So difficult for women. Taking ourselves seriously.

Men do it easily and fake it easily.

I’m not quite there yet.

By now, we should look very steady, not swaying with every new wind. We might not be where we expected, but that doesn’t mean we failed.

We try too hard to play no-win games. The best of what we have become is inside us.

Heaven help you if your hair is medium brown. You’ll have had highlights, lowlights, been blonde, red, often several at once. We fall for every kind of advice. We wear pointy toed shoes that hurt. We wear painted on eyebrows, despite becoming a living cliché.

The Soft Seasons have naturally mouse-brown hair. They look great with finely woven caramel light. The Light Seasons speak of sunshine, so the brightening effect of pale yellow sun highlight is very consistent with their energy.

On everyone else : a distraction…that too often escalates over the years to become a highlight that has coalesced into one big uni-streak. That was me for years. Eventually, that was how I was used to seeing myself. What good is beach blonde when it makes your eyes gray away?

In Hollywood, you probably look odd without the yellow helmet, or the implants, for that matter. In the real world, at the office, in the car, at school, does Gwyneth’s yellow wall work in your favor?

The rich warmth of the Autumns, their spicy heat, and the dark force of the Winters is shattered into 10,000 pieces by blonde light. Give them a hot molten glow and a still, simple gleam, respectively.

Not everyone is flattered by blond, even if you’re 20. Which girl will be taken more seriously (ignoring the earrings)? Which twin’s eye colour is stronger?

When you’re blonde and you shouldn’t be, it feels tense to be around. Remember the relief when Pretty Woman took off the blonde wig? You FELT your insides relax.

Forced beauty feels so demanding.

Would Nick Arrojo, whom I love, have I ever told you, do tricolour stripes?

Accidental beauty could have happened by itself. Easier to be. Easier to look at.

Being taken seriously is one of the gifts of aging. Too many of us squander it by being blond when we shouldn’t be.

Perhaps there is only one person who should not take you seriously, and that’s you.

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© 2007–2010, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Have you looked at the hair stuff at Sephora? The deals? I couldn’t pick just one. Fekkai’s Glossing Shampoo. Juicy Couture’s hair elastics. The Carol’s Daughter set is $37. Do you have girl children from 15 to 25 to buy for?

2. Free passes to a Les Mills gym. If there’s one in my little town, they cannot be hard to find. Do you know Les Mills? I believe they’re an exercise franchise from Australia. The classes and music are pre-choreographed. There are no bad classes and there are many class styles. I’ve taken several, all outstanding.

No pressure. Go whenever.

3.Chalean Extreme . I really want this. You may remember Chalene Johnson from the Turbojam exercise videos at BeachBody. This series is focused on building muscle with strength training. For women over 40, for anyone, cardio is all fine and good, but equal amounts of strength and resistance training make your frame of body and your frame of mind strong. It deeply roots the “If I can do this, I can do anything” notion in your head.

Here’s what I couldn’t wait for :  Insanity. The hardest workout ever put on DVD. This link takes you to the BeachBody homepage. On the right is the link to Insanity. Watch the video. I can tell you, it is all this and more.

4. Smart Wool socks. So much more than socks. Many places to buy. Being warm goes a long way towards being enveloped by that festive feeling.

5. Wyndham Estate’s Bin 555 Shiraz. At $15 or so, this is a wonderful red wine. Though I don’t distinguish all the flavors wines possess, this one is said to taste of strawberries, plums, licorice, and pepper.  Getting into the Wynham Estate’s site requires that you be of legal drinking age, but you can Google and read many reviews.

6. Towel warmer. Until they build ladders into bathrooms, since which home of 5 has enough towel racks in the bathroom, and it eludes me why they haven’t exploited this vertical design option yet, this is very useful. And such a treat.

There are several designs and prices. The one below is about $50 at Sears Canada.

