Holiday Hair: A Guide For All Occasions

 

The holiday season is a time for parties, mingling with old friends, catching up with family, and

watching normally reserved coworkers on the loose. Every year around this time I find myself

searching for the perfect party dress, something festive, fun, and appropriate to all occasions. Each

year, however, I come to the same conclusion: no single ensemble is appropriate for dinner with my

parents, the bacon themed shindig my friends are throwing in Astoria, and the work Christmas party.

I’ve found the same thing holds true when it comes to holiday hairstyles. One look does not suit all

outfits or events. But choosing the right hair match for your festive ensembles is simple with a few

helpful hints.

Family Event: Perfect Ponytail 

Your family loves you but they don’t understand your more daring fashion choices. Whether you see

them every day or once a year, the holidays are a time to catch up, come together, and cause as little

drama as possible. Trendy and timeless, a bouncy ponytail is the perfect style for family gatherings.

Height at the crown and curled tips make the look special.  For lasting shape set hair with hot rollers

or a large barrel curling iron. Allow to cool and brush through with a natural bristle brush which

reduces static and enhances shine. Backcomb lightly at the crown, smooth out the top surface and pull

into a high ponytail. For the perfect placement, follow the line of the cheekbone in profile. Attach two

bobby pins to an elastic band. Slide one in at the top of the ponytail and use the other to wrap the

band around until no slack remains, then push the second pin into the base, securing the pony. Take a

thin strip of hair from the tail, wrap around the band, and pin into place. Add shine spray to ends and

spray the entire shape with holding spray. Add a bow or some sparkly pins for a celebratory feeling.

Office Party: High Bun 

Your work Christmas party is a time to shine. Play your cards right and this could be the event that

skyrockets your career. You’ll want to look polished and chic, and an extra high bun is the perfect

style to draw attention without looking showy.  A smooth finish and extra-high placement make this

common style look fresh and elegant.  Apply strong hold sculpting product like styling crème

throughout lengths and brush into a ponytail at the top of the head. Make sure to place the shape

above the crown so that it’s visible from the front; if it sits any lower you’ll look like a ballerina. Use

the bungee technique described above to secure the ponytail. Then twist the tail up and around the

base, securing with bobby pins. Finish with a mist of primp working spray and a few pumps of shine

spray.

Party With Friends: Vintage waves 

A get together with friends is a time to let down your hair and feel sexy and confident. A deep side

part and lustrous ripples will make you feel like a Hollywood starlet. Wearing hair down will soften a

revealing gown and the waves will lend a vintage feeling to any attire.

Start by curling hair with a mid-sized iron, pinning each curl at the base to create a strong set. When

all the curls have cooled, unclip and brush through to loosen. Create a side part and sculpt waves

around the face into an undulating “S” shape. Use long clips to hold waves in place and set with

holding spray. After a few minutes, remove the clips and the style is complete.

Hair Color You'll Dye For This Season

Whether you have blonde hair, red hair, or brown hair, there are hot 

new colors  for every shade this winter. 

 Hair Like Honey

For a deeper blonde hair color, follow Nicole Richie's cues. She has a tiny shadow
at the root, which darkens her hue and makes it a deeper version of a blonde.

Buttery Blonde

If you're blonde but want to change it up and still feel, well, blonde, go for a color
that's light with buttery tones, like Blake Lively's.

 Strawberry Gold

If you're having trouble parting from your strawberry-colored strands, go just a hint deeper
than they were this summer. Add a golden red hue to your hair like Amy Adams is flaunting here.

 

Cinnamon-y Strands

Christina Hendricks has a red hair color everyone loves. It's fiery and vibrant yet
is still a deep red—it's perfect for fall.

Cool Chestnut

If you want to stick with being a brunette but want to mix up your look—or go a little
darker if you're a blonde—opt for a light chestnut brown, like Olivia Palermo's shade.

Brunette Bombshell

Rich, chocolate brown hair with golden strands woven in toward the ends give a
fresh twist on brunette hair color for fall.

