It's Not Just Hair

Hi lovelies!
How is your September so far? Mine was just full of exams arghh! They are over now and I'm more than happy!
So today we'll talk hair. As I told you, before summer I did this technique called Balayage which is basically natural looking highlights. Well mine weren't that natural any more so I was planning on dying my hair soon.
So when I got an invitation from L'Oreal and TEO hair salons I was super excited!

The hair salon was pretty, with minimal and modern decoration and very friendly people.
George Sfakianakis and Natassa shared with us the history of TEO hair salons.

It all started in Egypt. Teo wanted to become a doctor but his family couldn't afford it so he started working at a barber shop. He learned fast and some years later he moved to Greece and became one of the very few well-known hairdressers back then.

With his family and his team, he always treated women with respect. From the past to the present, TEO team has the same value which led to more hair salon across Greece and many happy customers. TEO team is responsible for many celebrities' hair including working for Fashion Week and Eurovision. You can understand that their motto It's not just hair is true. It's devotion, inspiration, creation.

But what are the trends for Fall/Winter 2012?

Retro Nouveau. Retro because inspiration comes from icons like Twiggy, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. And nouveau because we give it a modern twist.

Just like the models, each one representing a trend. Generally, this year's hair fashion says

• no to out-of-bed hair 
• yes to more stylized hairstyles
• yes to natural colours
• yes to retro hairstyles
• no to extreme layers
• yes to volume

After presentation we each had the chance to try TEO services for ourselves. And they did have a great list of services to choose from! I chose to have my hair dyed.

While waiting. You can see the not-so-natural highlights

Elias was my hair stylist and we discussed about what I wanted. I said I was thinking about black and maybe a blue ombre at the ends. Yeah, I'm crazy! Elias kept brushing and parting my hair. He said black and blue would be too cool for me, my eyes are dark brown and I need something warmer. I said I didn't mind cool tones. And he suggested something I'd never imagine. Using 2 shades of dark brown, a cool, chocolate one and a warm, reddish one, he wanted to paint the top of my head and the part near the back of my neck with the cool shade and everything in between with the warm one. That way hair around my face would be chestnut brown, warming up my complexion whereas the rest of it would be a cooler brown giving depth and dimension. Needless to say I was speechless, just nodding "yes please, do it, it sounds amazing!"

While I was waiting I noticed the Mythic Oil bottle on the table so I asked the lovely lady who did my hair. She told me it's a really nice product and shared a little tip with me. You can add 2-3 drops of Mythic Oil in your regular hair mask and apply. If you wrap your hair with a warm wet towel and leave it for some time, your hair will be amazingly soft afterwards! Feel free to try it and tell me if it works :)


Back to hair dying, the result was as good as I though it would be. There are two brown shades in my hair but they are so close that only under strong light or sun you can clearly see the difference. The reddish brown looks lovely and the cool brown gives a more natural look and dimension.
After hair dye they applied mask and a hair treatment spray to lock the shine. I'm not sure if it's the hair dye, the mask or the treatment but my hair is super soft and shiny, not at all dull and destroyed as I was afraid it'd look.

And here's the worst after-photo ever. Indoors and my camera didn't pick the difference between the two colours. Sorry guys, I'll post a better one as soon as I can.

And as if all this wasn't enough, we also got goodie bags!

Mythic Oil shampoo for all hair types, Mythic Oil nourishing masque for all hair types and Kerastase Elixir Ultime for colour-treated hair. My precious!! This was exactly my reaction when I saw it, ask Stavroula to confirm LOL I wanted to try it since I saw it so I was super happy!

I tried the products a couple times and here are my thoughts
Shampoo: I like that it has a pump and I like it's smell. I don't like its consistency, it's a bit thin for my taste and it doesn't lather much. It's quite mild though which is a plus.
Hair Mask: Buttery and thick consistency, exactly how I like hair masks. A little goes a long way, it smells great and it leaves my hair smooth and moisturized. All in all I love it. I think it costs €23 and I'll buy it again.
Elixir Ultime: this one is thicker than the other dry oils I've tried. One pump may seem too little but don't hurry to apply another one. Another thing is the smell. It smells quite heavy(perfume-y) when you apply it but it gets softer afterwards. I'm not sure but I think it keeps my hair straight better than the other oils I've tried.

Phewww, this was a looong post! If you are still here I thank you with all my heart! Normal size posts will follow, I promise ;D

I was wondering, do you like to dye your hair darker during winter or you just keep the same colour all year round?

Note: I'd like to thank Maria Drandaki, L'Oreal Greece, Elias and all the lovely and talented people from TEO hair salons!! Products and services were given to me for free but nobody asked me to write this post and nobody will pay me for that. This is my honest opinion.