Fall Hair Tips: Do's and Don'ts

We know, we know - it happened way too quickly and we are all devastated that summer is almost over! As fall approaches and the cold weather returns, so do a whole host of hair problems that the cooler temperatures bring. To get you fully prepared, here are our top Do's and Don'ts for keeping your hair healthy until the summer comes again! 

• DO Continue with your Treatment Plan! We recommend alternating between Hydration and Protein steam treatments once per month, but as the temperatures drop you may want to throw in a Dry Scalp Treatment to prevent the awkward snowflake shoulders...
• DON'T Skip your End Trims for the sake of length! It is much more tempting to focus on your long hair goals during the Fall and Winter seasons, but it is even more crucial to maintain healthy hair this time of year! It will grow, we promise, but you gotta get those ends trimmed! 

• DO Change Up Your Color! Fall is a great time to incorporate reds and coppers into your locks.
• DON'T Change Up Your Color At Home! Box Color causes detriment to the health and integrity of your hair. A quick-fix at home using box color leads to a lengthy, costly fix in a salon. Resist the temptation and avoid box color at all costs.

• DO Consider a Protective Style. A Crochet Braid or Box Braids service can help you maintain the health of your hair and encourage growth with minimal maintenance during the dry-hair season.
• DON'T Wash Too Often. Our hair is particularly susceptible to dryness in the Fall and Winter months, and over-washing can exacerbate the problem. Aim to wash your hair every 3-4 days.

• DO Use a Leave-In Conditioner to Moisturize and Strengthen Brittle Hair. Many of us put away our Healthy Hair Products with the goal of minimal maintenance once summer is over, but our hair needs extra support more than ever! Spray a Leave-In Conditioner like NEVO by Pravana (our fave!) after washes to give your hair a healthy boost.
• DON'T Pull Hair Into a Ponytail Every Day! When the house gets cold and we want to stay wrapped in our blankets as long as possible in the morning, it's tempting to just throw our locks back in an elastic to save time and effort in the winter. Constant ponytails/buns pull on the hair and encourage breakage. Save the ponytails for those days you "don't hear" your alarm going off!

• DO Allow Your Hair to Air Dry When Possible. Even if using a thermal protectant product, heat tools damage our hair and prevent healthy growth. It also affects our natural texture and curl pattern, which takes effort to restore. Try washing at night to avoid using blow driers every morning.
• DON'T Leave the House with Wet Hair. When it's cold outside and we have wet hair, breakage can happen much more easily and our hair takes on unnecessary damage.

Goodbye Summer. It was great spending time with you. We'll miss you dearly. Come again soon!

Toners: Demystified!

What is a toner?

A toner is a color product that focuses on perfecting a shade or hue of color by adjusting the pH level of the hair. Toners are demi-permanent, meaning they are not permanently changing the chemistry of your hair cuticle, and are ideal for trying something new without committing to a long-term color change. 

Toners are custom-formulated and applied to the hair after a color service to adjust to a warmer or cooler shade. They are most often used with blonding services to create a perfect level of blonde for your preference. Toners can help create additional depth and texture of the desired look that sets a salon color service apart. 

Why do I need one?

When using a decolorizer on the hair, or making it lighter than it currently is, the process that is often misunderstood. When lightening or bleaching the hair, it is not lightened to a particular shade, but rather all color tones are removed from the hair to create a blank canvas for painting the new, desired color. Because everyone’s hair reacts different to lightening chemicals and stylists must account for previous chemicals applied to the hair, decolorizing can leave the hair looking more yellow or orange than is desired.

This is where toners help to adjust the lightened tone of the hair to reflect the desired goal. They are not required in all lightening services, but if a particular look is requested or if previous color applications have resulted in lightened hair that is not a tone that the client likes, a toner will correct the canvas. 

Why do I have to pay extra for toners in lightening services like highlights?

As stated above, some clients don’t require toners because the final product of removing color from their hair with lightener has achieved what they were hoping to. Toners aren’t necessarily required for every client or for every lightening service. When they are necessary, additional product and time from the stylist is required to ensure you leave with a look you love, so there is an associated charge to the client.

Back to Blonde

This client wants to go from her Mermaid Hair back to her natural blonde

Before The Toner

You'll notice the mixed shades of blonde, especially near the root, resulting from lightening previously-colored hair. 

