askpixie.

07.05.03

Okay, here's the story. People are ALWAYS asking about hair, and some other people are sick of hearing about it. As such, I'm going to try and answer the entire backlog of hair queries in this entry.

Not to be a bitch or anything, but ALL of the information offered up here about thermal relaxing/straightening was found on google, or through one of the particular product line's website salon locator. If you're looking for a salon in your area, the odds are pretty good if you go to google and type in "your town" and "thermal relaxing," "thermal straightening," or even "japanese thermal," a list of leads will magically appear upon your screen.

Now, on with the show:

hey where can i find a chemical relaxer at a low price with good, long lasting results?

-- me

Well, if you're looking for a salon that performs this sort of work, I'd advise asking people of your ethnicity for referrals in your area. One of them is bound to steer you to a reasonably-priced, quality salon to relax your hair. If you're looking for the actual relaxing chemicals, I might suggest that you try asking the lovely ladies/hypothetical gentlemen down at your local Sally Beauty Supply. They stock many of the exact same brands of relaxing systems that salons use.

-- pixie

 

Hi. I heard about Thermal Str8 and am very curious about getting the procedure done. I have mixed black/asian hair so it's curly and thick at the roots and less so at the ends. I get my hair flat ironed straight every week and love the result of seeing my hair glossy and straight.  I also have highlights, but otherwise no chemical process or relaxer in my hair. I have regular trims. Would you recommend Thermal Str8 for my hair texture? How long does the process last? Do you have to get retouches? How do stylists evauate if thermal str8 is an alternative for clients' hair? Is flat ironing and blow drying still necessary after receiving this process or is this a miracle where I can wash my hair and wake up with straight hair instead of a frizzy head of curls? I know- lots of questions, so thanks in advance for your time.

-- Kat

Thermal str8 is performed in roughly the same manner as other thermal relaxing systems, as I have previously discussed. I have heard from some sources that this service isn't meant for black hair, but I've seen pictures of black women that have had the procedure done, and their hair looks fine. Since this service was originally intended for an asian market, I don't see why your hair type wouldn't be appropriate.

The only concerns I have are that you have highlighted hair, which is generally a no-no when chemical relaxing of any type is involved. Your answers can probably be best answered by a stylist in your area that performs this procedure during some sort of evaluative consultation. As I am not a stylist that performs this service, I can only hazard a guess about how an evaluation is performed, but I am sure that your hair will be examined, and you will be asked questions. Based on these assessments, the stylist will probably use his or her knowledge of the process to determine whether or not it is suitable for your hair.

Most times, it can take anywhere from 3 - 5 hours to have your hair thermally straightened, and the process is going to last varying times on varying people, but I have heard anything from 3 - 6 months between retouches, which you will most definitely require.

I am also imagining that since after the procedure has been performed, that there will be some general maintenance involved. Exactly what that is going to be depends on your hair. You might be one of the blessed numbers of folks that can wash and go, or you more probably might have to blow dry your hair to achieve true straightness. A flat iron may or may not be necessary, but I am guessing that you would probably only end up using it if you were looking for the effects that a flat iron provide -- people with straight hair still use flat irons to get their hair to look a certain way, which I can't really describe. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Good luck.

-- pixie

 

hello i was wondering where in Bakersfield, Lancaster or Santa Monica i could get japanese straightening done?... could you recomend any places . . .

-- lilapathy11

Well, I did a google search for "Santa Monica" and "Thermal straightening" and kept getting results for LA, and didn't get any hits for Bakersfield or Lancaster. I did, however, upon entering a random zipcode from Lancaster into Rusk's Thermal Str8 salon locator, come up with the following salons:

Susan Dews & Co.
Thermal Str8 Certified
232 N. Main Street
Bishop   CA   93514
phone:  (760)  873-7761

Haute Looks
Thermal Str8 Certified
452 Old Mammoth Road
Mammoth Lakes   CA   93514
phone:  (760)  934-5167

NEW IMAGES SALON
Thermal Str8 Certified
37244 47TH ST E #2
PALMDALE   CA   93552
phone:  (661)  533-1573

You might want to try these, or investigate the yuko system's website for their salon locator, which offers up another huge list of people that do thermal relaxing somewhere probably near you.

