Winam Hair Studio – 2nd Crown of Glory

I thought I posted this previously, but I realized I didn’t.

Hillary J of Winam Hair Studio was selected as Hawaii’s representative for the 100 Best Salons in the Country by Elle Magazine for the second time-find the complete listing in the August 2013 issue.  Winam was on Winam Street in Kapahulu when it first won recognition last year, but has since moved to a cool space above the post office in Kaimuki, on Kokohead Avenue.

Hillary is the stylist and owner, and on any given day the salon has a comfortable, people chilling and hanging out vibe.  She has a new website, winamhairstudio.com, or find her on yelp–she has over 100, 4 star ratings by happy clients.  She takes appointments on scheduleicity.com, which makes it easy to choose whether you are having a green cut, gloss, highlights, cut etc.

I originally found HJ on yelp myself.  The photo gallery had a woman with hair similar looking to mine-thick and heavy strands, and I went in citing photo #70.

For early morning risers, Winam is now taking appointments at 430am! The 5am’s are booked, so since HJ gets up early…

k

PM Awapuhi Lathering Moisturizing Shampoo

I’ve been spoiled.  I like luxury shampoo and hair products in general.  Ever since I bought my first bottle of S-Factor, it’s been a slippery slope.

I most recently have been using Phyto shampoo, and was about out when Elle Magazine’s Top 100 Hair Salons in the U.S., Hillary Juliette of Winam Studio gave me a summer solstice gift of Paul Mitchell’s Awapuhi Lathering Moisturizing Shampoo.

It’s pretty amazing – a dab will do you, because just a dab works for your whole head, even when it’s thick like mine.  After shampooing, I think my hair is pretty moisturized.

Sheez-it might work better than the Phyto.

k

Just for Men? A Shiny Experience

So, it was time for covering the gray-and I had mentioned to Hillary Julliette of Winam Studio I wanted to do something different, go a little lighter.

Thing is, since PM Shine Gloss, the product I’ve had to cover my gray for 1.5 years doesn’t lighten- she let me in on her own secret.

The secret is a product that she uses on men, that basically does the same thing as a gloss, but only takes 10 minutes to process. Hmmm-why? Because men are less into chit chatting while in the chair? Who knows.

Anyway.

This new product does not harm your hair like color. Color goes into your hair and changes it so you see a color change.  Gloss sits on top of your hair – for me, it’s been just as permanent as color.  It doesn’t wash out, and even better it doesn’t get dingy after a couple of weeks. And it covers my gray.

So–the deal is, when my hair grows out, the new product gloss will be a little lighter and be like highlights without the chemical processing that highlights require.

Your natural color is still there – just with highlights. I don’t think my graying hair pattern is going to be gloriously beautiful like some lucky people get–so this works for me.

As I write this, I am picturing an old school chum who has awesome white hair–doesn’t hurt that he’s hot.

Hot at 50-ish.

It’s a good thing.

k

Think FAST ! Paul Mitchell Dry Wash Shampoo in a Can

I don’t know what you guys think, but naming a product properly is very important.  This newer product from Paul MItchell is actually called Dry Wash not my self-christened “shampoo in a can”.

I wasn’t sure how to use if after picking it up from Winam Studio where I gloss my hair, so I checked out the video online.  A cool looking stylist with a pretty model effused how much he liked the power of the aerosol–I guess that means the force of output in one direction.

Anyway.

This product is different in that you don’t have to brush it out! Saves you a step.

You basically separate the hair, in larger sections and spray the product from scalp to ends, but spray lightly. Then at the end, spray some on your hands and swish together, bend over and work it into the back of your ends.

The product builds volume and sops up the oil without leaving a powdery residue.  There is a powdery feel on the fingers-but no powder to be seen!

What I like mostly is, since my sense of smell is sensitive, I can use this product to freshen up my hair – sort of like deodorant. My hair is not dirty, but it doesn’t smell just washed fresh in the morning – so it’s like perfuming my hair for me-and it adds volume.

More stylists are recommending not washing your hair everyday-especially if you color.  The product can be used after a workout-but I think that depends how much your head perspires-hey everybody is different!

A high recommend! If you’re in Honolulu, pick it up at Winam Studio!

k

The People You Meet at Winam (Street)

All people of a certain age remember Cheers!,  and the moment Norm walked in everyone called Norm!

That’s kind of how it feels when I go to Winam (Street) Studio.

I started going there when I found Hillary Juliette on yelp and found a woman who had hair like mine and I liked her cut.

A year and give or take a few months later, I’ve met some interesting people.

Today I met Dr. Chocolate.  An interesting guy who consults in cacao bean farming – which get this, Hawaii is the only state in our great nation, where the stuff of chocolate grows!  He got a cool cut, that made him come in looking professorial, and leaving looking a little sassy.  I think he had some extra bounce to his step too!

