Best Beautiful Brunettes Los Angeles

Before

I cannot tell you how many brunettes come into the Cal Martini Color Group, believing that being brunette is a life sentence to boring hair.  Some opt to go blonde, thinking that this is their only real option for glamour. Unfortunately, few brunettes look anything but terrible as blondes. And fortunately, these particular brunettes have it all wrong – brown hair does NOT have to equal boring hair.

These days there are some incredible sexy, modern ways to highlight brunette hair that are a far cry from the old “streaks ‘n tips” of yesteryear.  And by using a combination of innovative highlighting techniques and the most cutting edge hair color products there is a way to turn your boring brown hair into something to envy!

Read more about Beautiful Brunettes 

Beth Minardi is a world renowned hair colorist and hair color creator.  So not only does she continually create the most innovative methods of coloring hair,  her brand new hair color line, Beth Minardi Signature Shades,  is designed to take the most cutting edge highlighting techniques to a whole new level of gorgeous.  These are definitely not your mother’s highlights!

zig-zag partings

Do you want a spicy golden brown?  Or maybe you prefer to warm up your hair  with gorgeous auburn tones. By infusing 3 different , 3 gorgeous Beth Minardi Signature Shades in foil, and by using a hair color technique Beth calls “American Balayage” combined with zig-zag partings, you can get subtle, yet incredible hair color results, creating a look that is better than natural.

American Balayage

For example, using this “trending” American Balayage hair color technique and painting the hair in the first foil the shades of “Fawn” which is a touch lighter and warmer than dark brown, and in another foil a medium balanced brown (what Beth Minardi Signature Shades call “True Brunette”) and in the 3rd foil a little lighter color called “Chardonnay” they take hair color to an art form.  It subtly infuses your plain brown with spicy, exciting colors.  The contrasts in color make your hair look thicker and the hair color has exciting depth.  The Zig-Zag partings mean that no-one can tell where the different colors begin on the head. So no-one knows you’ve colored your hair,  they only know that it looks gorgeous. This is a fashion forward multi-dimensional form of “Shade on Shade” or “Tone on Tone” technique of hair color application.

Using the Beth Minardi Signature Shades not only gives you a wider variety of new hair color choices, the quality of the hair color product, and the way it was formulated ensures that your hair is in better condition after coloring than before.

This is possible because of two marvelous important elements in the formulation of this technology advanced hair color product: the Nutrient Replacement Complex “Phyto-Collagen, which is a protein that stabilizes and replenish the natural fiber of the hair,  and Ceramide 2, which reduces displacement of natural lipids, preventing the dehydration effects of color on hair.

Beth Minardi Signature Shades is the only hair color line that features the latest technology of both Phyto-Collagen and Ceramide 2.  And this means that the end result is super shiny hair and color that doesn’t fade – or worse – change tone in response to sun and other environmental damage.  So your plain flat brown hair becomes more healthy, shimmering, dimensional and filled with subtle warm shades that make your hair color enviably beautiful.

 

The Best Shampoo Systems for Color Treated Hair

To begin with, as I said in part one of this blog, all three Beth Minardi hair care systems are protective of color-treated hair, and actually make it even shinier and prettier. Even better, these shampooing systems distinguish between types of color treated hair and types of color processing. Permanent color is different from semi-permanent. It creates different hair issues that require different kinds of balancing to get your hair’s ph back to where it should be. Semi permanent coloring is less stable and more easily washed away, so it requires an especially gentle shampoo and enhanced color-protective properties.

Shampoo Systems for Color Treated Hair

Shampoo System #1  smells lovely and fresh and is absolutely weightless, which makes it

Minardi System Wash #1

perfect for thin and fragile hair. It is so gentle it is safe for semi-permanent or demi-permanent hair color, strengthening fine hair with vegetable proteins. The sheer, weightless formula conditions hair without weighing it down, so you get shine and elasticity, without a limp or greasy feeling. Usually when you have thin hair you have to choose between conditioning and body – with this system you can have both!

Shampoo System # 2

Minardi System Wash #2

is scented with the tang of fresh fruit, and is perfect for normal –to-dry hair that is colored with permanent hair dye. It gives a great balance of protein strengthening and moisturizing. This is the system I use, because although my hair is fine it is far from fragile these days. (it used to be) I do color my hair and the last thing in the world I want is for anyone to actually notice that I do. Much better that they think I have incredibly shiny and soft hair that smells really good!

Shampoo System #3 is what I use when my hair is completely stressed

Minardi System Wash #3

out. It delivers the most protein and moisturizing, so that when my hair is fragile, it is protected and can start to build it’s strength. If you are using more than one process on your hair, this is the shampoo and conditioner to use.

Now, if my hair is in truly awful condition, I also use Minardi fortifying pre-wash therapy,  which is a treatment to put on hair and then leave there for a while. If your hair is very dry from too much sun and salt, or sun and chlorine, or from blow-drying your hair in desert air, or from using way too many chemicals, this is

Minardi fortifying pre-wash therapy

the stuff to put in your hair as a treatment. I use it when the Santa Ana’s are blowing – during those weeks my hair is a struggle! The air is powder dry, I can never seem to drink enough water, and on top of it all, the sun is relentless. You can wash it out (using your favorite shampoo system) after a while and your hair will feel much, much better.

By the way, I use Hera by Derma Quest a Pure Aragan oil on my hair after I wash it and before I blow-dry – I also use Argan Oil on my face and neck and hands – the Santa Ana’s make me feel SO dry and my hair and

Hera by Derma Quest a Pure Aragan oil

my skin feel parched. I like Hera because it also has some grapeseed oil and a sunscreen blended in, and best of all, it is scented with Bergamot! The only thing better than shiny healthy hair is shiny healthy hair that smells good!

