Tag Archives: Hair Care

When do I know I need deep conditioning?

There are a lot of things out there that can cause damage to hair. Though healthy hair is supposedly strong and resilient, it can only take so much beating from the natural elements and the things we subject it to.

Does you hair feel dry and brittle? It can be due to too much sun and wind exposure, the winter season, chlorine immersion, wearing hats and scarves, smoking, poor diet and lack of vitamins, blow drying, and the endless bevy of hair treatments. And does your hair break easily or split at the tips? Same causes apply.

Hair has lost its elasticity, lacking moisture that enables hair to stretch when it is stressed. Sometimes, you try to rejuvenate your hair troubles by home remedies, and they are many. But they don’t always work for your hair. Too much moisture or too much protein can leave hair too stiff or too mushy.

It’s about time you see your stylist for some real, professional deep conditioning.

Leave it to a Professional

Geena Moon would tell you that deep conditioning is a preventive measure, being a part of your hair care routine. In other words, regular trips to your stylist may do your hair more good than letting things get out of hand, and ending up fretting with troubled hair at a salon, demanding a fix. Healthy hair just doesn’t happen.

Your professional stylist in Bellevue will surely know what deep conditioning your hair needs, how regular the treatment should be depending on your hair condition. Stay faithful to it for year-round healthy hair.

Some people will tell you that shampooing every day is one of the worst things you can do for your hair. After all, shampooing removes all of the natural oil from your hair, bringing about a dry and dull appearance. Meanwhile, your hair is more fragile when wet; rubbing your hair dry or brushing it fresh out of the shower stretches it out and causes breakage. So, how often should you be shampooing?

The common wisdom is that you should shampoo only about twice a week. However, the answer is generally not as easy as this. Different people have different needs; some can go for a while without shampooing, while others may in fact do well to wash every day.

It may take some trial and error to determine your ideal schedule. Try washing once every few days for a while, keeping in mind that your scalp may need to adjust itself. After all, if it is used to being shampooed every day, it may be over-producing oil for a while and giving you a greasier appearance than necessary. Consult our Bellevue hair salon for further help taking care of your hair.

Tips on Drying your Hair

If you’re treating your hair right, it’s probably getting wet fairly regularly. After all, this is the only way you’re going to be able to wash, condition, and hydrate. Unfortunately, for as long as your hair is wet, it is going to be all the more vulnerable to damage. This is why it is important to practice a proper, gentle drying technique.

Hair Drying Techniques

The first thing to realize is that you should avoid over-applying heat to your hair. This serves to dry out your hair, and even burn it in some cases. With this in mind, try to limit your use of a hair dryer.

Try towel-drying your hair, using a patting motion instead of a rubbing motion. This will take more time, but will keep your hair from breaking off. Some use microfiber hair towels or even a cotton t-shirt to minimize hair damage during the process.

Air drying is also a good choice, though you will need to be mindful of your hair until it is dry. This means you will need to avoid brushing your hair for as long as it is wet. If you absolutely need to brush following your shower, you should consider using a shower cap.

More Tips from our Bellevue Hair Salon

Contact Geena for a hair consultation or ask her during your appointment on different techniques and methods to keep your healthy and scalp healthy during the cold seasons.

Weak and Thin Hair

Do you find that a lot of your hair is coming in weak and thin? There are numerous potential causes for such a development, and some of them easier to deal with than others. If you’re like many people, you may simply need to take better care of your scalp.

Scalp Health

Though you probably are accustomed to shampooing your hair regularly, fostering a healthy head of hair also means regular upkeep of the skin that the hair grows out of. Product residues, dead skin cells, and other grime can build up on your scalp, leading to clogged hair follicles which can impede the growth of your hair. You can clear away this build-up by applying a quality astringent to your scalp about once a week, then shampooing as normal. Check out your local drugstore to find a product that works for you.

Hair Consultation at our Bellevue Hair Salon

For additional help getting the best out of your hair, come to Geena Moon. Our hair salon in Bellevue can give you the strong, healthy, and attractive hair that you deserve.

Believing in natural, organic products that are also sustainable, Geena Moon subscribes to certified healthy formulations in her hair treatments. A major name in her line-up of hair products is that of LOMA, a family-owned business based in Washington that’s been in the manufacturing and distribution of high-quality hair care systems for over 25 years.

