PS Hairdressing guide to Summer haircare

For us at PS Hairdressing, the way your hair looks and feels the whole time is important... it's not just when you walk out of our door. Here we have compiled some great tips to keep your hair feeling beautiful all summer long.

Keep it healthy

This is the boring bit we know but the surest way to keep your hair healthy is to start off with it healthy.  Make sure you are having regular trims so your hair doesn’t become too dried out in the first place.

We are always happy to advise you on the best hair care products to use. 

For coloured hair especially you will need to make sure you use the right balance of moisture and protein, to keep your hair strong and soft. 

And if you redeem your loyalty card we will give you shampoo and conditioner from the Davines Essential range for free.

Keep it simple

Try to avoid washing your hair too much during sunny weather. 

To keep a longer period between washes we recommend using a homemade dry shampoo.  Simply squirt a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil into a suitable container.  We’ve discovered that a new salt cellar is perfect for this.  Add some cornflour and shake well.  Sprinkle some into your roots, massage in, leave for a couple of minutes then brush through to avoid any powder build ups.

Avoid the use of heat- we know hairdryers and straighteners give a lovely finish but experimenting with loose plaits, buns and ponytails is perfect for keeping hair looking stylish. 

And it reduces stress on the hair.

Keep it covered

It seems obvious to keep our skin covered up in the summer time but is the same true for hair? 

A hat or scarf will keep your hair and scalp covered.  If you favour keeping your hair on display make sure you use a protecting hair milk, such as SU hair milk which protects from UV.

We would also advise using a leave in conditioner, again SU hair milk would be perfect, before swimming to give your hair extra protection from the chlorine.  A swimming hat would be a great addition too but unless your holiday look is Olympic Chic you may decide against this one! Using a shampoo designed for use after swimming will also help reduce the damaging effects of the chlorine.  Davines SU hair and body wash is ideal as an after-swim shampoo.

Keep it conditioned

To combat the drying effects of sun, sea and swimming treat your hair to a conditioning treatment once a week.

Coconut oil or Avocado mixed with a little olive oil can both be used for a homemade conditioning mask.

Another option would be adding Oi Oil to your regular conditioner and leaving it on for 30 minutes.  Or even overnight with a shower cap on!

Alternatively, use Davines SU hair mask or Davines Nounou hair mask.

Keep it stylish

The weather can present lots of gorgeous opportunities for time spent outside but it can also present problems for your hair style. 

If you are going for the blow dried look we would recommend an anti-humidity spray.  Your Hair Assistant Blowdry Primer is perfect.  It can be used in place of a mousse but has the added benefit of protecting your style from the moisture in the air.  For more tips on blowdrying go to our blog here

If you have decided that avoiding heated styling is the best plan embrace the undone look with Davines More Inside Sea Salt Spray. As you’ve probably guessed it emulates the delightful effects of fresh form the ocean hair without a day at the beach. 

It can also be used to add volume to a blowdry.  And can even be used as a dry shampoo- Sea Salt Spray really earns its place in your suitcase!

Enjoy the summer!

P.S... Goes Green All Over

We strive to be an eco-salon.  For us this means thinking GREEN at all opportunities.

Whether it is suppliers, waste and recycling, or saving water and electricity.

Our supplier of all hairdressing products is Davines.  They have recently been granted Bcorp status, meaning they are working hard to be a socially responsible company.  Their production methods and materials are chosen to ensure they are as environmentally friendly as possible.

We are able to recycle most of our waste with our waste company.  We have found ways to recycle more unusual items, giving our biscuit wrappers to a charity that can recycle them, passing non-recyclable packing materials on to a delivery company on the High Street.

But our wheelie bin is still almost full every fortnight. 

So, if there are things that can’t be recycled, the next step surely is asking- do I really need to get this in the first place?

A worrying statistic when it comes to waste is that half of plastic waste comes from items that are designed to be used only once.

The four biggest contributors?

Drinking Straws,

Carrier Bags

Bottled Water

Takeaway coffee cups.

As a challenge in June we have decided to each make a small change in our behaviour and see if we can stick to it.

We will post again soon to let you know how we got on.

Mask Vibrachrom First Anniversary

We all love Davines hair colour at PS Hairdressing and have been delighted by how beautifully Davines colours work.  To read our last blog on Davines colour click here

Davines relaunched their flagship colour- with Mask becoming Mask Vibrachrom- one year ago so it's the perfect time to share everything we have learnt so far...  

 Without getting too technical, Mask Vibrachrom contains phospholipid (vegetable fats), quinoa protein extract and conditioning agent omega B9. This promises high conditioning effect, outstanding colour durability and extra shine. The pigments are also evenly distributed so colour fades slowly and in a uniform manner. 

The training...

 We were lucky enough to spend a whole day with Jeff from Davines.

He visited the salon on 21^st November.

The day started with a presentation of the technical aspects of Mask Vibrachrom. 

