Boca Cosmetics at Cosmoprof Las Vegas

With all the craziness at the start of August, we are just getting to uploading photos from the fabulous Cosmoprof North America show held in Las Vegas a few weekends back! Pardon our tardiness.

It was an amazing show and we had such a blast meeting everyone. Cannot wait until next year… until then, here’s some shots of our booth during the show.

This display definitely turned heads! So much beautiful beautiful hair.

Gisela Basilio, Co-Founder of Boca Cosmetics, with Sue Correia, prepping for the busy day ahead!

Gisela Basilio, Co-Founder of Boca Cosmetics, standing next to the message reporting the amazing sell out showing Zelo had just the week prior on the Home Shopping Network. July was definitely a banner month!

Top 3 Ways You’re Damaging Your Hair

I feel like all too often we hear a breaking news report on how things we believe to be healthy for us really aren’t. No matter what we do day-to-day, harm seems unavoidable, doesn’t it? Even doing “good” can end up bad. Well, the positive news is making your hair look beautiful does not have to go hand in hand with damaging your luscious locks.

Like most things, awareness is key to ensuring that what you put your hair through everyday is keeping it healthy, not causing harm.

Heat

It’s no mystery that our hot styling tools cause our hair damage. Most of our curling irons, hair dryers, and straighteners reach temperatures of over 400 degrees – and the horrible part is, we need them to in order to tame our tresses! You think I am ever giving up my hair straightener? Think again.

However, high heat burns your hair. Plain and simple. It’s going to dry your hair out, making it more prone to the frizzes, breakage, and split ends.

The thing about heat, however, is that we need to protect our hair from it if we can’t do anything to eliminate it from our lives – and it is so easy to do so. First, make sure your hair is completely dry when you use hot tools on it – sizzling the H2O off your hair is only going to make things worse. Second, use the lowest settings you can on your irons and blow dryers (without sacrificing functionality, of course). Third, use a heat protectant spray before straightening and curling to cut down on damage.

Sunlight

I just read an article talking about natural ways to lighten your hair and cringed when I found people STILL think it’s okay to dowse their hair in lemon juice and “naturally” highlight their hair, and that it’s safer than chemically lightening. The thing is, you are damaging your hair just as much doing that as you are bleaching your hair. UV rays are just as harsh on your hair as they are on your skin – we just have no feeling in our strands, so we have no idea it’s happening.

Not only should you not dowse your hair in lemon juice and burn your poor hair to crisp (for the same reason we don’t dowse our skin in baby oil and lay out by the pool), but you should protect your hair from the sun all the time. Sunscreens for your hair are everywhere – check out our post from earlier this summer on the best methods of sun protection. It’s SO easy to protect your hair from the sun – most of us just don’t consider it a need.

Color

Here is another area of hair damage that most of us aren’t willing to avoid. Whether you like changing it up, enjoy highlights, or want to cover up greys, it’s highly unlikely we are ALL going to ditch coloring our hair. However, just like hair that is damaged with heat or sunlight, your locks will be much more prone to frizz and breakage.

If you do dye your hair consistently, keep in mind you should wait as long as possible in between all over colorings as you can take, at least 8 weeks. Get root touch up to make a dye job last longer. Also, go to a salon to get your hair done so you can ensure you are putting high quality dye in your hair. Not all hair colors are made equal.

Image Source: Hotbeautyhealth.com

3 Tips for Making Your Keratin Treatment Last

During the summer months, keratin treatments boom in popularity as we get tired of the frizz and our hairstyle getting ruined by heat, humidity, and spending time outside.

However, keratin treatments don’t last forever, and naturally we want to help keep a smooth look for a long as possible. Follow these stylist recommendations to keep keratin in your hair through the entire summer.

1. Use a Salt and Sulfate free Shampoo

Look for a shampoo that does not contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, such as Zelo Salt and Sulfate Free Shampoo. SLS is a surfactant that will wear away at your keratin treatment. Not only does SLS depleat your keratin faster, but it can also cause thinning hair, irritated scalp, among other symptoms. So why do most shampoos use it? Because it’s cheap, and creates foam – which we are trained to believe is washing our hair better. SLS free shampoos don’t foam as much, which is actually better for your hair. Read this very detailed post by Killer Strands for more on SLS free shampoos and why we should all be using them, keratin treatment or not.

2. Take Care around Chlorine and Ocean Water

Many people love their keratin treatment because they can go from beaching it to going out on the town, but salt water and pool water are both very harsh on your hair. If getting your hair wet is unavoidable, hit the showers right after to rinse your hair so there is less of an impact on your keratin.

3. Change your Wash Schedule

The easiest way to keep your keratin? Wash your hair less. It is already commonly recommended to only wash your hair every other day, especially if you have dry or over processed hair. Many people say they can’t go a day without a wash because of oil, and for them I suggest giving the every other day wash a try, but continuing to rinse and condition (only from the middle to your ends) every day. If your hair is still too oily, try cutting down on a complete wash – alternate shampooing your entire head of hair with just concentrating your shampoo at your scalp. Many people find that if they cut back on how often they wash, their hair actually gradually becomes less oily.