10 Reasons You Should Love Blogging

Crayons and coloring books spark creativity. Oh what fun to choose the right shade of blue for the folds of a party dress or green for leaves in full bloom! Since 1903, Crayola crayons have introduced or retired over 400 colors! Currently there are 120 crayons on the market not including specialty colors, like Aztec Gold, Cinnamon Satin, or Rusty Red. And, even with basic colors, there’s a choice of 23 shades of red, 20 shades of green and 19 shades of blue to names a few. Once relegated to a child’s pastime, coloring books in greater detail, made a boom with adults in the last decade. Color choices exhilarate, especially with wardrobe pieces or ensembles that flatter our appearance. And, discovering the perfect shade of hair color to complement our skin tone, eyes and hair texture is positively trans-formative! Yet, hair color considerations can be daunting! With four basic categories—blonde, brunette, redhead and gray—the choice of shades for your hair seem endless! Some colors fall into two of the categories at the same time. These crossovers are bridges from one color group to another. Your natural color results from the melanin in the hair’s cortex. There are two forms of melanin: eumelanin for black and brown hair and pheomelanin for red and yellow/blonde tones. A combination of these melanin types creates the full spectrum of natural hair colors. Over time, the absence of melanin makes hair gray. Hair color charts show a vast array of shades—cool, warm or neutral—within each of the main colors and what the end results should look like. But before committing to a particular shade, consult with our expert hair colorists at Carol Cole Salon and Spa. Ask the important questions: • Is the shade I choose right for my hair texture and skin tone? • How difficult will the color be to maintain? • How long will the color last? • What products should I use to keep the color vibrant? • What if I don’t like the end results of the shade I’ve chosen? If you’re looking for a shade for the new fall season, now is the time to make an appointment! And while you’re considering the options, here are a few words of advice from Carol Cole Salon and Spa experts. Color Trends: If you’re looking for a hot, trendy shade, consider one of these daring and dynamic choices: Golden Brown Balayage, Cinnamon Spiced Chestnut Brown, Rocket Fire Reds, Smokey Blue, Black and Subtle Brown, Medium Brown Caramel Glaze, Dark Burgundy Ombre, Merlot or Silver! Maintain the mane: All treated hair must be maintained with care! Always use sulfate-free, color safe shampoo. Carol Cole Salon and Spa hair experts recommend KERATHERAPY Color Protect Shampoo. EVO Ritual Salvation Care Conditioner also performs wonderfully. And to keep blondes bright, try BLONDA by UNITE. A Shade of Difference: Tone down your shades with the right shampoo! For blonde hair, purple toning shampoo will help cancel excess gold tones which can translate to brassiness. Blue-toned shampoo is ideal to keep brunette tones rich looking. Yes, the choices are infinite when you consider blending or adding different colors for the right shade! Make an appointment and our color specialists will determine what compliments you with the right shade or shades that work well together for the perfect results! Happy fall season to you and yours!

