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You've all heard about this new fabby treatment that's available right? The Brazilian Straightener. Because of the technicality of it all I asked Lucky (top technician) from Dekko Salon to do the write up so you get an idea of what it is precisely:

Jules has been kindly nudging me to write about the Keratin Treatment, aka the Brazilian Straightener. So here is my share on information I have gathered and personal experience.

What Is It? The KT/BS is a demi-permanent keratin based relaxer that originated in Brazil over 10 years ago. Hence, the name. Demi-permanent means it doesn't permanently change the hairs structure resulting in permanently straightened hair like the Japanese or Sodium Hydroxide based relaxers do. Nor does it work like an anti-curl semi permanent, which washes out completely and reverts back to it's natural state,

So How Does It Work? The KT/BS surrounds natural hair bonds with conditioning keratin, which is then sealed into the hair with heat. It remains in the hair for approximately 4 months depending on how often the hair is washed. The more often the treatment is done, the straighter the hair gets and the texture is improved.

Who Would Benefit? Anyone who doesn't love their natural texture. The KT/BS diminishes frizz. It will also straighten or minimalize curl depending on the amount of natural curl. It works on all hair types. Including highlighted, tinted, previously relaxed and bleached. Yes, bleached! The treatment is done, and in 24 hours completed at home with the provided shampoo and conditioner.

Who Would Not Benefit? Clients who are frequent swimmers or ocean dwellers. The chlorine and salt in the water will shorten the life of the treatment.

Is It Safe? The question arises from the use of masks during the treatment. The masks are used to minimalize the effects from the steam emitted when heat is applied to the treatment. One of the active ingredients in the KT/BS I use, Lasio, contains 0.02% cosmetic grade formalin. It is necessary to give the product longevity. Formalin is found in many cosmetic and household products such as: nail hardeners, shampoo and conditioners, medicines, carpets, vinyl, permanent press fabrics and many more. I nor my clients have never experienced any adverse reaction while giving this treatment.



Will post some before and after pics later on!

Aghhhh! I've just been attacked by a curling iron!! A Triple Barrel one to be precise.

So, this is the crazy result of using the Hot Tools Pro curling iron!! I was curious about this one and how it would work, so I took the irons and with no products on my hair before or after, I went about and sloppily ironed medium sized sections throughout my head. What was crazy was that I felt no real effort was put into it on my behalf, there was no combing of the hair and sections and I didn't hold the iron on each section for too long and within 25minutes I had a full mane of wild hair which looked like I slaved over it the night before by carefully braiding it to sleep on. I loved the look and went to sleep on it, the next day the waves were still there and they lasted me throughout the day at work. This picture was taken at the end of the day!! I would definitely recommend this iron just to have fun with, it works if you want to look as crazy as I do.


There's no shortage of choice for the Triple Barrel Iron but here's afew to check out: Hot Tools Pro, Chi Auto Digital Ceramic Waver, Conair Pro Triple Barrel, Babyliss Pro, Revlon 3 Barrel.



Great looking people with fab hair around town. Thanks to everyone who let me photograph them,and if you have anyone you'd like to send me pictures of, send them to jules@juleschan.com

Just read an article on this new hair dryer, It looked interesting enough altho I have never tried it.
Its the Remington Airwave. It has some weird tubular attachment to it that twirls the hair around while its drying. It claims to give you the look of messy beachy hair as in Gisele Bundchen or Blake Lively.

The instructions tell you to use product when the hair is damp and then split the hair up into 1" sections, put each section into the tube and go up and down the piece of hair. The tube will swirl and twirl the hair around creating twisted pieces of hair. Once the whole head is complete and dry, you would then separate the sections to give it a fluffier look.

I guess my interest level is perked enough to go out and buy one (available in Drugstores for $30) just to try it out and give you a proper personal review, on Asian hair. Meanwhile if anyone has tried this leave us a comment.

My obsession with hair began at the ripe old age of 6!!

I used to draw hairstyles for my aunt to style on us (me, sister and cousin) one for every day of the week! Poor woman. altho she didn't seem to mind. We had plaits (braids in America), updos, curls, and other creative looks going on. But it wasn't until one day I got hold of a pair of my mums nail scissors that I decided to have a go at cutting!
My brother was on the other end of those scissors as I tried to sculpt his fringe out of his eyes! As you can see from the result, It was clear I had natural talent, hence the beginnings of my long career!!!



