NATURALLY GOLDEN

September 13, 2010 at 5:06 pm · Filed under BEAUTY, HEALTH and tagged: beauty, Beauty Salons, Beverly Hills, CA, California, Celebrities, Clients, Environment, Glamour, Hair, Hair Color, Hair Cut, Hair Cuts, Hair Growth, Hair Stylist, Hairstyle, Hand-made, Health, Healthy, Media, Medical, Men, Natural, One-of-a-kind, Organic, Prive, Pure, Radiant, Scalp treatments, Shades, Spas, Style, Stylists, Susan Henry, Wellness, Women

 I love my hair, I love my nails, and I love everything! A slight take off from Rubert Everett’s scene in Julia Roberts movie, “My Best Friends Wedding.” This time the compliments are for something real, genuine and above all unique.

What am I saying? SHADES, Salon makes going Green look so good; in fact, it is golden!  SHADES owner is Susan Henry; in Beverly Hills is a chemical free full service color studio. You heard me, blonde-haired woman without Ammonia… completely chemically free, but with natural blonde finesse and shine! 

Get a glass of Montage or Clos Pepe Pinot Noir and sit down, this is a piece worth reading and information you will want to use and share. Please note I believe all my stories are worthwhile reading, this particular story includes a heroine, Paraben free alternatives and first-rate glamour, move over Cinderella. 

Susan has worked with giants in the hair industry, Jose Eber, Umberto and at Prive Salons. Her A list clientele were dedicated to her and even when her health deteriorated, she kept fifty clients that would have seen her in any way shape or form.

Susan’s world was not an easy one, surrounded by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Susan raised her young children when her husband passed away as a single mother. Susan juggled the intense work schedule consisting of a clientele of five hundred. The tragic loss of her husband combined the need to care for her children was to say the least exhausting. The constant exposure to ammonia, inflamed her eyes and over time her health depleted. Remember at this time, people smoked everywhere so on top of the Ammonia, smoke got into her lungs and poisoned her. She was severally ill.

At that time, her daughter went away to college and Susan had to move from handling five hundred clients to only being able to handle fifty. These fifty house calls were on an outside basis, she had to give up her clients and life, as she knew it at Prive Salon. In her daughter’s first year of college, Susan met her daughter’s friends, who were botanists. Together, they began to work on hair color that was ammonia free instead of what Susan was use to and used along with other hair stylists and Salons.

Away from the Ammonia ridden and smoke-filled environment, Susan’s health began to improve. She took to hiking it was through the Redwood forests, that she would come upon plants and fungi that she later learned people had used to dye clothes yellow. 

Inspired by the different ways people previously used plants, Susan spent eight years in her kitchen combining wheat germ, protein, and penetrating other plants to use to create hair color. Her client’s inherent trust allowed her to experiment on them. She even went blonde to show off her work. Five additional years later, Susan, created an ammonia free, natural based color process. It is full-on natural beauty that you can also buy over the counter in separate packages of ones own color, or desired color.

As a colorist, Susan would use these great tones for getting rid of grey and creating beautiful blondes from the correct color palette.  She hired a chemist to measure out the proper mixtures and amounts for production. 

Susan herself became a Scientist, an artist, entwining the two symmetrically. Within three years the shades, hence the name of her Beverly Hills Salon were developed and she was able to start working more. Additional salons have started using Shades chemical free colors.

At Prive Salon, a colorist changed her color line and now only uses Susan’s colors. To her knowledge SHADES is the only chemical free salon in Los Angeles, other salons are taking a more active green role by using some natural products but not one hundred percent Susan said.   

Susan does not allow any colors in her boutique that contain chemicals. She has created a chemical-free salon. In fact, stylists have to sign a letter stating that they will not bring in chemicals and will work in a chemically free environment. Susan said she is so sensitive, she could physically feel it if there were chemicals in the salon.

Oncologists send their clients to Susan. She helps them individuals grow hair. It is amazing, for men and women, created a natural products that helps your hair grow! Susan created tea tree oil and special massage oils that help permeates the follicles and help hair grow, this includes those who have extremely thin hair, are going through chemotherapy, and those recovering from cancer. Susan’s family business has been a team effort, from her daughter in College to her son General Manager of Shades, Jonathan Graves.

Shades is an avant-garde studio with progressive naturally unique hair utilization that benefit client’s individual style and wellness. What started out for me as an afternoon of an artesian in color excelled into head to toe allurement.  The nail stylist treated my hands and feet as though she was molding clay. With a natural homemade scrub treatment, to the natural nail polish application, she took her time and with generous care as though, she was treating a family member. Incidentally, my pedicure lasted for nearly a month.

These oils are all handmade. Susan makes a completely natural oatmeal scrub for the hands and feet with a cuticle oil that makes them soft as a baby’s bum. The hair massage is complete nirvana.