7. Brie warmer. It is the thing. Arrive with one of these little tubs, like a round ceramic butter dish with a top, plus the Brie inside, a loaf of French bread, a few raspberries, and you are the star of the show. I saw some cute ones at Chapters, though I don’t see them on the site. They were $19.99.

8. Festive Stripe Stemware and table runners at Pier 1 Imports. Whether it’s the glasses that get me festive or the stuff inside, something will work. These are so pretty I’d keep them out all year.

The tablerunners are so beautiful too. I loved this Christmas tree design, and the Starburst. Lovely hostess gifts.

9. The camis at Smart Set. $20 for 2. In nylon/spandex, the feel is light and silky, not cotton, underwear, or sleepwear. They are not childishly ornate. They have a smooth ballerina scoop, rather than a more casual looking V. The straps are set wider apart, better with a more open neck blouse or sweater. The 20! colours are good. The straps are adjustable. It is SO hard to find lower layers that don’t look too much like lingerie or our daughter’s tank tops. It is not too short or too long. The border and straps are satiny.

The link will take you to Smart Set but the Flash viewer won’t let me link further. Just look for Nylon/Spandex Cami under Smart Fashion.

10. These SO-cute mascara samplers. Know a teenager? After they get over the discovery of their own hair when they’re about 13, the next fascination is eyelashes. Ships for free in the US, as does a lot of product at this great store. When will retailers ship free to Canada?

What’s going on at 12B? There is a trilogy of articles in process. The first is What Are Clear And Soft Colours?, because every Season needs to know.

The next one, going up sometime today, is The Mystery Of Brown, where I think about how to choose Spring’s browns from Autumn’s. It’s easier with clothing than makeup.

These are leading up to visiting Louise again, from Louise and Stevan Are Light Springs, and choosing makeup for Louise’s eyes.

Thank you for subscribing to A Greener Tea. If you are subscribing via email, please be aware that in order to comment on this thread, you will need to visit this post on the Web: Gifts from Real People 2. Replies via email will be seen only by Christine.

© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

My sister is a chef and a master chocolatier. Can you believe that? I can barely believe it myself (the chocolate part, I mean). Her chocolates make Godiva look like the Estee Lauder of the chocolate world – happy to receive any amount of it, but it’s still mass-market product. Sonja’s chocolates make Godiva look a bit ordinary. Seriously. She no longer has time to create those truly unique and inspired chocolates, though will hopefully do so again.

Meet Sonja.

Meet the reason (or 3 of the many) that she no longer makes chocolates.

Sonja sends us this recipe.

This is a really good and easy (read fast) recipe for chicken soup.  Here goes:

Sonja’s Chicken Soup In A Flash

Ingredients

• 2 litres of Campbell’s Chicken Stock, low sodium
• 4 breasts of chicken
• 1-2 cans of beans ( I like the 5 bean combo which adds variety and color)
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 1 can corn (or frozen)
• spinach (I buy the prewashed organic variety)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 kafir lime leaves (optional)
• 6-8 cloves garlic
• cooked macaroni kept on the side

Method

Heat the oven to 375.  Place chicken breasts in a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, add a dash of olive oil if you like, place in oven.  I like to roast my garlic with the chicken.  It will cook faster than the chicken, so keep an eye on it.  The chicken should be cooked in 10-15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and chop both the chicken and garlic into small pieces.

While the chicken is cooking, bring the stock to a boil, add the bay leaves and kafir lime leaves.  Add the washed beans and corn and any other firm veg you may have chosen.

Add the diced, cooked chicken and garlic.

Simmer together for 5 minutes.  Add the red pepper at the last minute.

Prepare the bowls:  place a few leaves of spinach in the bottom of each bowl.  Ladle the soup on top of it.  People are in charge of their own macaroni.  My kids love it, I don’t.

This is a really flexible recipe; you can add any veg you want but remember that certain ones really don’t need to be cooked long or they will turn to mush.  You can add as much or as little stock as you please and same with the beans.  There are no rules here!

This should take 15-20 minutes max, and you can make large quantities since it reheats well.  I would not put the spinach in the main pot, though or it will become stringy and dark.

