Fashion and Hair Style Category

Going short is becoming popular these days, but once you’ve chopped all of your hair off, what do you do with it? If you have the basic hair tools like a straightener, a curling iron, a blow-dryer, mousse, hairspray and anti-frizz serum, you’re off to a good start already. But even with the right tools, it can be challenging to pull off a short hair style no matter how easy the women on TV make it look. Since you don’t have a team of stylists following you around, you need to take matters into your own hands. This being said, here are some hair styling tips use can use when styling your short hair.

6 Tips for Styling Short Hair

Choose the Right Shape

The first thing to think about when getting a short hair style is the shape you want to have. There are a variety of short hair styles to choose from, and you should talk to a stylist about what would look good on you before taking the scissors to your strands. Take into consideration your face shape, face size, and hair type to avoid getting a hair style that is totally wrong for you.

For example:
You shouldn’t get a pixie cut if you have a long face because you’ll look too much like a boy! And remember: unlike a new blow-dryer, you can’t return the haircut you’ve purchased.

Body and Lift

The blow-dryer is one of the most versatile tools for adding body and lift to short hair, but not everyone knows how to use it. Just by using a round brush in combination with a blow-dryer, you are able to achieve more body and lift. A round thermal brush will give you the same look, but is sometimes troublesome if you get it stuck in your hair.

Use products designed to give more body, in combination with your blow-dryer and fingers to create a messy, but classy just-woke-up look.

Volume and Texture

For more volume and texture, dry your hair; when it is about half-dry, apply a dime-sized amount of styling gel, balm, or mousse to your hair. Work the product through starting underneath the hair, and begin blow drying using your fingers to tousle, lift, and tease your hair (or use a finger diffuser attachment on your dryer).

To get more fullness, section off small parts of your hair and blow dry your hair working from the tips up to the roots. To make the style more put-together, try using a curling iron to touch up the tips, and then add styling paste to add texture.

Smooth and Shiny

To get a smooth and shiny short-haired look, begin by using a towel to dry your hair as much as possible. The closer your hair gets to being dry, the closer it gets to its natural form. Plus, you will avoid stressing and damaging your hair by removing the bulk of the moisture, and you’ll save time by drying it too.

Once you’ve taken the extra moisture off, apply a styling product evenly throughout the hair, and begin sectioning your hair off with clips.

Clip the top layers so that you can start blow drying the under layers. Aim the dryer downward starting from the roots, and moving toward the tips using a bristle paddle brush; this will give you the smooth finish you want. Be sure that your hair is fully dry before starting on another layer of hair because if the hair isn’t dry, it will go back to its natural form.

Complete the style with a shine spray to take care of any frizz, and avoid brushing your hair once you’ve finished styling.

Hot Rollers and Curls

Dry hair thoroughly before using heated rollers; along with this, most stylists will suggest using hot rollers when hair hasn’t been washed recently. Cover your hair in hairspray before dividing it into even sections using a fine-toothed comb.

Start at the crown of your head, then work your way down the back, and finally to the sides. Comb the first section of your hair; then spray again before rolling it onto a roller.

You will get the best results by using sections that are smaller than the roller being used. Using a section of hair that is too big will lessen the tension, and make the curl less likely to hold. To help the hair stay in place, put a piece of paper between your hair and the roller, then roll your hair around the roller, and pull the ends until you don’t see the ends; this eliminates those annoying fish hooks.

Try twisting your hair before putting it on the rollers because this gives you more of a spiral curl than a bouncy curl.

Coloring Your Short Hair

Coloring your short hair is another big decision, and there are several things to take into account here like the color of your skin. When using skin tone to measure hair color, people divide skin tones into two sections: warm and cool.

Warm skin tones are olive, brown, or gold in color. Someone with a warm skin tone should avoid using cooler hair colors like black or dark brown because the contrast can sometimes be too harsh. People with cooler skin tones include those with blue-white, rose, or pale skin. Cool skin tones who use warm hair colors like red or light brown will also have harsh contrast.

If you decide to dye your hair or get highlights, it looks best when you go a shade or two darker (or lighter) than your natural hair color, so that you don’t have unattractive contrast.

In any case, short hair can be just as versatile and sexy as long hair, so don’t be afraid to change your hair length, color, and shape. You can play-up your new look by changing makeup and accessories to draw more attention to your face.

The best part of having short hair is being able to show off your neck, shoulders, and ears. So put some body shimmer lotion on your shoulders to highlight them, wear some big earrings, and wear a shirt that will show off your neck.

Successfully recoloring your dyed hair depends on a number of things, including the type of hair color product you first used, the health of your hair, and how long ago you dyed the hair. Of course, there are quite a few other factors you should consider before choosing to undergo a second dyeing. This being said, here are some tips and guidelines that will improve your chances of recoloring success at home.

Current Health of Hair

When you’re looking into recoloring your hair, you should make sure that your hair is going to be strong enough to handle having more chemicals added to it. After all, the last thing you want to do is wreck the health of your hair by recoloring it too soon. If you’ve gone to a salon for professional coloring, you can revisit the same salon and ask them to perform a recolor two weeks after the initial job.

