new thread
The following article appeared today on LongLocks. It sure sounds authoritative, but sounding authoritative is easy to do. Do you agree with the statement:
"One-length hair is an important part of the George Michael method: if you cut a fringe [bangs] or layers into hair the back of the head will shed more hair than usual in an attempt to even itself out."
How can the hair in the back of my head know if have bangs in the front, and suddenly decide to fall out based on this knowledge? Sounds like a false claim to me.
[ARTICLE FOLLOWS]
Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Limited
Sunday Times (London)
March 28, 1999, Sunday
Long hair may look maintenance-free, but keeping it healthy and glossy requires specialist treatment. Alison Culliford reports.
With long hair making a comeback on the catwalk this season, the temptation is to rush out and get a head of extensions. But think twice. According to long hair expert Neil Ward, the only way to go long is the long way.
Extensions may achieve the look today, but the damage done by the excessive heat used to weld them to your real hair will show up in the roots, even up to a year after the event.
Neil Ward is the man behind Britain's only long-hair clinic, at Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly, London. Ward is acknowledged as the long-hair man in Britain. Discretion prevents him from revealing the names of his most famous clients, but models and film stars make regular appearances at the second-floor salon.
"It is called a clinic because we are dealing with the health of the hair, not just styling it," Ward says. "With short hair you cut out your mistakes every time you have your hair cut. Long hair demands a lot more care from the beginning. By the time it gets to waist-length it should be treated like antique lace."
Whether you have come with a head of long hair or simply want to grow yours, the treatment is the same. Ward starts by explaining that what he offers is a complete system based on that devised by George Michael, a doctor from St Petersburg who arrived in New York after the second world war with a medical thesis on hair and a passion for beautiful women.
Michael's method, unchanged for almost 50 years, is an eccentric mix of biology, maths and aesthetics, but the end result is to enable you to achieve your maximum genetic hair length and to overturn the belief that stylists are the enemies of long hair.
The key to keeping it thick and glossy, as everyone knows, is in minimising split ends. The difference here is that split ends are removed without losing the length. The secret -- and it is something that anyone can do -- is in twisting lengths of hair so that the split ends show and, using the tips of the scissors perpendicular to the shaft, clipping just the ends that stick out.
For hair that is dry and in danger of splitting, Ward applies a treatment of protein and amino acids that lasts one hour exactly -- 20 minutes to open the hair shaft, 20 minutes putting moisture in and 20 minutes closing it again.
Other products are specially formulated for long hair, which requires deeper moisturising than off-the-shelf products can provide. You can also take the prescribed products home.
Every client is then put into rollers to sit under a 1950s-style beehive hair dryer for an hour or so.
The good old-fashioned roller actually protects the ends of the hair while it is drying. It also smooths without stretching and gives bounce, even to straight hair.
The hair is cut dry, so that it is not stretched, and you must stand up so Ward can see how it will fall with your natural posture. It takes all of two minutes. One-length hair is an important part of the George Michael method: if you cut a fringe or layers into hair the back of the head will shed more hair than usual in an attempt to even itself out. He cuts the hair at a 45-degree angle around the bottom to allow the strong underneath hair to support the top layers, and make it swing rather than snagging on your clothes. There are optimal lengths, based on multiples of the distance between the crown and the occipital bone at the back of the head.
It sounds cranky, but it works -- your hair is part of your body and therefore should appear to be in proportion.
After cutting, I was educated in the art of brushing -- with feet apart, head over my waist to stimulate the blood flow, and holding the brush like a tennis racket. The ultimate tool for good brushing, which stimulates the scalp and distributes oils that rise to the surface during sleep, is the Kent LHS5 hand made bristle brush, which will set you back Pounds 89.
Whatever you do, use only natural bristles and a saw-cut comb. Part the hair against the natural root growth to stimulate blood flow and achieve height.
Neil's other tips for healthy long hair include tying or fixing the hair only with plastic or Lycra -- never metal or elastic. When putting the hair into this season's braids, he recommends tying with embroidery cotton, chamois or wool.
As for the trials of growing out layers, have regular cuts -- it's quicker in the long run as it keeps split ends in check. A clever cut will diminish the appearance of the layers even though they are still there.
Finally, he says, stick at it. "I often have people who have spent years growing their hair and then -- normally because of an emotional trauma -- decide they want it all cut off. I usually succeed in dissuading them. Women with long hair are more feminine and sexy." Coming from the no-nonsense Neil Ward, this is incentive enough. I'm sticking to that regime, come hell or high water, or even -- heaven forbid -- a spate of gamine crops on the autumn catwalks.
Variations at Fortnum & Mason; 0171-437 3424. Consultation, treatment and cut takes about four hours and costs Pounds 91.50
Times Newspapers Limited, March 28, 1999
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[ARTICLE ENDS]
Steve
steriley@msn.com
3 April 1999
Steve et al:
I went to a George Michael salon (no relation to the Geo Michael
restroom, I am told) in Columbus O once, and was told the same
info. Also convinced to buy $80 worth of their own shampoo,
conditioner, deep conditioner, cream rinse, and a boar bristle brush.
While I think the people there were following too much of a
formula and not enough intuition of their own, I think their
main points were valid. When I had tried to wear my hair long
in back, short on the sides and front (I understand they're
calling it a mullet now -- to keep with that new theme) --
it looked nice with regular maintenance, but I found it was
difficult to maintain a clean looking ponytail. My hair grew
quickly for the first year, but in trying to maintain a
style instead of taking the early advice to let it all grow
to one length, it seems to have stymied the growth rate
considerably.
While I'd suggest going to a sylist who is a guy with nice long
hair himself for proper inspiration and support, I'd also suggest
not going more than twice a year to allow your hair time to
do its own thing.
The deep conditioner helped, and the boar bristle brush is a good
idea for lubricating dry ends with the natural oils from your
scalp -- but the rest of the treatment may have been a bit too
much formula and not entirely necessary.
Find your own groove and let it grow.
-- Tim on the Tundra
Anchorage, Alaska USA
Hey Tim...I used to live in Columbus. There's a shop there called Rapunzel (good name) that specializes in long hair. I've heard good things about it.
That, indeed, was the salon. Not bad, but a bit formulaic
in my opinion.
However, I'm in Anchorage Alaska now. Haven't let anyone up
here touch my hair for three years. Don't know who to trust
it with. Might go in for some braids sometime, tho'. . .