Kafir lime leaves can be had in Asian food stores and they freeze well.  They add a special flavor that you may associate with Thai cooking.  It is hard to describe but very pleasant.  It is not an overpowering flavor (unless you go crazy and add 12 leaves). (Sonja tells me that you could add a little lime zest if you don’t have kafir lime leaves).

My kids are notoriously finicky and even they can’t find anything wrong with this recipe.

Happy trails,

Sonja

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

Hollywood makes you look older, fatter, or sicker by using your wrong colors. Are you doing that to yourself?

The 3 groups that need this most are:

-       Teens for the incredible confidence building and power to resist peer and media pressure. By 15 years old, they’ve settled into their color scheme. Colors may deepen but season is unlikely to change. It helps guide them in buying makeup, keeps them away from deep hair mistakes, and allows to feel that they are unique and special.

-       Women over 40. This is a time when we need help with our looks and we can use an emotional confidence boost. Once you know your season and can make choices with confidence, you have a new power. You see yourself sharp and in focus on the outside, like the real you just stepped out of the haze you used to live in.

-       Men, men, men.

It goes like this

So, here’s what happens when you come to my house for a Color Analysis. Plan on 3 hours. If we get too tired and can’t get it the first day, you may have to come back at no extra cost. Want to stay for hair and makeup? I hope so. Matching women to makeup is what I live for. Count on another hour.

We’ll go into the color studio. Maybe it should be called “color cell” because the only speck of color will be your face. You won’t wear any makeup and neither will I. Our hair and clothes will be covered. We’ll make no assumptions about season from hair or eye color that we can’t prove with the drapes.

Bear with me, I’m about to digress. I’m reading a most fabulous book entitled How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, MD. If you work in any medicine-related field, as a nurse, as a veterinarian, as a psychiatrist, anything, you MUST READ this book. It describes the mental pitfalls in our human thinking patterns that lead us into mistakes in diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Groopman explains a common situation he calls “diagnosis momentum”, in which you become convinced of something and set about proving it to yourself, ignoring evidence to the contrary. Color analysis is so much like medicine, it’s bizarre. It’s a search based on a process of elimination along a logic tree. As an analyst, it’s too easy to get trapped in a spiral of “season momentum”. You make a decision about a season too soon, feel committed to it, and lose your impartial perspective.

When I enter an examination room to see a puppy with diarrhea, and the last 3 pups I saw had diarrhea because of worms, I might be inclined to rush the process and decide this must be the same thing. I’d miss the fact that this one ate a remote control and a bikini and a used condom and half the old rug that was stored in the shed. So we begin by believing you could be any of the 12 seasons with equal odds.

In the beginning, the process seems to be focused on finding and highlighting your every flaw. You’ll feel like we keep harping on wrinkles or red noses or acne scars or a long face. That’s because wrong color seems to uncover your worst feature and point to it relentlessly. My son warned his father when it was Dad’s turn that “Mommy be’s rude to you”.

 Along the way, we’ll discover the absolute worst that color can make you look and the absolute best. Those will be our reference points. We’ll try some things. We’ll be unsure, we’ll go back to the beginning and start all over again. Maybe you’ll be easy and obvious and fast but you probably won’t.  You’ll want to leave. You’ll wonder why you’re paying good money to someone to dwell on your faults so repetitively, flaws you didn’t even know you had.

The commentary will begin to shift as we find the colors that make your face look beautifully defined instead of doughy. Your eyes will be clearer and your teeth whiter. You’ll start hearing the word “younger” being used. Once you’re over 40, male or female, that seems to be a pivot point.

We’ll think about what the colors that make you look fabulous have in common. That process of elimination will guide us to your season.

This is not subjective. Very real things will happen that you will see with your own eyes on your own face.

We’ll know we’re done when your skin is calm, you are neither wearing the color and nor is it wearing you. Your eye color will seem 10 times stronger.

