Scientists have found a specific gene, called IRF4, that decides our hair color. This same gene is now believed to cause the loss of natural hair pigmentation during the aging process. This means they have now identified the little boogers responsible for having to get your roots done every so many weeks.

Researchers from the University College London examined DNA from 6,500 people with mixed ancestry in this study. They also found the genes that make curly hair, determine the thickness of beards, and cause the unibrow phenomena. The study was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Every head of hair is different, thus gray density and the speed at which it appears will vary per individual. However, genetics are not the only determining factor for gray hair. About 70% pf gray hair is caused by external factors, such as stress, smoking, and exposure to the sun.

Researchers hope the recent discovery of the gray hair gene will help them discover how to delay or prevent the graying of hair as well as the biology of the aging process.

Oh no!  This might turn the hair color industry on its ear!

After using the same national hair color brand for 24 years, Mike has switched to using the Goldwell brand of professional color.

Over the past few years, Mike noticed that other brands were inconsistent in gray coverage, blending, and overall color retention and performance. Other brands also left the hair feeling dry and brittle. Mike contacted various color manufacturers to enquire about changes to the chemical formulations of these well-known products, but the manufacturers were not interested in stylist feedback regarding lackluster performance.  Mike heard similar concerns from color experts throughout the region and decided to switch in order to improve performance for his clients.

After extensive research and special training, Mike decided on the Goldwell brand, trusted by top-quality salons nationwide. Goldwell holds 84 patents in hair color technology, is proven to fade less than most other brands, and is formulated for optimum gray coverage, even on resistant hair. Goldwell color is proven to retain rich and vibrant tones better than other brands and has one of the most extensive and varied color palates available in the industry. Once colored with Goldwell, the hair is soft, shiny, naturally lustrous, and resilient. The color holds firmly between touchup appointments and is easily retoned without leaving the hair feeling stressed. The colors go on smooth and rinse clean.

Mike has been using the Goldwell brand for several months now, and clients agree the final color results are superior. The colors are true to tone, appear to blend naturally and in balanced hues, and don’t get brassy, off-tone, or faded. The Silk Lift bleaches are toned and infused with silk fibers to keep the hair soft and conditioned. The TopChic permanent colors are naturally vivid and don’t smell or burn the eyes with processing vapor. The Deep Cover demi-permanent is excellent for gray coverage without ammonia and is instrumental for color correction. The Colorance semi-permanent collection leaves the hair shiny without lines of demarcation and is used extensively to refresh the ends of previously colored hair without causing color mutations or over-processed ends. The Elumen collection provides amazing psychedelic color for those clients with a wild creative side. All in all, it’s a versatile, reliable, and long-lasting hair color system, and The Art of Hair is proud to be in the Goldwell family.

The word “Balayage” comes from the French word meaning “to sweep”. This is a highlight technique that is very popular in today’s trends. When applying the color for a balayage, you sweep the color through small triangle sections of the hair, giving it the natural transition down into the lighter color. In Balayage, there are dark pieces left on the bottom to create dimension and a more natural look. This technique looks like natural sun-kissed highlights throughout the hair. The transition is more natural and it is less maintenance than an ombre.  Balayage is done in a freehand style with special coloring agents designed to lightly penetrate the sections of hair. It is important for the colorization to be loose, appearing more random than the highlights achieved through foil work. With this technique, the crown area of the head is sparsely colored with the flair of brightness toward the ends of the hair. This is different from the ombre technique, where the ends of the hair are lightened in a solid block that fades upwards.

Redken has created an amazing new anti-frizz product that is absolutely amazing! Frizz Dismiss Rebel Tame is a cream-based styling product that softens hair, makes it shiny, makes it easier to blow dry and style, and does not leave a gloopy residue. It will take the coarsest, frizzed-out messy hair and make it bouncy and stylish, or smooth and sleek. This stuff is incredible. I have been using it on all kinds of hair types, always with wonderful results. The product declares it will reduce frizz by at least 80%, and it’s true! It solves problem hair with ease. Do you have those annoying flippy-dos or fly-aways that you can’t control? Add some frizz dismiss, and poof! The hair responds beautifully. It will also help keep hair from frizzing all day long when the weather is damp or humid. And it keeps my curly hair from looking like a chia pet! Rarely do I get this excited about a new product, but this one is worth all the fuss. Customers love it so much that it flies off the shelf!