Jeff had some great advice on ways to re-pigment hair when a client wants to go several shades darker.   

 And then the new colour chart was revealed.  We were finally getting the chance to see how these new colours would work together.

With Ellie and Charelle joining us for the training they were more than happy to be our models.

We knew the Mask Vibrachrom reds were better than ever.  With that in mind Ellie was keen to try them out.  After an indecisive few months had left Ellie with an unintentional ombre we decided to build up from what we already had.  With a blend of dark and bright reds we love the final look.  The shine was incredible and the reds retained their sparkle for weeks.

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Charelle is a blonde through and through and she was nervous about straying from this gorgeous tone. 

 Picking up on the silver colours that are so on trend we persuaded Charelle to be a tiny bit adventurous and have shimmery grey tones slicing through her blonde. 

 We were pleased with the final colour- Charelle wished she had been a bit braver as she absolutely loved the final tones.

We learnt so much about the new colours and had a great time playing with them.  It was also a fantastic opportunity to spend the day talking to another hairdresser from the Davines family about the joys of salon life.  And it was the perfect chance for us to spend time together as a team when the salon was closed. 

The first few months...

 We have spent the Winter and Spring experimenting and perfecting new ways of using the colours to gain a beautiful finish every time.

Whether you want a total colour change...

...a beautiful blonde balyage...

...or anything in between we've got the colours for you.

 If you are thinking about getting your hair coloured you can book a free consultation. 

Call us on 01276 469766 to book.

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Living Window

We decided to base our latest blog post on one of our favourite and most creative features in our salon – our living window displays.

We started the Living Window back in the spring of 2013 at a time where the sun was starting to shine on our salon window, revealing its many fingerprint marks and rain drops. Spending more time cleaning the window area allowed us to discover what a perfect suntrap, or rather in our mind, perfect greenhouse it is. 

With limited allotment space these days, we thought this could be the perfect area for those all-important seeds to create some fabulous sunflowers. This then followed on a year later with our successful gift idea to give a sunflower to any of our wonderful clients purchasing our new range of sustainable beauty products from Davines.

This idea continued to grow (excuse the pun) into the next spring which saw Paula harvest her first batch of veg in the salon.

We updated our Living Window this year by displaying our beautiful natural plants alongside our lovely Davines ‘Product of the Month’ showcasing all the wonderful natural products found in Davines’ products.

One of the best outcomes from our Living Window is how it’s got the salon talking! Whilst Pip’s tips helped Paula’s ever inspiring garden collection, it was our lovely clients who made the real difference, offering advice all year round which has helped us keep growing a lovely colourful window. 

Within the PS team we always manage a chance to talk plants, whether it’s joking about our maternal side coming out; with Paula naming some of the plants as her babies, or sometimes a few sad moments when some just need to be composted. And without too many problems on who’s watering what, it has become a great focus on showing our lovely team work.

We asked everyone in our PS team to share their favourites from over the time…

Paula “Mine has to be the spring herb garden -inspired by Jo Malone’s window of fragrances seen in Kensington this year. I just loved the layers of pots you can plant with each one very unique in smell and appearance whilst still always complementing each other”.

Becki “I really enjoyed making origami stars with Ellie at Christmas so in February I asked my nephew to help me make origami hearts for our Love display.”

Ellie “Our Great British seaside holiday in August 2015 had such cute details.  The gorgeous grasses brought the coast to Frimley!”

And Pippa explained why the Kitchen window was her favourite display;

“The idea for the kitchen themed window came about to celebrate our seventh birthday, because it was all about cake!

Cake is the first thing people usually think about when planning a birthday party... and because it starts in the kitchen- so did our window display. We also discussed ideas of 'the perfect recipe for a great hair do' and the same for a great salon team.

It was great fun planning the display and making the furniture we needed, including the gingham curtain. Collecting our 50s vintage utensils from our own kitchens was also a nice way of demonstrating teamwork... Adding hair tools finished off the look. Our sister Katharine was instrumental in dressing the window and even created some black and white 'tiles' to frame it.

I think the best thing of all about our October '15 window was how much it engaged passers by. We get a lot of interest from our window displays, some people look forward to what we will think up next and others think we have lost the plot! Whatever the reaction, we love the fact it gets people talking.”

Our Living Window has become very season-based which we have kept in running with the health and wellbeing inside the salon. PS’ third creative sister Katharine has helped us to incorporate furniture and ornaments and a certain sense of style to the window to complement the plants on display.

   

This year so far we have managed to create themes including an awesome winter bulb incubation, a spring herb garden (which changes monthly) as well as a summer holiday wish list.

Alongside learning these plant techniques our PS team have tried their hands at origami (as mentioned by Becki above) and homemade wooden planters, encouraged by our love of upcycling.

So who says our creative talents and interests have to stop at hairstyling? As a team we find it so much fun to try new things and showcase them within our shop. And it’s even better when our lovely clients join in as they have done this year with donations of aloes and trees.