If you’re a Winter, your eyes will dance and snap as only Winter eyes can. Repeat that with earrings that move and sparkle.

Autumn’s eyes glow like the embers they were intended to be. Glowing warm makeup repeats the effect.

Spring’s eyes are happy and bright. The color is remarkable in its liveliness and clarity. We’ll look at makeup colors that are clear and lit from within. That is the special radiance of Spring.

Summer eyes appear to have the endless depth of water and sky. The color, often blue, goes on and on. Like Winter, the complexion can often be deceivingly yellow till the right colors clear it. Because the coloring is so delicate, it’s imperative for Summer to get the hair color right. The entire look should flow from color to color, like a June garden.

Every season has a distinctive melody. Your personal color scheme, your eye pattern, your character, they already hear it. Stick to the tune in your decoration and the people around you will be in awe of your personal choreography. Internally, you’ll begin to feel an alignment with who you came here to be.

We’ll talk about your best makeup.

Hair is a piece of clothing you never take off. It can’t clash with your own color scheme or it detracts from the power of the final picture. So, we’ll look at your most perfect hair color.

I’ll give you your swatch booklet because it contains all your clothes/makeup/hair colors. Shopping will be fun and sure and foolproof.

And we’ll be done.

I apologize about the driveway. I just really want to work out of my house.

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

The full title of Christopher Hopkins’ book is Staging Your Comeback : A Complete Beauty Revival For Women Over 45. 

If you don’t know the book by Hopkins (a.k.a. The Makeover Guy), you have several hours of hugely enjoyable reading and thinking ahead of you. It recognizes our particular needs in a terribly honest way. He’s not too big with indulgence either, the talk is straight up, as in “ …you are not the right temperament for hair color.” Fun moments abound.

 You will read some pretty raw admissions (“I am no longer interested in attention from men.”). The makeovers begin with 12 mommies and grannies, women way out at one end of the I-let-myself-go spectrum. He’s got every Before stereotype covered and achieves 12 remarkable transformations.

 Check out the Befores right here. See you in about an hour.

 Christopher proves that it’s not only certain men and women who can be more attractive than ever as they age. It’s all of us. Every single one. We make excuses for why we don’t care what we look like but the only result is to further and further weaken ourselves.

 Nobody cares how old you think you look. We all know that’s a choice. If you don’t want it to be that way anymore, this is the guy to help take you through a transition.He has vision and imagination. There is so much that can be done before you even think about seeing a dermatologist for Botox or fillers. It doesn’t cost that much money. You use face cream anyhow, right? You do get haircuts, don’t you? We all go out in sweats and sneakers sometimes but there are a thousand small differences that matter.

 What I love about this book:

1.     The women are real. They’re not suspiciously gifted with wonderful skin or fabulous eyes just waiting to be revealed. You know me. I have little use for anything that’s not Real World, unless it’s meant as an entertaining diversion.

2.     He’s brutally honest about what age does to bodies but still respects and enjoys the company and confusion of older women. You also know that I love aging, which I see as an opening of doors. And I love older women and their mind-blowing and completely unrecognized (especially by themselves) potential.

3.     There doesn’t appear to be any Photoshopping going on, at least not too obviously. A beauty book with a pixel of Photoshop is rendered useless, IMO. Right away, the whole thing is out of reach.

4.     He really really gets how to wear clothes, not just for aging but for all body types. Here’s one I never knew, but it’s obvious when he says it as all correct ideas are : The tighter your sleeves, the bigger your chest. OK, I can use that.

5.     The pictures are bona fide, cringe-worthy renditions of the I’m-too-busy/old/young/comfortable/ugly/hot – to care. They are not forgiving or concealing anything. I got a few jolts because I think I saw me.

6.     He’s not trying to get you to spend useless money.  Quite the opposite actually. One of my favorite lines, “In the beauty industry, live and learn is taboo. Forget and buy is the name of the profit game.”