1. Ancient Egyptians were the first to remove unwanted body hair
2. There are five million hair follicles on the human body
3. In Italy during the Renaissance, women dyed their hair blonde using horse urine, while ancient Romans used pigeon dung
4. Each strand of hair contains 14 elements, including traces of gold
5. It takes 13 days for white or gray hair to show after shock, stress, or aging
6. 75% of American women dye their hair
7. Hair contains information on everything that has passed through your bloodstream, including minerals and drugs
8. If left uncut, the average length of hair growth on the human body in one year is 10 feet
9. World’s record for longest hair:  Female, 18′ 5-1/2″ after 30 years of growth;  Male 22′ 3″
10. Number of hairs on the head by color — blondes: 146,000, black 110,000, brown 100,000, red 86,000
11. Only 1.5% of the world’s population are redheads, and the U.S. has the largest number at 2%
12. Hair is the second fastest tissue grown on the body after bone marrow
13. Asian hair follicles are round, African is flat, and European is oval
14. Gender cannot be identified by strands of hair
15. 40-150 strands of hair are shed off the head daily unless you are bald
16. A full head of hair could support the weight equivalent of two elephants
17. A single hair has a lifespan of about 5 years
18. At any given time, 90% of the hairs on your scalp are growing, while the other 10 percent are resting
19. Balding only begins to become visible once you’ve lost over 50 percent of the hairs from your scalp
20. Goosebumps from cold or fear are the result of hair follicles contracting, causing the hair and surrounding skin to bunch up
21. As soon as a hair is plucked from its follicle, a new one begins to grow
22. All hair is dead, with the exception of the hair that’s still inside the epidermis of your scalp
23. Hair is made up mostly of keratin, the same protein animals’ horns, hooves, claws, feathers, and beaks are made of
24. When wet, a healthy strand of hair can stretch an additional 30% of its original length
25. Hair grows slightly faster in warm weather because heat stimulates circulation and encourages hair growth

Senators Diane Feinstein (D-California) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act because regulations on these products have changed little since the 1930s. On average, American women use 12 products containing 168 chemicals on their bodies daily, from shampoo to cosmetics and lotions. Men use fewer products containing on average 85 chemicals daily. On average, teens use 17 personal care products daily, and tests show 16 hormone-altering chemicals in their blood and urine samples. Most of these chemicals are probably safe, but they have not been subject to any kind of independent review to determine safety standards. Attempts to give the FDA the authority to regulate personal care products date back to the Eisenhower administration, but those attempts failed. This time the legislation has the support of companies like Revlon, Johnson and Johnson, and the Personal Care Products Council, who say regulatory reform will promote consumer confidence in products that are used every day. According to Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group (A non-profit organization working to raise awareness on chemical exposures in personal care products), “Cosmetics are sort of the last unregulated area of consumer products law. The FDA has virtually no power to regulate the products we use every day.” The proposed legislation would require the FDA to review five chemicals that are used in personal care products each year. The first set of chemicals will likely be lead acetate, formaldehyde, paraben, diazolidinyl urea, and quaterium-15. The bill would also require manufacturers of personal care products to register their companies, products, and ingredients.

New products are claiming to protect skin from pollutants in the air. A recent Mintel report says that 34% of women in the US are concerned about the affects of pollution on their skin, and cosmetic companies are taking notice.

Products are either being developed or remarketed for the purpose of decreasing damage from air pollution. Products are now being promoted to remove particulates from the skin or neutralize free radicals, which are molecules that can enter the skins cells and cause inflammation.

According to dermatologists, airborne pollution can accelerate normal aging by breaking down collagen and increasing free radicals in the skin.  Experts also say that exposure to pollution over time can lead to skin dullness, wrinkles and dark spots. Using a cleansing brush to decrease the amount of pollution left on your skin overnight along with a topical antioxidant is recommended.

Industry studies are underway to further investigate the effects of pollution on different types of skin, and industry experts say we can expect even more anti-pollution skincare products on the market in the near future.

If you make an appointment for service, time is being held for you in the schedule that you expect to be honored. That time is held for you as a firm commitment, based on the kind of service you have requested. Other clients will call and ask for time to be held for them as well, and the answer will be given “I am sorry, the schedule is fully booked (because of commitments made to clients) .” Not showing up for your appointment and not cancelling an appointment with 24 hours notice means that someone else gets cheated out of service. It also means the stylist ends up with a giant two hour hole in their schedule that is unproductive and won’t pay the bills to run the salon. The same is true when the client shows up on time and says “I just want a haircut today, forget the hi lights,”  and the stylist is still left with a hole in the schedule. Stylists work very hard to stay on time and keep clients from waiting. Of course, in our busy world, we can’t control traffic nightmares, or severe illness, earthquakes, or death, but common courtesy and proper notification to cancel an appointment goes a long way toward making everyone’s world run better. No showing an appointment is very unfair in the working world. If your income were dependent upon people keeping their word and showing up when they agreed to, then you would clearly understand the unfairness of flaking out on a scheduled appointment at the very last minute. No one likes to be treated that way, even you.

