Blogs 2020

December 2020

As we come out from Lockdown no 2 its not long now before we open our doors to welcome you all back to our Colabella salons.

With christmas just around the corner, there really is not long now to get ourselves and our homes christmas ready…so with no further ado lets talk salon…

If you are not on our call back waiting list then call us as soon as you can if you need an appointment. Our numbers are all over our social media and we are taking calls, so do call if you need an appointment, we are ready to help you and get you booked in. We all need a cheer up and to get into the festive feel and lets be honest an appointment at your fav’ salon should always be a feel good factor and lets face it we could all benefit from that feel good boost.

With winter ahead of us and these long dark nights the one thing this bizarre year has reminded me is that we need to look after ourselves. 

Many of us run around and care for loved ones and often forget ourselves, guilty me !

After last lock down I suggested to my self and probably in previous blogs that I had made a pact with myself to stop rushing around at 100 miles an hour, did i stick to that?  the short answer is NO !

So with that said how can we now look after our selves ?  I think the best thing to do is to just keep on trying to make little adjustments every time we see the pattern starting again. 

The one thing I love about my job is it gives our clients that opportunity for self time, a bit of self indulgence and above all time to relax. We must never underestimate how powerful the feel good factor is, its a real pick me up.

Our salons will be operating with all our services available when we re open on the 2nd December including hair beauty, nails and our hair loss clinic. 

So as we welcome December if you are looking for some fun and easy hair ideas, here's a little mix up of easy ways to style your hair this season…These ideas can be do done on all hair lengths, you can also try them on short hair by buying clip in hair piece accessories, there are so many around and not expensive.

Glitzy clips slides and other hair accessories

Its so easy to brighten and add a bit of glamour by just clipping in a nice hair slide or some pretty hairpins. If you pull your hair back on one side of your hair with multiple pins placed one above the other its a really nice look. There are so many styles and sizes of hair brooches and other accessories, you can even criss cross pins over each other, transforming an otherwise simple style into a sophisticated look. This is not just for long hair even on short hair this will add instant chic…Low pony

For another quick hairstyle, go for a low ponytail. Smooth your hair with a light gel or styling serum and pull your hair back and add a nice glitzy slide or velvet bow for a chic and glamorous look. Loosen the ponytail and add curls with a curling iron for a more textured messy look. 

Elegant topknot

For a timeless style an elegant topknot is sleek and simple. For a bolder look, sleek down hair and tame fly-aways with gel or serum. To soften the look, allow baby hairs to fall around your face.

Messy braid

By keeping hair smooth and gently tied up, it is a good way to protect your hair during the winter, braided styles are great for this and there are lots of tutorials on you tube. I love the halo braid for a romantic style reminiscent of a past time. Pull at the hair to widen the braid for a messy, bohemian look for the perfect messy look.

Again if you have short hair you can buy clip in hair braids or bands that look like you have braided your hair.

For the guys

This season when it comes to hair its the french crop and the curly french crop that is right on trend. this skin fade style blends up to heavy length with a more solid fringe. Although facial hair has had a more groomed look its still very popular although much tidier and edged neatly compared to the previous beard trends…

We love to keep you up to date with all thats trending and our salon news so do follow our social media to sand keep checking back to it to stay up to date with us…

Ren, myself and our fabulous team wish you all a blessed healthy and safe Christmas and New year, thank you all and we appreciate all your support this year…Anna x

October 2020

This months blog has been a collaboration of our youngest team member Olivia and myself so we hope you find it an informative blog...

Im so pleased to tell you all that our fabulous hard working team have taken to all the hygiene changes like ducks to water, thank you for the compliments in our reviews, the phone calls and the e mails received praising the salon the team Ren & myself. It really means a lot when you guys notice all the hard work the team are putting in.

So lets get down to the nitty gritty of this months chit chat...

