Welcome to 2018, where between Pinterest, Google and HGTV, you can pretty much DIY anything you want. Everyone can be an expert with a cell phone and a few swipes. Personally, Pinterest has taught me that I’m a fairly decent cook, that home decorating is a lot of fun, and that if I want something cute and crafty, I’m better off buying it from someone with a little more artistic ability.

When it comes to beauty, there are some thing you can absolutely do on your own, and others that you really just need to leave to the experts (if you don’t believe me, just search “beauty blogger fails” on YouTube).

1. Beach Waves. Everyone wants them but hardly anyone gets them just right. However, with a few simple tips, you can get the style you’re coveting. Step 1: get need the right size iron. You can use a wand, spring or marcel, whichever you are most comfortable with, but the most important part is the size. It can’t be too big or too small. I personally use the a 1 ¼” Babyliss Titanium Spring Iron and love it. Step 2: don’t curl the ends. For the longest time, my attempted beach waves came out looking a little more “glam” than I was going for until I learned this step. Step three: for messy, natural-looking waves, alternate the direction of the curl. I like to start from the front by curling the first piece away from my face, then switching back and forth on each section as I move around my head.

Give it a try and see how your waves come out. If they’re still not quite there, book a blowout with your stylist and ask them to teach you! Who better to go to for a lesson than the expert?

2. Polish Change. I love a good mani/pedi—who doesn’t?! But if I’m being completely honest, I am terrible at keeping up with my nails. I’m too busy to get my services as often as I should, and between washing dishes, bath time for two kids and hand washing, I feel like my poor hands are always in water and my polish is always chipping and peeling. This is where those retail bottles of polish at your nail salon come in! Do you have a go-to color? At your next manicure appointment, grab a bottle for your purse on the way out the door. When you notice a chip, you can touch up a nail or two and keep those hands presentable until your next service with your nail specialist.

3. Mini Facial. Let me start by saying there are two distinct reasons to get a facial. What I love about facials at Fresh is that in our spa, we offer both a relaxing escape from everyday life and we provide visible results with products usually only found in medical facilities. And while it’s pretty difficult to recreate a full spa experience at home, there’s no reason you can’t give yourself a little extra glow with a few great products and a little time in your bathroom. The secret though is in finding the right products for you. Ask your aesthetician what she recommends, and if you don’t have one, you can always stop by Fresh for a complimentary consultation with any of our skin experts.

Now, let’s talk about the DON’TS:

1. Hair Color. This is the service that people are most likely to try on their own, and in my opinion, the one that should never even be considered without an expert. Here are a few reasons why:
   1. Color Formulation – Hair color is not “one size fits all.” Let’s go back to elementary school for this one. If you mix red with white, you get pink. If you mix red with blue, you get purple. If you mix red with green, you get brown or a muddy gray, depending on how much green you add. If you understand this, it should be easy to understand why the same box of red hair color from the drug store shelf is not going to create the same color on everyone.
   2. Product Quality – Your salon has many options when choosing its color line, and it probably chose the one it uses because the stylists know the ingredients and what makes it a high-quality product. At Fresh we use L’Oreal color, but just because you see L’Oreal on a box in the drug store does not mean it’s the same thing. The levels of pigment and ammonia can very greatly, and the additional chemicals can truly devastate your hair.
   3. Expense – Most people who do their hair color on their own do it to save money. But please understand the risk you are taking. Yes, professional hair services cost more than a box of color from the drugstore. However, color corrections that must be performed after that box color doesn’t turn out how you hoped are significantly more expensive than maintenance services. They also often require multiple visits, so between the expense of the color correction itself and the cost of the time you will be giving up to sit in the salon chair, is it really worth the risk?

2. Bang Trim. You know those beauty blogger fails I mentioned earlier? Bang trims are some of the best. Just don’t do this. Kitchen scissors do not cut the same as professional shears, and there are so many ways a DIY bang trim can go wrong. I understand that you may need a bang trim before you’re ready for a haircut; that’s why we do them for free. And I would venture to guess that most stylists would rather quickly clean up that fringe for you than have you chopping away at their work in your bathroom mirror.

Waxing. What could possibly go wrong with at home waxing? Burns, skin damage or over-waxing, that’s what. Like other professional salon and spa products, the wax available to the general public is rarely the same as the wax used by the experts. With lower-quality wax, you are more likely to have a poor reaction. Also, a professional hair removal specialist understands the skin’s thickness varies on different areas of your body and will apply and remove the wax appropriately for that area, as well as use several different types of wax. And when it comes to more precise areas, like your eyebrows, cleaning them up is great, but you aren’t trying to rid your face of them completely. There is some serious skill in shaping the perfect brows, and once you accidentally go a little too far, there isn’t any hiding it.

In conclusion, if it can be easily fixed, its probably OK to give it your best shot. But if we’re talking long-term consequences, let’s be smart and leave those fixes to the experts.

Ashley Guttridge
Owner
Fresh Salon & Spa
941.906.7709 
Fresh Salon Sarasota Website