Hi All!
I wrote this once and hit something so it all erased. I felt so badly that it took me time to come back and try to post it again!

Ideas for change with hair products and hair tools.

Of course number one would be the straightening iron! It need not hurt your hair and it provides for a great look that shows off colour and cut. Just tie up the top of your dry hair and straighten the bottom first, let the rest of your hair down and do the top! You can add a bit of hair oil first if you like but if you condition your hair, that is protection enough. It is easy to straighten your hair and not as dangerous as you think! A change in your look that lasts and takes almost no time!

Make curls or waves without curlers! Use "Curl up," I believe is the name but it's made by Bed Head. Spray it on your hair and it will bring out any wave or curl in your hair. Apply gel afterward, all over your wet hair and if you want, a bit of hair wax to make things stick. Either air dry or use a diffuser on your blow dryer and then comb when dry, not before! You'll have neat curls or waves that are natural and will last a long time, especially if you use a hair paste over the style. It's an easy way to "do," your hair and get rid of the blow dryer for a bit!

Cut layers on the crown of your hair style! This will give you the lift on top of your crown that is so attractive over the years! It's not a drastic step and you can grow them out easily since they are in the back if you don't like them!Or: Tease a bit again!

Two toned hair:

Try dying the hair around your face and underneath your natural color and taking a ponytails amount of your hair and dying it a complimentary color of about 2 shades lighter! it gives you a grea crown and also highlights your hair easily.

You can do this with store bought hair dye by finding two complimentary colours and then taking your hair into a pony tail leaving out your sides, your bangs and some of the bottom in the back! Dye the part hanging down the darker color and dye the ponytail part a lighter, but not too light colour. There you have an easy way to make you hair interesting but not too drastic!

Use a product like *Play Clay," to separate your highlights and make them shine! Just take a very small amount of the clay and cover your bigger highlights with it and they will gleam! This is true when you use a hair oil too but the hair oil can attract dirt.

If you have a short cut, comb it into a "little boy," cut look, parting it on the side to look sleek, indeed! Use a shine product on it to make it more sleek! Have the guts to wear flat hair, if you already have short hair, your face is excellent enough to wear flat hair too!

More soon, add yours too!

Dancer

dancer, thanks for sharing. I like the idea of layers on the crown of my hair. I'm going to ask the gal who cuts my hair what she thinks of that. Thanks for the idea.

Do you use any of your suggestions listed? I use the flat iron and love it. My daughter is Korean and has a perm. She was sick of straight hair, but guess what. When she doesn't run out of the shower and out the door with wet curly hair, she dries it and uses the flat iron. Go figure! Her friend who is from Honduras has full, curly hair, and she has her hair professionally straightened.

LOL, your daughter sounds like so many young ladies! They fail to appreciate what they have naturally! Still, with a perm, she has the option of wearing it curly. I would try to talk to her about perming that beautiful hair though. Most try to talk people out of perms because of the damage they can cause. Does your daughther have fairly thick hair?

I was thinking of you, for one, with the layers on top of the crown, Dotsie, I feel it would update your look and still allow you the security of keeping the commintment you have to long hair.
It takes a commitment to decide to wear one's hair in the same style and that is a good thing. However, a bit of a change to modernize it can make all the difference!

Let me know if you decide to have them cut in!

Dancer

Ok. Perming hair, then straightening it for the day??? I hope Dotsie your daughter will revel in her natural hair qualities. Shiny, fairly straight black hair becomes highly valued as one grows older. Especially if she does not grow gray soon. She needs to be reminded that alot of women want the natural, glossy shine of her straight black hair.

But like her, I learned the hard way when I was in my early 20's when I permed my hair..and it turned abit brown/abit red from strong perm solutions. So I gave up perming...fast.

I only use shampoo ..daily. I don't even condition my hair. I learned ages ago, that it flattens my hair volume and makes it feel heavy, greasier. My hair still has a black hair shine. Use blow dryer on it less than 8 min. Just lazy/lacking time to do more blow drying. Curling iron around front and sides...under 5 min.

I get a hair cut every 4-5 months, which probably keeps the condition of my hair healthy.

I did recently discover that if I have a fairly short cut, I could avoid curling my hair for about 1-2 months. My head hair grows quite fast..which I know is an enviable thing for many women.

Orchid,
Chinese women are one of the very few races that have TRULY black hair. Being Italian, and we can be a mix, I have black hair that is really very, very deep brown. It appears black until I am near my Chinese friend who has truly black hair. I thought you might find that interesting.

My hairdresser tells me that only certain Asian hair is truly black. There are many women who envy the straight, smooth black hair of the Chinese. It's beautiful hair and strong.

The best hair for hair dressers to work on is thick but flaxen. They search this hair out for their hair models. Also, it helps to have a face shape that is oval because that face shape can take any cut at all and look good!

Short hair looks good, I'm sure on you, because your head shape is nice. If you have a different head shape, short hair can be a disaster. Like you, I wore my hair short, as can be seen in some of my studio shots on my site, for many, many years. I am experimenting and trying some length but you can imagine how much I miss that quick dry time and go ------! I don't know how long I will last but I'm giving it a try. The funny thing is that I tend to tie it up or back so I'm sure short hair is where I will land again. I have small features so I have to straighten my long hair to see my features. It's all an experiment in hassling me, I'm sure!

When I was a hair model for 15 years, internationally, my hair cut changed every three months! It was fun but it grew to be a challange when the cut requrired some upkeep, such as keeping it straight before straightening irons!

Dancer9

dancer, everyone assumes my daughter's hair is black becasue seh's Asian. They even say, "She has gorgeous black hair." She's from Korea and her hair is not black. It's dark, but not black. She has lots of brown mixed in.

dancer, your hair is long now, but is it all one length?

Dotsie,
My hair is long now but it's longer in the front than in the back and it's dark brown around my face in low in the back and a lighter brown on the crown. Since it is long, it hangs long and comes to two long points in the front on my shoulders and is a bit shorter in back, not too much. It looks very different when you cut longer hair with the back a little bit shorter. It swings well. I'm liking it thus far... I do iron it most of the time.

I'm not holding here though. I must find the right style to wear that does not hurt my arms to style it. I've not found it yet and short hair does look good on me so I'm a work in progress.

My hairdresser comes to my home to help now that my neck has been injured and each month we sit down and decide how to "tweak," my hair to make it sytlish and easy to deal with!
It makes for interesting conversation.

My hairdresser who has her licsense but is also a very popular singer now so does not do hair a lot has extensions in her hair making it LONG!

Dancer.