After the Toner

A toner helped to create a more even blonde while removing the brassy tones from the root

Professional coloring is chemistry. It involves using the color wheel to determine how to get a client from Point A to Point B while also maintaining the health and integrity of the hair. Stylists must customize each color formula and carefully create a lightening process considering aspects like pH, porosity, and factor in any risks that may be posed to the client due to the history of chemical applications and color processing in a client’s hair. This is a particular challenge when box color has been applied.

Toners are a part of the chemistry that stylists use in perfecting the final look of color services for clients. They can also be applied on their own between color services to buy time between retouches, and clear toners can deepen color and add shine to the hair.

Back to School!

The summer has flown by and we are just as surprised as you are that it is already time again to start preparing for Back to School! 

Late-August to Early-September is a busy time for our salon as we help to prepare both parents and children to return to their school routines with ease and confidence! 

We have put together our Top 3 Tips for Back to School season to help you prepare and start the year off on the right foot! 

TIP #3 : Schedule your appointment for a time that works for your child. We find that most of our youngest clients have the best salon experience right before nap-time or early in the morning. Bringing your child for a salon service during a time in their routine when they're typically high-energy or ready for a meal can make for a frustrating experience for your child. We do ask that you refrain from bringing food and drink into the salon, but we're happy to provide a light snack if your child becomes antsy during their appointment. 

TIP #2 : The salon should be an enjoyable, relaxing experience for little ones just as it is for us grown-ups. To help make sure your babe has the best salon experience possible and that their stylist is able to comfortably provide the service you request, please arrive with your child's hair detangled. We know the detangling process can be uncomfortable, so consider requesting a "Wash Day Wonder Detangle Service" during booking if you have difficulty with this portion of your child's haircare routine. Your stylist can use products designed to make detangling easier and help you determine the best way to painlessly detangle after a long day of play! 

TIP #1 : PREBOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT! Our stylists book up quickly for the weeks surrounding Back to School, and availability is already extremely limited. To ensure you are able to get your kiddos the services they need with the stylist they're most comfortable with to start the school year off with confidence, please book your appointment as soon as possible. You can book online from our website or by calling 757-200-8890.

We hope you have all had a wonderful summer and wish you the best of luck in the 2018-2019 school year! May your future be bright and your recess breaks long! 

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

In the Beauty industry, our teams are comprised of creative visionaries, free-spirited artists, and lifetime learners. We are lucky to have several incredible Cosmetology schools in the Hampton Roads area, and we do our best to provide support to the students of these programs to prepare them to enter the world of hairstyling! We feel this will help the students be the best cosmetologists for their clients, their employers, and themselves! 

This month we teamed up with Fawnee from Salon Noa to provide a Professional Development course to the Future Professionals at Rudy + Kelly Academy. We discussed many aspects of being a hairstylist that don't involve hair: exceptional customer service skills, social media marketing and self-promotion, working in a teamwork environment, and maintaining a high level of self-motivation to stand out in an ever-changing industry. It was a pleasure not only to be available as a support system for the students who will someday be behind our chairs, but also to team up with another local salon and spread the wealth of knowledge that experience has afforded us! 

Fawnee + the Salon Noa Team with Chelsea

To inquire about how Versus may support the students in your Beauty + Cosmetology programs, please email ChelseaAtVersus@outlook.com

FAQ: What Shape Does a DevaCut Create?

A question we commonly receive is from curly clients who are trying out the DevaCut for the first time, wanting to know what type of shape they’ll leave with after their service.

A common misconception about the DevaCut is that it refers to a specific cut or shape. The reality is that a DevaCut refers to the technique that our stylists receive special training in to best work with curly hair. It includes a No Poo Transformation which is a step-by-step tutorial where your stylist will teach you how to use a customized product cocktail suited for your unique curl pattern to create consistent, defined curls. The cut and shape are designed by you and your stylist! 

Your DevaCut service will be tailored to suit your specific concerns, lifestyle needs, and to help you achieve your #CurlyHairGoals. Your stylist will consult with you on shapes that will work best for you and make recommendations based on their training. We love when clients bring us photo inspiration of cuts and shapes that they like on others so we can use it as a guideline to create a new look for you! 

The DevaCut service is all about you and your curls!