Dry shampoo is one of the most amazing and simultaneously misunderstood hair products out there. It’s great if you want to add volume to your hair and most importantly, it can extend the time in between blow outs. You can even apply dry shampoo immediately after a blow out to help deter oil accumulation on your hair. Many people chronically over wash their hair and this can have detrimental long-term effects: dehydration, decreased color-resilience and even breakage. If you have dry hair, it should be shampooed every couple of days, not daily. Many of us tend to have the unfortunate combination of oily scalps and dry hair, which makes us want to wash every day to get rid of the oil. That’s where dry shampoo comes in and it truly is one of my favorite beauty products. It can extend the time between blow outs for days by absorbing the oil produced by the scalp without dehydrating dry ends. The secret to applying dry shampoo is to spray it from a 6-8 inch distance onto 1 ½ inch sections of the hair, starting at the crown and bang area. After applying, gently run a brush through your hair. My favorite brands are Bumble and bumble (Hair Powder in White, Blondish, Red, Brown and Black), Klorane and Rene Furterer.

Please note that most lighter and platinum blonds should be using the White Hair Powder by Bumble and bumble rather than the Blondish Hair Powder which is meant for darker blonds.

Blondish Hair Powder by Bumble and bumble

Drawing on her witty and chic sensibilities, Gwynne Mims (a Senior Stylist at Eva Scrivo) has created her own line of vintage-inspired hair jewelry. The pieces are made by hand in Gwynne’s East Village apartment from brass, nickel, suede and other unique vintage findings. Hair jewelry is a fabulous way to dress up an outfit.

As a stylist, Gwynne understands women’s limitations when it comes to personal hairstyling; her bands are versatile, lightweight, comfortable and very easy to put in the hair. Many of them can be worn as necklaces. Gwynne also has a line of clips and barrettes which we will be featuring on the blog in a couple of weeks. All pieces are available at Eva Scrivo.

Bronze Bowtie Band on a Linked Chain ($200)

Silver Bowtie Band ($180)

Bronze Filigree with Chain ($200)

Silver Band with Rosettes ($180)

Bronze Linked Chain with Interwoven Leather (Black or Brown, $150)

I’ve been getting a lot of questions on the radio and on my blog about how to deal with thinning hair and hair loss. Remember: Heredity has a lot to do with hair growth and loss, but there are many things that we can do to help our bodies act the way we want them to. First of all, it is important that you use a natural boar bristle or mixed bristle brush (Janeke) which will help to stimulate cell activity on the scalp and helps to bring your natural oils from the root to the tip. Scalp massage and even acupuncture can also be great ways to stimulate the scalp and hair growth. You should take hair and skin supporting supplements like Folic Acid and Biotin on a daily basis (high potency). Be patient with the supplements. You won’t see results immediately as they will need to build up in your system before they reach effective levels.Talk to your dermatologist to find out if there are any medical recommendations for you. Finally, make sure that you are eating many fresh fruits and vegetables and lean proteins like fish and tofu. While supplements are great, nothing compares with getting real nutrients directly from the source.

Immunity. The change in seasons brings not only the holidays and colder weather, but also new viruses and bacteria which will attempt to test our immune systems. Some people are simply blessed with a strong constitution and rarely get sick; others are less fortunate. The good news is that we can all strengthen our resistance in a variety of ways. First and foremost, eating a healthy balanced diet and getting regular exercise is extremely important! We must know what we are putting in our bodies because everything we eat affects us down to a cellular level. Consistently eating sugar, drinking alcohol and smoking can have very detrimental effects on our health and on our natural ability to fight infection. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and drink lots of fresh juice and water while limiting your intake of meat, processed foods and bad carbohydrates.

Secondly, there are a number of immune system enhancing supplements which can greatly improve your natural defenses. At the salon, most of us take Lysine on a daily basis. It is an essential amino acid which cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be acquired through food (proteins naturally contain lysine). It helps the body to produce antibodies, enzymes and hormones and is even used to treat cold sores because of its strong ability to boost immunity. There are also great vitamins which have been shown to enhance immunity in the human body: Vitamins B, C, D and Zinc as well as a combination of the following herbs: Echinacea, Goldenseal, Usenea and Ginko.

Finally, never underestimate the importance of frequent hand washing or sanitation and the wiping down of shared surfaces. I rarely get sick, even though I work on people all day long because I make it a practice to never touch my face. Always to keep your hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth and wash your hands before eating. Just remember, the more good things we put in our bodies, the stronger they will be and the less we have to worry about getting sick during cold and flu season.

Many of us carry our favorite beauty essentials and cosmetics with us wherever we go in a make-up bag. You never know when you are going to need a touch-up or when you might need to transform your look from casual to glamorous or the other way around. However, there is an annoying downside to carrying these products around with us: our make-up bags can quickly become messy because of spilled powder or eye shadow, lipsticks and liners losing their caps, etc. While our make-up bags at home are easier to keep clean, our to-go bags are especially prone to being messy because they have to travel with us and get jostled around; we also tend to be in more of a hurry when applying make-up away from home which can lead to accidental spills.