 

Dark and Daring

If you're already a brunette but want a deeper version, go for a look like Kim Kardashian's.

Brown with Accents

If you want a deep brown hue with a reddish cast, similar to Michelle Trachtenberg's
hair color, then go for a shade that's part brown and part auburn.

 

 

Want our advice? Richen up your color and you'll be golden! 

919-239-4383

Great Holiday Looks

This party season, get experimental when it comes to colour. 

We love Taylor Swift's bold blue eye make-up. And her chic chignon, too. 

This season, we'll totally be playing copycat with Carla Delevingne's entire party look. 

We adore her sleek high ballet bun and soft bronze smoky eye make-up. She’s flawless.

 Slick hair back into a low side-parted style, add soft smoky eye make-up and finish with a

 slick of sugary-pink lipgloss. Et voila, you're Diane Kruger.

You can't go wrong with a full, smoky-eyed make-up look. And nobody does it better 

than Cheryl Cole... Take notes ladies. 

 Pin back shoulder-length curls behind your ears and apply mascara and a slick of lipgloss 

for a 20s-inspired beauty look. Emma Watson pulls it off perfectly.  

Want to add a few extra inches without tottering around in high heels this party season? 

Make like this Valentino model and opt for a super-sleek high bun. 

 Jenna Dewan is absolutely picture-perfect with an accessorised up-do, glowing skin,

long lashes and matte red lips. This look is more 'night on the town' than 'warm bubbly in 

the office' so save this statement style for a night on the town.

 Wet-look locks are perfect for party season. Add extra lashes and some sugar-pink

 lipgloss to channel Kim Kardashian. 

Quick-fix party hair trick: back-comb hair at the roots and gently smooth back 

into a messy bun at the nape of your neck.

 Keep skin fresh for an after-work party. Make like Millie Mackintosh by finishing with

 sugary-pink lipgloss and adding some extra volume at your roots.

 Wow! Be a party-season angel with a golden halo braid like Perrie Edwards.

Adding height at the roots of your up-do is a great going-out look. Finish with a sweep 

of warm bronzer and some nude lipgloss like Scarlett Johansson.

 Simple centre-parted curls and pretty pink lips make for the ideal party duo. 

Let Abigail Spencer be your guide.

 Awesome side-swept curls: this Versace style is all about the blow-dry.  

Be oh-so-pretty with a twisted down-do. Take the front two sections of your hair and

 twist back to meet at the back of your head. Let the rest of your hair fall into soft waves.

 Get twisted! Twist your locks back on either side of your head (without creating a parting) 

and secure into a bun at the nape of your neck. This pretty evening style was spotted 

on the runway at Valentino.

Add oodles of root lift to your loose up-do and leave a front section forward 

for a super-sexy finish like Amber Hearde. We love, love, love this look.

Holiday Ready Hair

Whoa! I literally gasped when I saw this fiery red side chignon! 

The instructions are all for you!  We think this look is stunning - even if you wore 

a black turtleneck and jeans, you'd be the most glamorous girl at the party.

 This fresh, easy style is as modern as it is timeless: Low-swept curls recall a classic 

chignon, while an asymmetrical silhouette lends a flirty vibe. Try it out!!

 

Step 1: Using a round brush, blow-dry hair smooth and straight, focusing on the top sections.

 

Step 2: Once dry, use a large-barrel curling iron to create waves from the ears down.

 

Step  3: Build height and volume at the crown by teasing hair gently with a fine-tooth comb.

Step 4: Gather hair into a low ponytail. Twist it along the nape of your neck, pinning as you go.

Step 5: Once you reach your ear, shape the remaining hair into curls, and pin them
back over the twist.

Step 6: Spritz strands in place. Try Sojourn Firm Hold Working Hairspray, $24

Step 7: To add texture, gently curl and scrunch the wispy ends with your fingertips.

