11/26/2012
EMERGENCY FIXES FOR YOUR HAIR
Whether it’s an at-home color job gone awry or a new haircut that’s about five inches too short, we've all had a panicked tress-stress moment or two. So what can you do to fix it? We asked top hairstylists to share their hair care emergency plans: They’re simple, affordable, and effective ways to make your hair healthy again – and cope with temporary hair errors.
Your Emergency: Your hair is fried from over processing and hot tools.
Your Action Plan:
Step 1. Use shampoo and conditioner for color-treated hair that says “moisturizing” on the bottle. These formulas leave protective ingredients on your hair strands.
Step 2. Apply a super hydrating treatment. Comb through a deep conditioner and let sit in hair for 30 minutes. To combat dullness, apply a clear hair glaze, like Aveeno Living Color Shine Glaze ($6.50; drugstores), which wraps hair in silicone to ramp up the gloss on locks.
Step 3. Protect your hair from further abuse by using a thermal protector spray before each and every blow-dry.
Step 4. You can cut back on hot tool use and still keep your hair looking polished: Every other time you would normally style you hair with hot tools, use a smoothing serum and pull your hair back for the day.
Your Emergency: Your at-home hair dye ended up the totally wrong color.
Your Action Plan:
Step 1. Wait 24 hours and then give yourself a “French shampoo”: Mix equal parts 20-volume hydrogen peroxide with your usual shampoo and let it sit on hair for 15 minutes. This will gently lift out some of the wrong color.
Step 2. Reapply a dye formula that’s close to your natural color. Let it stay on roots for half the time indicated on the box and wash it out of the ends of your hair after only 3 minutes on the ends.
Step 3. Use a deep-conditioning treatment, like Reneé Furterer KARITÉ intense nutrition oil ($36 for 3.3 oz; call 1-800-522-8285 for locations), before you shampoo your hair again to help mitigate damage from the double-dye session.
Your Emergency: Your bangs are shaggy and overgrown.
Your Action Plan:
Step 1. If you can’t get to the salon for a trim, do this: Use a lightweight gel, such as Redken Layer Lift 07 Length Elevating Spray-Gel ($15; redken.com for salons to purchase), on wet, clean hair before you blow-dry to help make your ’do look more polished and to counteract the overgrowth.
Step 2. Blow-dry your hair with an all-boar, round brush, which will help the fringe pop up and out of the eyes. If the fringe is still in your eyes, tease the hair at the root by the hairline. This should assist in getting the hair out of your eyes.
Your Emergency: You need style tips to hide a new cut that's too short.
Your Action Plan:
Option 1. Make a diagonal side part and slick the sides back. With strong gel, lift the front by taking a 3-inch triangular section, with the widest part at the hairline (forehead) and narrowing as you go toward the crown. This creates an architectural effect that is flattering and glamorous until your hair grows out.
Option 2. Use a hair putty with fiber, like Garnier Fructis Style Fiber Gum Putty ($4.50; drugstores), to create a slightly messy texture to obscure the details of the cut.
