Capitol Hill's Premier Haircuts & Color

Emerson Salon is the best hair salon on Capitol Hill, Seattle. Our experienced hair stylists and colorists have been fusing the latest trends with top hair techniques for years. Whether you’re looking to transform your look in Seattle with a new haircut and color or just maintain your already hip style, we are here and ready to help.

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909 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122
T: 206-323-7437
@: emersonsalon@gmail.com

Articles from ‘Straight Hair’

Monday, January 16th, 2012

How to Have Better Hair

I am frequently asked “what can I do with this fine, limp hair”? If you keep letting your hair air dry and don’t accept my product and styling recommendations, there is nothing I can do for you. Fine hair is oily by origin. It lacks protein and the density it needs to do anything but fall down. How you combat this is achieved in part by how your hair is cut but also in how you manage your hair at home. It also depends on what kind of maintenance you are willing to do. Most clients want no maintenance, and they don’t own a hair dryer. They also don’t want to use styling products. This is a recipe for hair fail!

I cut my fine hair clients’ hair to suit their lifestyle and desires. I can cut a good shape for my fine hair clients and I can texturize their hair within the cut to give them some internal volume. This is only part of the remedy. I recommend professional volumizing shampoos and conditioners that I know that work in the salon I work in. My favorite is Alterna’s Bamboo Abundant Volume shampoo and conditioner. For light styling, their Plumping Strand Expand cannot be beat!

Once your hair is shampooed and conditioned, towel dry hair to get the excess moisture out. Dispense a couple of pumps of the Strand Expand into your hand, rub your hands together and run your fingers through your hair, from roots to ends. Blow dry your hair with medium heat on a medium setting. Heat activates the product and dries it into your hair. No matter what your blow drying technique is, make sure to get the root area of your hair completely dry. This will give your hair the most support. Your ends will dry soon enough.

Once your hair has been adequately blow-dried in the style you are happy with, let your hair cool down. Any kind of heat, including the heat from your hands, will restyle your hair and flatten it. Once your hair is cool, you can use a wide-toothed comb or hairbrush with spaces between the bristles to finalize your style. Don’t be heavy-handed- a light touch is all that is required and one can over-do! It is better for your hair to be a bit bigger than you’d like at the style finish, because hair flattens during the day, when you put a coat, hat, and/or a scarf on, and when you step outside in any sort of humidity.

Use a volume-locking hairspray at the end to finish and set your style for the day. You can take a mini hairspray can with you to work. Bamboo Volume Root Blast can also be used instead of hair spray. It adds volume to dry hair without the stickiness some hair sprays can have. Should your style fall, simply bend your head downward, spray lightly underneath your hair, shake your head and lift your head up. You can lightly use your comb or brush again to calm down any rogue hairs J

Posted by Hair Guy Lancer, specializing in custom cuts and colors for 20+ years.

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Ask a Stylist-Chemical Straightening

Arianna asked our stylists:

“I have really curly hair and I am thinking about getting it permanently straightened for awhile. What are the risks of doing this? Will it wreck my hair? What else should I know before going ahead with it?”

Good question Arianna! Here’s what our stylists have to say.

Lancer says,

“Permanent hair straightening will change your hair texture completely. The only way to remove it is to have the straightened lengths of your hair cut off. A better option for you would be the Keratin Smoothing treatment. This treatment can be varied to give a less-than-permanent smoothness to your hair. If you choose this route, you will still have to flat iron your hair to get it completely straight.

Hair that has been chemically altered needs special care. You must use professional hair care products that your stylist recommends for your at-home maintenance. Otherwise, your service that you paid for cannot be guaranteed, and straightened hair (whether done with a straightening, smoothing, and.or flat ironing treatment) is very different hair and needs extra care.

Potential risks include breakage if the treatment isn’t done correctly. Seek out a salon that does these treatments on a regular basis and ask about a stylist’s certification and credentials first. Also, if your hair is currently colored, permed, highlighted, or bleached, it may have too poor of porosity to accept another chemical treatment, though professional straightening treatments are available for those hair types.

Finally, the treatment is a bit costly and time-intensive. Do your research, have a thorough consultation with your stylist before proceeding, and then you can decide if it is right for you!”

Thanks for your question Arianna! Hope this helped!

Stay tuned for more Ask a Stylist posts as the Emerson team answers all your burning hair questions!