Assuming that you’ve done your own color at home, wait two weeks between performing another dyeing. If your hair is breaking off easily, dry and/or or has an increased amount of split ends, do not perform a recolor. Instead of recoloring, opt to use a hot oil treatment, or quality deep conditioner to help repair the damage first.

Timeline For Recoloring

If you’ve picked a hair color that looks completely unattractive on you, or you simply want a different look, there are a couple of options to choose from. Assuming you used semi or demi-permanent hair dye, you should first shampoo a few times to see if your color fades to a lighter, more appealing shade.

If this doesn’t work, you should wait two weeks before attempting to fix the bad dye job. The reason why is because choosing to re-dye your hair too soon after an initial color treatment risks further damage to the hair follicles – leaving your strands severely dry and brittle. A couple of other things to worry about with hasty recolorings include purchasing the wrong color for your hair, and your hair absorbing too much or too little color due to the condition it’s in.

The at-home hair dyeing systems suggest waiting four-to-six weeks between any big changes to your hair; this rule also includes perms and highlights. The four-to-six weeks between color or other chemical treatments is the amount of time that your roots typically need to grow back out. You don’t want to use too many chemical treatments on your hair in a short amount of time because it can cause major damage to your hair.

Semi-Permanent Product

You can recolor hair after 6-to-12 washes when you use a semi-permanent hair dye. To help the color last even longer than 6-to-12 washes, use products designed for color-treated hair. But please use caution when recoloring your hair before the color has washed/faded out since this can put your hair’s health at risk.

Demi-Permanent Product

If you’ve used demi-permanent dye to color your hair, you need to hold out on recoloring your hair for 2 or 3 weeks to protect its health. If you’re experimenting with new hair colors, using a semi or demi-permanent hair color is the best option; once you’ve found a color you’d like to keep, begin using a permanent hair dye for longer-lasting color.

Permanent Product

The reason permanent hair dye won’t wash out or fade is because the chemicals used are able to penetrate the outer layer of the hair shaft. Once the hair has been penetrated, the natural pigments dissolve, which allows them to be replaced with pigments in the color solution. For better or for worse, this process permanently changes the color of hair strands.

If you’ve found a color that you like, and want to continue using the product, a permanent hair color is the best way to go because it won’t wash out of your hair. Permanent hair color allows you to go 4-to-6 weeks without coloring your hair again. And the nice thing is that you’ll know when you need a recolor as soon as the roots begin to grow in.

If you choose to recolor your hair before the end of the four-to-six week waiting period, you will have to use deep conditioning treatments to replenish the moisture taken away by the chemicals in the hair dye or chemical treatment. Deep conditioning products aren’t always the solution for keeping hair healthy after multiple color treatments, so be cautious not to over-process your hair.

Root Touch-Up

If you’ve colored your hair with permanent color, you’ll have growth showing in your roots. And this means that you’ll want to perform a root touch-up in between hair colorings.

But remember, don’t use anything other than products designed for root touch-ups since the root touch-up products only affect the surface of hair strands. Instead, try using root touch-up pens like the one made by Oscar Blandi called Pronto Colore Root Touch Up & Highlight Pen. It comes in a variety of shades, and is easy to use. Other options for root touch-ups include the following: Clairol Root Touch-Up, TouchBack (in a variety of shades) or L’OREAL Feira Excellence to-go.

Basic Information

If you’ve found a home hair coloring product that you enjoy using and offers good results, continue using this product according to the directions, and also keep your hair’s health in mind. It’s easy to damage your hair, but it isn’t easy to repair the damage.

Along with this thought, some hair dyes are more harsh than others, and you might go months before noticing hair damage. To keep from exposing your hair and skin to harsh chemicals too often, wait as long as possible between recoloring your hair.

Don’t continue using products that cause skin burning, rashes, or other forms of allergic reactions from ingredients in the hair dye. As long as you keep all of the aforementioned advice in mind, you should be safe to start recoloing your hair.

The invisible high-heeled shoes are the brainchild of Andreia Chaves, who is a footwear designer who lives in Milan, Italy. Raised in Brazil, South America, Chaves has drawn her inspiration from contrasts that she has experienced from living in a bustling city like Sao Paolo, which has led to the conception of the amazing footwear designs that she creates. Apart from that, she is inspired by nature, geometrical forms, and urban textures. However, these invisible shoes are remarkable as they are not just a pair of shoes but are a work of art and a lot of hard work that has gone into creating these one-of-a-kind shoes.

These shoes are now available for sale in Asia and Europe – though at a very high price. Andreia Chavez has already launched her first studio collection of shoes (including the awesome Invisible Shoes) during the Mercedes-Benz fashion show held in New York in February this year. At present, the shoe series designed by Chavez are commercially available in three different styles in which she has used leather and 3-D printing techniques.