7.     It’s comprehensive. The clothes, shoes, bra, buttons, hair, makeup, nail polish… all covered. He hits on every cliché and has noticed every detail.

8.     The hair chapter is outstanding. If there’s anything that we all get wrong in every conceivable way, and that ages us the most, it’s hair. He covers it all, from color to cut, with a very comprehensive discussion of the very common problem of thinning hair.

9.     He’s heard every comeback. He’ll tell you your fears before you tell him. Your objections get pretty weak when they’re No. 5 and 8 on the Exposing Your Excuses list.

10.  His goal is to give you things you can do yourself. He just wants you to see differently, where seeing yourself is the hardest thing of all. He’s never showing himself off.

11.  He’s funny. I spewed my smoothie on the line about the biscuits.

12.  He can be brutally honest, ( I know I said that already) , almost sarcastic, in trying to get these women to see that they are so much more than they believe. Your best friend can say things nobody else can, not strangers or family, because you know he/she loves you and you can entrust him/her to take care of your feelings. Nothing is held back.

13. He doesnt’ see what is. He see what is possible. Possibility is what it is all about. Learning, change, it’s all in honor of what is possible. And there are very few limits.

See the man himself on YouTube.

He says his frustration with makeovers is that women don’t continue to practice what they learned, they just go back to the familiar. It may be because the transformation is too much of a leap to adjust to, too much like a fantasy. It can’t be incorporated into the woman’s life fast enough, so it just gets forgotten like a dream or a week on a Carribean island.  Even I couldn’t maintain myself in the After Pics and I already use all this stuff. If you presently wear no makeup but would like to try, you’ll need a friend who knows how to do this or a makeup artist. Ask around. Book a private appointment, not a MAC counter on a Saturday afternoon.

Another reason women don’t stay with the changes is the time it takes. I don’t know about you but my tightest commodity is time. Change does take time. It takes trial and error and error and error too. So take on one thing at a time, and pretty soon, you’re in a whole new place, looking back and thinking “That WAS me but it isn’t me anymore.”

He writes a blog. I liked this post on aging. Considering the world of appearance that he lives in, he finds a good balance.

His personal experience with plastic surgery, the new addiction, and how easy to go a little too far with just a little more  is here. 

Enter the Sweepstakes to win a makeover with him!! for US residents only (how could they?).

We’re not trying to look 21. Or 31. We’re trying to look like fantastic 40’s , 50’s , and beyond. OK, maybe a fantastic 60 does look 50, but not 30!!

Sometimes the way you look IS what’ s holding you back. It’s not a symbol of the shallowness and superficiality of our world. This is completely internal. The whole thing is happening inside yourself. It’s your message to your subconscious that you’re slowing down, that you don’t see yourself or your future as worth the effort. If you believe the future looks just like the present, why expend the energy?

What you believe about the world makes it the way it is for you. If you can sincerely say “I like my life and I don’t want anything to be different, ever, not one single thing”, then you’re doing fine. Otherwise, change starts with you. You don’t have to see or know the endpoint. You don’t have to absorb the entire scope of possibility immediately. You are just signaling your subconscious that you’re changing your brain waves. It will get it. It works for every human being and it will work for you. It never doesn’t work.

If you look like you can take on more, this could be the first step in convincing yourself that it’s true. We’ve all seen (or been) the woman who got an amazing haircut but didn’t keep it because she couldn’t match her personality to that cut. Certain behaviors accompany, and are expected of, certain appearances. Amazing, subtle, and true.

Everyone else automatically believes what you believe about you  - I mean, what your subconscious believes. You can strut all you like; if your subsconscious has doubts, that’s what others will hear. Can you know ahead of time where the break in the clouds will happen? No, that’s not part of the deal. All you’re doing is saying “I want the cloud cover to lift. I’m ready to think about a new chance.”

By the end of the book, you feel like you’ve travelled a little journey of empowerment with these women. He has given them back so much pride in themselves. In the After pics, they’re laughing and moving and playing in ways they probably never would have again.