LOMA hair products are certified aloe vera gel based with it well-known healing and hair-growing properties. Geena Moon loves their fragrant moisturizing and nourishing shampoos and conditioners and their styling gels and creams. Imperative in Geena’s repertoire is LOMA’s Fortifying Repairative Tonic which catalyzes hair color, and the Nourishing Oil Treatment, an anti-oxidant and thermal protector.

LOMA products have an excellent safety profile. They do not incorporate paraben in their formulas that are product life-extenders linked to breast tumors and fertility concerns. They also have gluten- free products. Also, Geena goes for LOMA’s sulfate-free shampoos that do not strip hair of essential oils and color pigments, and their other sodium chloride-free hair products that yields softer hair and are kinder to the scalp.

While the beauty market is so saturated with hair products with claims ranging from tame to tantalizing, fundamental to fantastic, Geena chooses the natural, organic path to hair wellness for her clients’ safety and well-being. She and LOMA are of the same philosophy that hair care should be natural, safe, and sustainable.

What have you done to your hair?

Let us look into those relatively easy to overcome habits that are bad for the hair.

Check your hair tools and the way you’re using them. Excessive blow-drying and styling with irons that can strip hair of natural moisture and cause them to snap easily. Modulate the heat setting and keep the distance with blow driers. Work on damp, not on wet hair when using heat. And remember, always use a heat protectant for the hair.

When handling your hair, are you kind to it? Try not to brush vigorously, or brush from the top in one stroke. Rather, section your hair and start from the bottom to avoid snags that may begin at the top of your head, and then go up by sections. After a bath, don’t go rubbing your hair with a bath towel, but rather dab hair gently to remove excess wetness. Wet hair is very vulnerable to rubbing and brush strokes; use a wide-tooth comb instead to separate strands.

Your hair may need some time off from frequent use of chemical treatments and products. If you must, choose your hair products well. Go for natural, organic formulations that are free from sulfates and sodium chloride.

Finally, check out habits that would require a lot more willpower to alter the course of hair disaster. Try to be better at handling stress; look into your diet and you might find some foods missing that may be good for hair, such as protein; deal with your excessive smoking or alcohol intake. All these can be hazardous to the health of your scalp and hair.

Ask Geena: Your Bellevue Hair Expert

Geena, of Geena Moon Hair Salon in Bellevue, can pretty much tell what you’ve been doing to your hair since she’s handled countless heads of hair and their differing personalities in her more than 18 years in the business. She will tell you up-front, in a most concerned manner, how changing habits can stop the vicious cycle of hair damage and restore hair’s vibrancy and health.

Partners for Healthy Hair

Believing in natural, organic products that are also sustainable, Geena Moon subscribes to certified healthy formulations in her hair treatments. A major name in her line-up of hair products is that of LOMA, a family-owned business based in Washington that’s been in the manufacturing and distribution of high-quality hair care systems for over 25 years.

LOMA hair products are certified aloe vera gel based with it well-known healing and hair-growing properties. Geena Moon loves their fragrant moisturizing and nourishing shampoos and conditioners and their styling gels and creams. Imperative in Geena’s repertoire is LOMA’s Fortifying Repairative Tonic which catalyzes hair color, and the Nourishing Oil Treatment, an anti-oxidant and thermal protector.

LOMA products have an excellent safety profile. They do not incorporate paraben in their formulas that are product life-extenders linked to breast tumors and fertility concerns. They also have gluten- free products. Also, Geena goes for LOMA’s sulfate-free shampoos that do not strip hair of essential oils and color pigments, and their other sodium chloride-free hair products that yields softer hair and are kinder to the scalp.

Healthy Hair Product User

While the beauty market is so saturated with hair products with claims ranging from tame to tantalizing, fundamental to fantastic, Geena chooses the natural, organic path to hair wellness for her clients’ safety and well-being. She and LOMA are of the same philosophy that hair care should be natural, safe, and sustainable.

Growing out long hair presents its own set of problems. Your hair grows, on average, a half an inch every month, or six inches every year. Therefore, if you want to keep your locks long and flowing, you have to take particular care of it to minimize the amount you lose to breakage and other damage. To do so, consider the following tips:

• Brush carefully, and only when your hair is dry. Yanking at it too hard encourages breakage, particularly when your hair is wet and fragile.
• Massage your scalp twice a week. This improves the blood flow to your hair, giving follicles the nutrients they need to stay strong and healthy.
• Avoid binding your hair up in tight ponytails or similar do’s. The friction that this causes between your hairs encourages breakage, and drawing your hair tight encourages fall-outs.
• When applying condition or other hair products, avoid your roots. There’s a lot of weight riding on these roots, and less product will allow them to be lighter and bouncier. It is the damage-prone ends that need the products the most.
• Even while you are growing out your hair, you can benefit from regular trimmings to remove split ends and give yourself a healthier look. Consult our Bellevue hair salon for more.