The invisible shoes are wedge heels that are entirely covered by fragmented mirrors that provide an optical illusion with each step that is taken with it. It works just like a chameleon as the mirrored shoes take the color of the surrounding environment, thus blending in so well that the shoe is completely lost to the background. Therefore, if you step into a grassy area, then the shoes appear green and if you step into sand, then they appear brown. The mirrors are aligned on to the shoe at different angles, which makes this optical effect happen so perfectly that the heels are nowhere to be seen and the wearer looks taller. The faceted mirrors are placed at such an angle – especially on the heels – that they look apparently flat as they reflect all that surrounds them. Andreia Chavez has a keenness for making shoes with unconventional materials along with a certain geometrical composition that makes her footwear appear like a mathematical art form rather than simple shoes.

This unique pair of shoes is a study of optical effects that give footwear the quality of total immersion within the surroundings. These shoes are limited edition products and a very futuristic design that will truly astonish the onlooker. Chavez has a great eye for creativity and using modern techniques to provide fashionable, modern, and comfortable footwear that creates a solid style statement. It would be great to see people donning her shoes, as now her merchandise is available in various retail outlets that have been opened by her in Asia and Europe.

These amazing hand-made invisible heels provide a triple function – they protect the feet, give the shoes a blending quality with the environment, and make the wearer look taller too. Apart from that, they would really look amazing on Lady Gaga as she has a penchant for unique things.

“I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men.” These are the words of Marlene Dietrich. Who knows better than her on how to become an icon of style? Fashion and style. These two words are always together, like an inseparable couple. To me, they are like sun and moon, black and white, fire and water. They cannot be together and they cannot be without each other either.

The simplest definition of fashion is ‘a popular trend’ and style, ‘a manner of doing something’. I always went with these specific definitions of these two words. In my personal opinion, to be popular and wear what is popular would not give me a sense of satisfaction. I always wanted to be affiliated with a style that is specific to me and up to date. It does not always mean to wear exactly what is fashionable during that time.

I started my journey as a child by watching. I watched everything and everyone. I was curious how specific outfits fit different types of figure. Sometimes it was good, sometimes – a disaster. It made me very interested in fabric. I was thinking that depending on a fabric used, some disasters could have been prevented. What a smart child I was… I especially liked watching what my mom was wearing. I loved going through her clothes and picking what would suit me the most. I would always finish the ensemble with the appropriate hair, make-up and shoes. Just like my mom did. And still does.

Soon after that, as my body was changing, my understanding of what I wanted to wear and how I wanted to look changed too. Maybe, it was not a change itself. It was more likely a transformation. I started understanding what made me look better and what looks were not mine at all. I started developing that feeling or sense, which made me happy or not at all by the way I looked. And later on- the way I lived. Very quickly, I understood that to dress nicely and act poorly was not my style at all. I did not like inappropriate behavior and it was clear to me that it has to be part of that satisfaction that I received from my appearance. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t have fun. I did. I just did it with my own understanding of how it should be done. I guess that’s when I started working on my own style. That part of my journey brought me to the 18th century, understanding of tea parties in England, research of my mother’s relatives who were Russian nobility. And again, I was amazed by my mother. I started believing that whatever she knows was in her blood.  Nobody had to teach her how to be stylish and always look fabulous. It also gave me hope that I might have inherited at least some of that wisdom.

I continued experimenting, and it brought me to different TV shows and fashion books. I was amazed by how many resources are out there. And the more my knowledge grew, the more I was thinking that not many either had access to these resources or thought they needed any guidance.  I could not afford spending thousands of dollars on something I would wear once or twice. And I didn’t expect it from others.  But I knew that there were affordable great options and I could not understand why not everybody would want to take advantage of those. There were only a few I would look at and appreciate their style sense. It made me think of Albert Einstein’s famous quote all the time : ‘A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?’.

Finally, I was smart enough and had this conversation with my mom. I was afraid at first that she would not be able to understand my concerns. But as always, she made me feel so comfortable and content. I asked her many questions, and I remember all her answers so well. The most important was the advice she gave me: Not to run after fashion, but adopt fashion to my own needs and style. At first, I was confused. I could not understand the difference in those terms. And even more – how they applied to me. That is when it hit me. I finally understood that whatever ‘sense’ I developed was my own, personal style. I knew how to be fashionable and I did it in my own way. I didn’t have to like what I saw and now I knew what I didn’t like. I didn’t like that everyone was wearing the same things, the same way. And it didn’t matter if it was not complementing their complexion, skin or hair. It was a very inspiring realization. I understood that I could make a difference by encouraging them to personalize their style and their lives. And all I had to do is be myself and keep developing my own style.

Understanding of your own style comes with a lot of work and experience. This challenge is everlasting. But that is the beauty of it. It is a personal achievement that can be shared with others. Style is something that can be shared and passed on. But at the same time, it is something very personal and individualized. It includes all the human characteristics. You might not like someone personally, but you might respect them for their sense of style. In case of doubt, search for inspiration. Do your research. Ask questions. Educate yourself. And the most important, do not be afraid to experiment. Fashion style will always be part of our lives and as the amazing Yves Saint Laurent once said: ‘Fashion fades, style is eternal