With autumn officially here and a new season in flow, we find that the trends in salon tend to reflect the time of year as does the weather. With the colder more damp days it is all about that natural, low maintenance look, with colours and styles that give that warm but easy to wear look.

This autumn trends are taking a flash back to the past, with 70s style cuts such as the shag haircut which is such a versatile cut, this hairstyle works on both short and long hair, which is one reason this multilayered cut is so trendy!

Not only that, but it looks so good and is effortlessly glamorous, while being easy to maintain. This style has plenty of choppy layers to give tonnes of volume and give it a 70s feel but also with an 80’s touch too with lots of undercuts and short and long hair brining that edgy feel to a style.

My personal favourite in hair tones is bursting back this season with more mocha and warm brown tones.

There are still many full head bleach colours being requested but that is only for the die hard blondes amongst us, as the up keep on this look is a 4 to 5 week ritual of bleach and if its the pastels you love the toners too and some times this need refreshing every 3 weeks. Blonde will never go out of trend but right now lets talk warm and back to the more autumnal shades. The thicker low lights are very much back and on trend, so we are seeing clients asking for a thin veil of natural colour on the parting but with chunky low lights under it, so if they feel bold they can flick the parting to the more vibrant hair side and again if they feel they want to dress it down they can wear the parting where the natural veil was left out. Ask in salon if you fancy something like this. Its nice as it can give you a few extra weeks between colours which some clients prefer and instead of colour on colour appointments you can switch one for just a treatment and a blow-dry that not only gives you a treat but helps your colour last longer and leaves it feeling and smelling lush and feeling silky for ages.

We love to talk unisex so not forgetting the boys of course, we’re still seeing a lot of top perms this season, along with a crisp skin fade to top it off, a skin fade is definitely one of today’s most popular gents hair styles, having it longer on the top and faded on the sides is a style that has and will be trendy for a long time!

Beauty...

Facials for guys is a real popular thing now and its great how its just normal for these services to be unisex, gone are the days where guys would steer clear of the beauty salon its all very gender neutral now in salon and we are all about that at colabella...

With the change of season beauty trends also change, we’re leaving the brighter corals, yellows, blues and pinks in summer and leaping into the darker and more neutral tones. At this time of year the deeper reds are definitely a go to, as they just scream autumn also for this time of year, the more neutral tones with a sparkly glitter is a subtle way to still feel autumnal without having to have any bold colour. We have some lovely new CND shellac shades in salon at the moment so wonder over to our beauty rooms when you are in salon to have a little look...

And just when you thought id managed a blog without the dreaded word here it comes and although things are very far from being back to normal after Covid and we don't get out as much, there’s nothing like a fresh set of nails to give you that feel good factor!

We have been pleasantly surprised how many of us are just doing things for ourself to feel good even if we are not going out and we love that..Whether it’s a fresh set of acrylics, or having matching shellac on your hands and toes, we will always have something to make you feel amazing. Its been tough but we are pushing on and we have kept some lovely offers going to help keep the pennies under control as we are all feeling these tough times. So do check our google pages for latest offers and all our social media.

Kirsty our team leader and senior stylist who creates all our media works hard keeping all our media updated so that you can all see what we are up to in salon and the fabulous work that is being done by our team, so do keep checking back on our social media as it changes daily. Kirsty & Steph are also always on the other end of our Face book platform and you can keep up to date or message them for information on there. They will be happy to help.

Make the most of our on going offers, we do a refer a friend where you both get 20% off if you send us a new client so for example on a £40 bill thats a great saving of £8 meaning you only pay £32. If you are not sure what our on going promo’s are just call or ask in salon and we will give you a run down of the best ways to get the best deals. Our deals are not just for new clients we value and appreciate our loyal clients too and want you to get rewarded for your loyalty...

Last but not least...I mentioned a little but about our new service previously and now I'm pleased to tell you we are ready to roll it out and its all about...

Hair loss

We are super excited to be partnering with Mark Birch one of the worlds leading hair trichologists.