-- pixie

 

I am looking for a Salon that offers the Yuko System for straightening hair.Can you help me?I live in Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada.Can you also tell me how much it will cost me in Canadian funds to get it done?

-- Amy S

As far as price, I would imagine that if you called a salon in your area that offered this service, they could tell you much better than I. Salons here seem to charge anywhere from $250 to $500US, so whatever that converts over to in Canadian funds is probably going to be about right.

If you can actually understand it, here is a post somewhere from a person in your area that purports to offer this service.

From a few places on the web, I've gathered that there is some salon called "In Style" in Surrey, and that they do use Yuko, but apparently suck some serious ass, and people recommend avoiding them like the plague. I've seen positive recommendations for William Salon on Cambie, with a woman named Kate. However, they seem to use the Bio-Ionic system. The price quoted for them was $160 Canadian, btw.

Good luck.

-- pixie

 

Please contact me on how I can get my Jilbere de Paris flat iron Model # JBFI289 replaced due to it being defective with in 5 months when it has a 2 year warranty.

--Dena

Dena,

Hopefully you kept the box it came in and your receipt. You should then make a copy of your receipt, keep the original, and include the copy, a note saying what is wrong with the unit, and the iron in the box with a check for, I believe $3, and then mail the lot to the service department address inside the pamphlet that came with the iron and incluides the warranty information.  

If you don't have the box, but have the receipt, I would probably email them through their parent website, http://www.conairpro.com/, and see if you can still return it without the box.  

Other than that, I don't know what to tell you.

-- pixie

 

TR under $400. What about Hayato? They use Liscio.

ask@hayato-ny.com

www.hayato-ny.com

212-673-7373

prices are $170.00 -$250.00

-- Linda

What about them? Kidding.

I'll pass that along to the people that are in the need to know.

Thank you for your input.

-- pixie

Regarding eyelash extensions, I haven't found anything about permanent ones. I can't imagine how they'd be permanent unless they were implants, and that's just unlikely. I've seen the process described as follows:  

"For new lash-extension services, aestheticians apply a special long-lasting glue to adhere human hair directly to natural lashes...You won't have to bother layering on mascara, applying falsies, or wrangling with a lash curler for one to four weeks."    

The general wear-time seems to be around two weeks.  

What I have found, from http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/shopping/fashion/columns/gothamstyle/3511/:

"Lashing Out
J. Sisters, the salon most famous for removing hair, is getting into the business of putting it back on. At the recent American Fashion Awards, Naomi Campbell was overheard raving about her eyelash extensions to Liz Hurley, and Fatima Wadhy of J. Sisters counts Princess Firyal of Jordan as another client. Unlike faux lashes that are glued onto the eyelid, these individual extensions adhere to the roots of your natural lashes. The look can last anywhere from ten days to a month, but Wadhy warns: "No mascara." You don't want to look like a graduate of the Tammy Faye Bakker School of Cosmetology."

J. Sisters website is: http://www.jsisters.com/, and the procedure runs $60.  

And I believe that most schools don't teach the systems, the individual companies run training sessions for salons and stylists that are paying to learn the technique. Models are arranged for these classes usually either by the salon or the company hosting the classes.

However, I was directed to the following salon because they do Liscio thermal relaxing for a very inexpensive price. And I was told that they were good. Their prices run in the $130 - 150 range, which is probably what you could do school-wise, if you could find one.   http://www.hayato-ny.com/.

Is the liscio thermal relaxing the same as the japanese?

Also, I found out about the eyelash extensions.. Merle Norman does them for $35 in Long Island and they last anywhere from 10 days to a month depending on how you take care of them

Thank you soo much for your quick response!

-- Marcella

"Japanese" is the generic term for the process. There are many different brands of thermal relaxers that employ the Japanese technique.

-- pixie

Ok.. The only reason I am asking is because I know that some salons now try to publicize hair straightening and people automatically think Yuki (japanese) hair straightening, when in reality they are offering the chemical straightening.. I just want to be sure that it's not the chemical.