The other client today got a golden gloss over her highlights and a cool long bang, short on the back cut and style which Hillary J basically just finger brushed it while blow-drying.

Another client just moved back to Hawaii and she looked to be in her late 50-s and was making a transition back into the job market with a cool short cut that took advantage of her curls – had a really interesting nape too!

The time before, the woman was a new client, and she went from kind of no-inspiration cut to something or someone with a new outlook on life.

I swear Hilllary J has a way of breathing new life into people via their hair.

I met her when I was on the brink of leaving my bf of 7 years, but had not quite made the jump.

I was kind of a wreck–I didn’t realize it at the time, but 10 pounds overweight, hair a mess and struggling to figure out what to do next.

Anyway -it’s not about me.

I just think the people I have met in the last year have been pretty interesting – from walks of life I would never have experienced.

And before going to Winam Studio, I never did.

Thank you Hillary J!

k

Smoooooooothe! Neuma’s NeuSmooth Leave-In Conditioner

Mr. Lincoln Whang recently visited us at the HClub with all of his wonderful products.

Before I got serious about my hair and was still using the detergent they fill in the free dispensers at the gym, his giant rack of OPI and China Glaze nail polish caught my eye.

Fast-forward, and now that my hair is back in condition thanks to Hillary J’s PM shine glosses instead of ammonia based color and using organic Neuma products, I laggard, have finally gotten a flat-iron.

Janie-come-lately I know, but, I’m a lazy sort, but I do admire the sleek shiny hair on people and then just when everyone is going for big wavy volume, I go the other way.

(Sidebar-the BF and I have been watching the Bachelor and he remarked that Desiree’s hair looked oily  – like an oil-slick.  She was flat-ironed and shined-dropped).

Anyway.

BOSS new product is their NeuSmooth  Leave-on Conditioner and also NeuSmooth Revitalizing Masque.

AMAZING!

Especially on days I use the masque, my hair blow dries like glass. I jut point the blow drier down the length of my hair and finger-comb it and I don’t need to straighten!

The leave-on conditioner is applied after towel-drying and then style as usual, or you can put it in dry hair.  I like it in damp hair.  It also has a great straightening affect and de-volumes my hair.

I like anything that makes my life easier.

k

PS

I was going to put on a product photo but they haven’t updated their packaging.  The new product is in a pinkish bottle.

 

Winam Studio Officially Opens in Kaimuki!

Winam Studio is in the top 5 topics for my blog!  Amongst the blogs about Nerium, lots of skincare and makeup and The Face Shoppe’s foot mask, I’ve written about Hillary J and her amazing skills as a stylist.

When I first met her a little over a year ago, she was still at her home studio on Winam Street in Kapahulu, then at Billy Fong’s where she decided to go for it for real and create a space in Kaimuki.

On my first visit she told me her history of growing up in the restaurant business, being a paramedic, a firefighter in CA and then going to beauty school in Oakland.  Returning to Hawaii, she cut and styled at Macy’s for 9 years.

I recently found out she was studying to be a nurse but her customers begged her not to! She realized that her jobs all had the same thing in common- a person came needing help, she diagnosed the situation, and gave them a solution.

Woila!

Nestled above the post office on Kokohead Avenue, Hillary J’s new space echoes the zen-like quality of the original with a peaceful sitting area, buddah art and orchids.  Her husband and partner built out the space with the help of a designer friend who specializes in small spaces with creative budgets.

It’s pretty amazing – yet still feels right in Kaimuki.

k

Flat No More!

Errrrr-maybe in my case, less wavy is more accurate.

In almost all things I am considered a laggard when people are put into marketing groups.

You know – there’s the people that stand in line at the Apple store to be the first to get the first next thing – Early Adapters.

Then there are people like me who is still using a 3GS–and I got that for 99 cents! Laggards.

So, it takes me a million years to get in the groove when it comes to gadgets.

So…………….I finally broke down and got a flat iron.

I have long admired my girlfriends who have similar Asian wavy hair that they tame into control with their flat irons.  One friend ballroom dances competitively and it is so cool when she flat irons her hair and then she slicks into a pony tail for competition.

Hillary J of the WInan Studio can blow my hair dry almost as straight-and then other times she finishes it off with a flat iron.

I finally broke down and got a flat iron the other day—and when my veggie gloss color allowed me to wash and dry my hair, tried out my new gadget.

I tried the tap tap tap technique Hillary J taught me – I did ok for the first time out.

But I definitely need more practice.

Either that or I need to go to one of those blow dry bars to have my hair blown out.

NOT!!!!

🙂

k