Thank you for subscribing to A Greener Tea. If you are subscribing via email, please be aware that in order to comment on this thread, you will need to visit this post on the Web: Book Review : Staging Your Comeback. Replies via email will be seen only by Christine.

© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

My friend Cathy is loving her new T3 Tourmaline Hair Dryer.  Here in Canada, this is a $200 blow dryer. I asked her to write a short piece to tell us why she is so pleased with this purchase. Thanks, Cathy,  for taking the time to share this with us.

 Cathy’s T3 

 A couple of days  before a booked hair appointment, my old blow dryer overheated  – never to turn on again.  I mentioned this to my stylist and asked what she would recommend.  She raved about the T3. I had heard about negative ions and what they could do for your hair but was skeptical.  I also could not get my head around paying upwards of $200.00 for a hair dryer.  My stylist convinced me that with the warranty and money back guarantee it was a risk free endeavor and to give it a try.  

 I have always disliked drying and styling my hair.   My hair is longish (just past my shoulders) and layered around my face.  I have it colored regularly.  It is thick and slightly wavy.   Typically, I wash my hair 4 times a week.  With my old dryer it would take me at least 20 minutes to fully dry my hair and an additional 5 minutes to use the flatiron in an effort to smooth the inevitable frizz. 

 Wow! What a difference this piece of equipment has made in my day-to-day life.  For starters, my drying time is easily cut in half.  According to the company website, tourmaline negative ions ”break down water molecules into tiny droplets that evaporate faster … which means that the Featherweight blow dryer dries hair a staggering 60% faster than usual”.  

Drying with the T3 leaves my hair much shinier and smoother.  Apparently this is due to the negative ions and infrared heat that “close the cuticle and eliminate frizz”.   Styling past the drying stage is therefore virtually eliminated, as I no longer need to use my flatiron to tame my hair.  

All this and it is lighter and quieter than my last dryer.  Better, faster process and an improved end result.  For me, feels like a couple hundred bucks well spent!   Check it out at Sephora or the T3 Store!

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

My hair is fine, pin straight and entirely flat. Believe me I say that, left to its own devices, it is a swim cap. You have no idea.  However, go near it with a blow drier and it turns into a mushroom-shaped puff, like a cross between a soufflé and a helmet. Since I have to let it air dry, I’ve devised other ways of getting some lift.

1. The cut matters, of course. I’ve learned that the more texturized (chopped into, broken) the whole head is, the lighter the pieces. They’ll lift up or back and stay put with very little product. The length isn’t really affected, just the weight.

I could cut big chunks out of my head and they’d be invisible, like scooping a cup of sand off a beach. If your hair is thicker, the chunks will show up more. The blunter the ends, the heavier the look, the flatter it lies.

Here’s a haircut that I’ve loved for years and always go back to. You may remember it from an old John Frieda ad.

by John Frieda

It turns out different each day, but with no particular styling, it looks like this.

2. Shampoo that doesn’t add weight. My 2 favorites are made by  TIGI. They are  BedHead Control Freak Shampoo Frizz Control and Straightener and Catwalk Thickening Shampoo for Fuller Hair, which I can’t find on the website. I don’t think they’re any different from one another really. The hair is gently cleaned and that’s it. Long ago, I stopped believing that any shampoo made for colored hair really does a better job at preserving color than a good gentle shampoo, and many of them are worse.

From left, Catwalk Thickening Shampoo, BedHead Control Freak shampoo, and Catwalk Root Boost (in 4. below).

 Because they leave no film, these two shampoos are also great for handwashing sweaters. 

Edit April 18/09 : I’ve been using the Control Freak more lately and have decided that it must have a stronger detergent in it because it strips the hair much more than the Catwalk shampoo. I’m trying to get the red-orange out of my hair so I can change my hair color to a more neutral brown, appropriate to my newfound Dark Winter status, and this product is doing quite a good job. You might try Paul Mitchell Instant Moisture Daily Shampoo if you want another option for a gentle cleaning shampoo that neither strips color nor weighs down the hair.

