When you foil with color, formulate your color one level lighter than the target level. For example, if you want to end up with a level seven highlight, mix your formula as though you want level eight highlights. Since the color is processed in foils, it’s not going to oxidize enough, and your highlights are going to end up a little lighter than they otherwise would

In similar fashion, when doing lowlights, I like to formulate a level darker to add some dimension to the existing color. If the color of the lowlights matches the existing color precisely, it will look too monochromatic.

Highlights and lowlights should be at least two levels apart from the background color in order to be visible.

When highlighting with color, remix your formula every twenty minutes. The trick here is to put the tint and the developer together in the bowl but don’t mix them until you are ready to apply.

You don’t need many foils to create special effects. Remember that highlights are just that: highlights. Fifteen to twenty foils are enough for partial highlights; quite often the desired effect can be achieved with ten to twelve foils. Thirty to thirty-five foils should be plenty for a full head.

Concentrate on the visual area of the head: the top and the front. That’s what everyone sees.

Stay ÂĽ inch away from the scalp to avoid bleeding. Remember that the thickness of a slice or a weave will influence the distance that you should stay away from the scalp.

There is a great technique called shadowing when you put highlights and lowlights in the same foil. The results are very impressive. Another way to do it is to weave highlight in one foil and then put pieces of the same weave into a different packet. You will have two back-to-back foils.

For a regular braid, take three sections of hair. From left to right, number the sections 1, 2 and 3. Take section 3 and place it over the top of section 2. Now from left to right, again the sections become 1, 2, and 3. The middle section is number 2. Take section 1 and place it over the top of section 2.

Continue taking the outside sections and placing it over top of the middle section. You will take section 1 and switch it with the middle strand, section 2. Repeat all the way to the end of your hair and you will be left with a braid!

If you already know how to do a regular braid and want to learn something a little more advanced, try a fishtail braid. For this braid, you will be working with two large sections. Section 1 will be on the left and section 2 will be on the right. Take a small piece of the back of section 1 and place it over section 1, joining it with section 2. Then take a small piece of the back of section 2 and place it over section 2, joining it with section 1. Repeat all the way down to the ends of your hair until complete and you are left with a beautiful fishtail braid.

French braids are easier to learn if you practice on someone else before attempting it on yourself. Take a section of hair at the top of your head and divide it into three sections. Begin a regular 3 strand braid. Then begin taking small sections of hair and adding it to the outside piece of hair before braiding it over the middle strand. Continue adding small sections of hair every time you braid a strand over the middle piece. Once you run out of hair to add, continue with a regular 3 strand braid and you are done!

A Dutch braid is also called a reverse braid or an inside-out braid. You will begin again by taking a section of hair at the top of your head and starting it off with a regular 3 strand braid. Again, you will take a small section of hair and add it to the outside strand of your braid. Instead of placing it over the middle strand, you place it under the middle strand. Then on the other side, take a small section of hair and add it to the outside strand. Then braid the strand underneath the middle. The steps are the same as a French braid except you are braiding underneath instead of over the top. Continue adding hair until all of the hair is added to the braid and finish it off with a regular 3 strand braid and you have completed your Dutch braid.

1. This easy, no heat technique will give you tighter, more natural-looking curls. On damp hair, use long spiral rollers in varying sizes that you can get from Target. Start from the bottom and work your way up your head. Take a section of hair similar to the size of the curler you are using. Twist your hair around the curler, away from your face. The spiral curlers are flexible and you can fold the top and bottom of the curler over your hair to keep it in place. Then, simply go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, start taking the curlers out at the bottom and work your way up. Gently use your fingers to separate your curls and use a lightweight oil like Dry Remedy oil. Depending on your hair density and texture, put 2 to 4 drops in your hands. Rub your hands together and scrunch the oil into the ends of your hair to eliminate any frizziness.

2. An even easier, no heat technique that gives you more of a body wave. On damp hair, use a headband of your choice and place it over your head like a crown. Starting at your front hairline, take medium-sized sections of hair and wrap it around your headband, away from your face. Continue until you reach the back of your head and repeat on the other side. All of your hair should be tucked into your headband and you can go to sleep. When you wake up in the morning, simply unwrap your hair from the headband, take the headband off and you’re done. I like to use a large barrel wand or curling iron to touch up a couple pieces around my face but that’s optional.

