Many people know what “shingles” is because either they have it themselves or they know someone who has had it. I want to write about it because being a hair stylist and having shingles - some people have concerns about it being contagious which is very understandable.

Here is an overview of what shingles is

Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. After someone has had chickenpox, the virus lives on in the nerves. It is never fully cleared from the body and remains dormant in the nerve tissues. The virus becomes reactivated under certain circumstances, such as emotional stress, immune deficiency - from AIDS or chemotherapy - or with cancer. It spreads along the nerve fibers to particular area of skin supplied by the involved nerve. I most cases though the cause of the reactivation is not known.

When it is reactivated it causes shingles. The skin rush is preceded by pain or itching or tingling or burning of the skin - (in my case I had pain in my back and thought I had pulled a muscle and a couple of days later the first signs of the rash appeared on my left shoulder blade) - and manifests itself in many people as a very painful skin rash with blisters that can resemble third degree burns. (My skin rash did resemble third degree burns). The blisters follow the path of individual nerves that come out of the spinal cord. Blisters may occur along the entire center path of the nerve or only in certain areas supplied by the nerve. Twenty percent of the people who had chickenpox get shingles.

So, are shingles catching?

Shingles cannot pass from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles can be spread from a person with active shingles to a person who has never had chickenpox through direct contact with an open blister. The person exposed would develop chickenpox, not shingles. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer contagious. A person is not infectious before blisters appear or with post-herpetic neuralgia (pain after the rush has gone).

Once a person has had chicken pox they cannot catch shingles (or contact the virus) from someone else.

The virus is not spread through sneezing, coughing or casual contact.

If you can diagnose shingles early and get antiviral drugs within 48 hours of the appearance of the rash you can reduce the duration of the rash, but the benefit of the drugs are limited.

I had shingles-are they catching?

Lots of people are worried that in the summer their hair needs to get the same preventative treatment from the sun as their skin does. That for most people means that their hair should be treated with a conditioner that has sun screen.

Let’s examine this for a moment. Sunscreen contains an ingredient that tries to prevent the ultraviolet rays from penetrating the skin. Actually your skin has a major mechanism that doesn’t allow the ultra violet rays get too deep. It does that by producing dark pigments and that is why the longer your skin is exposed to the sun the darker it becomes. Your suntan is the result of the skin protecting itself. Don’t forget, the skin is the biggest organ of your body. It is extremely important to you.

However, as you can imagine, hair is made totally different than skin. It really is just a fiber where the core of the hair is enclosed by several horny transparent layers. So, even if you apply a conditioner which contains sunscreen it will have no effect on your hair because it is anatomically different from skin.

The only time you need to protect your hair is if you are at the ocean in the sun all day long. The sun - and the air is mixed with the salt of the ocean - will dry out your hair. If you are one of those people who is outside all day long (at the ocean) you can either smother your hair with hair conditioner or keep your hair covered.

You will be just fine.

The truth about hair health and the sun

There is a dangerous round hairstyling brush lurking innocently in almost every drugstore and many hair salons,
waiting to cause problems for the hair of the many unsuspecting buyers with whom this hair brush will call home.

Have a look at this brush so that you will not be one of the unlucky ones who have had a “brush” with this hair
styling utensil. It does look innocent enough. Just round with single nylon bristle. What harm can this brush do to
me, you ask?
Well, especially if you have long hair and want to curl your hair with this type of brush, once it is in your hair
you very likely will not be able to get it out again, unlike the other round styling brushes which you simply unroll
- even if your hair gets tangled a bit in the process.

I was once told by one of my clients that her daughter who had long hair used such a brush - they were in
hotel to get ready for a friend’s wedding - when her daughter was unable to get this brush out of her hair. They
called a hair stylist from the hotel to remove it but the brush had to be cut out of her hair. I have heard from
other clients who had the same problem with this round brush.

Even as a hair stylist I find this styling brush impossible to use.

So, consider yourself warned.

A dangerous hairstyling brush

You may have noticed how several movie stars colored their blonde hair to a dark color. And I think they look really great. For example, there is Lindsay Lohan. She was a very light, unnatural looking blonde. Look at her “before” picture. And then look at her “after” picture. The warm brown color suits her a lot better. However the color that really suits her best is the red tone on the right.

Have you ever wondered why some hair colores look better on you then others? That is because the color that looks best on you, that makes you look fabulous is the color that goes with your color type.  

