5 Ways to Experience Affordable Luxury
1) SPA DAY FROM HOME
You knew that was coming, didn’t you? Remember, we are talking “affordable” here. 😉Start the day without the alarm waking you. Instead gently wake to natural sunlight, stay away from your phone, and maybe add a bit of lemon to your water to help you stay energized and hydrated. Jump in the shower with your choice of Bella by Via Mercato soap. This hypoallergenic, antibacterial powerhouse will gently cleanse, moisturize and soften skin without clogging pores. Because these soaps are distilled for purity, they offer a luxurious lather that will leave skin dewy and soft. (Order yours today from the “Spa Products” tab above).
2) LUXURIOUS BUBBLE BATH
If it's been a long, stressful day and you need something to make it feel less like a weekday, fill the tub and soak your worries away. For the full effect, compliment your bath with French wine, macaroons, flowers, hand crafted bar soap, scented candles, and bath salts.
3) STAY IN BED
Sometimes it is okay to do nothing for an entire day. Allow yourself a day to rest and relax before your busy schedule starts again. Bring your breakfast to your bed, read magazines, watch your favorite, old movies (my go to actress is Audrey Hepburn or Meg Ryan), write in your journal, drink your coffee or tea, listen to a few albums--whatever it is you love doing.
4) KEEP ON HAND HAND CUT SOAPS CREATED IN PROVENCE
Luxury can be as simple as consistently using a product that is high quality and made with care. A Pre de Provence favorite is the Signature French Milled Soaps. So many scents to choose from that have all natural ingredients enriched with Shea Butter. The handcrafted soaps from Provence add a little luxury to any day. Order yours, today, from the “Spa Products” tab at the top of this page.
5) AND…LET’S NOT FORGET OUR MEN
Aromatic, warm and spicy in nature, No.63 is a classic expression of masculine fragrance with a peppery citrus top note rounded by woody cedarwood, juicy plum, and violet leaves that finish into an ambery base of leather and tobacco.
Finally, let's not forget that men deserve to be pampered too. A classic way for men to experience luxury is through a good shave. To many, shaving is an art. It's a way to get ready for the day and feel some relaxation and comfort in the process. Pre de Provence understands this and that's why they’ve composed an entire collection dedicated to that care and luxury that men need. Elements Salon now has a few of those products to get you started. Order from (you guessed it) the “Spa Products” at the top of this page. Please notice we now have the “Soap on A Rope” for the guys! No need to worry about it getting smooshy while hanging in the shower stall. It’s TRIPLE MILLED!
Let's Talk About Oils...
I understand there are some products I just can’t afford. So, I look for the least expensive way to go. Nothing wrong with that. However, when I make that choice, I also realize I will not be getting the quality, nor the results, as I would with a product created to address my individual hair needs.
So…the summer heat is coming round the bend. That means beach time, pool time, tennis time, cook-out time, and sooooo many other times of being in the moisture-sapping sun rays, as they beat down on your smooth, shiny, protected hair strands of last season. You know that season I’m talking about. The “stay behind closed doors and don’t come into contact with people, season.” The season where EVERYTHING was protected. Mostly…
Now it’s time to whip out the oils! Right? But, WHAT oils? Is there a difference? Do I HAVE to buy your expensive oil made exclusively for what the sun is going to rob me of? Pssst….Please understand I am not trying to sell you my silicone-free Dream Oil, nor my leave-in styling conditioner, Dream Cream, even though they would keep your hair looking like a goddess’ hair. Especially in the upcoming “fun-in-the-sun” days.
Let’s do a little Fact vs. Fiction. Hang tight. Surprises are coming your way…
1) FICTION: Coconut Oil is moisturizing. FACT: Moisture comes from water and nothing else. Oil and water do not mix. There is no moisture in cooking oil. While hair might feel soft after its application, just like a candle might feel soft, we all know you’re not feeling the wick, but only the stuff coating it. The wax…
2) FICTION: Your hair gets macro-nutrients from oil. Think protein, fat, carbohydrates. FACT: The only macro nutrient in oil is fat (also contains triglycerides, sterols, fatty alcohols, phosphatides), which the hair cannot use, and would require a digestive process to extract them that hair lacks the capability to do.
3) FICTION: Your hair gets micro-nutrients from oil. Think vitamins and minerals. FACT: The only micro-nutrients in oils are fat-soluble vitamins. The hair would need to have some process of adding its own fat (not a real thing) in order to make those vitamins available. The amount of vitamins available in oil would hardly be worth the effort, even if your hair could get to them.
So, what’s the answer then? How are you to keep your luscious locks looking, um…luscious?
