September 5, 2015

Killerstrands Products and Why They WORK - 1st . . . Lets Talk About the Wonder of GLEAM

Its Funny after 8 1/2 years of products and Posts and Sales and Blogs and everything that is Killerstrands...... I am finding that I do not talk enough about our own products enough so that people understand what they are...how they work....and what to do with them so you will have wonderfully soft............ beautifully shiny........ hair, once again ! !




People are puzzled as to why our products actually do work on the hair as compared to all the products you have bought up to now and tried over and over on your hair with absolutely nothing changing.

WHY DO THESE PRODUCTS WORK, you want to know.....don't you?

Its taken a very long time.....but finally all of our hard work is paying off. All of you are discovering that our products - each and every one.....WHEN USED AS DIRECTED......WILL ACTUALLY CHANGE YOUR HAIR ......... and make it :
  • silky
  • shiny
  • soft
  • rich in color
  • feels normal again
omg where have we been??? 
is what people keep commenting to us... which is why we need to address it.
GLEAM
so this week we are going to talk about GLEAM....
it is GLEAM week 
UP UNTIL NOW i HAVE NOT WANTED TO GIVE OUT THE INGREDIENTS OF gleam AND MY PRODUCTS BECAUSE EVERYONE COPIES MUCH OF WHAT I DO.




 I REALLY GET SICK AND TIRED OF COMPANIES NOT COMING UP WITH THEIR OWN PRODUCTS AND THEIR OWN IDEAS with INGREDIENTS and combinations of ingredients that TRULY WORK ON HAIR.
 Its not that hard,
 if I can do it 
many of these companies who spend millions on R & D (Research & Development) can do it !. None of these companies think "outside-of-the-box" is what I feel is the most common problem. They design products after one product happens to become a hit.

For example: Argan Oil.
I'm sure many of you remember when you had never heard of that oil. Now, it is in every single product on the cosmetic shelves - as they always do, they have drilled it into the ground where it doesn't mean much anymore. 
Do you know that a company can put 1/2 of 1 % out of the 100% of the ingredients in a formula and they can claim it is an ARGAN Oil product. 1/2% would be so little that it would not make any difference to the product and it would not help AT ALL, it simply is not enough to do anything to hair or skin.

Well, 10 years ago we had Gleam.... it wasn't as good as it is today because I became much wiser about the use of lipids and then I spent one full year studying all types of oils.
I spent a couple years studying oils and ingredients that were supposed to help hair and then I began playing around with them on all various hair types I had in my chair. I was lucky that all the people would take oils home experiment with them and then come back and tell me how they had worked in their hair or not....
So instead of just reading in a book which oils "might" work on hair.......I spent all that time asking people which oils they liked .................changed the combinations around and then decided I didn't need to use cheap oils - the only way to get people's hair truly repaired would be to use the best oils - which just happened to be the most expensive oils.

I actually had clients of mine test oils I had sent home with them for a month or longer....  Normal Cosmetic chemists who come up with a new hair product......or a hair oil, they sit in a lab.............read a book that suggests a list of Oils - then they create a hair product according to what the boss of a hair product company wants them to make. 



You know how there are a million and 1 Oils  - like products out there right now??? and they all think that combining oils with silicone's is the only way people, like you, like them....?

Well, a very long time ago I whittled the list of oils that were truly GOOD-FOR-THE-HAIR down to a list of about 8 or 9. Which is what has ended up being in GLEAM. It may seem like a lot of different ingredients, but I truly feel the combination of oils as the product is....is the reason for such success with GLEAM. 