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Wedding Day Hair Color

Getting ready for your wedding day requires a lot of planning and most of it should start several months in advance. But be prepared – you have a very long list of extremely enjoyable tasks to get through! Some of the more obvious items you need to get done include trying on every wedding dress you see (and then freaking out and going on a diet) choosing hair accessories and jewelry, making guest lists, going to tastings (and then getting back on your diet) registering for wedding gifts…and, most importantly, pampering and grooming yourself so that you look amazing in every wedding picture! And when it comes to personal beauty don’t forget the hair color! Getting a bride’s hair color just right for her wedding day can take a few months.

First and foremost, you want to book a consultation with your favorite hair colorist at least 4 months before your wedding date. Because before you start refreshing or changing your hair color you want to make sure your hair is in top condition, so that when you do apply color, it adheres beautifully and evenly. So make sure you give yourself some time to do some hair therapy first.

Different hair styles work best with different hair colors, which is one very good reason why you need to plan your wedding day hair style and hair color at the same time. For example, blond hair looks especially lovely in buns and twists – braided or coiled – because the various textures of the twists and coils really show up on light hair. Those same twists get lost in the darkness of a brunette’s hair. Dark hair is instead suited to smooth smooth shiny styles, or longer articulated waves. Redheads are usually fighting frizz and the hair is often a little fragile, so the hair style and the hair products they choose should take that into account. Once you decide on a wedding hair style you can map out a strategy for highlights and color. So many of the classic up-dos and semi-up-do’s popular with brides look much better with highlights carefully placed to enhance the intricacy of the braids, layer or twists of hair. If you choose to wear your hair down, then you will want those highlights placed to frame your face, to catch the light and highlight it in pictures.

You should also show your hair colorist your veil and discuss the hair accessories you are contemplating wearing. Choose accessories that contrast with or compliment your hair color. And you and your hair stylist can also chat about artfully highlighting with some of the more cutting edge techniques of tone on tone, or ombre hair color strategies that artfully add shine, dimension and depth to your hair.

Whatever you decide to do, do not wait until just before your wedding to do it – you want to make sure you like your hair!! And if you have decided to just freshen up your highlights, don’t wait until the day before your wedding to do them – they actually look much better about a week after application. It takes that long for the color to adhere to the hair. And again – make sure you get a few extra lightening foils right around the face to brighten you up in photos.

When you do get your highlights, they need some time for the color to settle. So refrain from shampooing for at least a couple of days – and when you do shampoo them use a shampoo that is safe for color-treated hair. Anything else will strip the color. I recommend Beth Minardi’s, Minardi Luxury Hair Care

Minardi Luxury Hair Care

products for anything to do with color, as her line was specifically designed to not only protect but enhance color treated hair.

Have fun being beautiful!!!

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Great Haircuts for 2012 part 2

When we think about how to cut our hair we are weighing so many factors. First and foremost, we think about how our hair frames our face. But upkeep, maintenance, is equally important, since we are going to be in charge of the styling until our next visit to our hair stylist. Another consideration for our choice of haircut is how it fits our lifestyle – where we work, what we do. And finally, sometimes we just need a change, and nothing shakes our look up like a new haircut or hair color. So here are some more things to consider when you want to shake things up with a great haircut for 2012.

Bangs revisited!

Blunt cut bangs

No look is more polished and elegant than blunt cut bangs, and they go with any length of hair as long as it is past your chin. Any shorter and the bangs overwhelm the hair do-but once past the chin they are balanced by your smooth and shiny tresses. I noticed that Sandra Bullock has updated her own long brown locks with blunt-cut bangs. Another beauty who is rocking this look on the red carpet is Jennifer Hudson and she has never looked lovelier.

In my other blog on great haircuts for 2012, I mentioned that one of the challenges of choosing to have bangs is that we so often get sick of them long before they have grown out. And no matter how much you love them, you will probably want a change eventually. But don’t sweat it. Just disguise your growing bangs with a cute center part and then blow them out with a product like Minardi Luxury Hair Cares “Pieces” soft hold pomade, to keep them loose and pretty but still out of your face! Trim and even layer the rest of your hair to compliment the look and suddenly you have a lovely, put-together, layered look instead of awkwardly growing out bangs hanging in your eyes.

The classic Blunt haircut-growing out

The bob is always in fashion, which means you can either update it or grow it out. Fortunately this classic look grows out beautifully, as long as you keep it trimmed and styled, making this look just another great haircut for 2012. Wear your new, longer bob so that it is just grazing your collarbone and you get both the softness of the added length, and the youthful quality of a shorter ‘do.

Long Loose Curls

There is more than one way to wear your long hair, and if you like the soft freshness of a long loose curl, then take your cue from Madonna or Drew Barrymore, both of whom are currently rocking long and lovely waves. The hair should be slightly layered to lighten it up so it holds the curl and creates an attractive shape.

For an update on another iconic look, wear your medium to long hair with choppy layers and loose curls that mimic Farah Fawcett’s sexy look from the 70’s, (minus the tired, curling–ironed ends)

With all of these cuts you can add volume, definition and flash with dimensional color – highlights, dip-dying, ombre color – you have so many choices! So when you talk to your hair cutter about your best haircut also talk about your hair color to define your haircut, your highlights – all of the things that will work together to give you a great look for 2012. And then protect your investment with great hair products, that help you sculpt, smooth and volumize, while nourishing and protecting.

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