 3. Light conditioners. Products that noticeably coat the hair never work well for me. I have found more lifting success with light conditioners. Typically, they are easy and fast to rinse out. They are also hard to find. 

For years before finding the Joico product below, I used John Frieda’s Daily Nourishment Leave-In Fortifying Spray. This is a great one if you’re short on time. You will not feel it in your hair. It’s a very light conditioner and a detangler.

 The best conditioner I know is Joico Body Luxe Thickening Conditioner, which delivers more than just detangling but rinses almost instantly and leaves no weight but some great smoothing. Your only need a tiny amount, smaller than a dime, really just a drop. It is wonderful.

4. Volumizing root lifters. TIGI Catwalk Root Boost, shown with the shampoo picture above, is a good product. It does what you expect it to, putting it in the category of a rare find. It seems like a spray mousse. So why not just use regular mousse? Well, it’s easy to aim at the roots only. It doesn’t leave flakes. The hair looks like hair, not crunchy or enormous. The effect lasts the day. Here’s the only use I make of a blow drier, to lift the Root Boost sections at the back and crown.

I love Root Boost best when my hair color has grown out a little and the roots are flatter than the rest of the head. It’s easy to just spray along the part and anywhere else I want some lift. 

My stylist has recommended TIGI BedHead Superstar. It looks like a liquid which seems gunky but she thinks it’s great. And I can vouch for hair lift. Hers is 4” higher than her head.

 5. A light defining styling cream. Wet looking hair in men or women is not attractive. Ditto crunchy, oily, greased, or immobile hair. Manipulator ( see the article Product Review : Bed Head Manipulator) is a good pomade but can get heavy. It produces a more texturized look, a little less like real hair.

Try got2B Playful.  It’s weightless. Your hair will be better behaved, the texture will be more defined making the whole head look thicker. I don’t find it does much in wet hair. It’s best when applied to dry hair, then it gives a little lasting lift and a great real-hair dry finished look.

6. Play with a stick wax.  TIGI BedHead A Hair Stick for Cool People  is good though too heavily scented. Like all wax, it softens with heat and stiffens with cold. You can put a touch at the roots for direction/lift, shape it with the heat of a blow drier, then when it cools, it stays.  You can give the ends direction in the same way, or just add chunkiness and straightness to ends. Remember that stick wax isn’t applied to the whole head or the whole length of the hair. It’s used in spots, no area more than about 1” around.

I don’t use it routinely because of the smell but for dealing with a cowlick or controlling a certain spot, it is very good.

 7. Hairspray? Hate the stuff. Maybe it works for you though.

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© 2007–2009, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

We have a lot of rust in our well water. Although it’s filtered for drinking, it does come through in the shower and my hair absorbs it like a sponge. I’m convinced that the hair I want to be warm chestnut brown is actually pinkish orange.

You cannot tell me these are not the same color, or too freakishly close for comfort.

I’ve been asked to post the hairstyle pictures to go with the cuts. The one above came from here . What can I say, I have a 13 year old image consultant. 

The pink hair became a personal obsession. When I spotted that orangutan, something had to be done. That was a Schwarzkopf color. I’ve been told that colors from that line can become too gold too easily.

I’ve had Goldwell and Aveda color in the past and found them just ok.

I was told that Wella makes outstanding haircolor. I found a salon that uses Wella Koleston Perfect. I read some good reviews.

My own hair is boring ashy dark brown with the odd gray hair mixed in.

I chose a darker color than I came in with, actually a combination of  two shades, hoping it would last longer and be less obviously pink. The color board showed a huge selection.

This is the best haircolor I’ve ever known. It’s pleasant going on. There’s no burning and barely any smell. It’s only been 2 weeks, but this is the shiniest that color has ever made my hair. The pigments are rich and true and the gray coverage is absolutely perfect. The color has only diluted slightly with washing. It got rid of the processed look that was settling in, and that looks so aging. Really, this is outstanding hair color.