A sense of community has definitely been brought into the salon through our window, which has become our best way to communicate our identity. So come down to Frimley High Street and have a look for yourselves!

  

The Art of the Blowdry

This month in the salon, we’ve been inspired by the gorgeous pastels of a Miami summer, which got us thinking about gorgeous Floridian women.  From Faye Dunaway to Megan Fox and Aryana Grande the thing these ladies have in common is long, smooth hair.  But how do they achieve this in the humid atmosphere of their native state?

The answer is - the not so humble blowdry.  Many techniques and products can be used to create a glorious finish every time and we’ve dedicated this blog post to sharing some of our best tricks and tips.

In the salon we have fallen in love with Angelo Seminara’s Your Hair Assistant range.  Created especially for blowdrying, from prep shampoo and balm to volumising powder, this range will help make your perfect blowdry a reality. 

In the salon the YHA prep shampoo and conditioning balm has become Becki’s basin favourite. Becki describes how she creates a smooth finish…

“There are certain elements that depend on your hair type.  A smoothing shampoo and conditioner are always the best place to start.  I love the Your Hair Assistant prep shampoo and prep rich balm, and use these whenever I get the opportunity.  After a quick towel dry I use humidity resistant spray, which will work to set the style.  I would also use a heat protective spray at this stage.  The one I turn to most is Oi Milk.  This will give your hair extra protection when using a hair dryer or straighteners.   

Next I would use relaxing moisturising fluid as a smoothing lotion.  Now it’s time to start drying.  Rough dry with a paddle or vent brush.  This will speed up your styling and stop your arms getting too tired.  Once the hair is 80% dry divide into sections.  If you have thick or wavy hair I would suggest making the sections quite small to make it easier to get a great finish.  Dry each section with a big round brush and a nozzle on your hairdryer. 

If you have been thorough with your sectioning and kept tension your hair should be beautifully straight now. 

During training we’re taught to get the results using a brush and dryer, avoiding using straighteners.  However, if you have got to this point and want your hair to be straighter and smoother still repeat the process of sectioning and then straighten.  You will have already used a heat protector spray so no additional haircare product is needed at this stage. 

Your hair will now be perfect and I would finish with Oi Oil as a serum, locking in shine.

Always remember, the must-use product when completing a finish like this is heat protection.”

Another great look that can be achieved with a blowdry is the big volume finish. Pippa shares with us how to create this style...

“I would start with a deep cleanse shampoo such as Davines Solu.  Then Momo shampoo and conditioner to give moisture and help with shine.

Wrapping your hair in a towel is the best way to absorb excess moisture without disturbing the cuticle.  After this apply 3 drops of liquid gold, AKA Oi Oil; rub gently through the mid lengths and ends and then comb through gently with a wide toothed comb. 

My styling product of choice is Davines More inside volumising mousse.  Now we’re ready.  All this prep is important to make sure your blowdry looks good and lasts well.

To help get added lift, tip your head upside down and blast the roots with a hairdryer, using your fingers to ensure the air gets all the way through.

In salon I would then use a large round bristle brush to blowdry added volume, smoothness and curl into your hair. If, however, you are styling your hair at home I would use this opportunity to brush through with a paddle brush to finish off the drying.  And then use large Velcro rollers to give yourself the ‘cheat’ salon blowdry.  Leave the rollers in for 10 minutes to 1 hour.

When you take them out ruffle your fingers through, fix into position and spray.  I would use Davines More Inside firm hold hairspray.”

In the salon you will see us using all sorts of bottles and wonder ‘what on earth are you using and why?’  Always feel free to ask us and we’ll share these styling secrets with you.  Ask us about our PreScription card at your next appointment.

There are so many other things that you can do to achieve a salon finish at home. 

We offer Kerastraight services in the salon.  The ultimate treatment lasts for up to six months, which is wonderful.  The only downside is that it takes up to 3 hours to complete the treatment in the salon.

The KS Boost however is a £25 treatment that can be added to a blowdry or cut and blowdry in the salon.  It’s smoothing effects last for up to one month.  We spoke to one of our clients, Sharon, who regularly uses the KS Boost treatment.

How does your hair feel after the KS Boost treatment?

Lovely! It feels like it’s in really good condition.  Really soft and shiny.

You usually have KS boost every 9 weeks, how long do you feel the effect of the treatment in your hair?

It feels healthy for the whole time.  I straighten it less too.

What change have you made to your haircare routine as a result of having the KS Boost treatment regularly?

I still straighten it because I’m overly fussy!  I definitely need to straighten it less, I still colour it but now I feel my hair is protected.

How do you style your hair at home?  How long does it take now and how long did it take before you used the treatment regularly?

About 10 minutes blowdry and 5 minutes straightening.  It took about half an hour before. Plus it’s quite a nice relaxing treatment over a coffee and a friendly atmosphere!  I would definitely recommend it.

 For more information on the Kerastraight treatments we offer check out our previous blogpost here.