I learned from helping my manager of the Group that I had never even told her one of my trickiest secrets for repairing hair : when damaged from either: 
  • bleaching 
  • the sun
  • over-proccessing
  • over-lapping
  • wrong product used
  • boxed hair color
  • etc....
but when you have hair that feels fried. . . .damaged. . . .frizzy and/or just plain yukky. Take Gleam and apply a LOT to the area of damaged hair, the ends, or wherever you need to repair your hair - apply a metallized cap (to create warmth) & process for as long as possible. The longer the better. . Apply it to DRY hair.....and as much as you can spare, the caps ( creates heat ) - which helps the product soak in deeper. Now either sleep with it in or leave in for at least 6 hours. April, my Group manager did a brilliant thing and braided her hair with her hair: soaking in Gleam. After she went from Dark Brown hair to Platinum..( and had gone back and forth for years before that )....well - you can imagine the result I'm sure...
watch this photo demo of her going from Brown to Platinum to playing with the BOOST AND then using BOOST &  BURST COLORS....its reversed.....(sorry)


















 Photo #12
 she has had some beautiful combos of BOOST  & BURST


Photo #11
Photo#11

                                               PHOTO #10


the difference is apparent even in a photo
 PHOTO #9

this is where she finally applied an entire head of GLEAM and was amazed at the difference
PHOTO #8
PHOTO #7

                                   PHOTO #6
PHOTO #5 


                                                               
PHOTO #4
   PHOTO #3











 PHOTO #2
                       PHOTO #1 Which is Where April Began




Gleam is a very special bottle of oil if you ask me.  The manner in which a cosmetic chemist makes a personal care product for the public, was taught to me by a pretty famous cosmetic chemist who taught cosmetic chemistry to those of us who were 100% fascinated by the process about 9-10 years ago at the beginning of the INTERNET.... He was ahead of his time and was a french man named Maurice who did what I am doing only with the field of Cosmetic Chemistry.....we were all so privileged to get to learn from him. He didn't make it through that last year, but I suppose he died doing what he loved. He just opened up all his knowledge and taught a few dozen of us the correct manner in which to make "PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS".  Which includes :
  • shampoo
  • soap
  • conditioner
  • lotion
  • cream
  •  lip balm
  • liquid soap
  • mineral make-up
  • etc.............this is what a cosmetic chemist makes
 I happened to spend the first few months studying oils, as I read a lot of European magazines having to do with hair and trichology ( which is the study of hair and its health). I even tried to become a licensed Trichologist ! I actually did all the work....the only thing I didn't do was the formality of taking some ridiculous test that was over $1,000. just to take the test. I thought that was such a scam.....just so I could attach a little sticker to the name of my store....Basically that was all that you received. Not one other thing, or at least that was all I could figure out! ! 

Just like recently I wanted to join this " WOMEN WHO OWN SMALL ONLINE BUSINESSES" Group....because I had just received a letter saying Killerstrands had become one of the TOP 1% of ONLINE Businesses that began in 2006. Which I was quite proud of....but to join this silly little group is a couple thousand dollars !  They are missing the part that says "SMALL BUSINESS"... I think.and missing the concept that we are not huge companies that can drop thousands on joining a club, with no apparent redeeming qualities. Just seems odd to me so I declined............of course I could pay it.......but truthfully, you get nothing for that $2 Grand... but the ability to slap a little sticker on that says I am a member of it....... which seems to me, it is doing the opposite of what it is preaching.

So, I hope you will try Gleam, it is 100% returnable if you are not happy but I truly do not think that will happen, it is a gem of a product...
 the 2 main oils are:
- Rose Hips Seed Oil
  &
- Abyssinian OIl
- Plus 6 other carrier oils
- Aloe Vera oil
- Calendula Oil
- Vitamin A
2 Vitamin E's
and a wonderful Amber scent that takes me 2 months to make from soaking /amber blocks in Argan Oil !

Even if you you only have frizzy ends or split ends - you will notice a difference when using GLEAM, the reason it creates such change in the hair is because I chose NOT to add a single drop of Silicone to it. Silicone's are great for (making your profits higher.....as silicone's are super cheap, and to me and those who know, they are used as a "filler" not because they are a better ingredient than any carrier oil which is what they try to lead you to believe, but I promise...the silicone's they use are just very cheap fillers and they look and feel like oils so they can get away with it....unless a big giant explanation like this POST is made, which most people would never take the time to to do !

