Category: hair care

After 8 months at Sea: Style secrets to always have good hair

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

It’s been too long since I’ve posted in here. And I’m sorry. I don’t know why I haven’t checked in with y’all. Truth is I’ve been learning so much about hair and make-up since I’ve been away. Where have I been? I’ve just finished my first 8 months contract as a hairdresser on board the MSC Meraviglia, a cruise ship extraordinaire! I glamorously (and sometimes not so glamourously) sailed to Bahamas from NY all winter and then sailed the Mediterranean in the spring. My ship had a huge spa dedicated to the art of relaxation, self care and beauty….and I’m here to dish out style tips that saved me on this amazing work journey and kept it on the glamourous looking side. Because travelling and working requires practical hairstyles, that look glam. I’ll talk about the ones below because they balance functionality, with professional polish, and style. And they’re also so easy!

  • Embrace the frizz: I was in the middle of the ocean, and the air was salty, damp and misty. There was no way to have pristine, perfect glossy hair. Unless my hair was coated and weighted down in oil and wax. Or if I were firing up the heat tools every morning to style, which not only did I not have time for, would have fried my hair. I instead heat styled after shampooing only once a week! Then I added a light application of dry waxes and hair oils day to day to keep my ends looking less damaged. That meant I was rocking about 15% frizz on a daily basis. But that’s totally acceptable because the hair looks effortless that way and the frizz was forgivable, because it was still light and bouncy.
This is me in my uniform on a typical day onboard. I feel pretty and ready to work with my half updo hair!
  • We all use thin hair elastics to do braids or hold a pony, or half updo. But the trick to making it look polished? Don’t show the tiny elastics. That’s right. Always cover it up with a ribbon or any polished fascinator or flip it to cover with your own hair with a pony inverter. Same goes for bobby pins. Hide them as anchors under the hair.
This elastic was a simple black one. But what was the elevation? I flipped it to hide it.
  • No low pony tails with a bushel of frizzy ends: For some reason, low pony tails looked very lazy and sloppy on the ship. I think it’s the fact that when hair is pulled back it loses volume and the face looks severe. Then after the elastic, the tail end of the hair style poofs, asthe sea air adds frizz and makes too much undefined volume. It doesn’t looked balanced or tidy, as one may think. The solution I always did was if I was to wear a pony tail, it had to be high pony tail and with straight, sleek hair. it just looked a lot cooler that way!
Higher pony tails with slick hair avoids the frumpiness of low ponies and frizz
  • Professional looking buns are made with french pins: A french pin is an amazing hair tool. It’s not hard to use, and it looks chic and not overly formal. The way I used it was with a pony tail tied with a thin elastic, and the ends wrapped around. In the same sentiment: never use claw clips or scrunchies to hold buns. Claw clips damage hair with their teeth and scrunchies look sloppy.
A beautiful bun without any fuss or overly ornate claw clips with a french pin
A simple french pin is the way to fasten a bun and make it look chique
A simple french pin is the way to fasten a bun and make it look chique
  • Check the back with a mirror in front of a mirror to avoid unknowingly wearing cowlicks: This tip was an important one for me. My hair at the back has a cowlick split that always parts vertically. It’s not pretty. And should be fixed. It’s also a game changer to always know how your hair looks to other people from the back! Ways to fix a cowlick? a bun, a braid, a partial pony, or lots of hair spray!!!
  • Soften up the appearance of pulled back hair in ponytails or buns by leaving out face framing pieces: Women in the workplace and seafaring have to look able bodied without hair falling everywhere, but we also want to look pretty. On a ship pulled back hair signals order and control. But nothing adds more softness and femininity than to leave out some strands at the front of the face to look less rigid and uniform.

And the most important take away from these tips are that none of the styles look overly done up. They just look thoughtfully stylish. And trust me, as a seafarer, there was never enough time in the morning between downing the cup of crew mess coffee and running to report to work. So all the styles mentioned above take less than 5 minutes. That’s the true beauty of any hair routine, in that it looks effortless because it was. More styling tips to come stay posted about the fashion vibes I rocked on the ship!

Yes! There is more work in Haircare for Coloured Hair…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to talk about how often I have heard this reason people use for not coloring their hair: It’s often because in the past the hair colour (especially lightening) had “wrecked” their hair health and it didn’t look good the subsequent weeks after the process….and I have only one thing to say to that. That’s not really a reason not to colour! Lightening and colouring hair doesn’t have to be inherently damaging. Coloured hair does however require more work, time and cost to maintain it’s health afterwards. It’s the sentiment that anything that’s worth having takes WORK. It’s like how committing to a more streamlined body may require more hours at the gym, wherein the goal for exercise is no longer about health–it’s about achieving or maintaining a look. It’s about being willing to put in extra effort to get the look we want! As a hairdresser I know about the high cost of maintenance so I agree that for some, it’s sometimes not worth it. But for that practical reason, it’s a “different song and dance”.

This is my hair colour when it’s not styled. But even so. a lot goes into this look including not washing it often, leave in treatments, oils…etc.