We are in the process of launching a hair loss clinic at our Bislton branch where Ren and our team will be rolling out a program to help reduce and improve hair loss in men and women. The products range will be supported by Mark Birch. Ren, myself and our team will have finished our training sessions from October 6th. it has been a passion of Rens for some years and he has travelled wide & far even going to Belgium in the research of hair loss and hair transplants. He really does have this area covered so if you are interested do book a consultation with him. There is a £20 refundable deposit which can be used to buy products or is fully refundable if you just have the free consultation, sadly people book and then don't turn up and although its a free service the £20 deposit just to stop no shows and loose Ren valuable time. It is mainly of interest to men but certainly not only for men.

As mentioned we offer a free consultation for all our services so if its just a chat or a change of colour or style or if you are a new client and you just want to get a feel for the salon and us before you book in. What ever your hair and beauty questions are we would love to talk to you about them
so until next month for now its bye bye from both of us.

Have a great month
Anna & Olivia

September 2020
Colour correction and high fashions colours...
Question? When is a colour service a colour correction service?
Answer ! when it is a colour change or any thing different to existing pre coloured hair...
So why is it called a colour correction you might ask?
A colour correction is basically any hair colour service to hair that has previous colour already on it and that is about to under go a change of colour.
Only if it is virgin hair or a touch up of your last hair colour for the same again is it not a correction. You also have major colour correction which is fixing the undesirable result of a colour job or box dye gone wrong.
As a team we discussed this at our last meeting and we decided it would be good to talk about this in details just down to how many times a week we come across the confusion caused by this service request...
Many times bookings are made for a colour but actually what it should be booked in as is a colour correction. A colour change you might think is just a colour change but it’s really not as there are so many elements to take into account when trying to reach a new target shade from a previous existing colour.
We do try to get as much info from our clients as we can on the phone and clients can be reluctant to come in to see us before their booking as everyone is so busy but it is very advisable to visit the salon for the free consultation if you know you are going to ask for a change.
As professionals we can help determine how much damage has been done and help come up with a plan to correct the colour mishap. If the damage is minor, we may be able to fix it with a all over dye job that can be done but that is only if you are happy to go darker and the hair is strong enough. If your hair is dry and brittle from bleach damage you may need multiple bleaching and toning sessions spread out over several weeks to get the colour you feel ok with but after each round of colour you will have to let your hair rest and recover for a couple of weeks and then again let your stylist/colourist try again to move towards your target shade.
No ones hair strands aren’t just one colour.
There are many underlying tones you can’t see with the naked eye, red, yellow, and orange pigments all combine to make the hair colour you see and if you’ve ended up with an unflattering brassy orange or garish yellow after attempting to lighten your locks with bleach, chances are its going to take time to lift those unwanted pigments away.
So colour correction involves either toning out unwanted tones colours or brassiness, dying your hair darker, to do a cover up or lightening your hair even more to try to achieve the desired effect.
What can you do to help us with getting the best for this type of process...
Hair treatments to take home to use in between each round of colour is highly recommended. Use products that we advise you to use as some products can cause a barrier to the next round of colour which will set your colour journey back. We are a L’oreal salon and all our products are designed by industry leaders so we are very confident in the products we recommend to you.
We offer a personalised hair care service where you can bring in anything you currently use and we devise a be spoke hair care plan for your hair...
There are a few things to consider if you are thinking of a change, here are a few to help your decision.

