It's happening. Missed haircut appointments and overdue dye-jobs are making us inspect our locks with the eye of a gardener preparing to pick up the shears.
"Would I suit a fringe?" some of us are thinking. "I've already given myself a manicure and facial, how hard could highlights be?"
Those of us who’ve had self-inflicted hair disasters know at-home hair maintenance can be tricky.
Luckily for anyone in dire need of a refresh, some of our top local stylists are sharing their valuable skills in the form of social media tutorials.
Colleen salon's Lauren Gunn, Brad Lepper of French Revolver and Michael Beel, creative director of Buoy Salon in Wellington, have all taken advantage of technology for the collective good of the people.
Lauren, top editorial stylist and owner of Colleen, says it's not the end of the world if you decide to pick up some household scissors and have a hack at your hair.
"Hair grows after all and they say that two weeks is the difference between a bad haircut and a good one plenty of time!" she says. "Plus, your hairdresser will be able to fix it for you in a few weeks anyway. Stay away from home hair colour though, it's hard to apply, easy to botch and expensive to fix.
Be playful and brush up on your styling tricks, watch tutorials and practice on your bubble mates. If you get really good you can hit me up for a job at Colleen."
Lauren has been sharing her tips on both Colleen's website in article form, and also as videos on Instagram. If you've got greys peeking through, she shows us how to use a root touch-up spray to mask them.
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Advertise with NZME.She's using Kevin Murphy's Retouch.Me root spray, but if you don't have that to hand L'Oreal makes a root touch-up spray that's available from supermarkets.
Michael decided to create a series of videos on his own Instagram page to help people feel a little better during this crazy time.
"As a hairdresser, the reason I love my job is to make people feel and look better," he says, "and not being able to do that for almost two months (by the time we reach level 2) got me thinking about how I can pass on simple tips to help people feel better about themselves and perhaps have some time to spend playing with their hair when no one is going to see them if they don’t perfect it!"
Here, he shows us how to rectify our biggest blowdry mistakes at home for the perfect at-home blow wave.
Talking through equipment, products and technique, Michael's video will have you looking like you just walked out of the salon when really you're just walking from your bedroom to the fridge.
Many of us will be dealing with grown-out bangs, and French Revolver salon owner and regular Viva contributor Brad Lepper has created an in-depth tutorial on at-home fringe trims.
“I’m not endorsing box colour (please keep away from that stuff) or cutting your own fringe at home,” he says, “But if you are going to do it anyway (as many will) here are some tips to not overdo it.”
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From the optimum blow drying technique for fringe trims to sectioning and length, Brad shows us how to keep our bangs in tip-top shape.
As Lauren said, the great thing about hair is that it grows back. But, we’d endorse sticking to advice from the experts to avoid giving our hairdressers too much to fix when we eventually make it back to the salon.
