Breaking Point

Hellooooo! It is a beautiful day today! Today's topic, as you probably already figured it out, is about breakage or damaged hair. I'm using them as they are the same because they go hand in hand, when your hair is damaged most like it will break off.

Damaged hair is a condition in which the hair is chemically or physically altered and unabled to return to its original state.

THE FOLLOWING CAN BE DAMAGING.TO YOUR HAIR:

-CHEMICALS
EX: RELAXERS/COLORING

-UV EXPOSURE

-THERMAL STYLING
EX: CURLING/FLAT IRONING

-MECHANICAL MANIPULATION
EX: COMBING/BRUSHING/BLOW DRYING

HOW DO I KNOW MY HAIR IS DAMAGED?

There are several ways to determine damaged hair:

-LOSS OF ELASTICITY
The hair's ability to stretch and return back to its original state without breaking.

-MOISTURE LOSS
Hair becomes dry and brittle.

-HAIR BECOMES VERY POROUS

-LACK OF BODY

-SPLIT ENDS

-TANGLING

HOW TO TREAT BREAKAGE

-DEEP CONDITIONERS
EX: ARGAN OIL HAIR MASK

-LEAVE-IN CONDITIONERS
EX: PAUL MITCHELL'S "THE CONDITIONER"

-RECONSTRUCTORS
EX: APHOGEE/AVLON 5N1

-MOISTURIZERS
EX: LUSTERS PINK

-THERMAL STYLING PRODUCTS
EX: MIZANI THERMAL SMOOTH

PRE/POST CHEMICAL CONDITIONERS
*USUALLY COMES WITH WHATEVER RELAXER LINE YOU USE*

For more tips check back daily
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I'm a 1 Stop Shop

So as you can see on my profile I am a Managing Cosmetologist, which means I am licensed to do pretty much every thing in this beauty industry, and baby I do. I mean why not? Why should I limit myself to 1 way of making money? I have to do something until 1 of these celebrities figure out they need me on their team. ;).

Services that I, MYSELF, provide

Well my first love is hair I've been licensed over 8 years and I do pretty much everything except microbraids because as I stated in a previous blog, "Time is money," and I don't have 8 just to spend 0n 1 client for $150-200, so not worth it. But if there is a service that you would like and I haven't done (very rare though) by the time you sit in my chair, you done think I did it a hundred times, believe it!

The next thing I do is nails. I taught myself by watching others close to me (shout out to my girls/sisters Deni in the T and Kalea in the A) and watching YouTube videos. I even went and worked at a nail salon to get tips to clean up my lil skills and of course get a few clients, and by the way, that was the worst place you can ever work or even get serviced, the owner is too unprofessional, but she'll get it together when she's shut down, hopefully anyway. But anywho. I do pedicures, manicures, acrylics, and minx. I use all top of the line products, CnD powder,  Retention monomer, Opi, and much more.

I also dabble in Lashes, natural looking, not ya boy Snuffy-looking lashes (seseame street). And I wax, arch, and fill in eyebrows, so if I'm not the dream celebrity stylist, then who the hell is?! LOL

Check my blog daily for tips
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Below are pics of some of my work

Hair or No Hair

The thing that some people need to learn is, you are going to either have color or relaxer, and if you gotta get to both with me, you might as well go natural, because that's how long I'm going to make you wait in between relaxers. (Lol, so serious) I'm mean really, do you want to be bald, because that's exactly what will happen.

If you have that beautician that says 2 weeks after color you can relaxer your hair, FIND A NEW BEAUTICIAN ASAP. If your beautician says that you can get color the same day as a relaxer  amd its not semi permanent, Demi permanent, or a rinse, FIND A NEW BEAUTICIAN! They are either a rookie in this game or they just don't like you, flat out!

What I tell my client is, you're either going to be natural, which means press n curl or, your going to be relaxed. If they insist on being both (I'm mean I gotta give them what they want), you must have atleat 3-4 inches of new growth so I wont have to put any relaxer or your color. And of course deep conditioning is a must!

For more tips check back daily
Find me on Facebook Tawana Smith
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Below are pics of some of my color jobs

Time is Money Honey

In this business, time is very important. And what I mean by that is the faster you get your client in and out, the more people you can service.