-- Marcella

no problem!

-- pixie

 

I was just wondering if there were any products that could help my hair grow out faster.  I got a perm and it completely ruined my hair, so I had to cut it all off.  Now I still have like 3 inches left but I don't want to cut it again, cuz I hate short hair and look horrible with it.  I need some help.  I want to just get a relaxer to restraighten it, but is that like really horrible for it?  Please get back to me when you have a chance. 

Thanks!!!  Gwen

Oh, Good God, Lord! Whatever you do, don't subject your poor hair to any more chemicals if you want to grow it back out. That's like adding fuel to the fire, damage-wise. your best bet is to just take good care of your hair for the next couple of months, and be patient.

I know, sucky advice, but it is honest. I made the horrible mistake of getting my hair cut into a cute shaggy thing that went horribly awry during a trim somewhere, and I am now a victim of my uneven natural curl on a daily basis. I am counting the days until my hair is long enough to behave without making me cry at the mere sight of it. You should see what it looks like after I blow it dry -- you'd probably feel better about yourself just by contrast.

Hair doodads may come in very handy in the near future, and you always have the option of overusing styling products to achieve a touselled, my-hair-is-messy-on-purpose look, which is what I did the last time I had a bad perm that required cutting it all off. I believe that thanks to the miracle of vaseline, which I do not endorse as a styling product, I looked a little less like I had a peach-tinted afro, and more like I didn't wash my hair in a good way.

But, if you feel like you absolutely have to have some sort of chemically-based alternative to the curl, you could try having someone comb a gentle perm through your hair to loosen up the wave. It won't take it stick straight, but it'll probably be a little more manageable, if not more damaged.

-- pixie

My name is Christine. I am currently in Cosmetology school. I love doing hair and this is the carreer I want but I would also like to further my carreer. I would love to be a spokesperson or an educator for a Hair product, such as Redken. I am having a little trouble getting started. Could you help me or tell me where and what to search to find this type of job? Please!

Thank You,

Christine

Christine,  

If you are interested in particular lines, it would behoove you to visit the websites of the companies that most interest you. For example, you have access to the professional section of the redken.com website because you are enrolled in beauty school. You might try contacting them directly through their site. The odds are very good that at least one of the companies you are interested in will offer up suggestions as how to get involved with them at a professional level.  

Also, do you ever have distributors or educators from the various companies come through your school to talk about their lines, demonstrate techniques, or show trends? If so, you might want to ask them how they got involved with the various aspects of the industry that they represent.  

I think that you are generally going to find that most people working for these companies came from salons that carried the lines, and decided to expand their education and experience on a corporate level. I also know that if you go to shows or events promoting the lines, the odds are that someone there might also be able to give you more information, or at least be able to steer you in the right direction.  

As far as being a platform artist, or a spokesperson, like Christopher and Sonya Dove are for Wella, that generally takes experience in the industry, as well as knowing how to self-promote and get noticed by people who count. Persistence is also important.  

If there is a competition that you can submit student work into, it couldn't hurt to start working on your portfolio and resume. Being able to say that you received honorable mention in the "freestyle hair" student section of the (and I'm making up this organization here) National Hair Organization's annual trend competition could help you get noticed by getting your name in publications that cater to the industry.  

A good professional reputation can get you far in this business. Now, I can't say that I know anyone that has gone on to work for a major company straight out of beauty school. However, talking to the right people can help get you pointed in a direction that can lead to a job later on. Patience and hard work are your best bet.  

Good luck,

pixie

How can I purchase Farouk prouducts for my salon?

--Sherry W.

Sherry,  

Most product lines these days tend to have websites of their own, and almost all of them have either a way to locate salons/distributors, or the sites at least offer a way to contact them for more information.  

If you visit www.farouk.com, they have a distributor locator on the bottom taskbar, which, after a couple of screens, leads you directly to all of the distributors in your area.  

For example, if you are from Florida, as I suspect from your email address, this would probably be the link for you: http://www.farouk.com/salons/distributor/distributer.asp?state=Florida.  

Good luck, it is a nice line of products!

