Tag: hair

The Gilded Pear Annual Christmas Charity Drive

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This year, for our Christmas donation drive, we are collecting yarn for the GEF Seniors Housing.  This yarn goes to our beloved seniors who knit hats, scarves, mitts, baby clothes, slippers, booties and much more, all year round! In October, they gather their creations and they go right back into the community. Local charities such as The Mustard Seed, Friendship Seniors, and Ronald McDonald House are some of the charities they, in turn, support with their knitting.

Doing this is a WIN for everyone!

We will take gently used and new balls of yarn as well as cash donations that will be used to purchase yarn!

Thanks for your support of this worthy cause,

The Pears

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The Gilded Pear: We’ve Been Online for a Year!

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Did you know that the gorgeous Gilded Pear website has been up for almost a year?! If you haven’t ventured over, do take some time and check out our staff bios, services, the blog, and our favourite products! http://www.thegildedpearltd.com. Also be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and if you are a returning client, make sure you rate us on the FB 5-star system so we can know how much you love us!

The Gilded Pear is a full-service salon and spa located just minutes from West Edmonton Mall. Step into luxury today with our professional stylists and estheticians. We specialize in bringing out the best in you.

Cutting edge hair and beauty knowledge. Brilliant design. Call us today!

Our Stylist Erin is back!

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In case you haven’t heard the exciting news, our stylist Erin is back as of yesterday!  We are so excited to have her and her expertise back in the salon going forward and know the folks who have missed her are delighted as well! Erin has 9 years of experience in the hair industry and specializes in Hothead extensions, updos, foils, and fashion colours from pastels to the most vibrant of colours by Elumin.

Call to book your appointment with any of our stylists and body work specialists today!

Tips for Mermaid Hair by The Gilded Pear

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kasara2
kasara

This insanely beautiful mermaid hair is part of a growing trend of sea-inspired masterpieces that have taken over the world of hair recently! The Gilded Pear salon is known for having exceptional services while staying on top of the very best hair styling trends. These multi-coloured tresses were done by stylist Kasara and look absolutely stunning.

Tips to prepare for getting mermaid hair from the mouths of stylists:

  • Don’t wash your hair the day of the colouring or the night before. Natural oils help the colours to work.
  • Disclose your entire colour history for the past 2 years to your stylist. Past colour jobs may affect the outcome of the dye job and they will need to adjust accordingly.
  • Let you stylist know if you have scalp sensitivities or have had reactions to products in the past.
  • Mentally prepare for what can be quite the process – especially if you have longer hair.

Maintaining your mermaid hair also takes special care so here are some tips for keeping that colour fresh as long as possible:

  • Moisturize your hair as often as possible by using sulfate-free shampoos, lots of conditioner and even leave-in conditioner
  • Get touch ups every 4 to 6 weeks, especially at the roots, to keep everything vibrant

Preventing Winter Hat Hair

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Winter seems to have arrived in the capital region and with the cold, toques and winter hats are soon to follow. It makes sense that keeping your head and ear warm would be a huge priority; however, how can we do that without sacrificing how our hair looks? There is nothing worse than having to go to a professional meeting at the office and pulling off your toque to reveal a flattened and frizzy mess.

There are, thankfully, some easy things we can to in order to keep the correct volume for our hair while simultaneously preventing static and frizziness that comes with the cold. In our previous article about getting rid of winter fly-aways, we talked about how dryness in the air during the winter dries out the hair, creating more friction, static electricity and, by extension, wild hair. We talked a lot about the importance of maintaining moisturized hair, which can be done by reducing the number of times you shampoo weekly, using and anti-frizz shampoo, using conditioner and leave-in moisturizing products as well. The same is definitely true of preventing hat hair so make sure all of your conditioning strategies are intact from the get-go.

Using volumizing products to build up your hair, even despite the fact that you may have to put a hat on. These products will usually just require a little bit of primping when the hat comes off to help your hair return to its original volume right away.

Making sure you hair is actually dry is also important. First of all, going out with wet hair (even under a hat) is not good for your health and can increase your susceptibility to illness by catching a draft. Also, hair that is still wet that then goes under a hat will take the shape of the hat and totally flatten out. These means that no matter what you do, you will have a lumpy mess when your hat comes off. If you use a diffuser when you blow-dry, you are also much more likely to create additional volume in your hair as you dry it.