Do you find that your hair gets a little too frizzy after your shower? Your drying routine may be at fault. Rubbing your hair dry with your bathroom towel can be a little hard on your hair, causing them to stretch out, become damaged, get pulled out, or stick out at odd angles. Fortunately, there are simple ways to mitigate the damage done by your towel and foster a healthier, more attractive head of hair.

First of all, don’t rub your head. Consider gently patting it dry with your towel. If your hair is long enough, you can squeeze the water out for better results. Further, consider replacing your bath towel with paper towels; these produce less friction than a conventional towel, and their higher absorbency serves to dry your hair out more efficiently.

If you’re looking for more ways to get the best out of your hair, pay us a visit at our Bellevue hair salon. We can help to give you the strong, robust hair that you want and deserve.

If you’re like the vast majority of people, the winter holidays is a time of great stress. Unfortunately, this stress is not good for your hair. Since the cold weather is already quite hard on your moisture levels, it pays to manage your stress in order to facilitate a healthy head of hair. Consider the following tips:

• Plan your schedule. Delegate tasks to people you trust, and never take on more than you can handle.
• Drink enough water. The general rule of thumb is to take your weight in pounds, halve this number, and consume this many ounces of water every day.
• Get enough sleep. If you’re struggling to get the sleep you need, seek out more foods with vitamin B6, calcium, and magnesium. Such foods include fish, whole grains, bananas, and chickpeas.
• Exercise. Not only does this relieve your stress, it also helps to fight the depression brought on by seasonal affectiveness disorder and promote healthy sleep. Even going for a brisk walk for thirty minutes every day can have a profound effect.

Winter is approaching, and the weather is already getting fairly frosty for many of us around Bellevue. This is a time that can be pretty hard on your hair. If you want to protect your hair and look your best for your holiday get-togethers, consider the following cold-weather hair care tips:

• A hat, scarf, or hood can serve to protect your hair from the harmful effects of the cold and wind. However, try not to wear something that is tight enough to restrict circulation to your scalp.
• Be mindful of the fact that the effects of the sun can be just as intense on the ski slope as they are on the beach.
• Use a moisturizing conditioner, then lock in the moisture by rinsing your hair with cold water. As much as it is tempting to take long, hot showers in the cold months, cold water is best for your hair.
• 30Resist using hot tools on your hair, like blow dryers and curling irons. The air is dryer in the cold months, and drying out is more of a concern.

When you smoke, thousands of toxic substances enter your bloodstream through your lungs, where they can affect every part of your body. This includes your hair follicles.

Smoking restricts the flow of blood to your follicles, resulting in premature aging in your hair. When you smoke, you are likely to see grey hairs far earlier in life than you otherwise would. Sometimes your hair will begin to take on a yellow hue, due to the tar and nicotine of your cigarettes. Your hair will also likely be more brittle, prone to breakage and falling out.

Another effect of smoking is that it increases your body’s production of a hormone known as DHT. This hormone is known to contribute to hair loss. This is why smokers are known to have thinner hair than their non-smoking friends, and occasionally experience premature balding.

Even the smell of smoke can affect your hair. This smell easily adheres to your skin and hair, causing you to carry the stale, musty odor of smoke with you long after you are done smoking.

Healthy hair is attractive hair. There are many important nutrients that contribute to a vibrant, thick head of hair, among which are vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid. Unfortunately, since people get a lot of these nutrients from animal products, many vegans and vegetarians aren’t getting what they need. If you are practicing a meat-free lifestyle, consider the following alternative sources of these important vitamins:

• Vitamin B6: Strong vegan sources of vitamin B6 include bananas, chickpeas, white and sweet potatoes, pistachios, and spinach. Fresh produce is preferable, since freezing and canning result in a loss of the vitamin.
• Vitamin B12: This vitamin may be the most difficult to get without eating animal products. There are some fermented foods that may serve to give you the B12 you need, but you may be better off looking for special fortified cereals and similar vegan options.
• Folic Acid: You can get the folic acid you need from dark, leafy green vegetables, as well as fruits, nuts, beans, peas, and some grains.

In addition to your diet, there are many other ways you can maintain a healthy and attractive look in your hair. Consult Geena Moon’s hair salon in Bellevue for more hair care tips.