Why Brassy Hair Happens – And How To Fix It!

Image via Instagram/elevenaustralia

Brassy hair happens to almost everyone with lightened hair, but the good news is, there are ways to reduce brass when it appears, and to avoid unwanted warmth in the first place.

So why does it happen?

Everyone’s hair has warmth lurking within – you may not see it, but it’s there. When your natural colour is removed by lightening, the underlying brassy tones of your hair are revealed. Colourists manage this by mixing colour and toning formulas that contain blue and purple tones to cancel out the unwanted reds and yellows that lightening exposes.

Once you leave the salon there are many other factors which can contribute to your strands becoming yellow over time.

Exposure to the elements

Oxidising is defined simply as the addition of oxygen. When hair colour is exposed to oxygen it begins to oxidise and fade. UV rays also contribute by damaging our hair and drying it out. When strands are damaged like this they become more porous, making your colour fade faster. When colour fades, it tends to reveal the underlying warm pigment in your hair.

The pool

Pools are infused with chlorine to kill nasty bacteria, however the chlorine solution used in pool is also a form of bleach. Bleach removes colour, and unfortunately that includes your hair. And when your hair lightens, those warm tones start peeping through.

Your shower

You may not realise it, but the water coming out of the shower head in your bathroom could be making your hair brassy! That is, if it has a high level of mineral deposits. This type of water can cause build-up in your hair, which then dries it out and makes it prone to damage. Hard water not only leaves mineral deposits in the hair, but it also prevents the penetration and absorption of moisture.

Your hair products
Your shampoo could be helping to turn those strands brassy. Some shampoos strip your hair colour and contain parabens and sulphates that actually damage your hair and contribute to brassiness.

How to fight brassy tones

First and foremost, if you should leave lightening to the professionals. Our colourists are professionally trained to understand how your hair will respond to lightening and how to lighten your hair without exposing your hair’s warm tones.

Once you leave the salon, the best way to maintain your blonde is with a special shampoo and conditioner designed for lightened hair. These violet-toned shampoos and conditioners counteract brassiness by cancelling out golds and reds with blues and purples. And don’t be alarmed by its purple shade – it is not going to do any damage to your mane, or dye your hair lavender!

We love KEVIN.MURPHY’s Blonde Angel Wash and Rinse, and Eleven’s Keep My Colour blonde shampoo and conditioner. Both ranges nourish your hair with naturally-derived ingredients and are paraben and sulphate free. And as an added bonus both are also certified cruelty free!

 

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Reds Guide to Thick Hair

image via Instagram/lovekevinmurphy

 

Thick hair is often viewed as the ideal hair type, but those who were born with a full head of thick, luscious locks are definitely familiar with the struggle of managing their mane. If you’re struggling with the upkeep of thick hair, not to worry, here’s our Reds guide for everything you need to know.

Add Layers

Adding layers is one of the easiest ways to make thick-hair more manageable. Adding layers gives the hair natural body and movement and also thins out the hair to help tame it and give it shape.

Use Hydrating Products

Thick hair tends to be dryer, so it’s important to use products that keep your hair hydrated and avoid frizz.

Look out for products and treatments that are specifically designed for dry hair. We love KEVIN.MURPHY’s HYDRATE-ME range, which uses premium-quality, natural ingredients to naturally hydrate, smooth and moisturise your hair while also adding elasticity and shine.

And adding an at home masque to your routine once a week, like KEVIN.MURPHY’s HYDRATE-ME. MASQUE or Eleven’s Three Minute Repair Rinse, will help you to avoid stubborn flyaways and frizz.

Invest in Your Heat Stylers

Ever wonder why professional heat styling tools cost so much more than your run of the mill department store brand or why your hair always looks that much smoother and shinier when you leave the salon? It’s because your hair stylist has invested in higher grade heat styling tools, which you should too! Reds stocks a range of premium heat styling tools which will take your style to the next level, without damaging your hair in the process.

The Best Hair Accessory

One of the biggest struggles for women with thick hair is having the right hair accessories to be able to successfully and beautifully style it. If you struggle with achieving a high bun or ponytail because of your heavy, thick hair, try out the Invisibobble hair ties. These hair ties are made with a telephone cord like spiral, which give the band extreme hold but maximum comfort—perfect for thick hair!

