I’m sitting at the Detroit airport, waiting for my flight to CHICAGO!!

This weekend is America’s Beauty Show, and I am ging for two days.

It is going to be a total whirlwind of a weekend. Tomorrow, I am signed up for a few classes, and I want to get my shopping in and absorb the hair atmosphere.

Sunday, I have an intinerary full of famous headliners, as well as classes. I have tickets to the Nick Arrojo show, Anthony Mascolo show, Tabatha Coffey show, and the Stylist Choice Awards. As well as fun time with the gals at Studio 9…and a fabulous dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

Time to take off! I love how fast I get to Chicago by flight. So much better than drving!

I’m trying to steal wireless everyday, and when I do, I will update! I promise!

I hope you are all doing well!!

Email me any questions or concerns, check my e-mail daily at work!!

I’m still alive, I promise!

Best of all, she loves to take pictures when her hair is at her best, and she lets me use them to show off my work!

Nikki’s latest:

A darker blonde, and a lot of fun, chunky lowlights!

Nikki before:

Very bleachy blonde, yet dimensional. Still adorable!

My favorite of all:

Lindsey has amazing fair skin and piercing blue eyes. I wanted to bring that out!! We needed to enhance that skintone and make her eyes pop.

After quite a bit of of consulting, Lindsey said, “Do whatever you think would look good on me!”

Mwhahahahaa! This is the fun part!!

This was my vision:

Enter a gorgeous cinnamon shade and a few subtle highlights around the face.

Also, an inch cut off with some nice layering and a different part.

Voila! A whole new person!

Studio 9 Salon-- the best!

Thank you to all who voted and commented for Studio 9 Salon in WDIV’s Best Salon in Detroit Contest!!

It’s been a long, competitive summer… and it feels so great to work as a stylist in the Best Salon in Detroit!! (and I was the stylist with the most comments!)

With National Real Hair Day being this week on Tuesday, I decided to use this installment of “A Guy’s Point of View” as an opportunity to share what men, including myself, think about long, “fake” hair. We all learned in my last “Guy’s Point of View” Post that men prefer long hair over short… but does that include extensions and wigs?

As Lauren pointed out earlier this week, Tyra Banks kicked off the 5th season of her show by ditching her collection of extensions and wigs and went au natural throughout the entire show. Watching the show myself, I commended Tyra because she had used fake hair throughout her adult life due to modeling and hosting television shows “America’s Next Top Model” and “The Tyra Banks Show”.

My thought on hair extensions… they are part of the artificial things women do to make themselves look better. While they may make you feel more beautiful and confident, it is not the real you.

It’s simple: When women wear hair extensions, you want longer hair. When women wear heels, you want to be taller.

If you’re single and actively dating, you can get away with it in the dating world for a short amount of time, it will eventually catch up with you. The last thing you want is to get busy with a guy and he pulls out a track of your hair.

I asked some males on their opinions on fake hair, and their thoughts were very similar with mine. One said, “Like anything fake, in my mind, extensions, etc. look really good, but deep down I know they’re not real. And that diminishes them at least slightly.” Another friend took a more humorous approach when he said, “Anything past the shoulders just gets in the way.”

Let’s take a look and analyze come celebrities that have had real hair vs. extensions. First up is reality TV star Kristin Cavallari.

Looking at her real hair on the right, it is shorter than the extended hair on the left. But, there can be things done with the real hair. All she needs is some touching up near the roots to make it look one solid blonde color vs. the dirty blonde seen in the picture, and maybe a shape up and a good blowout. If she takes proper care of it while growing it out, it can look just as the picture on the left. Why did she get extensions? Well, sex sells. Kristin is the newest heartthrob on “The Hills”.

Next I must say something about Britney Spears. We all know she’s been through several train wrecks and is trying to get her life in order. We know she’s trying to grow her hair out after cutting everything off, but can someone either convince her to wear short hair or get better extensions? I know long, blonde hair is Britney’s image, but if she can pop out a few kids and still be a pop princess, surely she can transform her hair and do the same. The picture above makes her look like she is performing at a county fair without makeup instead of performing at the Palace of Auburn Hills, where she was earlier this week.

Unless you are an actress, model, or preparing for your senior, prom or wedding pictures, then you are granted an exemption because it’s only temporary.

If you are in it for the long run, spend some good, hard money on perfect, professional extensions. You don’t want Lauren to trash talk you on her blog if she sees you with a base of bad extensions!!

The asymmetry.
The black.
The red.
The copper.

Very goth and vampire-esque, yet stylish and breathtaking.

I want this now!!!!!

The yummy hair award goes to Miss Michelle Trachtenberg, who is rockin a very rich dark auburn shade. Her hair, which is thick with a bit of wave, is believed to be extension-free.

Taylor Momsen made another gross extension appearance. I want my old Taylor back!!!

…and Blake Lively still looks the same. She has always looked the same. I’m sick of the long, golden blonde hair. Be daring, Blake!! What would Serena do?!?! Go blonder, go darker, get lowlights… something!!!

…and where the heck was Leighton Meester??!!

red to blonde? Not so easy!

…Which isn’t a horrible color, it just looks like crap on her.

We all know its “for a movie role”, but what you didn’t know was that only her front pieces of hair were lightened to blonde!! Tricky, tricky!

Going from red to blonde is very, very, very hard. It takes way more than 2-3 processes, if that. (Trust me, I know from experience!!)

The trick? Extensions, of course. (The word of the week!!!)

Only Lindsay’s front pieces were bleached. The rest of her hair was most likely lightened and toned to eliminate red, but never bleached. The front pieces were heavily highlighted, and the rest of the blonde is via extensions.

All over blonde is a huge no-no for a redhead. When I did this crazy step, I was stripped and bleached twice, and lost a ton of hair. (Pixie, anyone?) It has to be done in steps, and treated everytime.

Haircolor does a lot, but it sure does have it’s limits.