The best thing to do for healthy hair is to use quality, professional products. Non-coating (non-silicone infused) products. “But if it says ‘organic’, then that’s good, right?” If your hair is still organic, it might be. Have you altered it in any way? Or have you ever used non-organic products, chemicals, or heat? You get the picture…
Putting fat on your hair accomplishes nothing, with maybe one messy exception. There are better ways of moisturizing your hair than to add a moisturizer, then seal it in overnight with a tiny amount of oil, just to wash it out the next morning. And your pillowcase, and possibly your sheets.
One rule of thumb is this: If you can use a product to cook a meal with, don’t use it on your hair. Coconut Oil, Vegetable Oil, and even Olive Oil, are all made for cooking. Please. Please don’t put any of these oils in your hair before blow drying or even ironing. Unless, of course, you are into the messy, the spiky, the broken. My hair dryer varies between 320 and 340 degrees at the tip. With oil and heat, you can fry an egg at just 130 degrees. That’s not a good combination, wouldn’t you agree?
MEMO #1: Coconut oil (and most cooking oils) can cause protein build up, blocking your hair from much needed moisture which makes your hair even drier, stiffer and less elastic. It’s just not refined enough to absorb into the hair, so it attaches itself to the cuticle, causing build up. Therefore, using coconut oil as a hair mask can actually make your hair drier, brittle and more damaged than it was before!
MEMO #2: ProRituals Dream OIL (ah…here it is! You knew this was coming), has been formulated and processed for the structure of the hair, helping to prevent damage caused by free radicals. AND…if you cocktail it (pair it up) with the Dream Cream, it will control all your texture and frizz! What?! Yep!!! All while sealing down that sweet protective cuticle. Bonus: It’s silicone free! No build up of moisture confining oils here, ladies and gents. BUT…I’m not trying to sell you any of these miraculous products. (HINT: I do keep them in stock, however, should you tire of the cooking oils. You can even order them on this website! If you want…). 😘😬
Your comments are always welcome. If you think me wrong, please provide some real science and not what some educator told you, or some Google advertisement. I’m not trying to belittle any of you that have been duped into thinking cooking oil is a bonus for hair strands.. Hey! Even I took the bait, long enough to see I needed to find some truth about oils. Just trying to get us all on the same credible page.
Give me some feed back. I welcome it!
A Professional Opinion on Madison Reed at-home Hair Color
“I'm sure you have heard the exuberant amount of "Madison Reed" hair color ads from social media to radio. As a professional stylist and salon owner, I had to try it as well as testing how to purchase on their website. Their site is user friendly and they ask as many relevant questions pertaining to your hair as much as possible which will help determine the best shade, etc. This is far more helpful than buying a box dye at the drug store and thinking the shade on the box will be your end result, but hair dye is not one size fits all. I realize many people may not be able to afford salon hair color, but are you really saving a whole lot with Madison Reed? Their color kits can be a bit costly compared to purchasing a hair color at a beauty chain such as Sally's. They do offer some professional advice via the site, but without seeing your hair in person & knowing the exact chemicals you use, your hair density, percentage of actual grey, it can be quite difficult to say what will work best for your individual color needs.” ~Noelle Spinosa
If you have virgin hair (no color/chemical treatments), then using Madison Reed may be okay. What is not okay is if you have chemicals in your hair (which most of us do) and by adding more (or different) chemicals to it, it now becomes something you only see in nightmares. In some of Madison Reeds videos they suggest running color from roots to ends. This is not a good idea on previously colored hair. Hair color does not affect previously colored hair, particularly darker shades. Color doesn’t lift color. So if you are wanting to go lighter, forget it. Unless bleach is involved. The end result will be uneven with lighter roots (on your virgin hair) & darker ends. If you are staying within your own color level - you may be fine with adding their hair dye, but you may also be surprised that the tones are not what you expected or hoped for.
Also, the grey coverage formulas of Madison Reed are very harsh. Supposedly, it contains no Ammonia, but it does contain ethanolamine which is essentially (1) part ammonia…masked by another name. Ammonia is a part of all permanent hair dyes because it swells the cuticle and allows for the color to penetrate thus changing your color. There are hair dyes that are semi-permanent, but they will not cover gray efficiently, because their job is to only coat your hair with color, which allows the color to fade as you shampoo. The developer just isn’t strong enough to open the cuticle much, and then push the color all the way into the cortex of the strand. I don’t understand how Madison Reed can differentiate themselves from other hair dyes.
Here is the rub: touch ups and consecutive processes with the same formula may not render the same result. In the salon, we adjust color formulas based on color fade, greying, and chemical processes. And we are trained to know if the hair can, or cannot withstand the process. And if not, we have tools that will protect as we formulate.