NJ: It is brown!

S:  It is just oatmeal, flaxseed, and sugar

NJ: What kind of sugar?

S: Organic sugar

Susan noticed that when she washes her hair, it falls out, so she made pure scalp oil for stimulation, antibacterial, anti-fungal, for those with dandruff, eczema, or psoriasis, Susan said it really helps clean and to stimulate circulation.

S: Thorough brushing cleans hair follicles so they ca get the oxygen they need. Hair follicles get clogged too, just like your skin!

This is the muscle w/ hair and healing oil together with the massage it loosens the muscle and helps stimulate blood flow, and where there is blood flow, it is good for the body

Nail spa stylist uses a ritual moisturizer while Susan continues…

S:  The oil for feet is handmade with peppermint, olive, apricot kernel is the carrier oil that is very light and the closest to what our body actually secretes. These really help enhance the medicinal qualities of the essential oil, Jhova

NJ: The majority of the pop uses oils that clog?

S: Apricot kernel oil is excellent as a carrier and as close to what we secrete naturally.

Sweet almond oil is good moisturizing oil with good carrier properties, my little grandson was taking a bath with the rosemary soap that I made and he said, “Mammy, you’re the best scientist ever!” -Billy

Any kids that want to take a bath…it is the soap for them!

S: The spa ritual is important. Two weeks of medicines for the rash, the rash was gone after 4 days when they used the formula! The research and prayers I have done, I have come up with these blends that seem to be the best.

Sipping some marvelous tea, Susan began on working on my hair…

NJ: What you are doing, the way you are applying the highlights, now, which is different.

S:  Highlights, I am painting highlights and using cotton to separate the hair instead of tin foil. With my painting, I can follow the natural growth pattern of the hair and I can make the hair look more natural and the highlights look real.  I have complete control as to where the highlights go, and I can get closer to the scalp, and I am not using foil, which is better for the environment and better for the body, and better for me not to touch it!

I think that aluminum is not good for your body and that highlights done with foil are terrible, as an artist. The highlights last longer and grow out more natural. I am using completely ammonium free highlighter that I created, and I mix what I make with a little bit of the ammonium free platinum from L’Oreal, because ammonium is mostly fruit based.  The hair color I use is wheat germ based with plant and fruit extracts.

I know I cannot comb my hair without conditioner, so here at the salon we use “Zeron” (paraben and sulfate free), “Unite” (paraben/sulfur free) lines competing and that is great because there used to be nothing produced like this before.

Eco-color has ammonia in the color (preserve is grape seed extract, but it has ammonia in it!) everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon but you have to be careful, you’re not going to find a color process that is naturally chemical-free, but to have a color that’s natural…  absolutely no ammonia or preservatives.  Natural.

I went into the salon to experience paraben free natural hair lights, by artesian stylist and owner of Shades, Susan Henry, I left with spectacular hair, eyebrows beautifully shaped through threading by Clarissa Garcia who is also a talented stylist and make-up artist. My hands and feet buffed and polished to perfection, it was hard to leave at all, but I did so fabulously! Over the course of a few days I went back to Shades to follow-up, each client was so kindly taken care of. Philip Wolf, Celebrity hair stylist left Prive to come work with Susan, I sat in the chair next to his watching him. I could not take my eyes off his dynamic dueling with hair and scissors combined. Each time the results heightened the client’s appearance, as though he knew what was really underneath there all the time, and by the client giving Philip free range, the client appeared as though they were to have looked all along but only Philip saw it. As though as sculptor sees what is within the clay. The clients features showed off beautifully attended to with color and shape.

Susan introduced me to Kiki and said she stole her from Prive. She said, Kiki is amazing. Kiki is a color and hair stylist. She has a warm personality and I felt comfortable instantly. I knew I was in the hands of someone I could trust with my hair and that is not easy! She told me right away about my hair and the best look for my hair. She changed my entire look with a the precision of a surgeon. Kiki worked with my hair as though she had known it all her life. I desired to keep my hair long and Kiki does what the client wants, but I told her to do what she thought would look best and did she ever… More to come

I found Shades to be a quaint escape, Willy Wonka of beauty, a tranquil place that is good for you. Each stylist has his or her own unique technique; the expertise goes hand in hand with kindness. One will not find a high and might attitude at Shades Salon, although they’ve earned it, it is not their style, so if you have an attitude, leave yours at the door, you will have a better time without it. 

More Shades to come… Hair extension with Clarissa, and a natural Brazilian Silk by Philip, so stay tuned. In fact if you have any questions for Susan at  shadesccolorstudio@gmail.com and please let her know where you read the piece.

Shades Color Packages available at the Salon below, on-line or by phone

144 S. Doheny Drive
Beverly Hills CA 90211

310.275.4882

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