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Alexandra asks (via FaceBook)…What do you think about Wella Illumina? I was not able to find the ingredients and I wanted to find out if it is really something revolutionary or marketing campaign? Is it damaging for hair just like other hair dyes? The Beauty Brains respond: Questions about professional hair care products can be trickier to answer than those regarding retail haircare goods because a) professional products don’t always list their ingredients and b) professional products are less scrutinized by organizations like the Federal Trade Commission which means they can be more  ”creative” with their claims. With those two caveats in mind we’ll see if we can decipher if Illumina is really different. What’s so different about Illumina? Based on the information provided by Wella’s website, it looks like this product has three basic claims to fame. Want elevated colour? The first claim is related to high coverage of gray and to the richness and depth of the color the product provides. There’s no indication they use novel coloring agents but they do use an unusually high level of peroxide (9% and 12% versus the standard 6%.) This higher level of bleaching will provide more color lift but it will also cause more damage.   Want softness and shine? This claim is accompanied by pictures of “before and after” hair. The “before” hair is a tousled, unconditioned mess. The “after” hair is smooth and conditioned and will do a much better job of reflecting light. It’s not uncommon for hair color kits to contain conditioning treatments which could be the basis for this claim. Interestingly, Wella’s instructions involve the use of heat which also could be used to smooth the hair. Hair lit from within Third, and most intriguing, are the claims involving increased clarity of the cuticle.  Wella says their “patented MICROLIGHT technology protects the cuticles so they maintain their clarity. This allows light to pass through, illuminating natural highs and lows from within – in any kind of light.” According to their website, the technology involves removing metal ions that build up on the cuticle and cause dullness. It sounds like a specialized clarifying treatment. Presuming there’s enough metal ion build up on the hair to cause dullness it makes sense that removing these impurities would increase shine. But while a 70% increase in shine sounds like a lot, in reality it may not be that noticeable to human eyes. We couldn’t find any evidence of recent Wella patents in this space. Their most recent haircare patents are related to color systems that don’t generate as many gas bubbles so they are easier to apply and to systems that provide better washout protection. Neither of these seem related to Illumina’s claims. The Beauty Brains bottom line Without more information from Wella it’s impossible for us to tell if there is any truly differentiating technology behind this product. Based on what we’ve seen so far it looks like there is enough technology here to support some impressive sounding claims but it doesn’t appear to be all that different than other hair coloring kits. If anyone at Wella reads this post and would like to provide us with additional insight we would be happy to revisit the subject. Image credit: http://fc03.deviantart.net

This is a good reminder for me. When I'm having a hard day, it is sometimes difficult to rise above it, but I never give in. How about you, what do you do when a day is rough? Karin Here is your Friday story, The Perspective Song One day, not long ago, I decided to re-send the attitude-changing philosophy in "A Course in Miracles." Three years before, in its simple to follow lesson-a-day, the Course had helped me cultivate new levels of inner peace. I figured I could use more of the same. Within the first few weeks, I came upon a lesson that showed me I'd figured well. The lesson was: "There is another way of looking at this." The idea is to apply the lesson as often as possible throughout the day, to whatever situation is before you. Okay, I thought. Simple enough. I'll go apply "There is another way of looking at this," to my day. No problem. The trouble with this was that every situation I faced that day was challenging. And there was not another darn way to look at things. Thank you very much. From a crashed computer to people not being available on the phone, to running out of shampoo in the middle of a shower, my day was filled with frustrations. It held little, if any, opportunity for me to look at things anew. And no New Age self-help affirmation was going to convince me otherwise! So I pulled on my panty hose, zipped up my dress, dried my un-shampooed wet hair, and left for an appointment that was only 20 minutes away. Or so I thought. Okay, the traffic is always crazy at the end of a workday. But I did not expect a bumper-to-bumper gridlock in the middle of the afternoon. Sitting there in my car, I did my best to repeat the day's lesson to myself, hoping that I could find "another way of looking at this" freeway parking lot. After an eternity, I decided there was no way out and that I'd be better off letting go of my plans and forgetting about making the appointment on time. One cell phone call later, assuring my colleague that I'd meet her the following day instead, I sat back in the car to wait things out. As I did, something caught my attention at the side of the road. Pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway was an old, yellow, Ford pickup truck. It was lopsided. When I looked closer, I could see that the front tire was as flat as the plains of Texas. Since I wasn't moving anywhere, I had plenty of time to stare. The driver of the truck was sitting on the rusted and beat up tailgate. He was a young man with a ponytail, wore well-splattered painter's pants and a matching, torn t-shirt. While waiting for a tow truck, or perhaps some divine intervention, he had pulled out his guitar and looked to be moving his mouth as if in song. I rolled down my window. He was singing at the top of his lungs. My mouth hung open as I saw the peace on his face. He'd found "another way of looking at this." His music made me smile. His attitude cleared the traffic jam in my head. I think he understood the lesson for the day. And finally, so did I. Erica Ross-Krieger For more than 20 years, Erica Ross-Krieger has inspired people throughout the world to come to life more fully. She is an author, a successful entrepreneur and founder of several businesses. In her work and her writing, Erica teaches her clients and readers how to cultivate the attitudes that will lead them to live more joyful and meaningful lives. Visit her website at: www.EricaRossKrieger.com from Insight of the Day Originally posted 2008-02-22 09:19:25.

Take a look at your beauty stash. What if you could magically multiply the number of products kicking around in there—and the number of looks you can create with them? Well, turns out you kind of can. Check out our favorite hard-working beauty products: the ultimate multitaskers.

There are about as many ways to weave braids as there are characters (and braids!) in Game of Thrones, but you don't have to be the mother of dragons to pull off some of the most intricate styles of the moment. These are our favorite woven hairstyles from the runways, and all the tips, tricks, and products (what hair spray do they use in the Seven Kingdoms?) that you need to achieve the looks.

TK

Bright new colors, sexy shapes, and flashes of skin give life to lace.

The actress talks about playing mean girls, aging gracefully, and her "superhot" love interests—both on set and at home.

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If you live south of the Arctic Circle, you know that frizz is a four-letter word. This summer, instead of cursing it, we're saying: Bring on the humidity! These products offer ways to deal with frizzy hair without a styling tool.