Sojourn Shampoo Volume

 Peter Anthony:

Brash, Bold, Outspoken, Controversial, and right on the money! The prodigal son of NY and clearly
an enigma in Florida, Peter Anthony has been an award-winning entrepreneur since he stepped into
the world of beauty and fashion at 19. Making big statements has never been hard for the current
CEO and Founder of the viral website LetsTalkAboutYourHair.com, Peter Anthony has a knack for
spotting beauty trends and isolating corporate disasters.

"Your look is your brand, your brand determines your culture, your culture determines your success.”
shares the beauty Guru. With his salons performing over a million services he feels clear that a new
message is right in front of us, for those who dare to read between the lines and think out of the box.
Peter Anthony, contagious visionary.

 Peter Anthony Reviews Sojourn:

This is the energy behind Sojourn -

A professional product line based on positive chemistry, ecological integrity and some of the good
business practices that may have been lost in recent years. Like so many of the hairstylists we meet
on a daily basis our passion for the art and craft of hairstyling goes beyond the simple desire to earn a
living. It is an extension of the love we have for beauty and fashion, architecture and design, people
and nature. Sojourn, bringing beauty, health and wellness to all the people we serve.

 

What is Sojourn supposed to DO?

Sojourn Shampoo Volume is carefully formulated with a unique polymer to give hair maximum
volume, body and shine without opening the cuticle or fading colour. Whisper light, plant derived
emollients give added moisturizing protection to fine, dull, lifeless or colour-treated hair for a healthy
shine and exceptional volume that lasts all day.

 

How important is scent?

Unlike many companies Sojourn's approach even in scent is understated, light, fresh, clean all come
to mind when you place your nose to the bottle for initial experience. The scent opens up lightly as
we shampooed some clients during the review. It was never distracting.

 

How does the product feel when you use it?

The feeling was thick, similar to honey in texture, it felt great and did not run off your hand as it was
waiting to be applied. The shampoo lathered rather well but never over did it. If felt rich and a bit
luxurious as you would expect from a fine luxury item.

 

How does the packaging look and hold up?

Packaging was cool and looked great wherever we placed it. Clean lines and understated color it
never clashed with what we were doing or where it was placed. It feels great in your hands and is
easy to use, the large caps are quite secure and you will not worry about leaking when traveling.

 

We put it through the paces!

This product performed much like a moisturizing shampoo when we were applying it. It never
allowed the hair to get the dry feeling normally associated with many of the volume shampoos we
have worked with. Your hair felt great through the entire experience.

We noticed the shine was great during drying and after repeated use it increased. The volume was not
to pumped or contrived so do not expect "BIG" hair from Sojourn Shampoo Volume we do not
believe it was designed around that idea or for that market.

What the shampoo shared with us was that it was going to allow your style to hold ALL day and into
the night, it did just that. After a week our client reported that they loved the way their hair felt and
we did as well on the return. Overall I think Sojourn did a very good job and balanced their volume
and commitment to the integrity of the hair.

 

Peter Anthony and his friends share tricks of the trade!

We noticed this shampoo LOVED the cool rinse, we played with and without conditioner. We like
both but felt a bit better with. Although when setting hair for styling and session work we dropped the
conditioner. The hair still performed great and we felt it was just as shiny and responsive as we
wanted.
We also never felt a reason to over use the product. It always found the right level of suds to make us
know it was doing its job and we were doing ours.

 

Products you will need to complete the experience:

The Sojourn Conditioner Volume is what the company recommends and as we tested the conditioner
it is a great match.

 

Peter Anthony shares his last thoughts on the product:

Overall I like the line and love the company. I think they are really well balanced between nature and

science, as well they seem to be very committed to finding the "right people" that share the same

values so using a Sojourn Salon will be congruent with the experience of the product.

How to Fishtail Braid

It has been a while since we had a hair tutorial to share with you. The Holidays are coming and we

thought a fish-tail braid seemed only fitting. Pair this stylish hair do with your favorite dress, wedges

and a little gloss and you are good to go.

