Quick and beautiful party bun tutorial. Have fun!

This bun was inspired by…

Q by Claire: ***I have totally thin hair but I don’t want my hair shorter than ponytail length. Which cut is best for me? Also, I live in Australia. DBJ.

A by Reagan: Not to get all mushy on your Australian a’, but my heart really goes out to people with super duper thin hair. It is hard to feel beautiful when you aren’t happy with your hair. I have some really good tips for you though, Claire! So get pumped!

Tip number one-Get a trim often. Really thin hair tends to lose it’s shape much faster than thick hair. Keeping your ends trimmed up will make it look fuller.

Tip number two-Blunt cuts are best. Don’t let anyone use a razor or texturizing sheers on you. Avoid point cutting too. You want your ends blunt so that it doesn’t look stringy.

Tip number three-Avoid too many layers. It will make the length thinner. You can have long layers if you insist, but nothing shorter than an inch or two above the length.

Tip number four-Bangs (fringe) are awesome. I really try to talk my super thinnies out of lots of layers, like I was saying in tip three, so a straight, square cut with bangs makes for a nice style. Bangs prevent your cut from looking boring, and gives you a beautiful shape. There are many lengths and ways to wear bangs, so find something that you like with your face shape. A round face looks better with sweepy bangs.

Tip number five-Clip in extensions. You could also go for more permanent extensions, but those are very expensive and have to be redone every few months. I have clients who clip in a couple of rows when they go out, and it creates so much fullness. Remember, you can get extensions the same length as your hair if you don’t want your hair longer. Just a few rows will make a big difference. Give it a try!

Here are a few pictures of the ideal thinny hair cut.

Nicol Richie has extremely thin hair. This haircut is perfect for her. She has extensions all over the place for thickness, even in her bangs! I can tell, cause it’s my job to tell.

Agyness Deyn has a very similar cut, but shorter and with a heavier fringe. This look will be best between her length, and just an inch or two past your shoulders. You don’t have to have super short hair just because it’s thin!

***I wrote my own question for Claire, just to get to the point. Don’t be offended, Claire. I want you to be my friend, and one day I’m going to make it down to Australia.

ps, I give up with the pictures. no matter how I try, they never center properly. Boo.

I’m a little obsessed with the recent royal engagement. I’m jeal’ of Kate Middleton because when I was little, I played with a Princess Diana paper doll, now Kate gets to wear her ring. I’m jeal’ of Kate Middleton because she gets to become a princess. But the reason I’m the most jeal’ of Kate Middleton, is because she has the most incredible hat collection of all time. There are a lot of things that I love about the Brits, like when they say “Brilliant!” or “Rubbish!” or “Spot of tea!”, but the hat thing they do there is my favorite. I just want to wear a big hat. Really. Really. Really hard.

I google image  “Kate Middleton Hats” often and sigh at her fanciness.

The end.

PS which one is your favorite? for me, the bigger, the better.

I’ve never been a huge fan of any particular reality star, but Kristin Cavalari looks stunning with this smooth as silk center part. It looks good both with a tee shirt and jeans, or with a fancy holiday party type dress. I love it!

It’s Halloween week! Yay!

I love Halloween, so much. I love to dress up and I love to spice up my hair/make up too. Last year, Jake and I were Sid and Nancy, and the costumes came out perfect! (in my humble opinion!)

Along with the right clothes, what really made these costumes work, was the way we did our hair! I rolled my wet hair, bangs included, in tiny perm rods (think white, gray and pink!) and let it dry by itself all day. After I took the rods out, I fluffed and sprayed so it would hold. It looked rad even the next day. I seriously considered perming my hair after wearing it like that for two days.

Nancy’s make up is just a very pale foundation, lots of blush and red lips….then all the black liner, mascara and fake eye lashes I own.

For my Sid, I flat ironed Jake’s hair, teased it so it was nice and spikey, then hair-sprayed it into a pokey punk look.

Topped off with some fake cigs (rolled up note paper!) and we were good to go.

These costumes were a huge success and we were recently featured in UsWeekly for best celeb Halloween costumes!

Fun fact: Jake is wearing my jeans.

Q from Newbie- so i am a hairdresser my self. but i am still a baby at it. and i love love love jennifer lopez’s color. i just can’t seem to understand how they get her all over color so light with lifting with color. i know she has foils but her natural is probably a level 3 or 4 and her all over looks like a 6 with blonde foils. i need someones elses imput. or how you think they acheive such a pretty color. thank you so much. it would be awesome to hear a response back from you.

A from Reagan: Dear Newbie, great question. I’m sure you are right about JLo’s natural color. There is no way she is anywhere near a 6 or 7 naturally*. One of my dearest friends from beauty school and I have a huge pet peeve of people trying to be blonde with only highlights when their base color is so dark. You have to lift your base first. If you don’t, my friend will call you calico hair. And she’ll have a right to. Because your roots will look like a coat pattern, or a scarf at best. Lift your base first!

