Beauty Etiquette Guide

Should you tip your hair washer and stylist when you visit the salon? The people at Marie Claire have the answers to these questions and more below!


Tipping Points

• Minimize tipping-induced stress and calculate it ahead of time. The standard is 15 to 20 percent for massage therapists, mani-pedi techs, aestheticians, stylists, and colorists, $5 to $10 for the assistant who does your blowdry, a few bucks for the shampoo person (if it's someone separate), and $1 to $2 for the coat check. "And yes, it's OK not to tip the salon or spa owner," explains Rodney Cutler, owner of Cutler salons in New York City and Miami.
• An exception to the tipping standard applies when you're getting a quickie $10 mani. "The average tip for a manicure should be $5, even at your fast, local nail spot," explains Patricia Yankee of Dashing Diva. "For a pedicure, $5 to $10 is standard."
• For extra-pricey treatments, Manhattan salon owner John Barrett points out that "as the bill increases over $200, there can be a general decrease in tipping, down to 10 to 15 percent."

Bikini Wax Basics

• If you want to go completely bare down there, say so when making your appointment. "If you book a basic bikini wax when you really want a Brazilian, it can mess up the aesthetician's schedule," explains Lura Jones of the Stark Waxing Studio at Sally Hershberger Face Place in NYC.
• No matter how unkempt you feel, don't trim before a wax — the aesthetician will do it if needed, says Jones. For best results, your hair must be one-quarter-inch long, so don't shave the area within three weeks of your appointment.
• Don't be shy. "To ensure a fast, thorough treatment, a Brazilian requires full nudity from the waist down," says Cynthia Chua, founder of Strip: Ministry of Waxing salon in Manhattan.

Hair Help

• Tell your stylist exactly what you want — you won't insult him or her. "Have some specific parameters," says Joel Warren, co-owner of the Warren-Tricomi salon in New York City. "'I don't know' is the worst thing you can say because then it's left up to luck." If you're bummed about the final result, tell your stylist or the manager and give him or her a chance to fix it.
• "Be honest about your financial commitment," says Cutler. "If you want to come in only three times per year, your stylist can suggest a more low-maintenance cut or color."

About Face

• Fess up if you're using Retin-A or hydroquinone on your face. "Those ingredients make skin more sensitive, so if an aesthetician doesn't know about them, she risks irritating your skin," says L.A. facialist Sonya Dakar.
• Stop using Retin-A or retinol three days before a peel or laser treatment and a week before facial waxing. "Friends sometimes call me and say, 'Oh, my gosh — the wax ripped off my skin!'" says dermatologist Dr. Anne Chapas.
• Ensure a quiet treatment by saying something as simple as, "I prefer to zone out during my treatment, so I won't be chatty today," suggests Dakar. "Say it politely at the beginning, not mid-conversation."
• Bypass the awkward product push at the end by saying you loved the treatment and would like to see how your face reacts to all the products that were just applied. "If budget is a concern, ask for samples," says Dakar.

Massage Management

• If you're uncomfortable with a male therapist, ask for a female when booking — it's generally hard to switch once you get to the spa, says Marc Zollicoffer, Aveda Global Educator for Massage and Spa.
• Getting 100 percent nude is standard for a full-body massage, but "in order to feel completely relaxed, you have to feel comfortable," explains Shaana Melendrez of Lather Spas at Equinox Fitness Clubs. "Strip down to your comfort level, whatever that may be."
• If you feel uncomfortable about where the therapist is touching you, speak up immediately so he or she can change tactics. If it's clearly inappropriate, stop the session and tell the manager.
• Finally — there's no need to apologize for stubble or unpedicured feet! "Therapists don't care if you haven't shaved your legs," assures Zollicoffer. "A therapist is focusing on relaxing muscles," adds Melendrez. "And besides, the room is dim, so you can't get a detailed look at anything anyway."

