The Mane Thing

Personal style is not limited to wardrobe and accessories.  Your hair plays an important part, too, and you want to adopt a hair style that works for you and is simple and easy to do at home. As a rule of thumb, I try not to adopt any hair routine that takes more than 15 minutes in the morning to put in "from the salon" order and one that also can go out with less than 15 minutes when I'm pressed for time.

Back to the "from the salon" look.  If you can't accomplish at home what your stylist can do in the salon, be sure to talk with him or her about what you can do to improve your techniques.  For me, I use a dryer stand to give me two hands and I have a selection of brushes and combs to work with.  If that sounds like overkill, let me share this with you.

After truly a couple of years of struggling to try to get the same movement and finish on my style that my stylist always turns out, I recently remarked to her that I can generally get the shape she accomplishes in the salon but not the finish, she pulled out the two different types of brushes she uses when she does my hair and told me which she uses for the shape and which she uses for the finish.  I had both types at home and pulled out the "finishing" brush for my next attempt.   Voila!  After lots of disappointments in my ability to finish my hair, when I used the proper tool it worked! 

For the best effort, if you don't have a hair stylist that you visit regularly, think about finding one that is both capable and willing to work with you to help you adapt your hair to the look you want and who is willing to show you how to get the best results at home.  After all, it's in the stylists best interest to have you hit the streets with a great looking "do" everyday.  You're their walking advertisement.