The Hurdles of Hair Colour And After-Care:

  1. Retouches: Hair grows…the last I checked, so that means after two months about an inch of regrowth is expected. While the natural hair color is okay on it’s own, the line that happens when the new growth meets existing artificial colour is usually not flattering. Here’s where maintenance is required. Refreshing the roots of the hair is a must and the most that a root smudge can do is prolong the need for refreshing.
  2. Re-toning: Even if a root retouch is not necessary, sometimes toning is. Artificial colour is not really permanent, even if it says it is. After exposure to shampoos and the sun, the hair colour will fade, leaving behind the brassiness that was previously covered up. Re-toning is often a procedure for blondes and cool toned brunettes when the colour fades.
  3. Excessive Dryness: because the cuticle of the hair needs to be lifted to be coloured, it never lies as flat as it did before dying. That means the hair strand’s ability to hold onto moisture will be compromised. Heavy conditioners with moisturizing properties must be utilize to maintain shine and mitigate frizz! Leave-ins and oils too!
  4. Weaker hair prone to breakage: Colouring hair depletes some of the proteins/keratins in the hair strand making it more prone to breakage. Keratin repair masks will be needed occasionally to help strengthen the hair and prevent breakage. This is especially true for blondes that were lifted starting from very dark bases.
  5. Change in haircare routines: Because coloured hair tends to be more fragile, it often benefits from less washing and styling. Shampooing lowers the natural pH in the hair and does cause it physical stress. We love the feeling of squeaky clean hair but seeking that too frequently comes at as cost. A new routine of less washing and more leave in conditioners and oils become the daily norm!
  6. Extra styling: Wash and go. That’s a term we all love! It means after shampooing and conditioning, little styling or products are needed. Air drying, and just a quick rough tumble under the hair dryer at most. But often after colouring, hair needs more styling to get the hair looking less frizzy; extra products and heat tools like a flat iron might be needed to make the hair look smooth!

Is this too much work and maintenance for having a different hair colour? But that is the true cost of hair colour…in the end, I guess it is to each their own. But that’s the reality of anything done for cosmetic reasons. It takes work. But doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it! For me, hair is like a canvas for expression, but as an extension of our bodies, it is also more than that.

This is the heavy line up of arsenals I use for my blonde care! A gentle shampoo, moisture mask, purple toning conditioner, anti breakage leave in, K18 treatment, coconut oil, and a wet brush to name a few!!!!

Choosing to go blonde, why or why not?

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment
One of the many blonding services that I provide at the Queen Shop Hair Salon in West Toronto. Getting hair lighter is my thing!

There are so many hair colours out there in the world, but as a hairstylist, I know what the most common natural hair colours out there are. Most people are naturally dark haired….black or brown. A small percentage of the population is red haired, and dirty blonde…but even fewer are are the light blonde. So let’s talk about the idea of being “blonde”. What does that mean and what does that entail?

Blonde hair in western culture has been the conventional beauty standard for decades, mostly for females. While dark hair has it’s beauty moments, such as it’s mainstream normalcy in Asian culture, or in alternative goth emo sub culture; in general though, very light hair has been most unquestionably desirable. Which goes to explain why highlights and balayage are my bread and butter service. But I digress. What does being “blonde” exude? I’d say it’s a feeling of freedom, passion, carefreeness, poise, softness and uber femininity that other hair colours are not as readily associated with; it’s not to say that dark hair doesn’t convey beauty,. But it’s a more cerebral beauty. It’s more mysterious and fleeting. In terms blatant obvious beauty, blonde hair does it in one go.

Famous Blondes:

Elle Woods from “legally Blonde” is a prime example in how her appearance changed the way people treated her. Elle had to fight to be taken seriously in law school, to been seen as “smart”. She had a depth of knowledge in the area of fashion and make-up, but it was not deemed as a strength that was worthy of respect. Marilyn Monroe, an icon of blondeness was mostly revered for her sex appeal, and countless interpretations of her life story shows how she had been, in a way, a victim of her fame. Having started out as a pin up model, Marilyn was often overly sexualized. Madonna, Gwen Stefani…represent the other side of blonde beauty. They took to it as a way to express and embody ambition. They are strong and determined and have a voice, a direction. They were artists.

Image from Legally Blonde, 20th Century Fox, 2001.
This image released by Netflix shows Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde.” (Netflix via AP)
“I’m just as girl” a song lyric made famous by the Singer of No Doubt, Gwen Stefani.

Things to consider before going blonde

  1. Different hair gets different degrees of damage when going blonde. Very fine hair breaks easily when lightened, and dark coarse hair can also break easily because of the amount of lightning strength needed to lift it so many levels. It’s important to proceed with caution.
  2. Blonde hair requires more maintenance to keep it looking good. But ironically, once hair has been lightened, any additional chemical services on it also makes hair risk breakage. Lightened hair needs more moisture as it’s lost some of it’s ability to retain it. And it needs time to recover from being lightened.
  3. Going blonde as a way to cover grey hair is one of the best reasons in my opinion to go blonde. Instead of monthly visits to the salon, blonde foils make the greys look like highlights, or at least less noticeable. And the visits to the salon for colour can be stretched to 4 to 6 months.
  4. Going blonde just for “fun” is not fun, in my opinion. Because of the commitment needed to upkeep it and the potential damage it causes to healthy hair, it’s just not worth it for a temporary kick from having a change of colour. It’s also expensive and time consuming to do, and not everyone looks better with lighter hair.
  5. There is the danger of blonde addiction. After a while of being blonde, the colour sometimes looks dull for some reason and there is an urge to add more highlights, to keep going blonder. It happens because we get used to being blonde and don’t see how light we actually are. And the down side of that can be an over processed and unbalanced platinum mess. So beware of that!

What are the joys and pitfalls of any hair colour? I’m sure its all very personal to each of us. And as long as we wear the colour we feel the most “us” in, nothing can go wrong. But let’s be nice to our hair, even if we are not planning to grow it past our shoulders, hair should always be encouraged to let it do it’s own thing.

Different blonde “me’s” I always have fun being blonde and will keep this colour for a while. It suits me, no?