As a stylist, I can tell you that hair color is much more scientific than what one may think. That is why it takes years to become a colorist. One doesn’t become good at applying color, just by doing their time in beauty school. Continuous training, with continuous classes, puts one at the top of their game, understanding WHY color responds the way it does, and that all hair is NOT created equal. It may look the same, feel the same, but because of other factors too numerous to mention, is not the same.
There is also an artistic factor that is taken out of the at home dye. Madison Reed also has balayage, which in most cases you are advised to bleach your own hair! It took some time to learn how to balayage. They also provide you with toner, for use, once you’ve bleached your hair. Toner is applied after hair is lightened to, ummmm…tone to a desired shade. Again, there are many factors to determine which toner will create your desired outcome. Some being: the underlying pigment of your hair (results of bleaching) may be more red, yellow or gold than expected and a cookie cutter toner simply may not work. Also, if your hair is already dyed a dark color, bleach may not be your best option.
My advice is to skip the Madison Reed lightening and balayage completely!
My opinion is that Madison Reed is better than drug store box dye because it does not contain metals, like the normal over-the-shelf colors do, but it is no better than a color that you could purchase at Sally's, or any beauty supply store that is open to the public (which is crazy…again, my opinion). BUT…if you are lucky enough, an associate from a beauty supply store may have some color background and will help you determine which color to purchase and the appropriate developer.
Conclusion: There is nothing better than having your hair colored at a professional salon, but if money is an issue, go to a beauty supply store. Skip Madison Reed. The hair color is less costly and pretty much the same quality. And please be careful if you attempt to lighten your hair on your own, many clients come to me for corrective color after doing so. And many times, they will have to sacrifice up to 6 inches of their locks because of immense breakage. And a reconditioning process begins…
Hang in there, guys and dolls. We’re almost ready to go back to work!!! Stupid Corona…
COVID-19 Causes Hair Color Woes
I think we are about to see everyone’s true colors (pun intended). With the mandated closings of our beauty salons, along with all other “non-essential” businesses (who says hair salons are non-essential, anyway), there are now men and women who are anxious about what to do with their natural hair color popping through. It’s going to be a while before they are allowed back into the familiar, heart-warming spaces, they’ve always relied on to create the look they love.
I know. It’s tough looking in the mirror every morning, just to have hair roots yell back at you to get them covered, while having to deal with more than the condition of ones hair. Right? It can cause a bit of confidence destruction…
And that is why I’m here to help you through this trying time. Well, in the hair department, at least. But first, let’s take a look at what one woman experienced, just last week, from taking matters into her own hands.
“I have never done my own color before, but my roots were terrible,’’ Upper East Sider Annette Hanson tells The Post. Last week, the beauty consultant was at her place in Palm Beach, glued to the news. With a sinking feeling, she realized that Paul Labrecque, the salon she’s frequented for 25 years, would likely be closed before she could get back to New York. So she rushed to the drugstore for a box of dye.”
It went badly. At home coloring is a disaster…
“I did the best I could in my dimly lit bathroom,” says Hanson, 65. “I got dye all over, the roots came out bright red, and since I had existing highlights and lowlights, the rest of my hair was a variety of shades. My hair quickly became unusually dry and frizzy. I thought, ‘Oh boy, I should never have tried this!’ ’’
Friends, I’m not surprised. In all of my 42 years behind the chair, I have only seen TWO clients that have chosen the box dye instead of choosing to pay a professional, and their hair actually came out decent. Dry and a bit frizzy,, but decent.
The risk you take just isn’t worth it. One, you can do harm to you crowning glory that will outlast the lockdown. And, you may have to cut off more than you really want to, because of the damage.
For another, bad dye is a really expensive mistake to fix.
Corrective color can run three to four times what a normal visit can cost. It can run from $300 to $400. And even then, it might not be back to normal and can take a few sessions.
It’s awful and I empathize, but it’s so not worth ruining your hair over.
Try this instead: Why not match, as close as you can, the professional color you now have, with a color powder or spray, to use ONLY on your roots. If you find two that are close to the color you now have, choose the darker one. Never go lighter at the roots. It will look very, ummm….strange! Good news? If you hate it, it washes out easily. Just one shampoo, and bam! It’s gone.
If you can’t find what you think would look best, or if you’d rather just purchase from me, I brought a few of my color sprays home with me (imagine that), to share with my clients because I am locked out of my business suite.
They run $21.00 on my website. You’re actually reading from the site, now. So, when you are finished, just click on “Hair Care” and scroll to the Style Edit root concealer. They should be at the bottom of the page. Also, there will be a $5 shipping and handling charge, but hey! What’s five bucks compared to disaster? *wink *wink
love & gumption,
Mary
P.S. There’s only a few I have here at my home, so it will be first come, first served. I can order more from my distributor, but it will take a few days longer to get it to you. Stay healthy. Stay kind. Stay hopeful. I’ll see you soon!!!