PERMANENT HAIR COLOR .Gray hair is the most difficult to cover successfully, so the trick to covering it is having the top-of-the-line color AND the proper Formula. We carry X-Factor for our Permanent Hair Color Line, it is the top hair color for gray coverage although was developed in Europe so it does run a full level darker than other lines. You must purchase 2 tubes of color for covering gray, if you decide to purchase from us, which I would encourage . . . please put the level of your hair color on your order ( in the box at checkout) with the code words “ MOTLEY COLOR “  and we will send you the 2 colors you need to cover your gray PROPERLY and then you will have your “formula”, which is half the battle.
Now to cover gray, you will always use 20 Volume Developer . . . so you don’t have to worry about ‘which’ developer to use with Permanent Color. So, if you have Level 6 color, just input “Level 6 + Gray Coverage” . . in the box at check out. Be sure to purchase 2 tubes, you only mix what you are going to use . .  so provided you don’t have hair the length of a chicks, you should get 2-3 applications out of the first – 2 - Tubes you purchase… and we would send you Level 7 colors because of the Euro difference in color. 
Now for the tricky part . . .  the  application techniques.
We have 3 - - I only use 1 but am thinking maybe I should tell you of all 3. This info is for the everyday person to learn how to deal with their own hair at home, because they can’t find a qualified person to do it for them. Anyway, back to the task at hand….APPLICATION.
First picture there is:

The BOUNCE TECHNIQUE : This photo is a not-so-hot rendering of this application which involves a sea sponge ( you know those rough – round- looking sponges that are a soft yellow color) Why those? They are not even and will impart a more real, more natural, look than a flat rectangle sponge will. So you mix the color, and dip the sponge into the color bowl BOUNCE it on and off the head….Begin sponging on the mixed color sporadically throughout the head shape.. . . Now whether you would use this method or not would depend on the ‘length’ of hair…short hair as this photo demonstrates: 
would work best with this technique
Continue bouncing the sponge color onto hair until desired dimension is achieved. Be careful you do not apply too much ( biggest mistake made with this technique) – go lightly . .  you can always apply more. Give yourself one attempt at experimentation.. . .  have a sheet of paper handy – to practice your technique on before you hit the hair. Once finished, let the color process a full hour…. what does it matter you are doing it at home, work on the computer, watch TV or work with it on your head . . . one of the biggest mistakes in covering gray? Left on way too short of time.
Second there is:

PINSTRIPING: Now this Photo gives you an idea of how its supposed to be applied, its up to YOU to not make it so stripe-y looking, this technique is for a little bit longer hair than BOUNCE. The main difference in the 3 applications has to do with how long the guys hair is. Everything is so accepted nowadays I had to come up with methods for ALL lengths of hair. Now you must use a sponge applicator, like this……………….
or this is even better ( both we carry and are on their way to us as we speak)

we are out, but they should be arriving in 5-6 days ( they say)



Dip the end of the sponge applicator into the mixed up and ready to go Color bowl.. Begin by hand painting  stripes of 2 colors maybe even 3 if you really want to get into it…sparingly throughout the head shape.
Continue hand painting until desired coverage is achieved. . .  again the main problem always being people using TOO MUCH color. Its easy to add more, hard to erase - - easy to add more to.
Last but not least is my favorite . . .  the
Motley Technique
Using a tint brush…………………………………………( which is one of these ) 
which is what we use to apply hair color - - - you take an Application Comb……which is one of these 

mix up the hair color and take big scoops of
the hair color and paint in onto the teeth of the comb. Then quickly take the comb and comb through the ‘lengths’ of the hair strands. This, obviously is for longer hair . . . as there needs to be a little bit of “lengths” to comb ON to… So what happens is the color is combed onto the hair leaving a very very natural look. I feel nothing looks at natural and as “less- shoe—polish than the Motley Technique. This was a maneuver taught in V.S. Academy that I modified to work correctly. I have used it for 16 years and on thousands of clients – always successfully. If you order from us I attach a couple little tricks to make your first attempt even easier.. . . as I do with almost all the hair color we sell.

MOTLEY Technique
Now what I would imagine most would want to do is to try which ever technique of application suits you . .  ( yes, of course they all take a little practice – if you really want some practice leading up to the big color day. . . . spray shaving foam in a bowl and pretend its hair color. Practice with the foam and the sponge, or the comb . . .  and just get an idea how it will work . . . 
If all else fails, get a sister, mom, grandma, you would be surprized the women that would get a thrill helping you .
Hope that help – any questions. . .  join the Google Group . . .we have . .  for some reason the comments to this Blog have been deleted ( not by me . .  I have no idea how to get it back )