HairBoutique Blog

Some restaurant locations just seem to have bad location karma.  Or maybe they have bad Feng Shui.

Such a restaurant location exists in the North Dallas area near the corner of Midway and Park.  It’s a very busy intersection close to a very large church with a Starbucks right across the street and a range of local eateries ranging from Pei Wei to Dickey’s BBQ and even a Dunkin Donuts.

Initially the current location of a Mama’s Daughter’s Diner located at 6509 W Park Boulevard used to be a Chuck’s hamburger restaurant.  When Chuck’s first opened it was jammed with people enjoying the old rock and roll music, the video game room and the decent old fashioned burgers.

The restaurant required you to order at the counter and then wait for your number to be called.  They specialized in old fashioned ice cream drinks such as authentic Oreo Cookies n Cream.

Over the years the Chuck’s lost a lot of its razzle dazzle and it became less and less crowded.  Eventually it shut its doors and remained completely dark for many months. Continue reading “Broken Pie Promises – Mama’s Daughter’s Diner On Midway & Park in Dallas, Texas” »

Indianapolis—December 2010—Kenra Professional has adopted The Rapunzel Project®, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy, as its company charity and donated $50,000 to support the organization’s efforts to help cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy via a unique cold cap approach.

More than 1.5 million new cancer cases were diagnosed in the United States in 2010. About 8% of women and men decide not to have chemotherapy because they are afraid to lose their hair.

However, a new cold cap technology commonly used overseas has been shown to prevent hair loss associated with chemotherapy.  Kenra Professional is supporting The Rapunzel Project’s mission to inform patients that they have an option.

“Keeping your hair while undergoing chemotherapy is not about vanity—It’s about identity,” explains Nancy Marshall, co-founder of The Rapunzel Project.

“Knowing she can keep her hair can help liberate a patient emotionally and physically from the ‘cancer patient’ label and improve self-image, dignity and morale—vital, yet often overlooked, elements of overall wellness.  Cold caps are not a cure for cancer, but they are an enormously powerful game changer for patients. Continue reading “Kenra Professional Has Adopted The Rapunzel Project Dedicated To Saving Hair During Chemo” »

I’ve tried just about every natural hair treatment imaginable since the late 1980s when I started growing my hair.  I was especially determined to find a natural hair lightener so I could keep my beautiful golden highlights without the damage hair lightening products bring.  I even went so far as to try rhubarb as a natural lightener.

Did it work?  That would be a big no although I managed to completely trash my kitchen with pots and pans as well as chopped up rhubarb.

(Image of walnuts – Haap Media Ltd – All Rights Reserved)

One of my brunette tressed friends, Eva,  has had much better luck than me.  Her hair is naturally dark brown but it tends to pull a reddish tint throughout the edges.

In the past she has experimented with a range of natural treatments with mixed results.  Yes, she’s worked with a professional hair colorist who combed a slightly darker temporary color through her strands.  I remember that because I rode home in the car with her hair wrapped up in a special color cap and a thin line of dark brunette color streaking down her cheeks.

While the temporary color did a great job, she still continues to experiment with natural darkening treatments which enhance her natural brunette, but covers the slight tinge of red which pops out throughout the ends.   Continue reading “Black Walnuts And Other Natural Dyes To Naturally Darken Your Tresses” »

I remember the first time I ever heard about Curlformers.  I was sitting in Celeb Hairstylist Robert Hallowell’s LA kitchen in May of 2009.

I was at Robert’s kitchen table drinking tea and he was sprawled out on the floor rooting through his massive refrigerator.  Robert’s precocious cat, Handsome, was prowling the space between Robert and where I sat at his table.  While I peppered him with my normal 1001 hair questions he would answer, stopping periodically to bark “no shopping” at Handsome as the adorable cat launched a sneak attack on some of the food temporarily displaced from the refrigerator.

(Image from Curlformers.com – All Rights Reserved)

Curlformers Not Curlfarmers

Robert and I were discussing how to achieve gorgeous curls on wavy tresses.  With his head partially buried inside the bowels of the refrigerator he barked “Curlformers”.   I thought I had misheard him to say Curlfarmers.   A bit of hilarious repartee ensued until Robert had convinced me that Curlformers were these revolutionary patented curling tools that he absolutely adored and not curls harvested from a farm somewhere in England.

He explained how to use the new curling tool but I couldn’t picture how it worked in my head.  Jumping up he ran off into his home salon and came striding out with a few of the Curlformers in his hand.  He gave me a quick demonstration of how you use the hook to pull the hair through the Curlformer and how it naturally springs into place.  Impressive. Continue reading “Curlformers Make Dreams Of Gorgeous Curls Come True” »

In a special feature in the December 27th issue of the Los Angeles Times writer Amber Dance investigated the current research into what is known as scalp cooling caps.   The Times reported that research studies run by UC San Francisco and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. are designed to ultimately lead to Food and Drug Administration approval for caps designed to keep hair from shedding during chemo treatments.

(Image of DigniCap by Dignitana in Lund, Sweden – All Rights Reserved)

Special skullcaps are applied to the head of cancer patients during chemotherapy treatments and are designed to keep poisonous chemotherapy drugs from reaching and impacting the hair follicles.  The special chilling caps have a temperature of 41 degrees Fahrenheit which is designed to block the absorption of chemo from the hair roots.

The idea of using cold to try and block poisonous chemo from attacking the roots and follicles of hair is not new, but it has never been formally studied  with the idea of FDA approval until now.

Can wearing a chilly skullcap stop hair loss during chemo treatments?  UCSF study leader Hope Rugo is an oncologist who believes there is no way to prevent hair loss during chemo for any kind of cancer.  The prospect of total hair loss is very upsetting to many patients, especially women.  Continue reading “Can Cooling Caps Help Cancer Patients Keep Hair During Chemo?” »