Stylists talk about everything from color to cuts to maintenance

Story by Sarah Stultz

Photos by Colleen Harrison

Tired of your hair style and don’t know how to choose a new one? Have a dry scalp and confused with how to treat it?

These are just a few of the questions Albert Lea magazine asked three local hairstylists about about coloring, cutting and caring for hair.

The cosmetologists — Amber Busall of Fantastic Sams, Käri Fjeldberg of Dinah’s Style and Kalaria Orozco of Expressions Salon & Spa — range in age and experience but all have a passion for hair.

 

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Here are the questions and answers we asked the stylists: 

Q: I want to color my hair. Is it bad to used boxed hair dye from a big-box store?

Busall said boxed hair dye contains metallic salts that damage the inner cells of the hair. Oftentimes, hair dyed with boxed color from a retail giant comes out splotchy because of this. Don’t forget that they often contain sulfates and ammonia.

She said it is important to take into consideration the thickness of hair, the natural hair color and whether the hair is fine, medium or course. Cosmetologists are trained in coloring. They look for these things every day.

As a color specialist, Fjeldberg said coloring is her favorite part of her job.

She said though coloring in a salon may be more expensive, she said she is completely against boxed color as the cheaper alternative.

“If you can’t afford it, don’t do it,” she said, referring to the boxed option.

She has seen her share of boxed hair dyes gone wrong and has had numerous people who have come in to have their color fixed after a bad experience with boxed dye.

Orozco had one of those experiences herself when she was about 16 years old and now swears against boxed dyes based on that.

Fjeldberg said she uses All-Nutrient hair color with her clients, which uses natural ingredients and even has cancer-fighting antioxidants. She looks at the natural level of the hair, the desired tonal level and hair color and takes into consideration the

elasticity and porosity of the hair.

Whether it’s All-Nutrient or another salon coloring brand, the stylists said salon-quality hair color is a higher quality product that is guaranteed.

“You’re paying higher prices for the higher ingredient, for the higher quality,” Busall said.

Orozco encouraged people to talk with their stylists about what will look best.

“We know colors that are going to be complimentary, to each other and you,” she said.

If someone uses a boxed hair dye and their hair gets ruined, they are going to spend more money correcting the problem than they would have if they had just simply come in to the salon to begin with.

 

Q: Do I really need to pay for salon-quality products?

Just like with the hair color products, the cosmetologists said salon shampoos, conditioners and other products are guaranteed, and it is clear to see what they are made of.

Busall said many of the shampoos and other products that someone would find at a big-box store use more wax and water and leave a buildup on the hair. It’s often hard to tell what’s in them.

Salon products, on the other hand, use Vitamin E and other ingredients that will reach into the hair cuticle and help heal. The salon products strip the wax off of the hair.

Fjeldberg compared salon-quality products to a prescription. She said cosmetologists literally prescribe products based off of what they see of people’s hair and scalp.

“People don’t understand,” Fjeldberg said. “That’s why we go to school. We’re taught to diagnose hair.”

There are products for every condition imaginable.

They said they can tell when people use cheaper products because of the wax buildup on their hair and said it can actually be cheaper to buy a professional product than an over-the-counter one because less has to be used at a time.

Fjeldberg said said she goes through one or 1 1/2 bottles of shampoo for every one bottle of conditioner.

 

Q: I have dry scalp. How should I treat this?

Despite what Head & Shoulders and similar products promise, the stylists said they will actually make scalps worse.

Dry scalp is a loss of moisture. The white flecks are skin flakes. Dandruff is caused by too much moisure and is oily.

Instead they suggested using a moisturizing shampoo or products with tea tree oil.

 

Q: Is it damaging to blow-dry my hair? 

The stylists agreed that blow-drying hair is not bad — if you do it properly.

They said applying a heat protectant on hair before blow-drying is a must.

Orozco encouraged letting the air flow in the direction the hair grows and not letting your hair fly all over the place like a wind tunnel.

“You don’t need to hit turbo,” Fjeldberg agreed.

She recommended people with long hair to take extra time out of their schedule to dry their hair instead of turning it on the highest power setting.

She said ionic blow-dryers lock in moisture and help reduce heat damage.

Busall recommended transitioning to the lowest speed while drying to seal in the cuticle.

 

Q: How often do I need to wash my hair?

Though some people think it is necessary to wash their hair every day, the stylists actually recommended doing so every other day or every three days.

“You don’t need to wash your hair every day unless you’re getting sweaty and dirty,” Busall said.

Orozco said she uses a nickel size of shampoo and a quarter size of conditioner and uses the conditioner from the middle of her hair to the ends only.

She said some people have problems with oily hair because of how frequently they wash their hair.

“The reason your hair is getting so oily so fast is because you’re washing it every day,” she said. “The shampoo is stripping your natural oils, which in turn is making your body produce more oils.”

She recommended a dry shampoo that comes in an aerosol spray to use in between washing hair with water. She said it soaks up the oil in the hair.

 

Q: How can I get rid of static electricity in my hair in the winter?