• Is the change you want achievable
• Have you had a skin test 48 hours in advance of your booking
• If its a colour change you need to visit the salon a few days before hand so we can take strands to test, his
will check if your hair strong enough to take the steps needed to make the change
• Doing anything well takes time
• Do you have enough time, as some jobs can take 4/5 hours.
• You need to give the salon time as it cant be rushed or too much done in one go
• Be aware that from the starting point of your colour, to getting what you want can take 5 visits
• Any previous tint now matter how light or dark needs bleach to strip it out
• Colour erasers are still bleach, no tint will correct tint no matter what you have been told before
• There are several steps to a successful correction
• How strong your hair is to start with is a big factor
• Mid way through the correction re bond products may need to be applied to allow more correcting
• Each visit will only allow so much to be done and you may not get success for a few visits
• Do you have the patience to be a colour you don't like in-between while your on the correction journey
• The more stages to the service the more the cost will be...
• When it comes to bright unusual fashion colours all of the above apply and also to consider that they fade
off each time you was them so they only last a couple of weeks and need topping up very regular to keep
the colours vibrant.
• Fashion colours of 2 or more shades start to run into each other as they get washed and fade and this is a
common issue and hard to stop
• Swapping and changing from colour to colour each time makes it very difficult to get great colour results Regarding pricing for this type of service...
One of the most difficult questions to answer on the phone is “how much will it cost” so here’s the thing
For example if your hair is black, first visit if it all goes well you may get a copper or yellow gold...so
Step 1 initial strip back with bleach
Step 2 this may then need a re bond treatment and
Step 3 also a toner all in the same visit, then it may or may not need a cut so changes the price
Each step can add an additional £15 to £20 on top of the starting price.
This is why its so hard to quote on the phone.
The salon can give you a rough guide but it is very difficult to give you an exact quote as we are acting and managing your service depending on how your hair responds to each step also some hair is long or short, some hair a lot thicker than other hair and will cost more for extra product use and time as needed.
The same can apply if you are asking us on the phone to quote if have red or copper or blue hair and want to go blonde or back to your own colour. Its about peeling off the old layers while trying to maintain the strength and the bonds in the hair so the hair does not break. None of these services are achievable in one visit they cannot be accurately quoted on the phone and none come with a quick easy fix...
Hopefully this information will help guide you if you are thinking of changes and also explain why a in person consultation is needed and skin tests are now a legal requirement and any salon offering a colour without a skin test are breaking the law.
If you are a colabella client and have had colour with us previously as long as you answer NO to all the health and safety colour questions we ask you, we can put you back on a Matrix/Loreal colour passport which you sign to confirm all the No answers and proceed with your service.
Don’t forget consultations are free but you do need to book in for it and there is a cancellation fee if you do not attend or cancel the appointment.
Have a very good start to autumn next blog will touch on all the autumnal hair colours that are trending lots of virtual hugs
Anna x

August 2020

Hey everyone

so we survived the crazy return back to work. The team Ren & I have worked like trojans and we are so proud of getting the waiting list caught up and all our fab clients back into luscious locks.

Like many other businesses, we have had to make some alterations to our salon services to ensure we’re following government guidelines. These differences are vital to your safety as well as our staff. We continually deep clean but as most of you know we always have even pre cover - 19. All our staff have PPE and we are exercising the WHO hand washing advice and the 1 to 2 metre rule at all possible times.

Our policy still requires clients to wear a mask in our salons and our aim is for you to attend our salons with complete confidence in your safety, so let’s break down a few other things that will be different so you know what to expect on your visit.

Masks & Temperature Checks

We are required to ask all visiting the salon to wear masks when inside the building. Feel free to bring your own , or we are able to provide them for you for a small charge. We will also be testing your temperature to ensure you’re in the best health to have your treatment and to keep our venue virus free for everyone. Please come to the reception desk to collect your mask if you do not have one but we will take your temperature before moving into the salon. Hand sanitiser will be readily available for all on arrival.

So with all that out of the way lets talk some salon talk.

First of all I need to remind everyone about...

Skin Test..

The safety of all our clients is paramount to us and that is why we adhere to manufacturer guidelines on skin safety testing, which means carrying out a patch test 48 hrs prior to your appointment.

