Helen Charles Salon Blog

Help me Helen, is keratin my answer?

It was another beautiful sunny morning in Weston Town Center and a young lady walked through the front door of the salon.  She looked lost and worried and was clearly looking for advice.  What transpired was more than I imagined.

Melanie arrived in the salon with her beautiful smile, but somewhat worried look on her face. As it is customary, front desk asked me to spare some time for a consultation to understand her needs. At the beginning of her conversation, Melanie was hesitant to explain that, what really bothered her was the unruly hair she ended up with since the last time she had a haircut. She said it was what she asked for and could not understand why her hair was so unmanageable all of a sudden, after taking 4 or 5 inches off her length..

“Short hair is always what I wanted she said”,  forgetting the true nature of her hair.  Although very straight when long, a few inches off the length, would remove the weight which was controlling her curls. So when considering a change of style, it is very important to consider the texture of the hair.

“Is there anything that can be done?” she asked with the same familiar worried look.

I recommended a Keratin smoothing treatment. She was concerned to go down this route as she heard that Keratin could be harmful, damaging, expensive and time consuming. Of course, I assured her that none of these applied. The harmful effect of keratin stems from the fumes which some products with very high formaldehyde have, our product is in gel form and is absorbed into the hair without any fumes during the sealing stage. The damage only occurs if the wrong heat and incorrect action is applied on the hair. The price of this treatment can be from $100 and it lasts 5 months. When one considers the ease of styling, this seems a little price to pay.  As far as the time it takes, trust me, it is no longer than a blow dry with a flat iron service.

This is when I feel lucky that I was granted the wonderful ‘healing power with hair’.  What happened next was a turning point in her life with Melanie. A month later, Melanie wrote:

“Helen, thank you for your help in sorting out my hair.  I have received so many compliments in the last few weeks,  that I feel I gained the confidence I lacked in my teenage years. For my 20^th birthday, I decided to go back to school to further my education and you will be invited to my graduation at the end of 4 years it will take to get my qualification.”

Wow…..what a joy it is to make a difference in someone’s life.

Helen Charles

 

Helen Charles Salon Blog

Welcome!

I am so happy to welcome you all to our new website.  I am also very hopeful that you will find our site helpful and inspiring and look forward to personally welcoming you to the salon at your next visit.

I really believe “word of mouth” is the most worthy of recommendations, so with that said I would love to invite all clients, friends, fans and soon to be fab looking new clients to send us your comments and questions.

Meanwhile, here is a little story, my dearest client Lizzie from Boca Raton, this week added to my many remarkable experiences at the salon. Last Friday Lizzie walked through the salon towards me with an agitated look on her face. This was not like her usual cheerful self and I knew something was about to be revealed. I was right, she was moving to Kenya for a year to work for charity. “I will be doing some hands on work” she said “and want my hair to look stylish”. Oh boy! oh boy I thought. Lizzie, visited the salon twice a week for the last 5 years to insure that not a strand of hair was out of place for her demanding career in the media. Although a challenge for someone like Lizzie to undertake managing her tresses, I knew I would be able to give her a style that she would manage and at the same time adore wearing it.  Needless to say, Lizzie took to loving her new style and after one styling lesson left the salon today feeling absolutely delighted with herself.. I have always believed that when we pick a style which works with the texture of our hair, a good cut and color is all one needs to manage a smart look. As Lizzie’s hair is with texture, for that no-fuss style, I took her length to just above the shoulder with lots of layers. She will be able to wear this beautifully just washed and left.  I added some slices of honey and toffee blond to her natural brown color. I used a new technique called “foliage technique”, which will ensure that Lizzie will not have to touch up the root re-growth as the slices of color is applied under the top layers and will peek through her natural color giving her some dimension. The tears of joy I saw on her face next was worth every late night I spent in the salon with her!