I hope you enjoy and we really do want photos and comments and reactions to our products so we may learn and understand if we should be making any changes ! ! ! ! !


KC 
September 2, 2015

Prolong Hair Color With the Power of pH

Fight the Fade 








 











pH value is between 0 and 14, a pH value of 7.0 is considered neutral; 

all values below neutral are acidic 
and 
all values above are alkaline.
 An acidic solution has a positive electrical charge (+), and an alkaline solution has a negative electrical charge (-).

Healthy Hair Vs. Damaged Hair
Normal, healthy hair has a pH value of between 4.5 and 5.5 and is therefore considered acidic. Hair in this state will be positively charged (+) and has a compact cuticle structure. The outside cuticle layer is closed and smooth, promoting a natural, healthy shine. The internal cortex is protected, and moisture levels are maintained, ensuring good strength and elasticity. Healthy hair has even, normal porosity and provides a good base for chemical services.

Damaged hair has a pH value above 7.0 and is negatively charged (-). The cuticle layer is raised with a dull/matt surface. The raised cuticle layer can catch, resulting in tangled hair with a high susceptibility to mechanical damage – caused by combing or other external influences. In addition, the cortex will be exposed to further damage, in danger of losing essential moisture and becoming dry or brittle. Damaged hair will be very porous and provides a poor surface for chemical treatments, with potentially uneven results.

pH and Products
As the majority of hair products are a solution, and therefore have a pH value, it follows that this can influence the condition of hair.

Chemical treatments, such as a lightener, perm or color, are deliberately alkaline, or have a pH value higher than the hair’s natural value. This causes the cuticle layer to open up, allowing the product to enter the inner hair structure. It is therefore essential to thoroughly rinse the hair following a chemical process and apply a good re-structuring conditioner such as INTENSIVE.

Whereas,care products such as THRIVEN & INTENSIVE are predominantly acidic, and have an astringent effect on the hair, closing the cuticle layer. Shampoos will typically have a pH value close to the hair’s natural level, promoting gentle cleansing. Conditioners and treatments however, have a higher acid value, helping to return damaged, hair back to a normal, healthy condition.

When hair is colored, the pH increases from an optimum value of 4.5 – making it more alkaline and during color development, the outer and inner hair structure is loosened up in order for color pigments to penetrate the hair. For this reason a conditioner or treatment after a color service helps to reset the hair to the optimum pH value of 4.5. Which is why I stress so much that you use INTENSIVE, the product turns your hair to velvet.....and that is because most people's pH is damaged a little and when returned to normal the entire feel of the hair changes.

This article is mainly from Schwarzkopf - - I happened to be reading their site and saw most of this....which I wanted to share with you...
August 29, 2015

SILVER Hair & How To Maintane It - the Absolute BEST Way !

Well, If you haven't heard of 
BOOST & BURST, 

then its time those names were introduced to you.
BOOST & BURST....
ARE Professionally pigmented with dense color pigments in unique combinations, with the the fact that all hair has at least a little amount of brass in it.  So we add small amounts of violets/purples to counter those hints as the very first pigment added to either BOOST & BOOST.............. then KC herself, builds upon each of those bases and custom builds every single color in the 35 color repertoire.

 After receiving feed-back for the past 6 months we now feel we have the best tips - and have mixed the brightest and most "solid" Pigment colors to achieve the results people come to us to achieve.





 With Silver being such a popular color SILVER BULLET, which we just recently began adding "mineral silver shimmer" to in order to try to nail the SILVER LOOK.

The problem is some of you LOVE the Silver Look And some LOVE the GRAY look. They are almost the exact same thing I hate to break it to you....So Please Help me spread the hashtag #silversassy
#SilverBullet
instead of granny hair that is ridiculous and everything is in a "NAME".....so I want all of you to follow and help me Push this into being .....it simply is not that hard
















 Using Boost & Burst To enhance Silver hair is one the number one positive comments we receive.......