Just like you need to use extra moisture on the hands and skin in the winter, the hair also needs additional moisture this time of year, the three stylists agreed.

“If your skin is dry, so is your hair,” Fjeldberg said. “The humidity or lack of humidity are going to affect your hair the same as it does the skin.”

Fjeldberg said many of the professional hair care products have anti-static qualities.

Orozco recommended a moisturizing shampoo and said leave-in conditioners can also be helpful.

Fjeldberg said she has heard of some people who run a dryer sheet over their hair when it has a lot of static electricity, but she advised against doing so. This leaves the wax from the dryer sheets in the hair.

Busall said argan oil can be used on the ends of the hair to eliminate frizz.

 

Q: I’m hoping to grow my hair out. How often should I cut my hair?

The stylists said contrary to what some people think, it is important to get hair trimmed, even when a person is trying to grow their hair out.

Fjeldberg recommended getting the ends trimmed every four to six weeks.

“When you cut the hair, it sends vibrations back to that hair follicle that that follicle has been cut and wants to reproduce,” she said.

Busall recommended a regular “dusting” every month to two months, which she described as cutting a half inch or less.

Orozco recommended every eight to 12 weeks with a minimal trim of a quarter of an inch to a half inch.

 

Q: How should I choose a new hairstyle?

Fjeldberg said she looks at everything from the shape of the face and head to the eyes and length of neck the person has when helping someone figure out a new hairstyle.

She takes into consideration which type of hair the person has — whether it is naturally curly, wavy or straight and how much hair there is — and whether there are any cowlicks, or parts of the hair that grow differently from the rest and don’t want to lie flat.

The stylists said it is important to remember lifestyle, such as whether the person wears a hat all day or has young children that will pull on the hair, and how much time the person will likely devote to getting their hair ready each day.

“If they’re normally a wash-and-go-type person, you can’t give them a hairstyle that’s going to take a long time to do,” Orozco said.

Busall said age should be taken into consideration, but Orozco said she thinks it should not be a factor.

“If you can rock it, you can rock it,” Orozco said.

Having said that, she said, she joked that she wouldn’t give a 17-year-old girl a roller set that an older woman might get.

What plays a bigger factor, she said, is the confidence of the person with the haircut.

All three of the stylists said they like it when a person brings in a picture with their desired outcome.

Fjeldberg said she has turned people away before who have wanted something done to their hair that she does not agree with. She said she takes her job seriously as the outcome can reflect on her.

“They’re my walking billboard,” Fjeldberg said. “If they don’t look good, I don’t look good.”

 

Meet the stylists

Amber Busall, 26, was born and raised in Albert Lea and received her cosmetology diploma from Riverland Community College about four years ago.

She has worked at Fantastic Sams since May.

“It’s been a really good place,” Busall said. “Compared to a lot of the other salons I’ve been at, it’s definitely the top.”

She said when she was little she enjoyed giving her friends makeovers. For a while she wanted to pursue a degree in art but ultimately decided to follow her dream of becoming a stylist.

Now, she is writing a book on health, beauty and the economy.

She is one of eight people selected throughout the state to represent Fantastic Sams and is set to travel the state teaching classes about the company’s innovation.

She has done hair and makeup for at least three Albert Lea Community Theatre’s productions and has assisted nationally award-winning hairstylists, including Sherri Jessee.

Busall’s mother and stepfather Deb and Matt Borland live in Albert Lea, along with siblings, Tonya, Nick and Chris.

 

Kalaria Orozco, 28, was born and raised in Albert Lea and received her cosmetology license from Riverland Community College in Austin in 2008.

She said she can cut and color hair and do nails.

Orozco said she hasn’t always been interested in being a hairstylist.

“I wasn’t the kid who cut my Barbie’s hair,” she said. “I cut my best friend’s bangs when we were kids. That was about it.”

She was inspired, however, to enter the field by a friend who used to always do her hair.

Orozco has worked at Expressions Salon & Spa for a little over a year and before that was at Fantastic Sams for five years.

She has an 8-year-old son, Ethan, and her parents JoAnne and Doug Mathison and boyfriend, Anthony Simon, live in Albert Lea.

 

Käri Fjeldberg, 51, who manages her own booth at Dinah’s Style, has been a cosmetologist for 30 years. She received her initial training from the Mankato Cosmetology Training Center and is now licensed as a cosmetologist, manicurist and esthetician. She is also licensed to teach the skills.

Fjeldberg managed Michael’s College of Cosmetology in the late 1980s. She worked at Dinah’s Style for 13 years before opening Classic Reflections in 2002 in the Northbridge Mall, and when that closed in 2012, she returned to Dinah’s.

She said she knew she wanted to be a cosmetologist from a young age when at 2 years old she would try to put her grandmother’s hair in rollers.

“My mom would get after me, but my grandmother told her, ‘No, she’s going to be a beautician,’” Fjeldberg said.

She said she takes her job seriously and is passionate about what she does.

Fjeldberg and her husband, Todd, have two sons, Colby and Kendrick.