THE HAIRAPIST ™

Hi Gals,

Mary Amen here. Today I’m going to teach you  how to get more volume in the crown area of your hair style. Or, if you’ve just been hired to play the lead in “CATS” you can do this all over your entire head of  hair.

You will need these tools. 1. Patience 2. A fine tooth comb or slender back combing brush 3. Hair spray …if you want the volume to last a couple days.  Go collect your tools and I’ll wait right here. (Quietly humming Yankee Doodle to myself…)

Okay. Here we go. There are three rules with backcombing.

1. CROWN ONLY: Always start in the FLATEST AREA of the crown of your head. The flattest area is in the back of your head and can be found by doing this easy exercise. Place the palm of your hand flat across the crown of your head. Your wrist will be will be at your hair line touching your bangs. YOUR FINGER TIPS SHOULD BE TOUCHING THE FLATEST PART OF THE CROWN OF YOUR HEAD. We will start our back combing at this point and move forward to about 3″ before your forehead. Remember, we want only the crown to have volume. This will create a contrast with your smooth, sexy bangs.

2. SECTIONING YOUR HAIR. Always take fine, thin sections that you can see through. This is REALLY key, as large, impatient sections looks like a rats nest. Sections should be no longer than 3″ across and only about 1/2″ in width. Starting in the back, take a fine section of hair. (You will end up taking about 10/15 of these sections.)

3. CREATING LIFT – TEASE ONLY AT BASE. Pull the section forward (THIS IS KEY) and tease only the first 1″ of hair that is against the scalp. DO NOT take long sweeping strokes down the length of your hair! Properly teasing your hair takes only a very tight small sweep at the base of your hair against the scalp. HAIRSPRAY the teased base for extra hold.

4. GENTLY TUG BACKCOMBED SECTION BACK INTO PLACE. This movement is similar to flipping pages in a book. You will repeat step 3 about 10/15 times. Each section you take should move forward over the crown of your head. Stop about 3″ before your bangs. With a brush, GENTLY smooth over the top of ALL sections.

For long haired ladies, you will find that backcombing only the base of your hair, allows for the longer layers of your design to move naturally, while still having fabulous volume in the crown. Very sexy and mermaid-ish.

For gals with short and sassy styles, this technique will allow you to maneuver your hair into different, fun directions. I always envision the image of wind blowing across really high grass. With our eyes we follow how the air creates that cool sweeping movement. That is the fun and beauty of backcombing short hair styles. You visually create the image of movement on a design that is for the most part stationary.

Okay, gals. Have fun. If you have questions, feel free to call me at 415.806.4247 or email me: www.THEHAIRAPIST.com

Hello Ladies,

One of the most frequently asked questions I am asked is, “How can I save time styling my hair.” The answer is short and sweet because it not only saves you time, it allows you to sleep a little longer!

To save time styling your hair, wash you hair the evening prior, say two hours before you go to bed. Let your hair air dry overnight. In the morning, take you hair in sections that are 2″x 2″ and with HEAT style your hair. Remember, to style your hair you need 3 KEY INGREDIENTS: “Patience, heat and tension.”

Hair is porous and water gets in the way of the innermost part of your hair. The innermost part of hair is where the genetic memory of your hair’s texture is contained. You MUST heat this area to effectively change your hair’s shape. Your own blow dryer MUST get very hot. I have found travel dryer’s to be highly ineffective.

ALSO – DO NOT style your hair in an area where there is moisture. i.e., a steamy bathroom! Remember, your hair is porous.