                  Which is exactly what 
                     BOOST & BURST 
                     is - in the color of :

                      SILVER BULLET

Silver hair is fun and once you lighten it high enough , just apply and process for 10 - 50 minutes depending on darkness desired.



August 22, 2015

The Level System of Hair Color Does NOT Work (but Rarely)

The Level System just truly is useless anymore.The Only hair it works on is hair with NO COLOR on it, which means you have to be about 12 years old for that to happen. There are just so many exceptions that I am pushing for that system to be demolished. 
I mean we can use the Levels to talk about what,
Level of hair color you have .....if Virgin
What Level of color you have.....if Colored , etc. But that is it! 
The Level System just does not work if you have previous hair color on your hair and I think that is what confuses new and sometimes 'older' hair stylists. I have had plenty of hair stylists contact me with questions about the LEVEL SYSTEM NOT WORKING and it is because they have tried to apply it to hair 'WITH" hair color on it.

The Level system
..... has "exceptions...like there are a few categories of Virgin Hair Color that the Standard Virgin Hair Color System just does not work for and I don't know why I have not brought this up before and this is why Boxed Color or E Color or any automated color just DOES NOT WORK ! But to be honest the Level System does not work anymore because it was designed to work on people with NO hair color on their hair.  The system just does NOT WORK if you have present hair color on, period !




Probably the same reason we (as Colorists) just go on our merry way coloring hair and not considering the fact that there are just so many people it just doesn't work for. I had to have one of my long-time wonderful customers ring the bell in my head as to the fact that I have NOT written about it....as he is Asian....and has Level 1 (BLACK) hair color { which btw is the #1 hair color in the world}. He wondered why the Schwartzkopf APP that I had asked everyone to download and play with gave the wrong answer. . . .  and BOOM...... that was my wake-up call.

This is why all these systems like EColor and Boxed Hair Color,  and Sally's color and on and on - - just do not work....it is because there are exceptions to all of those standard rules and that is where Colorists come in to do the 'tweaking' of the System.
They came up with a Systematic System for Levels 4 thru 9 hair which is where a large majority of people's hair fit that don't have Black.




 But the Level System does NOT work for virgin: 
(virgin hair is the hair color you were born with) :
  •  Redheads 
  • 100% Gray
  • Level 1-3 - so that includes all Asians and Latins which is the largest hair color category in the world & lastly. . . 
  •  Level 9-10 (virgin)


So that is an awful lot of people.....and truly not fair. But I promise you.....they are working on hair color and how it works frantically.// Hair Color is a multi-Billion dollar business and its going no where but UP UP & UP . . . if you are ever looking for somewhere to invest your money...hair products and hair color will go no where but up ! So I am afraid those of you in those EXCEPTIONS. . . .  of categories of hair color will have to join our group. . . which for $49.00/ monthly will get you help or "tweaking" from myself, to getting you the color of your dreams ! I don't know what else to say, to help the thousands of people out there with every different color of hair possible....what - to - do.......

http://groupspaces.com/KillerstrandsHairClinic/public/pay/subscription/ 



I don't mean we should throw the entire chart of Levels out the window....BUT everyone needs to understand that there no longer is a simple easy to use system. As long as you have colored your hair at least once and the color is still on your hair.....you canNOT just color your hair 1 color and it will work..........because it WON'T........... and I am very very sorry it no longer is easy.
August 20, 2015

The Dark Light : Bleach & Tone in 1 Step - MAGMA

MAGMA is a unique and fun tool we now carry that can be added to your artillery for lightening and toning hair. It does what no other product does and it does it well, BLEACH & TONE in the same step.

I played around with it for a while and just loved the way it works ........the tones it imparts....... and its versatility. If you plan to apply some unique ombre, ribbons or tips, this is your product. They are called PIGMENTED   LIGHTENERS !


































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