Although it is very rare, a reaction to hair colour can occur and I have been a suffer of hair colour reaction, in previous blogs I talk about how had a serious could have been fatal reaction, if you suffer a reaction it can be severe, painful and distressing. At its most serious, an allergic reaction can result in hospitalisation and death!!!

For the thousands of perfect skin tests, whenever that one skin test flags a reaction before an actual colour appointment was carried out, all of us are hugely relieved we found out the easy, stressless way.

What Do I Need To Know?

You must book a skin test if you have had any of the following:

• you have used a box colour between appointments, we will need to carry out a new skin test.

•If you have had a tattoo or micro blading also still need a new skin test.

• you have suffered an illness that has recently put your immune system under strain

(Coronavirus is an example of this). Any illness that puts your immune system under strain

may cause your body to overreact to colour services.

• If you have had a colour appointment at another salon.

•Or not had a colour with us for over 6 months. You will be asked these questions...

For anyone that requires a skin test (or if you are under any doubt or concern that a recent illness may include you) this must be done at least 48 hours prior to your appointment.

If you are not sure please call us and we will advise you.

Once your skin test is up to date as a L’oreal/Matrix salon we can sign you onto a client passport. If you answer no to the questions on the form then you can sign your passport and we can proceed with your colour knowing you meet the guidelines we follow.

YEY more boring talk done !

Lets talk hair...I think some tips on how often to visit the salon will be helpful as many of you have found out how your hair starts to struggle when it is not up kept regularly.

How often to have you hair trimmed?

Many of us have goals for our hair, for some of us it is to grow it long, for others, it's keeping a short and neat choppy crop, and for some its to just get it healthy. Our team at Colabella are hear to guide and advise you an what is best and how long to space between visits.

If you're trying to grow your hair long, it makes sense to let it grow and it's a myth that cutting it encourages a growth spurt. Thats not true. What is true is that trimming off dead ends even just a quarter of an inch every 12 weeks will help it stay glossy, shiny and healthy, cutting away split ends before they can spread. Also it stops the hair shedding from the ends causing a very weak base line meaning it never gains any length as it keeps breaking away.

Removing damaged ends is important if you're a fan of using heat to style your hair then you should get the ends trimmed every six to eight weeks. YES even if you are growing it, actually ESPECIALLY if you are growing it.

If you want to keep your short, say like a cute pixie cut, then you may find that it needs to be cut as often as every four weeks. Short to medium structured styles need this. For longer bobs and shoulder length then six weeks to prevent it from growing out.

If you're currently wearing a fringe, then you will find you need a maintenance trim at least every four weeks to keep it out of your eyes. We have always done a pop in £5 fringe trim to stop you getting the kitchen scissors to it but due to covid-19 please call to pop in for this service.

Even if you intend to grow out your fringe, our stylists can help shape it so that it falls more evenly into the rest of your hair.

Those with layered hair may also find their look starts to lose its shape after around eight weeks; and again, even if you're looking to grow this out, a cut every 10 to 12 weeks should help.

In general the advice is to try and get split ends cut while they are still at the ends of the hair, it stops them running away up the hair then being difficult to get to unless you have a good fe inches cut off.

With the guys most common is a short around the back & sides with bit of length on top and this sort of style rarely suffers from split ends as quite a bit gets cut off each time but as with any longer styles if you boys want to keep some length and keep it in good condition then try to aim for 4 to 8 weeks with your salon visits.

Since the salon re opened many of clients with mid to long hair clients have gone for sharp long bobs to get rid of the split ends caused by months of no trims. Pixie cut has gone crazy again but its never going to go out of trend just due to its simple no fuss up keep.

So if you're looking for fresh and trendy hair do ideas that are current then keep your eye on our colabella social media or our web site hairstyles page is a great place to start.

As always as the seasons change, you'll notice that hairstyle trends change too. So keep checking back with us so you can keep up-to-date with the latest hairstyle trends and never have a bad hair day.

Have a fab August Anna x