Me, Brother (middle) and sister(right)

Would like to share some more daily Dekko before and after work with you !

Here's Lisa with her grown out hair. The last haircut she had was when she had it cut into a pixie haircut and it was all about 2inches all over. Lisa now decided to grow it out abit, but while it had some length to it, it had also become very bulbous looking, with way too much weight throughout the head.


Sorry this picture looks so passport like Lisa!

Anyway, we decided that we should try and keep the length as much as possible but to thin it out using a razor to create a softer look and make it look abit more updated. We tool the mullet off the back, kept the length at the front and switched partings for a change.



Lisa's new look after the haircut. Styles with Davines Defining Invisible Paste before drying.
Thanks a lot Lisa!

Just found out Dekko is rated at #2 right now for the SF Gate best salon of 2009. We'd love it if you could give us a vote on -
http://baylist.sfgate.com/dekko/biz/13838
to push us to the #1 slot!
Thanks alot.

Voting ends May 30th 09.

PRIVE Weightless Amplifier:

One of my favourites right now. This mouse that turns to gel textured product is ideal for fine/medium hair that needs body and lift. The product is soft and pliable enough to still be able to use a brush to style the hair without it getting all tangled up and knotted. Not for people who need to feel like there is product in the hair.



Asian hair has always been known to most people including myself, as the typical straight coarse texture, so I am so surprised at how many natural curly locks I have come across lately. I figured this was a good opportunity for me to talk about how this type of hair is best styled for great looking results.

1. From when the hair is wrapped in a towel after washing, do not rub vigorously with the towel as this will frizz the hair up, squeeze the hair rather than rub.

2. This is the time to comb your hair, (when it is very wet) as when the hair is dry no combs or brushes should go near the hair. (The reason why it is OK to comb when wet is becos the hair is wet enough to bounce back into its original curl without pulling out the wave too much.)

3. Apply a good leave in conditioner or styling cream, (see stylists notes) Start applying from the ends and then work on the roots last (this will ensure that not all the products land on the roots). Once the hair is covered with products, you may do one of 2 things:

a/ Lift and scrunch the hair up lightly and shape the hair as you would like to see it dry or if you want more definition in the curls.........

b/ Take small sections from the hair underneath and work up the head, each small section is twisted to keep the ends more defined. Do not twist too tightly at the roots as it will spring the opposite direction ad loosen up too much.

4. Once the whole head is complete, gently lift and scrunch. Then either use a diffuser or leave to air dry naturally. (see stylists notes attached)

5. DO NOT touch or mess with the hair WHILE the hair is drying... Once dry you can move and fluff as much as you want but during the drying process it is important not to disturb the curls as this will shatter the curls BEFORE they have a chance to set, leaving the hair frizzy.

6. Once dry, either it fluff out (for a crazier look) or just lift and scrunch the hair throughout to give it more lift.



Thanks to Jamie for posing with her lovely locks!

There is a difference in drying curly hair with and without a diffuser.

If the hair is diffused, the air flow from the hairdryer (even tho less than a normal dryer flow) gets into the hair and roots more, therefore lifting the hair away while it is drying, thus leaving the hair airier and curlier. The steady air low does not disturb the curls too much unless the air low is too strong or you have fine hair involved.

If the hair is air-dried without a diffuser, the water in the hair, weighs down the hair while it is drying, therefore unless you remember from time to time during the drying process to squeeze the hair up, the hair will dry flatter but still defined.

Some of my recommended products that I like for curly hair are:
Prive - Curl Activator (medium hold)
Davines - Defining Cream (soft and light feel)
Tigi - Curls Rock, Curl Amplifier (crisper harder hold)
Ojon Hair - Animated Styling Cream (mild and soft)

It may seem strange to you that the first product I'm gonna review isn't exactly a hair product, (well, not the hair on top of the head anyway), but I just felt the need to share with you all as soon as possible.........