The color was put in the hair in big chunks with foils, leaving the odd piece of original pinkish brown to shoot out between the layers. It’s a great way to transition from one color to the next.

The haircut is a grown out version of this style. I barely even brush it. It’s air dried with some Manipulator (Product Review : Bed Head Manipulator) worked into the ends to make them chunkier. The color does the rest. 

While you’re here, take a look at my current favorite hair site. The selection of styles for different lengths is good and the cuts are ones you’d actually consider wearing in the real world.

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© 2007–2008, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.

By far my favorite pomade. By far. 

What you’ll read about Manipulator A Funky Gunk That Rocks! on the TIGI site is right. It falls somewhere between a putty and a wax and a glue.

A dry finished look, unlike Joico Brilliantine and Redken Water Wax which are greasy and heavy. Wet finished looks are not desirable.

Can be used in dry or wet hair, though I prefer it in dry; then, you just move the pieces around and leave it.

A thick cream in a jar, but almost runny, like cold honey – not like Paul Mitchell ESP that won’t even come out of the jar, let alone spread through the hair.

Not sticky or gunky once dry even if you use a lot.

Not heavily scented like L’Oreal products. A medium coconut-like scent that doesn’t hang around long.

Doesn’t dry so fast  that you can’t work with it, like Redken Rough Paste. You can take as long as you like to move the pieces around. Can easily add more without overdoing it.

Washes out easily, unlike the stick waxes, but leaves a little definition if you just rinse and don’t shampoo your hair that day.

Once this stuff is in, it dries and disappears leaving behind definition and piece-iness. Hair stays flexible and looks like hair. It’s not crunchy when it’s dry, nor is it outrageously separated. I don’t distribute it through the whole head, just the ends to create defined chunks and move the pieces where I want them. It adds a little more body to the hair. A light touch at the roots will give lift and direction that can easily be refreshed during the day.

Medium control so if the hair is not too heavy, it will give it some direction. My hair is heavily texturized, so there are a lot of pieces within the cut that can be separated to give the impression of movement. There is very little weight on each piece so it will move somewhere and stay there.

Would be great for hairline flyaways. The hold strength is medium, just right for these hairs.

Terrific for men with fine hair who want body and texture without a wet, greasy, crispy, or oily look (and who would want that?)

TIGI, the Bed Head parent company, does not animal-test.

My only down comment would be that the wide, shallow jar is not ideal for the consistency of the product. It doesn’t run out the jar if you travel, but it does coat the underside of the lid. A gravity fed tube would be better.

At CDN$18-22 a jar, it’s getting up there. I try to buy 2-for-$18-and-get-1-free deals. Look at it this way: if you spend $10 on a jar of whatever and use it 4 times and hate it, it cost you $2.50 each time and you were never happy. If you spend $20 on a product you use 20 times, it cost $1 each time and you were always happy. 

Manipulator is so good that it’s convinced me to add a new Category : Great Hair.

Happy Tuesday. Hope it was a good one.

A note regarding a question a reader asked, about using Manipulator in fine and thinning hair. That’s will be a very relevant point for many of us.

For men and women with thin hair, Manipulator will be too heavy. One to consider would be got2b playful Texturizing Pomade. There some reviews at folica. It is very lightweight, a decent volumizer, not sticky/greasy/crunchy, and creates a dry finished look. Though the package claims that it texturizes and separates, I would disagree. It does not create a pieced or heavily texturized look, but that might be a good thing in this case.

Possibly the best thing about playful is that it often comes on sale for $4 or less. If you don’t care for it, give it to a teenager. Do try it a few times though. It took me several uses to understand what it can do and how best to use it.

Thank you for subscribing to A Greener Tea. If you are subscribing via email, please be aware that in order to comment on this thread, you will need to visit this post on the Web: Product Review : Bed Head Manipulator. Replies via email will be seen only by Christine.

© 2007–2008, Christine Scaman. All rights reserved.