Although I am not Jennifer Lopez’s colorist, I can tell that Jenny gets her base done. A lot of times, if you are just lifting one or two shades, you can still use 10 volume. But I would guess for J.L’s color, she uses a 20 volume developer. And most times when I have gotten my base done, they only leave it on 10ish minutes before rinsing.

After the base is lifted and the color is rinsed, THEN you throw in the foils.

The beauty of a two process color, is that you don’t always have to have highlights every time. Someone as dark as JLo, probably has to get their base done every few weeks, but only needs foils every 8-10 weeks.

This hair lingo might be foreign to everyone besides me and newbie.

Here is a translation for you hairclients on fire.

You: Help! I think I have calico hair. The coat kind!

Me: Not for long. (rubs evil hands together). Let’s start by lifting your hair to at least a level 6, but for you dirty blondes, lets go an 8 or a 9. If you already have highlights, you can just have the color applied to your roots. Since the color is touching your scalp and lifting slightly, it will probably tingle/burn a little bit. After rinsing the color, you might worry that you look like the singer, Vitamin C (you wont, I just think it’s a funny comparison), this is just because you aren’t used to having light roots!  Next, blow dry your roots and add the foils.

When you are all done cooking, you are going to be amazed, because for the first time in your life you will look like a natural blonde with subtle highlights. Most blonde celebrities do this, that is how they basically never have roots (except for when they’re doing Ombre!). Think Jessica Simpson, Reese Witherspoon, Gwennyth Paltrow… all those light blondies.

A base isn’t necessarily needed if you have light hair naturally. When I’m not getting my ombre on, and I’m foiling to the roots, I like to have a base done just to change the tone of my color since naturally I’m so ashy. I want to be flashy, not ashy. That was bad, don’t laugh at that.

A base is especially awesome if you have grey hair that needs to be covered. Something to think about ladies (and I guess maybe a man or two).

*Levels are how we describe how dark/light your hair is. Black is a level 1, Platinum blond is a level 12 (right? why am I not sure?).  My natural color is about a level 8. Is this helpful? Or confusing?

I’m easily all over the place with these hair answers, because I get really excited when I talk about hair. Super sorry. But you’ll have to like me the way I am, because I just can’t help the excitement. hooray.

Q by Emily: Can I dye my hair while pregnant? How dangerous is it? I’ve heard varying opinions and am interested to hear yours.

A by Reagan: Emily, I think you’re right to question this. There are many opinions out there and it’s hard to know where to side. In fact, I had a client who I thought was going to get into a screaming match with a pregnant woman who was touching up her highlights about a year ago. That was a the closest I ever came to having a heart attack at work. (and the closest I ever came to divorcing a client)

Here is my answer. I think it’s safe to color your hair while you’re pregnant. The truth is, haircolor used to be made with harmful ingredients, like lead. Lead, can you believe it? No wonder there is still so much confusion. I really don’t blame people for being afraid, or even for choosing not to color their pregnant strands. But really, you’ll be fine.

If you’re still too scared, but don’t want to stop coloring, here are a few tips to help you out.

~Avoid on the scalp processes. Anything with foils wont be touching the scalp, and so if you are worried about something seeping into your blood stream or pores, this is the way to go.
~Avoid coloring in the first trimester. Most pregnant women are sensitive to smells. Having color done might bother your snout. Get plenty of fresh air.

I know of some colorists who will not take pregnant clients, which I think is likely for legal precautions, so keep that in mind if you are turned away.  And as always, talk to your Dr. if you are having doubts. What is your opinion?

*This episode of “hair answers” is strictly HDOF’s opinion. Although I’ve done some research myself, and spoken with several colorists about the issue, I am not a scientist or a doctor and should not be used as a main source for health/pregnancy advice. Please don’t sue me is what I’m getting at.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what type of hair styles look good for specific face shapes. Today we’re going to talk about the round face shape. Because guess what! I’m a roundy myself! I like to say I’m in-between round and heart shaped, because I always thought it would be cute to have a heart shaped face, but I think I’m definitely leaning more on the side of round. How do you know if your face is round? Your face is nearly as wide as it is tall, and your cheek area sticks out the farthest.

So, the first thing I recommend doing, is looking at celebrities with round faces. Because a lot of celebrities wear their hair a lot of different ways, so you can compare what you like and what you don’t. I’ve uploaded a few images of fellow roundies, with haircuts/styles that I think are suiting in a good way. (please forgive the random order of the pictures!)

Kirsten Dunst. I think this girl is gorgeous. And let me just proclaim right now that the bob is universally flattering on every face shape and hair type. She looks great with a bob. In fact, stunning! Here she is wearing it with a little wave.

