Free The New Rules for Blondes by Selena Coppock Page B

was a dark day for both me and Suzanne, who was hooked on Secret Weapon, too. You can replicate the effect of Secret Weapon with any old hand or body lotion. I learned this trick from some black friends who swear by it to smooth their flyaways. 39 Simply squeeze a bit of lotion onto your hands and rub them together; then, once the lotion has dissolved a bit but while it’s still somewhat tacky, gingerly run your hands either over your hair (if it’s parted) or through it (if you’re foregoing a part and shooting for a loose style that you will toss around).
    But that’s just my system—yours might be quite different. I have a blonde friend who possesses super-thick hair and needs to slather on conditioner before spending twenty minutes with a high-intensity hair dryer. I have another pal who conditions and combs her hair in the shower, then must carefully let it air-dry and cannot run a comb or brush through it once it has dried. You’ll want to conduct your own experiments to find what works for your hair, and explore different hair products using trial by fire.
    For quick reference, let’s recap the hair jargon we just learned:
Underlying pigment: the color of virgin, or never-colored, hair
Porosity of hair: how well hair will absorb and hold color
Developer: the liquid used to open up a cuticle of hair and activate color
1-to-10 continuum: the way that colorists chart natural hair colors, with 1 being the darkest and 10 being the lightest
Special Blondes/Special 12s: platinum blondes, a color that doesn’t occur in nature
11: the level that Spinal Tap’s amplifiers crank up to, oddly not a position on the hair color continuum
Single process: a uniform color that is spread across all hair (mostly used for dark hair, red hair, and gray coverage)
Double process: when a single process must be administered twice in order to remove old color and achieve new color (mostly used for platinum blondes)
Chemical cut: severe hair breakage caused by overprocessing
Hot roots: when the roots are brighter and more vibrant than the rest of the shaft
Cool (ashy): blonde that is platinum or silvery—also called Upper East Side blonde
Warm (brassy): blonde that is yellow or golden—also called California blonde
Color removal: a process that can be done at home or in the salon, when a hair color is stripped from your hair—used only in hair color emergencies
Highlights/lowlights: painted pieces of hair that are either lighter than the rest of the hair (highlights) or darker than rest of hair (lowlights) and add dimension
Full foil: when highlights are painted on and sealed with foil packets across the entire head
Partial foil: when highlights are painted on and sealed with foil packets, but only from crown to ears
T-section foil: when highlights are painted on and sealed with foil packets, but only on the top and sides of head
Starburst foil: when highlights are painted on and sealed with five to seven foil packets on the top of the head
Purple shampoo: used to counteract brassiness in hair that has been colored blonde
Good products: gel, mousse, hair spray, root boost spray, L.A. Looks gel, Garnier Fructis, Herbal Essences’ Body Envy line, hair clips, styling wax
    That’s a comprehensive overview of in-salon color, at-home color, and at-home styling. Phew. I hope that you have learned something new courtesy of the trained professional, Michael, and the hair-obsessed writer, me. I shall close this chapter with one word of advice: When it comes to styling, no tendrils. Dear Lord, no tendrils—ever. Please. If you’re thinking, What is she talking about? What are tendrils? , then I assume that you never attended a wedding or prom in the 1980s or 1990s, and you should consider yourself lucky. For the blissfully unaware, tendrils are pieces of hair (usually framing the face) that are deliberately left out of an updo to make the look appear less severe. They are often curled (by cheesy people) in a very small barrel curling iron so