 

 

 

Move over Ombré! Mid-lights are Trending

 

image via Instagram_elevenaustralia 

Perfect for all hair tones, mid-lights are all about creating luscious texture and depth that works in harmony with your natural colour.

Instead of changing your natural base colour, mid-lights add a balance of neutral, warm and cool tones to enhance your natural hair colour. Basically, it’s recreating the multidimensional hair colour you had when you were a child.

Because they work in harmony with your natural colour, mid-lights are perfect for the transition between seasons. And unlike global colours, mid-lights are low-maintenance. There’s no need for constant touch-ups due to there being no clear demarcation line or regrowth – making it an economical option, too.

Our top hair product heroes to make your hair INCREDIBLE

The beauty market is saturated with hair styling options. Be it serums or hair mousses, it’s often difficult to know where to start.

We’ve broken it down by picking our hair heroes. Take a look at our favourites below for your ultimate hair inspo.

Hero Hairspray

KEVIN.MURPHY Session Spray. This aerosol provides a firm, brush-able, and weightless lasting hold with natural fragrance oils and a UV shield for colour protection.

 

Hero Treatment

Eleven Australia Miracle Hair treatment. Suited to all hair types, this lightweight leave-in treatment delivers ELEVEN benefits your hair will LOVE.

 

Hero Dry Shampoo

KEVIN.MURPHY Fresh Hair. A dry shampoo that removes odours, excess oil, and all your sins from the night before.

 

Hero Heat Protectant

KEVIN.MURPHY Young Again. A weightless leave-in treatment oil infused with Immortelle to counteract the oxidisation and ageing process. Offers heat protection up to 200°F/93°C.

 

Hero Deep Cleansing Shampoo

Eleven Australia Deep Clean shampoo. A deeply cleansing shampoo that removes stubborn excess oil from the hair and scalp. For all hair types.

 

Hero Styling Paste

KEVIN.MURPHY Free Hold. A flexible hold styling paste with a natural shine and a thickening effect on hair. Contains essence of Bergamot, suitable for all hair types.

 

Hero Blonde Shampoo

KEVIN.MURPHY Blonde Angel Wash. Refresh Blonde tones with this Lavender infused, colour enhancing shampoo. Optical brighteners rescue dulled colour and restore shine. For blonde or grey hair.

 

Hero Conditioner

KEVIN.MURPHY Hydrate Me. A super smoothing and hydrating conditioner for hair that just cannot be repaired or hair that is naturally dry or hair that lives in a very dry climate. It will nourish dry hair and make split ends unrecognisable. This formulation is still packed with antioxidants as this gives the hair a healthy glow and stops the hair from losing any more moisture.

Six Hacks to Painlessly Break In Your New Shoes

image via Instagram/asterbells_clothes_closet

Here’s some tricks of the trade that actually work when you need to break in your new shoes.

1. LITTLE AND OFTEN

It’s a good idea to buy shoes well in advance of the event they’re for. That way you can break them in gradually. Try slipping them on when you’re at home in the evenings or pop them on for your lunch time stroll.

2. SANDPAPER YOUR SOLES

New shoes can be very slippy – especially heels – and trying to keep yourself from going flying on their debut outing can mean your feet are doing a lot more work than they need to. To avoid getting blisters from ever-scrunched toes, buff some sandpaper on the sole of your shoes to give them a bit more grip.

3. CRANK UP THE HEAT

Using heat on new shoes is a great way to soften and stretch the material. Put on some thick socks, slip on your shoes and gently add heat with a hairdryer. Make sure the heat is evenly distributed by moving the shoe around to avoid melting the material and then walk around in the shoes. The heat will loosen the fabric, while the socks will stretch it out.

4. ICE, ICE BABY

If heat doesn’t work, try the other end of the temperature scale. Fill freezer bags with water (remove all air from them before sealing) and stuff them into your shoes. Stick them in the freezer and leave them for approx. 4-8 hours. Water expands as it freezes, stretching your shoes at the same time.

5. SOAK IT UP

If your new shoes are leather, spray some rubbing alcohol on the inside of your shoes, put them on and walk around in them for at least 20 minutes. The alcohol will soften the leather and help the shoes mould to the size and shape of your feet.