Cameron Diaz. I know she looks a little square in this picture, but in most pics it is more round. There are two important things about Cam in this picture…1) her layers aren’t too short 2) sweepy bangs! If her layers were any shorter than they are in this picture, it would widen her face more. The bangs balance out the roundness, and the heavy part breaks it up as well. Heavy part+sweepy bangs are the way to go for roundies! Want me to stop calling us roundies? Too bad so sad!

Ginnifer Goodwin rocking another beautiful bob with lots of fullness at the bottom.

I had to post two of Ginnifer, because this style works so great for a round face. Having her hair pulled to one side is a great way to not overcrowd her facial region. I’m trying to get creative with my descriptions, because I feel like I’m writing “face” too much.

Kirsten again with a bob, but this time it’s straight! See how she has a little volume/height at the t0p? That does wonders for a round face.

And the last picture is where it gets awkward. I am saying awkward, because although this girl has a round face with blunt bangs, I still think she looks very pretty. Blunt bangs and/or a center part don’t usually work as well on round faces. But I have to say, I do them both on occasion myself. I just need the variety!  Blunt bangs tend to smoosh the face down more, making it look short. But I just think they look so sassy, so I give myself some every few years.

Whatever I’ve put in this post is just to help you out when choosing the right hair cut or style for you. If you feel like something else might work, then do what you want! Try something new with your hair now and then, it’s not going to kill you if you decide later it wasn’t the best choice!

Key things to remember about us ladies with round faces…
*Avoid too short of layers
*A heavy side part looks best
*sweepy bangs make you look hot
*volume at the crown elongates your face

Q by Heather: I’m a lifelong blondie and just recently took the plunge into red.  Everyone keeps telling me that red fades the fastest, so what do you recommend for preserving the color so I can extend the time between colorings as long as possible?

I have very fine, soft, limp hair, and have found a color-safe volumizing shampoo/conditioner that I LOVE, so I’d prefer to continue using those, merely adding color protecting products to these products and not replacing my shampoo and conditioner.

A by Reagan: Going from blond to not blond is tricky. Blonds tend to have more porosity than everyone else, so the color fades the fastest. It’s also true that red fades faster that other tones, so you are in double fade fast mode. Here is my recipe for preserving color…

~Use Shampoo for color treated hair (which you’re doing Heath! Good job! Can I call you Heath?)
~ Shampoo less often. Remember how much I like dirty hair? Here is another perk to dirty hair…shampoo strips your color little by little every time you do it. So the less you do it, the less you are stripping! I don’t want stripper hair!
~Use a color depositing Shampoo once in a while (maybe once a week? once every other week?). You have to get one that closely matches your color level. I recommend this one.

*Note* I posted this picture of Christina Hendricks because she is a natural blond who went red when she was just a little girl! And also I posted this picture of her because Madmen is my favorite show and her character is the main reason for that..

Q by Ashley: You mentioned that perms are most always a no-no.  What about body waves?  I have small hair and something that will make it look bigger (I totes want GINORMOUS hair) is really tempting to do.  So I guess my question is do body waves even look good?  Will not doing as much heat styling kind of cancel out the damage from a body wave?

A by Reagan: Ashley, I know you want to look like the picture above, so march right on over to your local beauty parlor this very second! Hehehe. (When someone calls it a beauty parlor, the only thing that I can picture is a bunch of women with tight roller sets and perms. And FUMES from perms!)

In all seriousness, a lot of people have asked this question. Ashley asked it most recently, so I just copy/pasted her Q for the post. I’m afraid to say ladies, loose, wavy perms do not really exist. They don’t. If you insist on getting a perm (don’ say I didn’t warn you), the closest thing you could get to wave, is bigger rods with very small sections, or small rods with bigger sections of hair. The chances of it coming out the way you want it are very slim, and the chances of it coming out damaged are very high. Especially if you have color treated, or long hair.

Honestly, I rarely do perms. But the fundamental rules for perms haven’t really changed….the bigger the rod, the less likely the curl will take. But you are still putting a very powerful chemical on your hair, so whether or not the curl takes, that damage will be there. Another honest opinion, I like perms. I like perm-perms. Perms that look like this…

I can tell Halle’s style is done with a curling iron, but it is similar to how a normal perm with normal white or purple rods would look like. And I like it. I almost did it with my own hair, but seeing as how my hair is brittle, and I knew I’d grow it out again, I opted to keep my natural instead.

Back to your Q…a body wave will give you some damage (that you might actually need), and make your hair a little bigger. But it wont make it ginormous, and it wont make it wavy. I think you should get a small curling iron, wrap big sections around it, and shake it out furiously. That will give you ginormous hair.

Ashley (and others), I think you shouldn’t do it. But if your heart is saying perm it, follow your heart. (don’t come chase me down when you look like the first picture!)