Keep Your Skin Soft in Winter

You can keep your skin soft this winter by following these easy steps:


Take a smart bath
Extra-hot showers and baths rob your skin of the natural moisturizers it needs to stay soft. In winter use lukewarm water, shorten your bathing time to 10 minutes maximum, and take no more than one shower each day. Enrich your bath with products that contain colloidal oatmeal (oatmeal milled to a fine powder); it binds to the skin, prevents moisture loss, and soothes itchiness. Switch to a soap that contains high levels of natural jojoba, olive, or soybean oils but no added scents. Avoid using exfoliants and scrubbing your skin with scratchy pads or mitts. When you emerge from the bath or shower, remember to moisturize immediately with a vitamin E-rich body lotion.


Moisturize the natural way
Frequent application of moisturizer will help replace the water your skin has lost to harsh winter winds. If you have extra-dry skin, look for moisturizers with super-rich oils such as avocado oil, olive oil, or shea butter. If you have a tendency toward oily skin, try a moisturizer with lighter oils such as hazelnut or rose hip oil. Always choose moisturizers without added scents and dyes.

How To: Repair and Prevent Split Ends

We’ve all dealt with split ends before. If you’re trying to grow your hair, or just maintain healthy hair it’s important to try to prevent split ends. So what are the best ways to do this? We’ve got some great tips on prevention and repair!

To prevent split ends:

1) Try to put heat on hair only when necessary. After washing your hair, air dry it, and try not to pull out the curling irons and flat irons more than needed.
2) Don’t brush your hair too much! Brushing is great but excess brushing can lead to split ends.
3) Splurge on good quality hair styling products. There’s generally a reason they’re more expensive. The money you spend on products will be saved in less trips to the salon for trims.
4) Have hair trimmed when needed. Don’t wait! And be sure to trim hair with good quality scissors.


If you already have split ends and want to improve the appearance of hair:

1) Shampoo hair and deep condition with good quality conditioner. Be sure to leave conditioner on hair for at least 20 minutes.
2) A moisturizing or smoothing serum may help. Apply a dime sized amount to hair and work throughout.
3) When drying hair, make sure hair is completely dried so it doesn’t frizz. This makes split ends more noticeable.
4) Be sure to visit your hair stylist as soon as possible for a trim! We know trims can be scary, but they’re necessary to maintain healthy hair.

Dry Hair? Chic Lemon Hair-Mask DIY!

A great way to recover your weak and dry hair is by doing a mask with lemon juice. Seems like it wouldn't work but it actually leaves hair soft and shiny!

You will need: 2 tbsp castor oil/almond oil, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1 tbsp honey.

Add honey and oil to lemon juice. Mix all ingredients together well and apply the mixture generously first to the roots and then to the entire length of the hair.

Wrap hair with a towel. Leave mask on for approximately one and a half hours.

Use your everyday shampoo and wash your renewed hair. Do mask twice to attain best results, and stick to the routine once per month!

3 TIPS TO: Treat Dry Skin

1. Use gently daily cleansing that will not strip your skin's moisture.

2. Use extremely gentle exfoliation - to allow any treatments to absorb better since you are removing any dead skin.

3. Balance the oil and water levels of your skin.

The What, Why, and How of Dehydration (Flaking)

As we stated above dehydration is the flakiness, roughness, or dullness that might appear in skin. Dehydration is the water component of the "balance of oil and water". Dehydration characterized as the break in your skin's moisture barrier (the layer of lipids that seals moisture in). When there is a break in the skin's moisture barrier, it allows and water to escape, causing the dehydration. Keywords for dehydration are: flakiness, roughness, dullness, parchment lining.

Mini Beauty Tips: Making Small Nails Appear Larger

If you have short or narrow nails, clear nail polish sometimes only makes your nails appear small. A darker nail polish will make them seem narrower, and hence longer.

For those of you with very small nails, using a nail polish with a metallic color can make them appear larger.

Beauty Tips: Coconut Oil

This sweet-smelling, natural oil has antioxidant properties to combats premature aging, absorbs well into the skin and it doesn't leave any residue.

Coconut oil is also a great tool to keep your hair healthy, shiny and strong. The oil increases circulation on the scalp, supplying nutrients to the hair follicles. Just apply it, starting from the scalp and working it out through to the ends. Massage the head for a few minutes to work the oil well into the follicles. Leave it for 1 hour, then shampoo well and condition.

Yet another great use for coconut oil is as a delicious, gentle exfoliant - just mix it with a little sugar and rub into your body and face.