6. TAPE YOUR TOES

If all else fails, tape your third and fourth toe together. Sounds weird, but it works. There’s a nerve split between the two toes which hurts when pressure is put on it. By taping the two together you’re perfectly aligning your muscles to avoid pressure on that nerve.

Four ways to reuse your beauty packaging

According to research conducted for the recent Zero Waste week, the cosmetics industry produces 120 billion units of packaging per year. By 2050, it is predicted that there will be up to 12 billion tonnes of plastic in landfill generated by the beauty industry alone.

The good news is it’s easy to research products before you buy. Plenty of beauty brands – including our very own KEVIN.MURPHY and ELEVEN hair care ranges – are taking big steps towards sustainability. And sustainably-sourced doesn’t just mean minimal impact on the environment, it also means high-quality ingredients.

Here are a few simple ways to take an environmentally responsible approach to your own beauty habits.

Reuse your candle glasses
Candles are perfect for reuse – from the charming labels, to textured finishes. Wash the finished candle glass by adding boiling water – this will soften the remaining wax and raise it into an easily removable disk – then wash as you would any other glass. Candle glasses also double up as perfectly sized tumblers.
Use old make-up compacts and product containers for storage

Clear out any remaining powder from your finished compacts. Wash and dry thoroughly and use as a secure storage container for small fiddly items like paper clips, safety pins, buttons and hair ties.

Be a smart shopper
Seek out brands with viable, environmentally-friendly initiatives. For instance, at MAC you get a complimentary lipstick for six empties. Dior has dropped all cellophane and excessive paper from its packaging, while KEVIN.MURPHY makes every effort to use packaging that is recyclable or biodegradable.

Turn perfume bottles into diffusers

Beautiful perfume bottles are hard to part with – and there’s no need to when you can reuse them as room diffusers. Just place reeds into the bottle and the scent will fill the room for weeks to come.

We Care: Our salon’s journey towards zero waste

Here at Reds we believe it’s important to minimise our impact on the planet. To create a sustainable future for our business we have committed to practices that will support and sustain our environment and we’re proud to have won a number of awards for our work. Here’s the ways we follow the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to address our practices in the areas of waste, water and energy.

 

Reduce

The first and most effective component of the three R’s is reducing the waste created. Here’s some of the ways we have changed our practices to use fewer resources and create less waste:

• With a combination of monitoring and incentives we have achieved a 5% decrease in our annual rate of product wastage while retaining the same colour service level at around 50%. We are proud to have achieved an average wastage of less than 1 gm per client.
• We use energy efficient hairdryers – our New Parlux 3800 is the latest eco-friendly ionic and ceramic hairdryer. This energy saving, ozone-friendly dryer is also made from recyclable materials
• To reduce chemical use we only stock Kevin Murphy and Eleven hair care products which are paraben and sulphate free. These products are also certified by PETA as cruelty free and only contain ingredients that are ethically sourced.
• Our Kevin Murphy ‘Colour.Me’ range of hair colour is PPD and ammonia free.
• We ensure taps are turned off between shampoos and have low flow hose attachments.
• We use ‘Rockfoil’ when colouring – made from recycled environmental waste that is photo degradable.
• All our cleaning products are eco-friendly.
• Our LED lighting is energy efficient and eco-friendly.
• We save residual power by always turning off switches.
• To reduce both excessive use of water and power, due to continuous washing and drying of towels, we have introduced disposable, compostable towels. All other washing is dried on the line outside.

 

Reuse

We have devised a number of ways to ensure much of our waste can immediately be reused to minimise the strain on the environment:

• Our new client and pre-quote form is laminated and reusable.
• Tea towels, cleaning cloths, and capes are washed and reused.

 

Recycle

When waste is eventually discarded, separating items for recycling from other waste is important. We have created an efficient recycling system to radically reduce the amount of waste we send to the landfill.

• We recycle all paper, cardboard, foil, tint tubes and plastic.
• We use our Reds worm farm to compost hair, coffee grounds, tea bags, compostable towels and kitchen waste. We donate our vermicast to fertilise a local community garden.
• The packaging of our entire hair care and colour range is 100% recyclable.
• Our retail bags are recyclable and biodegradable and made with recycled paper.