If you have a specific way you normally part you hair, consider parting it on the opposite side before you put your hat on. Then you hair will only flatten in that one area. When you remove your hat, simply flip your hair back to its natural part and you will likely have most of the regular volume you are accustomed to.

Lastly, the other thing that can be done is to bring some products and styling tools with you and leave your place a little early. You can arrive and head straight to the washroom to remove your hat and touch up your hair before you head to your meeting or workday. Realistically, there are going to be a lot of other people struggling with the same issue in the winter time so try to use these tips to look your best but also don’t sweat the small stuff. A good cut and nice colour go a long way to recuperating what a hat does on blustery winter days!

Overcome the Long, Cold Winter and Fly-Away Hair

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It seems fitting that on the first snow day of the new season in Edmonton, we would be looking to talk to you about hair fly-aways and how they are caused by cold, dry winter weather. With the weather taking a turn for the wintery, our follicles easily get dried out and the energy we put into styling our ‘do every morning can be put to waste if static electricity gets the better of it. Static electricity increases as the weather gets drier, as does one’s natural frizziness. It is important to stay on top of it or else the weather can have your cut and style looking a little more than funny when the toques come off.

As our hair gets drier from the dry air around it absorbing all of its moisture, friction is increased and the rubbing together of your strands causes the static electricity that leads to fly-away hair. Depending on the type of hair you have, you might want to be using products in a pinch that help tame those wild lock. A hair serum can keep hair moisturized and shiny, and will also prevent excess rubbing. Hairspray might also keep things in place but be sure to keep it to a minimum as we never want to get too overzealous with this one. If your hair is on the thicker side, a light-weight pomade could also trap moisture from escaping to the surrounding air. Make sure you only use a little bit though so you don’t have a greasy look.

This might sound a bit silly, but if you are really desperate, you can run an unscented dryer sheet over your hair since getting rid of static is what these inexpensive sheets are designed for! You will only want to use these in a pinch as the rest of the time it is just a good idea to stay preventatively moisturized to protect the long-term health of your hair.

Limiting how often you wash your hair in the winter is, generally speaking, a good idea. Over-shampooing is a recipe for a dried out scalp and dried out locks too so unless you work in a particularly greasy, sweaty or dirty place, you shouldn’t wash your hair every single day – especially not when the weather consistently dips below the freezing point. When you do shampoo, make sure you choose an anti-frizz shampoo if you are prone to fly-aways. These products tend to contain moisturizing agents to provide you with extra safeguards against dryness as well as being free of drying scents or essential oils. Lastly, make sure that every time you shampoo, you also use conditioner as conditioner is the foundation of any hair moisturizing routine to which leave-in conditioning products can also be added, as well as periodic deep-conditioning treatments. When hair is moisturized, it doesn’t make static electricity and you can live through the winter, fly-away-free!

common causes of hair breakage

Common Causes of Hair Breakage

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Hair breakage is a problem that never seems to go away but a lot of people don’t realize that there are many things they do every day which harm their hair. By avoiding these common causes of hair breakage, you can preserve the integrity and strength of your hair, reduce fly-aways, and keep yourself (and your stylist!) happy.

Heat

Hot hair appliances are the long-term enemy of your hair. While they make us look beautiful and style our hair with salon-quality styling, blow dryers, blow brushes, straightening irons and curling irons all share something in common: heat. This heat can cause damage and breakage the hair when used in excess and especially without protection from products specifically created to minimize heat damage. Talk to your stylist today about which products you can use to protect your hair when applying heat is a necessity. The rest of the time, try to air-dry as often as possible and save the styling tools for when you really need them.

Your cut

Your stylist will be able to help you with this, but there is something to be said for wash-and-wear haircuts that do not require the daily application of heat to be styled. Pick something a bit lower maintenance to avoid having to blow dry or straighten your hair constantly, thereby exposing it to unnecessary heat which can cause breakage.