Were talking about eyelash hair, I have to go on the record to promote an amazing treatment that leaves you with MASSIVE long lashes!!

The Product - Lilash - one of many brands that claim to give you long luscious eyelashes, well, trust me, they were right, after using the stuff for 3 - 4 weeks, I watched, as my usual stumpy eyelashes grew and grew!!

We all know that Asian eyelashes fall way behind everyone else in the lush department, and I have tried everything from mascaras to fake lashes to individual lashes and perms,(Yes, abit obsessive I was) but no more, I have told ALL my friends and family and now everyone is happy with their ultra long lashes!

A product that actually works, and worth the US$119!! (on e-bay that is)

For more details visit
http://www.lilash.com/






Another group of cool hair around the city, feel free to send me any pictures you want posting of friends or family who you think have cool mops. Send it to jules@juleschan.com

It has come to my attention that my Flat Head article has now become one on Butt Cracks!! I would like to say that having a flat head is in no way related to having a butt crack swirl on your head. Everyone has a crown/swirl (or bald spot which it has been called) at the top of the head and no matter how flat or round your head is, the swirl is still there. Sometimes the swirl can make the head look flatter because of the way or direction in which the swirl moves.


I would like to share some of the work we do on a daily basis in Dekko salon. Here's a before and after client.

Minnie came in and was fed up of her long hair, she needed to look more professional as she was going to be practicing Law. She also needed to be able to loosen it up abit after work, so she wanted to be given a versatile look that she could play around with.


Here's Minnie before the haircut.

We decided to cut the hair to jaw level and because her hair is quite fine we graduated the back so it would lift the hair up and make it appear thicker. The ends were chopped into to give the hair more movement and then we gave her a more definite fringe to make the look stronger.


The look of a lawyer!


After applying some extra hair products we gave her a more casual messy look.
Thanks Minnie.

For Minnie's look, the hair was cut using scissors, her hair was too fine to use other tools such as the razor or thinning scissors. All the edges were cut with texture with no blunt lines, this is to create softness rather than a hard look.


For the neat look Prive Weightless Amplifier was used.

And for the messy look we used Prive Texture Spray.

Well, to be quite honest with you 8 times out of 10, its whoever is handling the hair that is making it frizz! (The other causes being weather, pregnancy or health)

How many times have I heard people saying that they cant wear their hair curly/wavy because it gets too frizzy? Once I delve further into the way the hair is handled it becomes very clear to me that its frizzy because people don't really know how to style/deal with it.


So it boils down to the fact that when someone has wavy hair, each time you wash your hair you need to make a decision on whether to dry it straight or curly, nothing in between. The in betweeny is the part that leaves the hair frizzy.


When hair is wavy and you decide to either comb it or drag your fingers through it when wet, this action will partly pull out the waves, and some of the hair will stay straight and other parts will curl back up, leaving a very unruly sight with the mixture of straight to curly hair. (Frizz)


See examples below..



In other words, if you want healthy looking curls/waves, you must not disturb the hair while it is drying OR if you want it to be straight, you must go the whole hog and dry it thoroughly straight with a brush. (see example below) If you decided to dry your hair straight that day and got lazy half way through and decided to drop the brush and dry it roughly, this will create the worst of the frizzies.



Here's my very own measly 3.5 feet of hair in comparison to Shiquin ......



Here's an interesting article I found in a UK newspaper (Mail Online).........





Quote -'As every woman knows, a bad hair day can pretty much ruin your entire mood. But for Cheng Shiquin, they must be devastating. Shiquin owns a beauty parlour - but somehow manged to avoid a haircut for the last 16 years. She was pictured showing off her hair - which is 8 feet long - in south west China's Chongqing municipality this week. It take 2 hours to wash her hair and another hour to comb it.'



'Despite the extreme lengths Shiquin has gone to in order to achieve her long locks, she does not hold the record for the world's longest hair. That title belongs to another Chinese woman - Xie Qiuping. Her hair is a mind-boggling 10 feet longer than Shiquin's, measuring 18.5ft in 2004. She began growing it in 1973 at the age of 13.'


Read full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1166716/Pictured-The-woman-hair-EIGHT-FEET-long-despite-owning-beauty-parlour.html