In order to counteract the unfairness of those who no show appointments, even after confirmation calls have been completed in a timely fashion, some salons charge a cancellation fee. Some people will try to argue their way out of paying a cancellation fee. Stylists don’t enjoy charging cancellation fees, but what else is there to do? Doctors do it. Its all about accountability. Repeat offenders will end up being asked not to book appointments any more. All of this nonsense can be avoided if the client simply shows up on time as agreed. So please, apply the golden rule, and “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” That’s how it works folks. Plain and simple.

A strange new service was imported to the U.S. from the middle east a few years ago.  With a fish pedicure, you place your feet in an open tank filled with numerous small carp that eat away dead skin from between your toes. This service has been banned in various states, including Washington.

The fish can carry infectious bacteria that causes serious injury to skin and soft tissue, and cross contamination can happen if you place your feet in the same tank where an infected person has been. This process is especially dangerous for anyone with diabetes, cancer, or autoimmune disorders such as AIDS. It is risky to place your feet (some spas offer full body treatments) in tanks where schools of fish produce biologic waste that can cause infection through any open wound.

Some of the fish used have been found to be infected with a strain of streptococcus bacteria that can cause pneumonia and serious infections of the bones, joints and blood. Inspections of imported fish have also shown them to be infected with bacteria that causes cholera and other illnesses, and these strains are resistant to antimicrobial medications.

State law requires all pedicure implements to be sanitized in between clients, and it is impossible to sanitize live fish, or the tanks they inhabit for this procedure. Though intended to be toothless, these fish have been known to grow teeth that can draw blood during a pedicure treatment. Furthermore, these fish are starved in order to excite them to nibbling the dead skin between your toes, and that is simply animal cruelty.

This is obviously a fad treatment that everyone should avoid.

There are more than 82,000 chemicals in common cosmetics and personal care products. The skin is the body’s largest detox organ.  Using chemicals on your skin can hamper natural detoxification through the skin and increase the body’s toxic load.

This is a list of the twelve worst toxins to avoid in your skin and body care products:

Artificial dyes and coal tar — these numbered dyes have names like yellow dye #5 or red dye #4 and are found in most cosmetics, body care products. Derived from coal tar, they also sometimes appear on the label as “CI” followed by 5 numbers such as “CI 75000.” They are potentially cancer-causing and contain heavy metals that are toxic to the brain.

Benzoates — Also known as  benzyl- or sodium benzoate

BHA and BHT — butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene. Both are potential carcinogens and hormone disruptors.

DEA, MEA, and TEA — these make products sudsy or creamy.  Diethanolamine, monoethanolamide, and ethanolamine react to form nitrosamines that are cancer-causing.

Dibutyl phthalate — Also found in baby care products phthalates have been linked to ashtha, birth defects, and cancer.

Fragrance — “fragrance” or “parfum” can actually contain up to 500 other ingredients, many of which are petroleum byproducts and have been linked to cancer, asthma, allergies, and nerve damage.

Lead — rarely listed but frequently found in cosmetics, especially lipsticks.  Check lipstick labels to ensure they say “lead-free.”  Lead harms the brain and nervous system and is difficult to eliminate once absorbed.

Parabens — used to extend the shelf-life of products. Butyl-, ethyl-, isobutyl-, methyl-, and propyl- parabens ens have been identified to be hormone disruptors and a contributing cause of hormonally-linked cancer, and reproductive disorders.

Petrolatum — found in many products including “petroleum jelly”

Sodium lauryl sulphate — acts as a foaming agent and is frequently found in shampoo, body wash. Potential carcinogen.

Stearalkonium chloride — A cheaper ingredient commonly found in many conditioners and creams, caused allergic reactions.

Toluene — an extremely toxic ingredient in nail polish that can damage the nervous system, blood, eye, liver, kidney, and respiratory system.  It may also affect a developing fetus.

Triclosan — an antibacterial additive that contributes to superbugs and antibiotic resistance.