Step one:
Gather hair into a ponytail and secure with a clear elastic band. 

You can either cut the band for a loose braid or you can wrap the band with hair to 

hide it upon completion.

Step two:
Divide the hair in the pony tail into two equal parts. 

If you would like to wrap the band with hair when finished, leave a small piece aside, 

separate from the two equal parts, and do not include this piece as you braid.

Step three:
Take a small piece from the outside of side one and pass the piece to side two 

(you can decide which side will be one and two). 

Next, take a small piece from the outside  of side two and pass it to side one. 

 Continue this process.  Once you pass each  piece over you can forget about them, 

just let them gather into their new sides.

To keep the braid tight, every so often you can take side one and side two and 

pull them away from each other. This will help tighten the pieces you have 

already placed and braided.

Step four:
Once you have finished the braid (takes a lot longer than a normal three strand braid), 

you can secure the ends with an elastic band.  At this point you can either carefully 

cut the elastic at the top of the braid, or you can take the piece you set aside and

 wrap the band, securing the end with a bobby pin.

For a looser braid, upon completion, you can gently pull the braid apart, 

helping to separate the pieces a bit, loosening the braid.

For a sleeker braid, make sure to brush through your hair first, and try to 

keep the braid as tight as possible.

For a “messy/ boho” braid, you can add texture prior to starting the braid 

by curling your hair or teasing your hair a bit, and don’t worry about keeping the

 braid too tight as you work. This will help the braid to appear a bit thicker 

and looser. Spray with a light finishing spray.

Our Arrojo Shopping Guide

 
Arrojo Revitalizing Kit
 Retail Value : $46.00 
PRICE: $39.00

 

 
Arrojo Volumizining Kit 
 Retail Value : $43.00 
PRICE: $36.00

 
Arrojo Styling Kit
 Retail Value : $48.00 
PRICE: $41.00

Pick up these gifts a more only at Mark Christopher Salon!

Sojourn products are so easy – we’ve color coded them for you!

 

Have limp, fine locks? Use volume (green)!

Dry, damaged locks keeping you down?  Moisture (blue) will give you the  most

luscious locks you’ve ever seen.

Fire-engine red hair?  Chemically-treated? The secret to long-lasting colour and 

treatments is Colour (white)!

Frizzy? Have fly-aways or massive, curly hair?  Smooth (peach) is the answer!

Fire-engine red hair? Chemically-treated?

 

 Fire-engine red hair?  Chemically-treated? 

The secret to long-lasting colour and treatments is Colour (white)!

When coloring hair, closing the cuticle to seal in and protect the color is a must. A lower pH scale

will help with this. A slightly acidic pH helps seal the cuticle and prevent fading. To maintain, restore

hair to its natural pH level when shampooing and conditioning.

Sojourn Thermal Protection Straightener

Coarse And Thick Hair?

 I recommend not washing every day.Your natural oils will work their way down to your ends

(Really! Once or twice a week is fine.). When you do shampoo, wash twice. It’s harder to get

through, and really get a good scalp cleansing when there is a lot of thick hair. 

Sojourn Thermal Protection Straightener, $24, available at MC Salon

Sojourn’s Thermal Protection Straightener is great — apply from roots to ends on wet hair. It’s

lightweight, and protects the hair from the heat. Try it after air drying if you want to achieve less

volume and body. A great keratin treatment would do wonders for people with coarse hair. 

Hairdresses Ruled

Introducing Sojourn!!!

In case you haven’t caught on by now, the cosmetics industry isn’t just a pretty face: there are some

serious chemistry brains behind your favorite volumizing mousse or age-defying foundation. But

lately, we’ve been noticing beauty brands truly embracing the science-nerd side of their products

instead of hiding it behind some prettily packaged gimmick or another. We, for one, are fans of this

smarter side of the beauty biz – and of the industry’s recognition that its consumers know the

difference between a wishful-thinking “miracle” cure and a product that actually does as it promises.

Mark Christopher Salon is proud to introduce our newest product line - SOJOURN!