You can tell when you look at Lindsay Lohan’s blonde hair picture that something does not look quite right and the reason for that is that the blonde hair color is wrong for her. The darker color on the right makes her look good.

Also have a look at Farah Fath’s pictures. It’s the same story. Does she not look great in darker hair? Do you see how it makes her eyes show?

Cameron Diaz went from her beautiful very light blonde hair to dark brown and it does not suit her. It’s a very bad color choice for her. Again why? Because it doesn’t agree with her color type and that’s why it does not suit her at all. Neither does Nicole Kidman’s very,very blonde hair color agree with her color type. She looks flat and she looks so much better as a strawberry blonde. I am sure you can tell the difference.

I guess, movie stars will do anything to be talked about, even if it is only their hair colors. Blonde seems to be the “make me glamorous” hair color of the movie stars and celebrities.  It doesn’t seem to matter that these wrong hair colors do not make them look good and I suppose they can get away with it. But I have to say that I am amazed about how unaware they are of how  important their hair color is for their looks. I always think they should know better.

   much better            Cameron Diaz                                 Farah Fath          

                                                                                             Lindsay Lohan

            Nicole Kidman

     < Too light                       

           >The Good and the Bad hair colors of the Stars                              

Here are a few examples of one of the main hairstyle trends that is developing and that you will see more of in the future. Compared with the look we have had for the last few years, which had the sides cut very short or styled close to the head there is now hair and often it is feathered and feathered out, making the sides of the hairstyle fuller.

Also on short hair the back is longer and can be cut kind of shaggy. You can see hair from the front of the face on short hair. Long hair is whispy rather than cut in a blunt line.

All in all these hairstyles are soft and versatile. A really nice change.

The new hairstyle trend 

“My Hair can really bug me sometimes”

That is what Ellen DeGeneres said when asked by Vanity Fair the question: What do you most dislike about your appearance? “My hair can really bug me sometimes” she said. Goes to show you, even the stars struggle with their hair.

I don’t know if you have noticed her hair before because, really it could look better, and I have noticed that this is when she does not look great either. And why should she be any different than the rest of us you ask. You know what they say, “Your hair makes you or breaks you.”

I can tell that Ellen DeGeneres’s hair is the kind of hair that  does not have much body by itself, it is kind of limp and fine. She looks best with a little bit of volume and and some hair around her face.

Does your hair bug you too sometimes? Is it too flat on top or does your hairstyle simply not look good on you anymore. Often, I find, it is  because it has lost its shape. It needs to be cut again because it has grown and needs to be re-shaped into a proper style again.

You could also consider having your hair permed to give it more body. However you’ll still need your hair cut  the right length for the type of hair you have to really take advandtage of the perm.

Anyway, I thought Ellen DeGeneres’s hair looked good at the Oscars and that is certainly a major reason why she also looked great.

In the second picture I made her hair a little longer than the way she wore it at the Oscar and I think it suits her better. What do you think? Let me know.

                                                                2 

 Ellen DeGeneneres says

Here is another example of what a difference a hairstyle can make. From long hair to short hair and how it changes a face. What do you think? Mandy looks fabulous in short hair, don’t you agree? Maybe you have been thinking of changing your hairstyle drastically, but are afraid to go ahead with it.

 Before you do it think about your features to make sure the new short hair style will suit you.  Pick a style that doesn’t make your face rounder or longer for instance. Search for pictures of hair styles that you like. You could also have a virtual imaging done to see how you would look in different hairstyles and even hair colors.

                                                                                       Mandy

 Long hair look - Short hair look                                                  

Are you afraid to tell your hair stylist how you want to wear your hair?  The other day I had a conversation with one of my clients about this subject. It came up because she told me how she is always happy with the way her hair looks when I style (and color) it.

Then she told me about the experience she once had with a hair stylist who would never listen to what she wanted. He would only style her hair the way he wanted to. He would say to her “it’s only hair” and believe or not she went to him for several years because she didn’t know where else to go to have her hair done.

If you have one of those quite inconsiderate hair stylists remember, there are many good, professional hair stylists. You can ask other people whose hair you like but don’t forget to ask them also about what kind of attitude the hair stylist has. Try and only have your hair styled, not cut or colored or permed the first time. Check out some hair salon Web sites, get as much information as you can.

Does your hair stylist listen to you