From A Box to Botched

By Lana Wolfe

 

            As I walked down the aisle of hair coloring products in the local supermarket, I scoped in on a spotted head of hair of a young woman. She and a friend were scanning the shelves and I could hear her complain that the boxed color she held in her hands had gone up in price and that it had been on sale, 2 boxes for 10 bucks at the drug store just a week earlier.  I almost felt bad for her because the poor thing had straw like hair down to the middle of her back with orange, near-white, and banana-yellow blotches, layered with stripes of violet hues and shadowed with greenish gray tinges, dotted with what must have been her own warm brown color.  They were going to tint her hair back to brown.   What they didn’t know, this was a job for a professional.   Eventually, this young woman will either cut her hair off, what hasn’t broken off already, or pay close to two hundred dollars at a salon to correct it.  Still, hoards of people scurry off to the grocery store to buy a new image in a box.

            This has always bothered me, because color is my first love and I happen to specialize in it.  Every stylist I know, and I know close to a thousand of them, feels the same as I do about our profession.  We are proud of our work, our craft and we go to great lengths to make sure the public has a choice when they come to see us.  But more and more, people are coming to us with horrible hair that can barely be corrected, hair that is so fried that one stylist I worked with called it “Fried, dried, laid to the side.” 

            Why am I going on like this about color from drug and grocery stores?  I’ll tell you why.  KRON recently did a story on Pretty Looks Salon on Springs Rd in Vallejo.  Times Herald did a few stories too, titling the owner as a beautician.  She wasn’t licensed; therefore, she wasn’t a beautician.  She was anyone U.S.A

 doing anything she wanted without respect for the governing boards of our state, such as the California State Board of Cosmetology.  But mind you, though she was referred to as a beautician, she took out advertising for permanent makeup.  That is a field that requires no licensing, just like hair weavers and braiders (and to think that to be a shampoo girl in a salon today you must be licensed.)  See anything wrong with this picture yet?  How about this...breast augmentation from a non-certified unprofessional tattoo artist who parades as a beautician?

            So most of you wouldn’t dare do this and I’m so grateful for your good sense.  But, God help them, some did.  The products used weren’t what they were supposed to be and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because most consumers don’t really know what the products are supposed to be composed of in most cases.  I wouldn’t know the difference from some exotic collagen as opposed to illegal silicones.

            Because this is no funny matter, I’ll suggest some things for you to remember. 

1)      When it comes to hair, go to a professional who is licensed and working in a licensed establishment.

2)      When it comes to vitamins, don’t purchase them at a salon.  Your stylists aren’t licensed nutritionists and the salons aren’t insured if something should happen to you.

3)      When it comes to physical enhancements such as botox injections, collagen injections, lifts, tucks, etc; get a physical from your doctor and learn about the side effects, then get recommendations for board certified doctors.  Spare no expense when it comes to your health.  At least hair grows back. (in most cases)

4)      Don’t go to manicurist to have your lips and eyes waxed.  They are not licensed for this and can lose their manicuring license if caught.

5)      Shop around if you aren’t sure who is best for you and check their licensing.

 

Remember, you don’t buy your groceries at a hair salon, so try not to get your hair done at the grocery store, unless of course, you want to fit in with the produce.