If “there’s nothing new under the sun” you can add highlighted hair to the list! As early as the 4th century B.C., ancient Greeks blended olive oil, pollen and gold flakes to make an ointment that lightened hair after several hours in the sun. The effects were minimal. During the European Renaissance, circa 1400 A.D., a new natural process employed a mixture of alum, honey, lemons and sulfur. Highlights were achieved by wearing a wide-brimmed hat without a cap (think of a donut!) with, yet again, many hours spent in the sun and little to show for it. By the early 20th century, hydrogen peroxide entered the picture for temporary, semi-permanent, demi-permanent and permanent highlights. A cap with holes allowed hair strands to be pulled through and bleached making a distinction from the remaining hair. During the Depression and World War II eras, hair treatments, including highlighting, declined due to the economic downturn. Hair style trends in the 1960s and 1970s revived highlights still using a skull cap with tiny holes to pull through strands. Over-the-counter products like “Frost & Tip” by Clairol promised dramatic streaks for a daring look! But the contrast resulted in typically unnatural results that waned in popularity. Spray-on products like “Sun-In” also gained consumer interest by lightening hair with a blend of chemicals and natural lemon oil and, yes, time spent in the sun. An advanced formula of “Sun-In” includes aloe, marigold, chamomile and flax seed. But warning to red heads or brunettes: spray-on lighteners work best with fair or light brown hair. And a further warning, in general: highlights use chemicals which can damage or dry out your locks, especially if over-used or not applied professionally! In recent times, highlights were perfected by using a variety of techniques: foil highlights, hair painting, frosting and chunking. Foil highlights or “foiling” work with sheets of foil that separate hair strands—thick or thin, depending on preference. The strands are covered with a color or lightener before wrapping them in foil to process. Basically, hair painting is literally painting the top and bottom of the strands that creates a soft foil look. Frosting gives a higher contrast of darker hair peppered with bleached strands. Chunking is a bolder version of highlights, larger and thicker, for a standout look. Chunking highlights utilize natural or artificial colors quite different from subtle highlighting. And then there’s the option of highlights or low light's, the first with dyed or bleached sections lighter than your color and the second with darker sections, like dark-blonde on a light brown base. If you’re thinking of adding some interesting notes to your crowning glory, first consult with our stylists at Carol Cole Salon and Spa to determine what is the best choice for your hair color, texture and style. Let’s hear from the experts! Highlighting Trends: For 2020, red rules—spicy to rich reds, and fire red! Also popular are blue blacks, and silver, both light and dark. For a more subtle look, consider the balayage freehand technique. Balayage means “to sweep or to paint” in French and involves painting hair with a brush. Many stylists consider it less damaging than foiling and easier to maintain. Another option is blended foiling, or foilage. The product is painted onto hair as in balayage, and the treated sections are covered with foil resulting in a more intense coloring process. Also babylights offer a more delicate finish with tiny sections of hair highlighted. Finally, you’ve probably seen a variety of dipped dyed ends in every shade imaginable! Discuss any of these looks--subtle, bold, or barely there highlights--with our expert colorists! Best Highlight Products: Take note that highlights last from six to eight weeks. Then, your highlights can be transitioned into a balayage look or brightened up. We recommend UNITE Hair Blonda Shampoo to control color tone and minimize fading and the onset of brassiness to your highlights. Also, periodic clarifying treatments will remove mineral deposits. Highlights or Lowlights: Whether you choose highlights, lowlights, or a combination, consult with your stylists first and review the many options! If new to the technique, you may want to start with the current trend of face-framing highlights that flatter and draw attention to your visage with brightening effects. There’s an art to highlighting hair, and, our colorists will create the best picture-perfect results for you! We look forward to seeing you in our salon very soon! Have a happy and healthy remainder of the summer season!

For decades, voluminous, exaggerated hairstyles dominated pages of fashion publications, movie screens and even high school yearbooks. In 1960, Chicago stylist Margaret Vinci Heldt created the Beehive as a trendy look for Modern Beauty Salon magazine. Hair resembled a tall hat or beehive in its conical shape and height. The Bubble, another 1960's hairstyle, also referred to as the Bouffant, gave way to shorter hair closer to the nape of the neck and longer sections at the crown for volume. Some stylists claimed that added hair height made for a slimmer overall appearance. By the decade’s closing, hair became symbolic of the counter cultural movement. The Bombshell hairstyle added length to volume and big hair redefined the feminine mystique as worn by movie icons like Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda and Ann Margaret. Finally, HAIR, the Broadway musical, glorified the crowning glory with the title song by The Cowsills. Hair symbolized power and freedom from conventions and social norms in the lyrics, “Darlin', give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair / Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen / Give me down to there hair, shoulder length or longer…” Hair with volume remained at the forefront for the following decades, but, especially in the 1980. Permanents, lots of hairspray and teasing achieved big hair, and glam rock dominated the music scene. The bigger the hair the better as it balanced out jackets, dresses and blouses with padded shoulders! Today, big hair has even been classified as “Eighties hair” by those shunning added volume for a sleeker more sophisticated look. Backcombing, the term preferred by stylist, is the core of most big hairstyles and involves combing small sections of hair from the ends toward the scalp to form a base for volume. The result is a fuller look although temporary. Yet, If overdone, backcombing or teasing can damage hair follicles. With those who prefer volume, backcombing remains a popular option. But there’s always a good and bad practice to any hair trend. If starting at the roots, hair stylists recommend a fine-tooth comb and brush-able hold hairspray. First, take a section of hair from the front and pull it aside. Then, pick up a section behind that’s the same size. Start combing the second section backwards to create a cluster. When you’ve achieved the desired volume, comb the front piece back with the fine-tooth comb and smooth out. Once you’ve pulled your hair into place and covered the backcombed section, be sure to add hairspray to keep every hair in place. If backcombing your ends for added fullness, there’s no need to section off hair, but hairspray is essential to complete and maintain the appearance of added volume. To undo the big tease, make sure you don’t brush it out! Backcombed hair, when brushed, may cause breakage and split ends. First, wash your hair with moisturizing shampoo and conditioner to de-tangle. Finally, rinse with lukewarm water to protect the cuticle. Our hair experts at Carol Cole Spa and Salon can show you the proper methods to add temporary volume to your hair, whether you’re seeking a new look for everyday wear or a special occasion. Either way, we’ll instruct you on the best hair care practices! Feel free to ask us about any specific techniques. Also, we have a wide array of products that will keep your hair healthy and lustrous in between your visits! We invite you to call and make an appointment for a new summer look. Our salon is open with all safety protocols and distancing in place. We care about your health as we implement precautions throughout the phases of reopening in Delaware. Let us know what products you’d like to protect your hair from added sun, wind and heat. We look forward to seeing you again as part of the Carol Cole Salon and Spa family!! Have a happy, healthy and safe summer season.