Now, we have some beauticians that could care less about time and bareley their clients, meaning they book more than 2 clients at a time, they get up in the middle of doing a client service, to smoke, eat, run to the corner store, go watch TV, and many unprofessional acts. Clients will not go for the unprofessionalism for long and will jump in the next stylist chair, therefore taking money out of your pocket. But you do have some that are loyal and will stick around for the BS while bad mouthing you at the same time which is,to me, worse than moving to another stylist because the best way of advertising is word of mouth.

CLIENTS!

Oh, y'all thought this was just a bash on us stylist right? Well, you are so wrong boo boos. You guys can be very inconsiderate as well. Being extra late makes us get behind and cuts into the next client's times who were on time. No call no shows are the worse, its nothing to pick up the phone (not at the time you're supposed to ne sitting in the chair) and say that you can't make it, because someone else could've have that spot. And also quit asking for discounts and I.O.Us, I mean really, who does that, it's so...unplayer! LOL

For more tips check back daily
Find me on Facebook Tawana Smith
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Glue Me Baby

So we talked about sew ins, lets talk about quick weaves. A quick weave is a weaving technique that envolves glue.

The first step to a quick weave is smoothing  the hair down, if u have long enough hair, an underbraid down the middle, gelled or spritzed will do, short hair can b just slicked back the same.

Next, put a dark colored stocking cap on top of your hair (optional), make sure its nice and snug but not so it will cause headaches. (If it feels a lil tight, cut a small slit in back or front of the cap). Then begin gluing tracks starting from the back and work your way up. You can leave some of your real hair out for a more natural look, an invisible part or a full with none of your natural hair or part showing.

The Take Down

This can be really simple or really tragic. Taking out the track before its ready to come out can cause breakage. If you saturate your hair with shampoo, conditioner, oil, or 30 second glue remover, it will loosen your glue and help the track slide right out without pulling any of your real hair out. Just be patient and let it sit on the hair and you will have a successful take down.

For more beauty tips check back daily

Find me on Facebook Tawana Smith
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And Sew It Is

Nowadays everyone is starting to notice that relaxers are cool but aren't really needed like we thought, so I'm getting a lot of customers who are either cutting down on them (1-3 times a year), or completely getting rid of the relaxers all together. A good way to get you through your transition, especially if you're. Working out, is a sew in ( my opinion).

A sew in is a weaving technique in which you braid up the hair and sew in human wefted hair of your choice. The method should, if done right, should last up to three months and should be very natural looking. Sew Ins are abled to be shampooed and styled as you would your own.

For an appt for your sew in, find me on Facebook Tawana Smith or follow me on Twitter @ mztwanky

Check back daily for more beauty tips :)

So Over the Flakiness

Lets talk Seborrheic Dermatitis aka Dandruff. Dandruff is a common inflammatory skin condition that causes flaky white to yellowish scales that form on oily areas such as the scalp. S/n: in infants it's called cradle cap.

CAUSE:

-Overproduction of skin
-Oil and irritation from yeast called malessizia
-Genetics
-Stress
-Fatigue
-Weather extremes
-Infrequent shampoos or skin cleaning
-Use of lotions containing alcohol
-Obesity
-HIV has also been linked

SYMPTOMS:

-Hair loss
-Redness
-Itching
-Greasy skin areas

TREATMENT:

You can buy any over-the-counter dandruff or medicated shampoo of your choice, but me personally I like the medicated shampoo n conditioner by Lock in Shine. What I do is saturate the hair in the shampoo before wetting and leave on for about 10 minutes, shampoo twice. Then I shampoo a third time with a moisturizing shampoo. Next, I put the Lock in Shine medicated conditioner on with plastic cap n put under heat for 15 minutes, then rinse with cool water.

Lock in Shine is a professional product and in most stores you need a license to purchase but there is a prodcut similar to there's made by Perfect Results that can be purchased at your local beauty supply store.

For more tips on how to keep your hair healthy, check back daily.

Find me on Facebook, Tawana Smith
Follow me on Twitter @mztwanky