T. LeClerc Mascara

Here’s a great insider beauty solution: put a clean cotton ball or two in your cosmetics bag. The cotton ball acts as a magnet for loose powders and keeps much of them off of your products and away from the inside of your make-up bag. You’ll need to replace the cotton ball once a week or so. I also recommend keeping a couple of portable moist wipes in your bag. If your liners or lipsticks become uncapped they can wreak havoc on your bag and on the other items in it. A moist wipe can quickly and easily solve this problem.

While we would all love to have our full arsenal of beauty products with us at all times, that is just not practical. Here are a couple of essential beauty items that every woman should have in her make-up bag: mascara, eye liner, concealer, lip balm with SPF, cream blush, pressed powder, eye make-up remover and an eye cream.

T. LeClerc Pressed Powder

A great portable eye make-up remover is Bare Minerals On-The-Spot Make-up Remover which comes in individually filled swabs containing a gentle make-up remover (keep them separated from your other products in a small plastic bag). Yon-Ka’s Phyto-Contour is an excellent eye cream which helps to refresh the eyes and reduces fatigue and puffiness. A wonderfully versatile product like Bobby Brown’s Lip and Cheek Stain can be used on your cheeks, but it can also be used to add a touch of color to your lips. T. LeClerc’s Pressed Powder and Mascara are also perfect for your on-the-go make-up bag.

After receiving an inquiry from a radio show listener about how to cure fingernail fungus, I decided to do some medical research and ask one of the best dermatologists I know. Fingernail fungus is not uncommon, and it is important to deal with this problem quickly and correctly to prevent it from spreading. For expert advice on this topic I called upon Dr. Doris Day, a dermatologist in NYC and contributing guest on my weekly radio show, “Beauty Talk”. She was kind enough to provide us with the following…

“The first thing that needs to be done is to see a dermatologist who can take a clipping of the nail and send it out for culture to see if there is truly a fungal infection. There are several conditions that can cause changes in the nails that are not fungal and each have their own treatments. There can be forms of psoriasis that affect only the nails, or it can be due to certain types of repetitive trauma from work done with the hands, or chemicals used.
The bottom line is that not all changes of the nail are fungal. Most commonly, fungus of the nail is either from a manicure, or from someone who has a fungal infection of the foot that spreads to the hands. I had a patient who got nail fungus from giving her husband foot massages - that took a bit of “detective” work to figure out, but we were able to get the culture and then I could offer her proper treatment in the form of pills, which solved the problem within a few months.”
- Doris Day, MD

Since nail fungus is often spread in nail salons I recommend buying your own manicure tools. Make sure you are sterilizing your cuticle nippers with a drop of alcohol and a q-tip (Note: they can not be submerged in liquid or they will rust). Keep in mind that alcohol only sanitizes the tool, and in order to to actually steralize you must use a solution called Barbicide. This product can be purchased at your local beauty supply store. When cleaning your tools make sure to thoroughly dry them to prevent rust.

Hi,

I love your show and wish it was longer!!!!
I currently use Glymed Glycolic and at this time I am looking for a cheaper alternative. Is the ROC comparable??? I love the glycolic treatment.
Also on your show I missed the blackhead mask that’s over the counter you mentioned.
Thanks for all of your great tips.
I also really like the Dr. Hauschka products. I love the lip balm in the tube.

Thanks, Monica

Dear Monica

Thank you for your email, so glad that you love my show!

ROC would be a good alternative to what you’re using, although you’d have to check the percentage of glycolic in each cream. I don’t remember recommending a blackhead mask on my show because they’re not effective. You should have a facial with a good aesthetician every two to three months to extract blackheads. At the salons we carry and excellent glycolic treatment by Yon-Ka, called Alpha Contour. It’s just below a professional strength product. If you call the salon at 212-677-7315 x 4 we would be happy to send one to you. Hope this helps.

Best,

Eva

Dear Eva,

Thank you for taking my call yesterday on Beauty Talk. You give such great advice and I would love to get your feedback on my hair dilemma. I need a recommendation on hair color.

I started out lightening my hair 15 years ago and I always used Clairol products which seemed to be pretty good with the exception of my hair turning brassey at times. I would like a variety of colors and a natural look. I think that just highlighting the roots and leaving some of my nautural hair color isn’t giving me enough of a variety of colors (my natural color is a light brown with a lot of red pigment) and is looking like white next to black .

Over the past 8 months, my hair stylist has applied a product by Chi (the same makers of that ionic hairdrier) and my hair is very frail and seems to be getting weaker.

My goal is NOT to lift to the highest light blonde, I am very light but I think it looks fake at times, but to lift to a color that looks good with my skin tone. I do not look good with gold tones and not enough lift drowns me out.

So….I would love to know what you recommend. I want to switch to a new product and keep my hair as long as possible. Thus, I need a good healthy product. I know that a medicine I took a year ago for fatigue (pharmaseutical unfortunately) did something to weaken my hair—its done this in the past.

Any help you have, I would be most grateful. Nice talking to you yesterday!! I would love to visit your salon in NYC one day!

Very sincerely yours,

Cherie

Dear Cherie,

Thank you for your email, and I’m glad that you enjoy the show.

I would try to do a “base break”. This is when your colorist leaves a permanent color, ash based is best, for 5 minutes in the root area and then it is washed out. If you do this every month for 4-6 weeks to lighten your root area, you could get a way with highlighting your hair 3 or 4 times a year. This will really help the condition of your hair, as it is healthier than highlighting every time you have re-growth. I hope this helps!

Best,
Eva