Recently in Styling Products Category

My skin suffers because of how dry it gets in the winter, but so does my hair and scalp! Thankfully I got some fabulous tips from the folks at Rene Furterer and Klorane that I wanted to share with you:) First, use a humidifier -- if there is one that can do the trick it's Air-O-Swiss ($229.99), though one might not be enough if your room is very big, which is what I realized my problem was -- sometimes you need two humidifiers! Then, treat the scalp once a week to a purifying massage with Rene Furterer Complexe 5 Regenerating Extract ($45). Massaging the scalp with Complexe 5's essential oils of orange and lavender naturally stimulate the scalp's circulation and create the optimal conditions for the scalp and hair to thrive as well as allowing better penetration of your other hair care products. As far as shampooing people always do it too much -- including me -- so hard for me to take my daily shower and stop myself from reaching over for the shampoo and conditioner, but as we all know that's bad! Too much shampooing can strip the scalp and hair of its natural protective oils. By shampooing a bit less frequently, you'll give your scalp a chance to maintain its natural balance. To keep hair clean and beautiful between shampoos, you can use a dry shampoo such as Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo With Oat Milk ($18) that cleanses your hair without stripping it. I have to say I get eecked by dry shampoos and had bad experiences previously with one from T3, but as far as they go the one from Klorane was actually soothing. More after the Jump!

I've been coming across countless wonderful beauty gift sets and like Beauty Snob Tina I ended-up getting a few of my faves for most of the people on my shopping list this holiday season! One that stand-outs when it comes to hair care is the gift set from Seva . Seva means "thread" in Sanskrit which the company says implies that all things are connected...nice little holiday message, huh?! Anyway, Seva is a new line of hair care products and they use some of the highest quality ingredients for their products. The line is also sulfate and paraben free, vegan and not tested on animals and given their ingredients Seva hair products are 100% color safe which is essential for me because I only get my hair highlighted twice a year and both times it's abroad (either at Dessange in France or with a German colorist when I go visit my family in Munich), so I gotta keep my highlights safe!! The products are wonderfully light so they won't leave your hair heavy or overly greasy. Plus, all Seva items are produced locally in Los Angeles and their warehouse employs people with disabilities from the La Puente Adult School. With that in mind, check-out the Seva Gift Set which retails for $75 (a $160 value), and comes with all of the products from the Seva line.

I heard about this Save our Style Wet and Dry Ceramic Tourmaline Iron from someone who works with the Valery Joseph Salon in NYC and at first I was a little bit skeptical. It's a flat iron that dries and straightens hair simultaneously basically eliminating the need for a blow dryer. Could this be safe for hair!? Apparently yes! The device is supposedly better for your hair than using a blow dryer which the makers say uses an excessive amount of unnecessary heat which overly dries hair causing it to split. The Wet-To-Dry Flat Iron dries and straightens instantaneously without any of that unnecessary over-styling and over-heating. Of course some people use the blow dryer as a styling tool, but since I don't this is basically a 2-for-1 time saving gadget for me! To boot the iron comes with a mini-sized travel version of the regular iron! Also, there are two settings -- low (250F-300F) for fine, damages, or chemically relaxed hair and High (300F-400F) for normal, colored, highlighted, or coarse hair. The iron is auto-set to 355F, but it's super-easy to adjust. Just one note -- steam comes out from vents but don't worry! That's what protects your hair from over-heating:) The Mini and regular Wet-to-Dry Flat Iron set retails for $199 and you can get it at either of the two Valery Joseph Salons or by calling them--
Valery Joseph Salon location and numbers:
1044 Madison Avenue, (212) 517-2333
820 Madison Avenue, (217) 517-7377

Great hair is always something to be thankful for which is why I think Frederic Fekkai's Coiff Celebration of Style ($30) and the Frederic Fekkai Spray On Hair Crystals ($18.50) both make great gifts/stocking stuffers this holiday season! First off the packaging of the Fekkai products is always tops -- everything from the logo to the colors is simple and understated, but distinctive and elegant. The gift box is a limited edition one and given how many of us travel during the holiday season it's super convenient that everything in it is travel-size. Plus, the three products in the set are varied so you'll have the keys to straight, tousled, and curly hair with --
- 1.5 oz Anti-Frizz Crème (my fave out of the three! Do yourself a favor and get this one for yourself in full-size -- unbelievably lightweight and so quick and easy you just put it on your hair when it's damp and it's the best preventative measure against frizz!), 1.5 oz Ironless Straightening Balm, and 1.0 oz Finishing Crème. Lastly, Frederic Fekkai's Spray On Hair Crystals -- I'm usually fairly hairspray averse because of the stiffness, but this one actually gives you hold while allowing movement and none of that gross, clumpy-ness. This isn't news to anyone who uses the Frederic Fekkai Hold hairspray though, so what makes it a great holiday gift you ask? It sprays hair crystals and slight color for wonderful shimmer:) I love champagne (who doesn't, right!?), but it also comes in copper, and bronze!

Peter Som, Ralph Lauren, Versace, Lanvin from style.com

I went to a discussion led by Redken's Creative Consultant Guido who styled more than 30 shows including Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton during fashion week!! A busy, busy man he told me had just finished wrapping the Prada campaign. When asked about an over-arching hair trend he said that this year everything was very "anti-red carpet" and that the trends he spotted mostly fell into one of these four categories -- a softly deconstructed look (ponytails, knots and casual half-ponytails with satin-matte finishes -- Peter Som, for example), glam hair accessories paired with modern styles (Guido suggests adding a black headband, a jaunty fedora or anything that adds a pop of color -- take a cue from the Ralph Lauren show), clean lines and easy updoes (Guido says that this season a lot of hair was kept away from the face with no bangs or stray pieces like in the Lanvin collection). Lastly, the middle part makes a comeback as seen in Versace among others.

Redken does a lot of the Fashion Week shows so back in September when I was backstage at a few when I saw these cool blush metallic bottles, I inquired about what the products they were using actually did. It turned-out that all these bottles I was seeing were part of the just now released new Redken Heat Styling range. The collection consists of six products (only two out of those six are actually new launches, but all are newly packaged in the blush metallic packaging). Basically what the products are intended to do is protect your hair from heat styling tools. Honestly, I had never done this and I can't believe that it never occurred to me to use something to help protect my hair from the flat iron I use so often. I always figured the best I could do was use a CHI flat iron (love CHI by the way if anyone is looking for great tools!). So I'm so excited to finally be using some of these heat styling products to relieve some of my worries about frying my hair. I particularly love Redken Fabricate 03 ($13), which you spray on damp hair, finger-style with or without heat and what it's supposed to do is give your hair definition and a textured finish when used with a flat iron. Also great is Redken Iron Silk 07 ($15) which you spray on dry hair section by section as you flat iron for protection and it also, actually, makes your hair extra soft and the smell isn't too strong or chemical-like at all.
For the full details and complete line click here!