Although hair styling has thankfully moved away from poker straight and decidedly frazzled looking locks to simply smooth and sleek, some of us are still guilty of over styling and under protecting.

With the masses of heat protection products on the market, there really is no excuse for subjecting our crowning glory to extremes of temperatures usually only found in the Sahara desert!

This month, we are obsessed with Redkens’ ‘Blown away’ 09 protective blow dry gel.

Before you start to panic that you may have fallen through a government engineered black hole and landed back in the 1980s,

let me reassure you that this is completely new millennium technology. This amazing product not only acts like a hairspray, serum and gloss-in-one, but it also contains ‘hair memory’ technology which maintains your style, and the big plus to this range of products is that when you reapply heat with your dryer or styling irons, the polymers are reactivated and continue to protect, de-frizz and smooth without further application, Fabuloso! Especially if like naughty me, you ‘comb’ your hair with the straighteners!!

Simply apply a grape sized amount of gel to damp hair and blow dry… What could be easier?

Hi my name is Scott.

Although I am fairly new to working on the shop floor as a stylist, I am now the Redken Specialist for Heaven spa and one of the ‘La Brasiliana Technicians’.

In my spare time I love to take part in hair dressing competitions, last year I took part in one at my training school and won awards in several categories and I was delighted to be made overall winner too!! I received two gold medals and three trophy cups and because of this achievement, I was recently asked by my training school to represent them at the Cheshire championship 2009.

Please feel free to call Heaven spa and ask for me personally if you have any enquiries about any of our hair services or hair products.

Hope to see you in the near future.

Scott

My name is Amy and I am a Beauty Therapist at Heaven Spa in Didsbury and I’d love to share my experience of using  Redken shampoo and conditioner with you.

I never believed that shampoo and conditioner could make such a difference to your hair, I’ve always used Herbal essences or Pantene Pro V because I loved the smell and saw the adverts on the telly. So one day I was moaning about how dry and dull my hair was and Josh told me to take a Redken tester home to try.

So that night I went home to try it. I opened the packet and thought ‘that’s a bit stingey’ because there was only a small amount of product and my hair is so long and thick. When I put the conditioner on I nearly added my other conditioner to it because I didn’t feel like there was enough, but fortunately I didn’t.

As I was blowing my hair dry I actually could get a brush through it!!! I then straightened it spraying satin silk heat protector through it, and voila!! my hair felt so soft and looked so shiny I was actually amazed! (Even my boyfriend said it felt so nice and he never notices anything).

I came into work the next day and everyone commented on how nice my hair looked, (nobody ever normally does as I always have it shoved up in a bobble) so I spoke to the hairdressers and they advised me which shampoo and conditioner to get as there are quite a few different types. I chose All soft to keep my locks in tip top condition.

I didn’t actually need to get any shampoo at the time but I just had to have it. I don’t think I have ever done that with a hair product before.

As for my old shampoo I let my boyfriend use it, he thinks he’s special now because he gets to use my things.

Choosing which hair care product is right for you can often be a difficult as there are so many to chose from. Considering the average spend on hair care products it is especially important to make the right decision. At Heaven Spa we sell a range of hair care products but we are especially proud of our Redken hair care range. We have come up with the following points to highlight why people would be interested in using Redken products.

• Inspired by the streets of New York
• Available to men and women
• Trend setters in the market place
• Works well with died hair
• New brand so is still a hidden gem. Can impress all your friends with this one
• Premium range products

We can provide you with further information on all our Redken products. You may even want to pop along to one of our salons and try the product first.

Heaven Spa’s YouTube venture has so far been very successful. Not only did our videos attract the interest, we also received some very enlightening and encouraging comments from the viewers.

One of such comments came from Alex who was looking for advice on how to improve the condition of his hair, damaged by chemical straightening and blow-drying. “I have medium-length hair which has been chemically straightened, as it is naturally curly, then cut and layered”, he wrote, “but every time I wash my hair and go to blow-dry it, as I have always been suggested to do to make my hair go straight, then while a lot of my hair is healthy-looking and going straight and dry with the heat of the blow-dryer, some places are not, they go brittle and dry, and really dead-looking. I guess the problem is there even before I start blow-drying”.

In spite of using some repairing products (namely, Redken Extreme Shampoo and a few others), Alex was yet unable to solve his problem. His situation was aggravated by the fact that for a period of time prior to chemical straightening he did not take good care of his hair.

We forwarded Alex’s message to Josh Lowe who has spent over 20 years in hairdressing industry, is a platform artist for Redken and one of the UK’s Redken-certified colourists, and is our Creative Director. This is Josh’s response:

“The root cause of the problem has been the chemical relaxer. It has nearly the same PH and active ingredients as hair removal cream, so it needs some ER care. Firstly, if your conditioner is not the best for the problem you will not lock in all the benefits of the shampoo and protect the hair from further damage. Your best buy would be the Redken Extreme Conditioner. This product will maintain the strength of the hair.

The effect of the relaxer on your hair is that it has damaged the outer structure of the hair – the cuticle – which the Extreme will help reinforce and repair. The damaged cuticle is causing the hair a serious moisture loss, so the next step is to treat your hair every 2 to 3 wash with a moisture treatment. The best for this would be Redken All Soft Silk Fuel. Follow the instructions on the box, you may decrease the frequency of this treatment when you observe noticeable results. Finally, keep using your other redken products . When it comes to styling, you should use a heat protector – Redken Smooth Down Sleek Obedience – worked in to damp hair before styling, and reapply before straightening.
Best of luck and happy styling. Josh”

We hope that Alex and anyone of you who experience the same problem will find the above advice useful. You will notice the links in the post to our new shop where you can purchase the products. As we have recently redeveloped the site, there is a slim possibility that you may encounter problems using it. Please be patient and remember that you can always contact us by email or by phone on 0161 448 8786.

MY FAVOURITES:
1. Water Wax 03 + Glass 01 for high gloss finish and soft definition.
2. Align 12 + Outshine 01 for frizz control 3. Ringlet 07 + Rewind 06 for naturally curly hair, layer or twist curls into shape for defined look.

MY TIP:
Use Workforce 09 on wet hair for durable but soft end result.

MY LOOKS:
Definition/Movement
Forceful 23 and Rewind 06 on wet hair blow dry and finish with Workforce 09.

Straight/Smooth
Apply Workforce 09 throughout hair and blend Glass 01 with Align 12 in palms, then apply evenly. Blow-dry each section using a bristle brush and cool dry for the best results.

Volume
Use Workforce 09 and Satinwear 02 on fine/normal hair. Use Workforce 09 on wet and dry hair especially at the roots.