March was quite a month and the pandemic of 2020 isn’t over yet. Throughout the world, lives have been disrupted, not to mention the heartbreaking loss of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones while, as a world community, our resolve and courage are tested. We strive to balance our lives and make the best and most prudent decisions for health of mind, body and spirit on a daily basis. On the beauty front, by now you may have missed at least one hair appointment. Your stylish cut is growing out. Maybe a few strands or large swaths of grey hair are increasingly difficult to hide. But nothing matter more than your safety and health. All else is flexible, and in the case of bad hair days, correctable!! A staff writer, Amanda Mull, for the “The Atlantic” online Health beat summarizes what happens during isolation. She states, “Suddenly barred from hair and nail salons, waxers, barber shops, clothing stores… people have found it much more difficult to maintain…routines...” She touches on the inner-self and the direct tie to our appearance. “ If so many…are concerned with their appearance, then perhaps that concern goes far deeper than vanity. The care of a human body ties people to the physical, social world they’ve been abruptly forced to leave behind.” In a Twitter message, Sarah Sessler, a Cincinnati lawyer, claims, “Completely abandoning my makeup and hair routine and wearing sweats all day literally makes me feel kind of like I’m already sick. A little light makeup is weirdly … grounding?” Normal has changed, and we don’t know when the new normal will take hold or where it will lead. But we do know is that “this too shall pass” and we will be stronger and more grateful for each day. For now, we’re back to beauty basics. Start a moisturizing routine for your scalp and hair recommended in our January blog. If you do experiment with a home cut or try a boxed hair dye for a change or to lift your spirits, don’t worry! If the results are less than desirable, we’ll be here for you on the other side of these challenging days. Keep in touch with us! For any specific questions, contact us at Carolcolesalongandspa@yahoo.com or by phone at 302-313-6691. Check our website or Facebook page for any updates. We look forward to the days when we gather again as the Carol Cole Salon and Spa family!! Meanwhile, let your beauty shine from the inside! Basic beauty, from the heart, doesn’t change!

In 2009, reality star and professional soccer player, Ethan Zohn, faced chemotherapy to battle cancer. Before having his head shaved, Ethan made a statement about his defining look of curly locks. “My hair is my identity!” Naturally, we desire hair that makes a statement: health and volume! Men and women experience hair loss for a multitude of reasons, either singular or combined. Several drugs contribute to excessive hair loss ranging from blood pressure medication to prescription antibiotics. Also, thyroid issues, post-chemotherapy or surgical-related hair loss give hope for renewed growth in the months following the treatment. Postpartum shedding plagues many women, and hormonal changes, at any age, can exacerbate hair thinning. Whatever the reason, no one welcomes receding hairlines, bald spots or thinning hair. On average, people lose about 100 hairs each day. Normally, we don’t notice because new hair replaces the ones we shed. But when the cycle is disrupted or the hair follicle destroyed, permanent hair loss can result. The most common form of permanent hair loss is due to male- or female-pattern baldness (known as androgenetic alopecia) that happens gradually with aging and occurs in predictable patterns. In the mid-90’s, the FDA approved ROGAINE, an over-the-counter topical solution applied to the scalp to treat male-pattern baldness. The key ingredient, minoxidil, was originally oral medication to treat high blood pressure. Health care providers noticed a common side effect: hair growth! Scientists concur that minoxidil increases blood flow to the scalp which counteracts shrinking of the hair follicle that leads to hair loss. Fair warning: a commitment to using ROGAINE or any over-the-counter remedy is indefinite. If you discontinue the treatment, hair growth stops. Another solution to a balding pate is a hair transplant which holds a better-than-average success rate compared to over-the-counter treatments. But, hair transplants can be expensive, ranging from $4,000 to $15,000 with no guarantees of complete success. The painstaking procedure is performed in a doctor’s office and involves skin grafts and an extended healing period. Depending on the size of the graft, the process ranges from between four to eight hours. Most people notice 60% of new hair growth within nine months. To improve results, some surgeons prescribe ROGAINE as a follow-up. More recently, infrared light therapy promises a safer, natural alternative to monoxidil and hair transplants. The procedure involves low-level laser therapy for men and women with results after 12 to 26 weeks. How does it work? In summary, hair has three phases: growth (anagen); resting (telogen) and shedding (catogen). According to studies, “…light therapy increases blood flow in the scalp and stimulates metabolism in resting (anagen) and shedding (talogen) follicles.” And, there are three options for home use: a red light therapy bulb, laser comb or cap. Before committing to any permanent hair loss treatments, especially a hair transplant, consult with a doctor for the best option for you! If you’re concerned about hair loss, and want an organic remedy, Carol Cole Salon and Spa hair experts recommend ZENAGEN Revolve shampoo and conditioner products for men and women. They work by combating DHT, the hormone responsible for 95% of male- and female-pattern baldness. ZENAGEN cleanses existing DHT from the hair and sebaceous gland, reaching the deepest level of the follicle, and guards against future DHT build-up for 48 hours. The product uses all natural ingredients, takes five minutes and is used three times per week. The first noticeable effect is a significant reduction of shedding and hair loss between two and six weeks with peak results between nine and 24 months. It’s safe for both men and women, but consistent use is vital for continued positive results! Aside from hair loss, breakage occurs with bleaching, coloring and heating tools. ZENAGEN Evolve product line is optimum care for hair breakage caused from heat damage. Both product lines are color safe. But if you’re simply looking for fuller hair, try a root lifting product such as WOW Carb-infused Dream Cocktail, a leave-in treatment with nutrients like oat bran that are activated by heat adding volume and improving the overall quality of each strand. WOW Kale-infused Dream Cocktail reinforces vital internal bonds to strengthen and restore your hair’s resilience. Whatever your “inHAIRitance” don’t settle for less! Stop by Carol Cole Salon and Spa for a consultation and the best personalized advice and attention. Our hair experts will offer you optimum care tips and the right remedy to restore your hair to vitality and health!