3. For another loose curl technique, you can use hot curlers. You can buy them in a set and they come with clips to use as well. On dry hair, starting in the back, take sections of hair similar to the size of the curler you are using. Wrap your hair around the curler and use the provided clip to keep your hair in place. After all of your hair is in curlers, get ready for your day. Do your makeup, get dressed, etc. After you are done getting ready, take the curlers out of your hair and gently separate the curls with your fingers. Use some hairspray and you’re done.

4. Instead of hot rollers, you can use a wand or curling iron. Again, take sections similar to the rod size you are using, starting from the bottom, and curl everything away from your face. For beachy waves, use a larger rod or barrel size. For tighter curls, use a smaller barrel. For curls that last all day long, before letting the curls hang down, use a single prong hair clip or bobby pin to pin the curl in place. If you choose to pin your curls, get ready for your day with the pins in place. After you’re done getting ready, take out all of your clips or pins and spray with hairspray.

5. This technique uses a wand or curling iron, is a little faster, and will give you looser curls. Simply tie your hair up into a loose, high ponytail. Take medium to large sections of hair and curl them. After all the hair in your ponytail is curled, gently take your ponytail out and touch up some curls around your face. Spray with hairspray as needed.

Get your hair off your neck for these hot summer months with a ballerina bun! I’m going to explain different ways to achieve a ballerina bun depending on whether you have a hair donut, a long sock, or just bobby pins. Depending on the technique, you will also need a hair tie or elastic, brush, a comb, hairspray, and scissors.

You start by brushing your hair into a ponytail and tying it with a hair tie or elastic depending on the density of your hair. If you have thick hair, a hair tie would work best. If you have fine hair, you can use either a hair tie or an elastic, whatever you prefer. I find that the ballerina bun works best with a high ponytail on the top of your head, but you could also do a low ponytail.

If you have a hair donut, pull your ponytail through the center of the donut and place it at the base of your ponytail. If you have long hair, a larger donut would work best; with shorter hair, a smaller donut is better. For thicker hair, spread your hair all around the donut and place a second hair tie or elastic over the donut. If you have finer hair, take sections of your hair, spray it with hairspray, and backcomb before placing your second hair tie over your hair and the donut. This will help to make your hair appear fuller and conceal the donut better. The mids and ends of your hair will be left out of the donut. You can either twist that around the donut, and bobby pin it to conceal the hair tie, or you can braid the mids and ends then wrap the braid around the donut to conceal your hair tie. Then use hairspray for any fly-aways and you’re done.

If you don’t have a hair donut, you can also use a long sock or tube sock. Try to find a sock that matches the color of your hair. Simply cut the toe part off of the sock and begin rolling the sock into a donut shape. The longer the sock, the larger the donut will be. Then take the same steps from the first technique, just use the sock as your donut.

If you don’t have a hair donut or a sock, pull your hair into a ponytail and spray sections of your hair with hairspray before backcombing small sections of hair. When backcombing, backcomb the bottom side of the strand so when you lay the hair down, the top of the strand will be easier to smooth. After you backcomb, take medium-sized sections of hair and bobby pin them in a donut shape. You will bobby pin the ends of your hair to the base of your head, close to your ponytail. After all of your hair is bobby-pinned in a donut shape, use your fingers to pull and stretch the sections you bobby-pinned so there are no gaps between sections. Then use your comb to lightly smooth the top of your bun and hairspray it in place.

You can pull out some face-framing pieces of hair for a messier look or hair spray everything nice and smooth for a sleek look. You can accessorize with a headband, flower, large bow, and anything else you desire.

With celebrities like Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins leading the trend of fuller, thicker eyebrows (and sparking our brow envy), it’s time we ladies acquaint ourselves with the benefits of brow tinting.

First things first. Brow tinting can be used in conjunction with brow hair removal—waxing, tweezing, threading, etc.—but the tinting service itself does not involve removing any hair. Brow tinting uses a semi-permanent vegetable-based dye to enhance the brows shape, color, and thickness.

Brow tinting is meant to add pigmentation to your brows. Boosting the color of your brows to a richer and darker shade will make you look more groomed, provide a stronger definition of your brows and, if you have lighter eyes, help define your eyes.

While there is a wide variety of brow tinting shade options, the most common shade is dark brown. It is best to select a shade one to two shades darker than the new growth color of your hair.

Brow tinting can also help to complement a new hair color. For example, if you were to lighten your hair to blonde, adding warmth or lightening your brows to a lighter shade may provide more balance to your overall look.

The added pigmentation will typically last between two to four weeks, so there is a committed level of maintenance involved in order to keep your brows on fleek.

In addition to boosting your color, brow tinting can help your brows look fuller by grabbing on to little baby hairs and adding pigment to even the smallest of hairs. Even those with already dark brows can see added volume and density when the tint coats the “peach-fuzz” hairs.