Beauty Tips for Skin Fairness

Your skin is the most important part of your appearance. It works as a protector for the inner parts of your body, protecting you from the harshness of the sun, rain and wind. Your skin is really a barrier to the harsh environment that we live in. You should use skin protectors such as sunscreen and sun blocker that is compatible to your skin type. Applying the right beauty tips for fairness solutions is important in preventing further skin irritation. If you have serious skin conditions that have not gone away after several months of at home remedies, and over the counter treatments, you may need to consult a dermatologist. Taking care of your skin is essential to promoting and maintaining good and healthy skin tone and texture. Fairness for beauty tips are suggestions that can help you maintain a good and healthy skin glow.

Face Blackheads - Beauty Tips

Probably the most well-known method and widely used method how to remove blackheads is using a gentle scrubbing brush to remove dead skin cells, then utilizing a pore steamer to open pores, and finally using stainless steel lancets or a wire extractor to remove the blackhead. While this is a very effective method it is also somewhat time-consuming.

One of the quickest and easiest methods how to remove blackheads is using pore strips. Simply clean your face; apply the strip to the nose, chin or forehead as directed and peel off. While this does work for most people, some feel that it only is effective in the T-zone of the face and not so much in other areas.

Steam pore cleaners with mist are also very simply to use, and usually very effective. These units work by continuously spraying a fine mist of steam onto the pore, while a gentle vacuum suction safely removes the blackhead. Most of these units can even be submerged in water, which means they can be operated in the shower or the bath, making them very efficient to use as it saves a lot of time.

"CHIC.TV beauty blog brought to you by Silk'n SensEpil, the at home laser-like hair removal device."

Smile! At-Home Teeth Whitening

White teeth make a beautiful smile! Simple tips at home for whitening your teeth can really work if you do them consistently. Some of these might seem like home remedies, but give them a try. If one doesn’t work for you, move onto another white smile tip and see which one works best for you.

A remedy you might have heard of that really does work is using baking soda to whiten your teeth. Like anything… you must do it regularly to see improvement. All you do is take some baking soda and mix it with water to make it almost pastey.

You will need to experiment with how much water and baking soda, but you’ll get it. Then all you do is brush your teeth with it. You can use this in place of your normal tooth paste and see if it makes a difference.

"CHIC.TV beauty blog brought to you by Silk'n SensEpil, the at home laser-like hair removal device."

Hair Rips: Perfect Wispy Fringe a lá Kate Moss

Kate brought back her bangs in late October in a moment of spontaneity: "I got bored one night and cut it – with kitchen scissors,” she told the UK Telegraph’s Hilary Alexander.Love it or hate it?

Easy Exfoliating Tips

Exfoliating is an important part of any skin care regimen. Why is it so important? Exfoliating removes dead layers of cell tissue from your skin. If these cells aren't removed they can clog pores and lead to breakouts. Besides that, exfoliating leaves your skin much more smooth and healthy looking. Follow these tips in order to have beautiful, healthy skin:

1) Wet the area of skin you want to exfoliate.

2) Apply exfoliating cleanser to face and rub in a circular motion.

3) Rinse skin thoroughly

4)Exfoliating dries skin so be sure to follow up with a good moisturizer.

It's as simple as that! Do this twice a week to leave your skin healthy and glowing.

Get Rid of Dark Under Eye Circles

• Try concealer for a quick fix: Using yellow will neutralize the blues, purples, and husky hues on the skin. This does not remove the problem, but can build your confidence for the day, by alleviating the 'tired look'.
• Use tea bags and cucumbers: Yes there is definitely something to those commercials where women have cucumbers and tea bags on top of their eyes. Both tea bags and cucumbers reduce inflammation and decrease swelling. Tea bags are especially good to use for dark swollen circles because there is tannin inside of the tea that helps with eliminating the puffiness.
• Get more anti-oxidants: Antioxidant treatments help to reduce fluid buildup under the eyes, which decreases the dark circles. Therefore, you should go for treatments that involve a lot of vitamin C and GHK copper peptides. Also, vitamin K is great for restoring stability and strength to the blood vessels under the eyes, which reduces their proliferation.

"CHIC.TV beauty blog brought to you by Silk'n SensEpil, the at home laser-like hair removal device."