In the annals of hair fashion, curls have their own volumes! Every Woman’s Encyclopedia notes, “After years of experimental hair, the curl... has come to be regarded as the most natural and attractive way of wearing the hair.” With such a declaration, curls, soft and wavy, hold sway as the ultimate sexy look. Leading hair designers decree that curls “should be worn in greater profusion than ever.” From ancient times, curls embodied power, grace and confidence for men and women. Greeks achieved curl perfection with ringlets and waves as depicted in deity sculptures or exquisite vases from antiquity. Egyptian curly wigs date back 3,000 years! In the last century, straight, sleek hair challenged the curly look. Pixie cuts and bobs dominated the Roaring Twenties! Curls, long or short, ebbed and flowed in and out of vogue. In the 1990s, a phenomenon called the Rachel, named after Jennifer Aniston “Friends” character, reigned supreme, and the curl, for many, seemed old-fashioned and out of touch with a modern mien. But, once again, curls and waves, like a main attraction, appear on center stage, especially for a romantic appearance! And Valentine’s Day with candle lit dinners, chocolates, flowers or expressions of love fill our minds and hearts! Give your hair a sexy look to complement a dreamy weekend getaway or simply for fun! Hair experts define four hair types: straight, wavy, curly and kinky. Resilient straight hair reflects the most sheen. Somewhere between straight and curly, wavy hair is more prone to become frizzy and may resist styling. Curly hair ranges from tight tendrils to springy, light curls with a variety of textures and more volume than wavy hair. Kinky tresses have no defined curl pattern and possess a fragile texture. An added hair dilemma is harsh weather and dry heat! Static and frizz may challenge your curls! Carol Cole Salon experts have the right curly cues for your special occasion, whether Valentine’s Day or simply a mid-winter getaway. • Products that Please! Carol Cole Salon has a variety of products to keep your curls nice and defined without drying them out! EVO LIQUID ROLLERS is a styling balm that enhances and holds curls together and protects against frizz. BOING™ Defining Curl Cream by UNITE moisturizes with a coconut-infused formula that delivers nutrients deep into the hair shaft. WOW curl crème delivers glossy, crunch-free curls...in one step! REDKEN FRIZZ DISMISS shampoo and conditioner features a gentle, sodium chloride-free and sulfate-free formula that tames frizzy hair. KEROTHERAPY shampoo gently cleanses and hydrates to create smooth and silky curls! • A Touchy Subject! No doubt, curls are unpredictable! Optimum handling of curls is minimal use of heat and minimal manipulation. And if you’re prone to rearrange your hair, always start from underneath with wide phalanges or a wide-tooth comb. Touching the outer strands can result in a frizzy layer! Also, keep up with trims and use products, masks and deep conditioners that promote healthy hair. • Wave Reviews! Carol Cole Salon stylists stay on top of hair design and technology! The latest on curls? Hair length weighs curls down for a tame look! Also, consider layers for your next cut to give volume for a full look. If your curls have “a mind of their own,” stop by Carol Cole Salon and check out products that ensure a lovely mane! Whatever your hair type, a warm welcome and the best care awaits you

Tips for the new year and hair care needs from the professionals at Carol Cole Salon and Spa