Finally, it is important to make sure that any eyebrow tinting services are completed by a licensed professional—either a cosmetologist or an esthetician. While there are many establishments out there that offer brow tinting, it is important to do your research. Personal recommendations are an excellent way to find a place that will be a great fit for your brows.

An Aveda facial consists of an aroma sensory journey, a deep cleansing, skin analysis, having an educator look over your analysis, a refinement with a hand and arm rub, a facial massage, a mask with either a foot rub or a neck and shoulder rub, and ending with eye cream, serum, and moisturizer. You can also add on treatments such as a revitalizing eye treatment, a plant peel, enbrightenment, outer peace, or green science which targets certain skin problems.

Here are a few tips to really making your facial extra special and leaving your clients feeling pampered and relaxed.

• Put essential oils — lavender, vanilla, rose, tangerine or bergamot—in your water bowl
• Mix up different masks. For example, use deep herbal clay mask with exfoliant, enbrightenment toner, or green or sea science
• Mix in tea with a mask
• Use energizing composition oil during the hand and arm massage
• Use a composition oil, mixed with the essential oil of their choice, during the neck massage
• Place a hot towel on their back after the treatment. (This is such a crowd pleaser, it really ends the facial with warmth and soothing while also wiping excess oil off the skin.)

These are some techniques I have personally used in my treatments. The response is always great.

Making the treatment your own is a great way to please a client, and it is more likely that they will come back to you because you added your unique touch. And having some clients who follow you is really important when you’re looking for a job.

Highlight and contour have become the new thing in makeup over the past year. From Kim Kardashian to Nikki Minaj, it is what everyone is trying. The purpose of highlight and contour is to bring out the highs and lows of the face. To broaden the cheekbones and to make the face look skinny. Highlighting and contouring is a great tool for anyone who likes to really define their makeup and facial features.

To contour, a bronzer or darker shade is used under the cheekbone, on the forehead, and along the sides of the nose to shade the parts of the face that is desired.

To highlight, take a much lighter shade and place it on the high points of the face such as the cheeks, above the eyebrows, and on the cupids bow.

You can use a cream or a powder contour. Using cream is better for dry skin, and gives a dewy finish, however, it is a lot thicker and tends to be messier. Powder contour is best for oily skin because it absorbs the excess oil and gives a matte finish to the face. It is also easier to control.

Looking up tutorials on YouTube or taking a class can really help. It is a fun way to do makeup and you always look fierce and flawless.

One of the most popular cuts being requested in salons today is a Long Bob, or Lob for short. Women are looking for a style that is easy to maintain but still gives them some length to play with. Whether you’re currently rocking an awesome lob and looking for a few different styles to mix up your styling routine, or are considering joining the lob mob, here are a few lob styling suggestions to get you through to your next shampoo from a fellow lob mob member.

Straight and Sleek

This is a great way to start your three-day style strut. Starting with wet hair, apply a heat protectant all over your damp strands and lightly brush through. Aveda’s Brilliant Damage Control is a great product as it is suited for all hair types, protects against thermal damage, reduces breakage from combing and helps to protect from UV Damage.

Next, grab your handy dandy blow dryer and a paddle brush. Flip your head over and as you blow-dry your hair, brush your hair against your scalp—this is called flat wrapping. To create more volume at your roots, brush the hair in the opposite direction of that which it falls. If you have fine to medium hair this should take no more than ten minutes to get your hair dry. If you have a natural wave or curl to your hair, make sure that you are using a lot of tension with your brush as you are flat wrapping your hair to really get that wave pattern straight.

Once your hair is completely dry, plug in your flat iron—I usually like to wait until after blow-drying to plug my hot tool in, so that I can get a little break from the heat and apply my makeup. When your hot tool is ready, grab small sections of hair starting at your nape and, working upwards, lightly graze over the mids and ends of your hair to finish your sleek and straight style. If you have any fly aways, be sure to smooth down with a finishing product like Aveda’s Light Elements Smoothing Fluid.

Beachy Waves

In the spirit of the late summer, what’s a better style than sun-kissed, wind-swept, beach inspired waves? Begin with a one-inch barrel curling iron or wand. As the curling iron (or wand) is heating up, lightly dust your hair with a light hold hair spray like Aveda’s Air Control. Once your iron is ready, begin by loosely wrapping random sections of your hair around the barrel of your iron. Be sure to wrap the sections in different directions so that there is more movement and irregularity to the overall style. When done, lightly mist with another spurt of light hold hair spray. To add definition to the ends, smooth on a small amount of Aveda’s Light Elements Defining Whip.