-- pixie

I had my hair straightened in April using Japanese Thermal Reconditioning. Although it was stick straight back then, is has now become more of a frizzy straight when blown dry.

I have 2 questions;

(1) I need to have my hair highlighted again - is there anything special I need to think or know about?

(2) I will need a touch up straightening soon - can I switch to another process (e.g. rusk) or must I stay with the Japanese Thermal Reconditioning?

Thank you.

-- Bobbi

Well, everything I have ever heard about thermal reconditioning suggests that you shouldn't do it and color your hair with anything other than semi-permanent colors, unless you're looking for a world of damage. Highlights are apparently to be avoided in particular. But you'll have to talk to your stylist about this, if you want the real dig. I'm not the one doing your hair, and I haven't seen it in person to be able to really tell you anything about it.

And as I have mentioned time and time again, if you are referring to Rusk's Thermal Str8, it is exactly the same sort of thing as other types of Japanese TR. It's like getting a perm using a product from Revlon, and then getting a Biolage perm the next time. Generally speaking, it's the same process, just a different brand with different additives. At the heart of it, they're pretty much the same thing. I'm sure someone in the know would probably tell you otherwise, but hey. I don't do this procedure, as I have previously mentioned. You can get Liscio, Yuko, Shinbi, Bio-Ionic, Rusk, Paul Brown, or any of a fairly large variety of Thermal Reconditioners done after having had any other Thermal Reconditioners.

Plus, I'd recommend protein and moisture treatments to strengthen and condition your hair.

And as always, the person that does your hair knows best. Unless they suck, and then I'd consult with someone else, in person, mind you. It's all well and good to ask a stranger about your hair online, but to be able to take what they say 1000% to heart, when they don't know you or your hair, well that's plain silly.

-- pixie

Hi Pixie:

I am interested in getting the Japanese Straightener.  I was wondering, could you please list a few well recommended salons in New York that perform this technique (Manhattan or Queens or Long Island). 

I am a little intimidated about going to a salon without obtaining some positive feedback.

Thank you for your help.  By the way, your website is great!

-- Vanessa S.

Well, I've had people suggest I refer people to Hayato-NY, and I've heard good things about Jay Sung at Hidy Hair. If you look through past entries, as well as this big-ass entry, and visit their sites, you can find more info.

-- pixie

 

hi i was reading your commentary about the revo styler and noticed at the bottom that you talked about a Japanese perm.  I was just wondering if the Japanese perm is the same thing as getting hair chemically straightend? Also if the japanese perm is harsh on the hair. I have very thick blonde hair which I have dyed and have heard that things similar to this could ruin my hair. Thank you for your time

Well, as always, I recommend reading other things I have written on the exact same subject, so that I am not forced to give the same info over and over and over again. This is a good start. As is this entire entry.

Any particular thing that you do to your hair that involves stress, heat, and/or chemicals is going to damage your hair. Blow drying, flat ironing, tanning, sunbathing, walking around outside without a hat on top of your head, swimming in a chlorinated pool, color, perms, straightening, curling irons, sleeping, brushing your hair, etc. all mess it up in their own special way. Just how much depends on your hair and what you are actually doing to it.

I recommend a face-to-face consultation with someone in the know to find out for sure.

-- pixie

 

SEI salon caps the price at $270 and does a great job. 

They're Japanese and they've been doing it for 10 years. 

Look it up online!

-- SpindudeI

Thanks for the recommendation.

Here's their website for the rest of the world, and a little info: http://www.seitomoko.com/

SEI-Tomoko Salon - West 4th St.   142 West 4th Street (Between 6th Ave & Wash. Sq. Park) New York, New York 10012 TEL: (212) 477-5475

SEI-Tomoko Salon - East 13th St.   240 East 13th Street (Bet 2nd Ave & 3rd Ave) New York, New York 10003 TEL: (212) 533-6613

-- pixie

Yesterday & Tomorrow.

do you have a question for askpixie? mail: askpixie@pixiemartin.com

(if you want to know about some form of thermal relaxing, click here.)

If pixie can't help, you're screwed.™