Got Fine Hair?

"I hate my hair!!!!" Were the first words as she set down on my chair.  "Look at this hair! It is fine! It is limp and straight!" She added, "I am going to important job interviews,  and I can not afford not to look good….and every time I do something different like adding layers, it made my hair thinner looking and I would end up hating it  more!" Even though I was meeting her for the first time, her frustration with her fine hair I have heard a thousand  times.  As I started my consultation session with her, my goal was to build  trust, connect, and find ways for us to be on the "same page".  And by repeating back  to her what I have heard  was a crucial  step in communicating  that I understood her situation. Effectively listening and communicating has been my secret to a perfect experience and achieving the desired out come with my client.  Conversely, I knew if by the end of my consultation I do not feel that connection, I then would have to give her the bad news that I do not think we are right for each other; and therefore, I would decline doing her hair.   But by the end of my initial consultation, she smiled and  relaxed into the chair which she gave me the 'Trust-Cue' that I was waiting for.  "So you can do something with this hair, right?" she asked hoping a positive answer.  I smiled back and said that "before I answer your question, let me take a little time to really  see you and look at you in my quiet mode."   "Quiet mode"!! What's that?', she asked.   "It is a technique that helps me visualize and create, I have put it together by studying Art and practicing meditation."  "Well, that's a unusual combination, isn't it?" She said it sounding somewhat intrigued.  "Yes and no," I replied. "Practicing meditation has taught me that whenever I am quiet in my mind, visual inspiration of would clearly rush in. Studying Art has taught me how to see the beauty and what design elements are pleasing to the eye. Then all I have to do is use my hairdressing knowledge and tools to engineer and manifest that inspiration."  "It sounds poetic," she said with a smile that showed she gets it. So I started quieting my mind by taking a deep breath and bringing my attention to my body and then to my hands. At the same time, I bring a stillness to my thoughts and suspend my judgments. I take a few step back so I can see all of her from the same distance than most people visually would see her from. As I was focusing on her quietly and being inspired, she must have gotten a little self-conscious. She broke the silence and asked, "So what do you think Doc???"   I asked, "Have you ever been fascinated by a beautiful landscape painting, drawing, or a picture?" "Oh thank you. That's a nice compliment," she said it not being sure where am I going with this.  Then I asked, "Have you ever wondered how is it possible  that our eyes would see vast distances and realistic three dimensional objects on a flat two dimensional paper or canvas?"   "Yes, but what is that have to do with my hair?" she asked waiting to see how I would make the relevance.   "So I already have been inspired by you and in essence, all I have to do now is to use the same principals of painting to creating depth and texture and use drawing techniques to make a shape that would bring out your best features!" "Oh! That makes sense," she said it surprisingly, and added, "So how are you going to do that?"  Feeling good that this consultation is going forward perfectly, enthusiastically I replied, "Well, there some principals and guidelines for fine hair that I must utilize. They are not only will work for you but it will for anyone who has Fine, limp and straight hair. For example: 1- Establishing Stronger exterior lines (shape) is a must if you have fine hair. Because if you do not, weak lines makes your hair thin looking.  2- Creating Interior lines (texture) is also important. It's right that layering the hair traditionally means thinning the hair and overdoing it on fine hair.. is disastrous. But on the other hand  "texturing" (that is a new form of layering) works extremely well for fine hair if is done on dry hair, this  "Comb Free Dry Haircutting" as I call it basically cuts   'C' shape forms into the hair so that the upper layer remains longer than the one below. That is totally in contrast as the traditional "layering" in that the upper layer is always shorter then the lower, thus it " thins the hair". The beauty of 'Comb Free Dry Cutting' is that the stylist is cutting and customizes the cut at the same time. scissors on wet hair tend to take off up to five times more then dry hair. Whenever I cut on dry hair, I could see  exactly what the hair will do for the client when she styling her hair at home." She then questioned me, "Well that sounds really good but what about my color, can you make my hair thicker looking with hair color?"  "Funny you should ask," I replied, "most coloring products make fine hair thicker looking in two ways:  1- they cover and add to the thickness of the hair shaft  and 2- they roughen the surface of the hair making it more pliable. And I love coloring fine hair," I said "mainly because the thought for coloring fine and super fine hair is similar to creating a three dimensional landscape painting on a two dimension canvas in that variety of tones and techniques should be employed." "Oh great! I will have rainbow colors now," she said jokingly.  "Yes!" I said, "We have a special sale on rainbow colors today...but seriously,  if the 'dimensional coloring' is done correctly, much like the 'negative space' in painting and in art, your eyes should only see a beautiful color that has richness, movement, natural highlights, and lowlights." "Ok sold! sign me up!" she said. And I was also very excited to start working on her hair as well. By Ed Hart, Maximus salon