Sojourn, a haircare line backed by the cachet of co-founder Elan Sassoon, promotes the idea of

“positive chemistry,” a concept Sassoon and his team arrived at by studying hair at its optimum

natural state.  Another factor Sojourn takes into account is one of hair’s natural building blocks:

keratin. Incorporated into each product in the line, Sojourn’s Keratin Cashmere Protein works to

moisturize the hair cuticle from the inside out, preventing split ends and other breakage. 

And if all that isn’t enough, the line is also 100% biodegradable and free of parabens,
formaldehyde, sulfates, and artificial dyes and colors.

 Here are a few of our favorites so far!!

 Sojourn Shampoo Moisture: 
All I have to say about this shampoo is that after applying and lathering it through my hair, it felt so

moisturized I didn’t think I needed any conditioner to accompany it! The shampoo smells wonderful

– with a hint of citrus. It left my hair healthy-looking and silky soft to the touch. I can definitely

understand the power of the exclusive Keratin Cashmere Protein they use in this product – it does

leave your hair permanently conditioned. 

Sojourn Conditioner Moisture:
Okay…so I know I just said that I didn’t necessarily need the conditioner after the shampoo, but I

used it anyways—and guess what, my hair was even MORE moisturized. I used both the shampoo

and the conditioner first thing in the morning right after I woke up. My ‘bed head’ hair had tangles

galore. After using this conditioner my hair felt as if I brushed them all out. On the bottle it advises

you to leave the product in for two to three minutes (so it acts more like a deep conditioner). 

I saw a result after one minute.

Sojourn Monoi Oil:
In other words. Wonder oil. It’s an ultra-light yet deep conditioning treatment specially
formulated for chemically treated, dry, frizzy or environmentally damaged hair. This hydrating oil

absorbs almost instantly and it doesn’t leave any residue or build up. When you first apply it,
you can feel it in the hair. After about 15 minutes you can’t even tell it’s there. 

Hair feels a lot softer after this product.

Sojourn Texture Molding Paste:
This paste has a thicker texture than the taffy, so it enables you to add a little more definition to any

cut or style. You can use this product to create soft and loose curls or to stand hair straight up.

 Sojourn Leave-in Detangler:
It’s good to use for a little extra moisture and for tangle-protection! Comb this product through with

a large toothcomb, and know that it can be used alone or before applying products.

Sojourn Shampoo Colour Preserve: 
This is formulated with a potent plant-derived UV inhibitor for maximum protection against

environmental free radical damage caused by UV light. The low pH locks in color and prevents

premature fading for richer, vibrant, longer lasting color and shine.

Sojourn Conditioner Colour Preserve:
This product provides extra UV protection for colored, chemically treated hair as well as hair 

that has been overexposed to the harsh effects of heat, wind and the sun. 

Works just like Sojourn Moisture Conditioner.

Sojourn Sculpting Taffy:
 I used a small amount on my hair while it was dry (you can use it on wet hair too). It added a little

texture/separation to my layers and smells marvelous — like roses! This is an all-in-one sculpting

tool that gives extra hold, shine and protection to long, short, or in-between styles.
Contains maracuja oil, so it fortifies hair as it styles. 

Sojourn Thermal Protection Straightener:
 I found this is a useful product. I have used it for the past week before I straighten my hair with a

flatiron. In any situation, you should apply it BEFORE applying heat on dry hair. I sprayed it on my

hair from roots to ends, one section at a time for maximum protection and moisture. 

Sojourn Wet/Dry Volume Gel:
  I took about a quarter amount of this gel and applied it at the ends to my roots. It left my hair

weightless and soft. After blow-drying my hair it was like Va-Voom Volume! It works also in dry hair

for a more piece-y look.So what was my favorite aspect about the entire collection besides the healthy

effect it had on my hair? The scent. Floral, Herbal, Citrus…I got a surprise from ever bottle I opened.

Trying out Sojourn was definitely a pleasant experience.