Plastic Brushes

It might surprise you to know that not all hair brushes are created equally! Plastic brushes are among the worst styling tools you can use on your hair because they can pull and cause breakage which leads to frizziness, knots and other hair trauma. The right brush will massage your scalp to stimulate hair growth and help distribute natural hair oils – both of which will help you grow longer, stronger locks. Talk to your stylist today for recommendations.

Excessive brushing

Even if you manage to get the best brush, following the “100 stroke” rule from your great-grandmother actually does more harm than good for your hair. Running a brush through your hair a couple times per day is good practice to stimulate follicles distribute natural oils and eliminate tangles; however, a few strokes does the job. Anything else can lead to breakage and no one wants that!

Wet Combing

Another archaic hair practice that needs to go, wet combing is a hair disaster. While it might seem like it helps conditioners distribute throughout the hair by combing it through after application in the shower, the combination of a plastic comb on wet hair that might be tangled is actually a recipe for breakage. Pulling on the hair roughing to get conditioner combed through it is almost guaranteed to rip hair out or cause it to break away. Avoid at all costs.

Rough Pillows

You finally have an excuse to get silky pillowcases – your stylist orders you to! Rough materials for pillow cases causes hair to catch on it and can be ripped out will you sleep. If you do not want to invest in softer pillowcases, you can wrap your hair in a silk headscarf before bed but be sure to avoid tight elastics to hold it up (which we will talk about below).

Tight Elastics

How many times have you removed an elastic from you hair only to have a whole chunk of hair go with it? That is not normal hair falling out – you have broken your hair. Make sure you get elastics covered in soft fabrics, avoiding all rubber band-like materials. They should not have those little metal clasps which hair can get stuck in, tearing it out. The more you can avoid tying your hair up with these, the better. Aim to get a cut that is easy to style and low maintenance so ponytails are less of an occurrence than they might otherwise be.

Over-washing

Contrary to what some people think, more showering and washing of the hair is not better for it. In fact, it can lead to heavy damage of the hair quickly because of the stripping of natural oils which aid hair growth and increase the strength of the hair.

Sulfates in Shampoo

On a similar note, if you are over-washing and your shampoo contains sulfates, the chances of hair breakage are even greater. These sulfates strip the hair and remove nutrients leaving it weak and susceptible to damage. Make sure you check your labels, ask your stylist and only use professional grade salon products for the very best quality.

Skipping conditioner

People who only shampoo in their hair baffle us as stylists. Conditioner is one of the easiest ways to nourish your hair on a regular basis to keep it strong and supple. Conditioner is one of your first lines of defense when it comes to preventing unnecessary breakage. Go for professional salon products recommended by your stylist so your conditioner can be tailored to your hair style and composition.

Skipping deep conditioning treatments

This is a big no-no. If you stylist is recommending a deep conditioning treatment for you, they know what they are talking about and you should trust them. Deep conditioning treatments can be tacked on to virtually any hairstyling appointment and are one of the reasons you always leave the salon feeling fabulous with vibrant, shiny hair.

Perms

Chemical treatments of any kind that are done with increasing regularity need to be controlled because they do cause proteins in the hair to break down for the sake of styling them. Perms are one such treatment that need to be done sporadically and accompanied by a host of conditioning treatments to ensure that your hair stays as healthy as possible. Your stylist will know all the best tips for keep your hair luscious on this front.

Excessive Bleaching

Bleaching is another chemical treatment that should be done in moderation as it can also cause breakage when done excessively. Talk to your stylist to see if it is right for you. If you have black hair, it is probably not going to work very well to try to go platinum blond as the amount of bleaching it would take will severely damage your hair. There are options for lightening that might work better for you.

Skipping haircuts

First of all, if you already have an appointment, don’t cancel it unless it is an emergency. Save time by booking your next appointment when your last one is finishing. That way you can ensure that your stylist has the time and space to fit you in. Stylists are usually booked well in advance and calling the same day you want an appointment can be a long shot. All of that shouldn’t prevent you from getting haircuts though as regularly trimming your hair will help keep your style beautiful and prevent split ends which are a form of breakage.

Being inconsistent

In a similar vein, you might make it to an appointment but it can be pretty inconsistent about when this happens. Talk to your stylist about a schedule that is good for you based on your hair type and style.