 

These small adjustments have helped the Reds salon become an environmentally responsible business. We have seen the benefits and continue to actively seek more sustainable options and practices. We believe that by practicing the three R’s we are helping to make a positive difference to our planet.

Four Proven Tips for Beautiful Hair

image via Instagram/lovekevinmurphy

A Haircut

A haircut is one of the most important things you can do for the health of your hair. If you’re dealing with split or damaged ends – often a result of excessive heat damage – book in for a cut and then adhere to trims every 8 weeks thereafter. Styling-wise, you’ll notice the difference instantly.

In-salon treatment

We’re proud to offer the fabulous Kevin Murphy TREAT.ME in-salon treatments. Containing ‘Super Proteins’, amino and alpha hydroxy acids from vegetables and plants, they strengthen the hair shaft and repair damage created by heat styling and chemical services. TREAT.ME can be tailored to suit each of your individual hair needs and will make the surface of your hair more smooth, supple, and elastic. TREAT.ME is colour safe and like all Kevin Murphy products is sulphate-free.

Colour

Our hair colour line COLOR.ME uses gentle and naturally derived ingredients to naturally moisturise and rejuvenate your hair, creating natural looking results with incredible shine. From rosy golds to icy blondes and velvety toffees to ruby reds, give your hair a beauty boost with our range of luxury colours.

First comes health, then comes texture

If Alexa Chung, Chrissy Teigen, or Blake Lively are your hair muses, chances are you favour the look of a rough-and-tumble texture. But that’s not to be mistaken for unhealthy hair. Firstly, towel-dry your hair for 15 minutes before flipping your head upside down and blow-drying until it’s eighty percent dry. Finish by smoothing the ends – The last three inches are key, so move your brush and dryer right down to the very ends of the hair, before applying a texturising spray and scrunching up to the mid-lengths.

Hairpins: What they are and how to use them

We all know about bobby pins, but what about their U-shaped cousin, the hairpin?

Hairpins

Like the bobby pin, the hairpin is double pronged, but its prongs are open, making a shape like the letter “U,” which is why it is often called a U-shaped pin. Both prongs of a hairpin have ribbing to help it stay in the hair and keep the style in place. If your hair is extra soft and fine, look for hairpins that have textured prongs instead of the traditional sleek metal prongs.

Hair Styles Using Hairpins

Hairpins are great for styling delicate updos because they are light and disappear into the hair better than bobby pins. Their open shape means they won’t flatten your bun like a bobby pin can, while still holding your style in place.

How To Create a Messy Bun with Hairpins

To create a modern, messy bun with hairpins, first gather hair into a pony tail anywhere on on your head. Keep in mind that your ponytail placement will determine where the centre of the bun will be.

Next, divide your ponytail into sections and lightly backcomb. The texture will help the hairpins stay in place.

Wrap your backcombed ponytail around the base and pin in place by holding the hairpin perpendicularly to your head and catching about two centimetres the hair that’s in the bun.

To secure, flip the pin flat against your scalp, and push in toward the centre of the bun.

Three Easy Ways To Curl Your Hair

1. Classic Curl 

image via Instagram/colorme.slave

This gorgeous curl is by far the easiest.

First, wrap your hair flat around the curling barrel. Make sure that there are no spaces between the wraps of hair around the barrel – it should resemble a ribbon.

Make sure that you hold the curl around the barrel for between 10-15 seconds so that it sets. Then, release the curl into your palm and let it set for a few seconds. As you will see, a very classic curl comes out – perfect for ball season, a nice dinner out or any other special occasion.

 

2. Twist Curl

image via Instagram/sonderhairstudio

Grab a small section of hair and twist it away from your face.

As you twist it, curl it really tight around the barrel and leave for 10-15 seconds.

Release it into your palm and let it cool down in your hand. You will get an interestingly shaped curl that ends up looking like a nice beach wave.

 

3. Loose Wave

via Instagram/jennailiouhairstylist

If you ever wonder how to get loose waves with a curling iron, this is it. This option is also great for when you are in a rush, since you will be working with bigger sections of hair.

Take a thick section and place it around the barrel.

As you curl your hair, don’t just hold it in place, instead, do a slight rolling motion (up and down). You should get a gorgeous loose wave as a result!