By Mindy Ragan Wood, Staff Writer – A new salon has blown into town along Route 66, ready to offer the latest trends in hair care and styles.

Tease Hair Design, 430 W. Main Street, opened Tuesday.

From natural to exotic, Tease Hair Design is ready to meet the trending demands of a changing market. Owner Justy Clement has been a stylist for seven years. She apprenticed at Doll Face Beauty Bar, 712 S. Mustang Road. Stylists can choose to apprentice or enter beauty college to obtain a state cosmetology license.

“It takes twice as many hours to apprentice than it does to graduate from beauty college, but I was able to train with six stylists instead of one or two instructors. I’m a very hands-on learner and I built a clientele while I apprenticed,” Clement said.

Services include color, cut, style, Brazilian and keratin blowouts, eye brow waxing, and wedding services for hair styling and makeup design.

Styles in cut and color have changed in the last 10 years as every decade brings something new to design in fashion, hair, and makeup. Social media has driven the popularity of trends, replacing slick magazine ads with tutorials pinned from Youtube to Pinterest. Those changes to the marketability of hair trends show up in hair salons.

Clement said beware of deceptive photographs and tutorials.

“You just have to be prepared that if you try these and it goes wrong, if you melt your hair, to spend the money to fix it,” she cautioned.

Customers have come in with damaged hair from fad treatments, poorly colored, and disastrously trimmed bangs and ends.

“Pinterest can be great for ideas,” Clement said. “It’s been a blessing and a curse. Your hair will never look like the (photograph). Photographers edit the photos, so you’re not getting the true picture of what the hair looks like. Those photos are usually digitally enhanced. Do not ruin your hair for a Pinterest tutorial.”

Some trends on Pinterest have been good ideas. One of the latest is coconut oil as a conditioning treatment and is pinned to almost every woman’s list of hair-to-do’s.

“Coconut oil is great for your hair,” she said.

Other popular trends are starting to cool and some are beginning to sizzle.

“Braiding has been popular for wedding styles the last few years. I see it going out with twist and the messy look coming in. I also see the very modern and sleek look coming back.”

While 1980s fashion has reemerged from the glamorous ashes of geometric shapes and floral patterns, big hair has not joined the trend from that bygone decade.

“I see women getting away from volume and the teasing, but for weddings you do see that they want some volume for their look. We’re seeing more natural waves, versus Shirley Temple curls. Some women want color that is more natural, and others want the pink, the blue, the red, any shade…what they call the ‘bayalage’ color look. Low maintenance is definitely a thing.”

How does Clement stay up with the changes and keep her skills sharp?

“Continuing education is good, a foundation, but if you can’t look at a picture and know how to do it, then you’re not going to stay up with the times,” she said.

The philosophy of hair care is also changing, calling women to an era even further back than the 1980s. Clean eating has met its match with clean hair care as more consumers inspect the ingredients in personal care products. The Environmental Working Group and Eco Watch have been reporting on the toxicity of personal care products like those found in hair care such as sodium lauryl sulfate, a neurotoxin and parabens and phthalates which are endocrine disruptors.

Sodium lauryl sulfate, which provides the lather effect, began appearing in shampoo in the 1930s. Commercials for hair care in the 1950s recommended women did not wash their more than once or twice a month, something that has today’s busy wives and mothers wondering how often they should use shampoo. Women now are washing less often, sometimes as long as five to seven days between washes, which is something that Clement said she believes is healthy.

“We’ve trained our scalps to overproduce oil by over-washing our hair. It’s not good for your hair to wash it every day and you can train your scalp to wash less often,” she said.
With the heightened concerns about toxic chemical exposure, and chemical damage to hair through sulfates, silicones, and parabens in conditioners, women are looking for natural ingredients in hair care.

“I carry Monat, Lanza, and Kevin Murphy. I like to try different products and I use a wide variety of products based on their performance. I’m looking for products that affect healthy hair, more volume, shinier hair, and healing breakage. Monat and Kevin Murphy have no sulfates, parabens, no alcohol, and have a lot of natural ingredients.”

Since many women have ditched the sulfate shampoo and all its toxic ingredients, the industry has been forced to take notice. Mainstay brands in department stores like L’Oreal, Aveeno, and TRESemmé have released sulfate-free products.

As an industry begins to rethink their customer’s needs and demands, Clement is ready for the changes her customers want. Haircuts begin at $25, color at $65, and blowouts at $250. Eyebrow waxing is $10.

Appointments can be made by phone at 405-323-7024 or stop by the studio at 430 W. Main Street.

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