Baby Got Bun

Using a brush, pull your hair back into a ponytail that sits on the crown of your head. Using the tail of a rat tail crown, loosely pull the hair around your hair line forward to create a little lift and to help avoid making this style look too done. Pull your ponytail straight up and using your rat tail comb or a brush, depending on tight you want your base to be, backcomb your pony so it is nice and full, it should almost resemble a tuft of cotton candy. Next, beginning at the front of your pony, begin to sweep the hair around itself from right to left to create your bun. Secure with bobby pins or hairpins as you work your way around, creating a nice, full, and fluffy bun. Spray the bun with a firm hold hair spray such as Aveda’s Control Force, then lightly spray the rest of your hair with a light hold hair spray and smooth down any fly aways.

Fingerwaves are a glamorous look that is timeless. It’s perfect for that special occasion: a wedding, costume party, or even a night out on the town. The hairstyle that was popular from the 1920s through the 1940s has been making a comeback in recent years, with some modern twists to update this classic look.

Fingerwaves can be difficult at first but, once you get the waving motion with your comb and fingers, you’ll be fingerwaving like a champ in no time. There are countless tutorials out there on this look which can be achieved with either a wet set—the old fashioned way, using gel and setting lotion—or with a hard set, which involves a curling iron. I’m going to explain how to achieve this look with a curling iron, which is a bit quicker because you don’t have to wait for the hair to dry.

• Start with a clean side part that starts behind the arch of the eyebrow. Section ear to ear, creating two side panels.
• Curl the hair vertically in sections no wider than the barrel of your curling iron, but roughly twice as tall.
• Alternate curling towards the face and away from the face with every row—this encourages the hair into that S-shape pattern.
• Use a workable hairspray as you curl, such as Air Control.
• Curl the rest of the hair in the same way, continuing to alternate the direction of the curl.
• Hard set the curls and allow them to cool completely.
• Now use a Mason Pearson brush to brush out the curls. Don’t worry about brushing away the curls; they will stay. You want to make sure the hair is thoroughly detangled, otherwise, it will be difficult to form your waves.
• Using your comb, begin carving your c-shape wave in whatever direction the hair wants to go. Take your time and be patient. A weaving comb can be helpful here.
• Use the metal end to drag the hair into a more dramatic “C” shape.
• When you have the wave you desire, use a duckbill clip to hold it in place. Between each wave there is a ridge, use your fingers to hold the ridge, and move on to the next wave, which will be a c-shape in the opposite direction.
• Move downward from the parting until you have completed the side panel and repeat on the other side of parting.
• Use a strong hairspray like Control Force to hold your style into place.
• I like to use the barrel of my curling iron on either side of the ridge to accentuate it and lock it into place.
• When the hair has cooled completely, give it one last mist with Brilliant Spray on Shine for a nice glossy finish.

Now you have a beautiful fingerwave style!

Chemical peels are at the top of my list of favorite skin treatments. They are quick treatments that produce amazing results fast. They provide a deep exfoliation and speed up the cell turnover rate. Peels have so many great benefits. They can treat acne, hyperpigmentation, reduce acne scars, and treat fine lines and wrinkles. Chemical peels vary in strength and active ingredients so even someone with sensitive skin can use chemical peels.

There are three levels of chemical peels: light, medium, and deep. The pH level of a peel is what determines how deep it will penetrate into the skin. The lower the pH, the deeper the peel; the higher the pH, the lighter the peel.

Light peels only remove the first layer of the skin and they are good for treating mild acne scars, fine lines, sun damage, or if you have sensitive skin. Light peels are typically made with AHAs, BHAs, and fruit enzymes. Almost no recovery time is required.

Medium peels are usually made with trichloroacetic acid. They can be used to treat pigmentation and wrinkles. Recovery time is about a week.

Deep peels are usually made with carbolic acid and higher doses of trichloroacetic acid. They are good for treating scarring, pigmentation, wrinkles, and sun damage but on a much deeper level. Recovery time can take months.

Peels are best for light-skinned people who are not prone to hyperpigmentation. If you have darker skin and are prone to hyperpigmentation and do decide to get a chemical peel anyway, just be sure to use a lightening cream for post-treatment care and always wear sunscreen when going out. Some lightening ingredients to look for are hydroquinone, kojic acid, glutathione, mulberry, and papaya, to name a few.

Consult with your esthetician or a dermatologist to determine which peels are best for your skin.