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Kevin Murphy On Using Anti Gravity For Volume

Anti Gravity on Straight Hair

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Emerson Salon 909 E Pike St Seattle (Haircuts & Color)
www.EmersonSalon.com

Monday, January 19th, 2009

The Iconic Mason Pearson Brush

We just recently got the Mason Pearson brushes in the salon to try out. I have to admit, I was very skeptical. How could a hairbrush be all that? As hairdressers, we have tried many brushes and combs, endless blowout techniques and products, not to mention all methods of hair straightening, and they all have their pros and cons. This brush has never failed me or my clients. After one use of the brush in a regular blowout (without straightening products or the like), my clients’ hair has never looked smoother, softer, nor straighter.

It is true that the best thing one can do for one’s hair is to brush it. The same idea applies to nails; the best things one can do for one’s nails is to buff them.

Hair Solutions achieved with the Mason Pearson brush:

Dry hair: Brushing activates the tiny oil glands at the case of each hair – so that they lubricate each hair shaft just enough for elasticity and bounce and there’s no danger of hair being brittle, dry and difficult to manage.

Greasy hair: Brushing helps lift away excess oil from the hair shaft.

Dandruff: A Mason Pearson brush reaches every corner of the scalp and makes a thorough job of sweeping away the scales.

Be like Marsha:

Regular brushing with a good hairbrush through to the scalp will stimulate the blood supply and promote healthy growth.

The Mason Pearson brush:

Glides more easily and smoothly through the hair, allowing you to lift your hair in wide curves.

Is designed so that every individual tuft penetrates right through to the scalp.

Mason Pearson have established a unique reputation for hairbrushes. The reason for this is partly in the design and partly in the versatility of the brushes. The design consists of unique spired tufts of boar bristle, or nylon, or bristle-and-nylon mixture, set in a pneumatic pad so that every tuft penetrates right through to the scalp. In addition the materials are first-class. Mason Pearson brushes are made in different sizes, materials, and colors, at a wide range of prices. There is one for every type of hair.

Why is the Mason Pearson brand better?

  • The unique rubber-cushion pad, made by hand using Mason Pearson’s original techniques, allows for effective and efficient brushing. It is kind to use and massages the scalp.
  • The cellulose plastic handle is hand-polished and any sharp edges are removed to make the hairbrush more comfortable to hold. This handle was developed from the original wooden design which we continue to make in small quantities.
  • We continue to try to improve on the established design : for example, the “Child” brush is in response to a customer’s request. This is designed to enable a child to become accustomed to the activity of brushing. Similar to this, in the materials used, is the “Sensitive”, which has been developed for people who have thinning hair or very fine hair. This brush gently stimulates the scalp. The natural extension has been to have a “Sensitive” model for those men who are “thin on top”.
  • We build our products to last as long as possible. While we cannot make indestructible products, we use the best materials available so that, with a little care, they should give good service.We try to make improvements continuously. We have developed our own special nylon and take particular care in our selection of natural bristles to use the best combination for each brush.

The particular MP brush that we have in stock:

Bristle and Nylon tufts: This mixture is a good combination for normal, thick or long hair. It is the ideal brush for anyone just becoming accustomed to brushing his or her hair.

Other brushes:

Too hard a bristle would hack at your hair and scalp.

Too soft a bristle would slide ineffectively over your head.

Resources: Mason Pearson Site / Folica

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Emerson Salon 909 E Pike St Seattle (Haircuts & Color)
www.EmersonSalon.com

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Curly Hair Tangles less!


Science
Straight hair tangles twice as much as curly hair, as was proven in a study done by French biophysicist Jean-Baptiste Masson, who devised a geometrical model of hair. His math suggests that straight hairs rub up against each other at steep angles, which causes tangles.

Engineering
Tangles are like burrs, which are also found in nature and they stick to our clothing. The discovery of Velcro occurred when Swiss engineer George de Mestral noticed burrs attached to his wool pants while out on a hunting trip in the Alps.

Physics
Masson’s findings noted that Velcro involves fibers tangling up with each other, much like hair fibers. These findings have been detailed in the Journal of American Physics, and can lead to advances in “Velcro-like technology”, where researchers might attempt to increase the tension of Velcro fibers to make them straighter.

Hair
This correlates to the hairdresser’s blowout of course: When the right amount of tension is applied to the hair, along with a product that detangles in conjunction with another product that attaches to the hair strands, the client will get a smoother, straighter, sleeker hairstyle!


http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/velcro.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20759101/

http://www.umw.edu/hisa/resources/Student%20Projects/Susan%20Deedrick%20–%20Velcro/students.umw.edu/_sdeed5pn/History.html

posted by Lancer

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Emerson Salon 909 E Pike St Seattle (Seattle Hair Salon)
www.EmersonSalon.com