Happy Holidays

Bonjour NeXt Family!

Thank you all for coming to the Update Everything Event! It was such a success and especially a great time with our staff and clients. Jennifer Jones rocked the entire day of photo madness. Jennifer is truly gifted and we were so honored to have her for this awesome day. All of our beautiful clients came in, had a full make up session, hair styled up, down, curly, straight, you name it. I caught a glimpse of everyones pictures and they were outstanding. Thanks again ladies and gentleman! For those that couldn't make it, we will be doing another one in the future! Stay tuned for the announcement of that date.

Our NeXt up and coming event is Serving Styles with Smiles on Tuesday December 14th. This event is being held to benefit a volunteer program NWC, Neighbors Who Care. Neighbors Who Care is a program that helps the elderly live at home and keep their independence. The volunteers for this amazing program will be coming in for specially priced hair cuts and styles. A portion of the proceeds are going back to NWC. Although the haircuts are strictly for the volunteers, we will have envelopes for donations on this very special day.
To learn more about Neighbors Who Care and how you can further help, please visit their website

Thanks Again!! Next week will feature Hair Do How Tos!

Till NeXt Time,
XOXO Next Girl

OMG, have you heard??

About all the new and exciting events and services NeXt Salon is offering?

NOVEMBER 11th 1-8PM UPDATE EVERYTHING EVENT
The Update Everyting Event is a time for you to get your hair and make up done, enjoy a personal photo shoot, and a great time to hang out with your friends, family and of course the NeXt staff. This Event takes place Thursday November 11th from 1-8pm. Tickets are on sale right now for $50 per person. This includes your ticket in the door, prize drawings, refreshments, hair, make-up, personal photo shoot, and 3 web ready images perfect for headshots, profile pictures, Christmas presents and just for fun! This is an awesome and amazing opportunity so please take advantage.

Keratin Complex Express Blow Out Treatments
NeXt Salon now offers this amazing hair treatment for your thick, frizzy and curly hair. The service is 1 hour long and is an extreme deep conditioner that will remove the frizz and curl leaving you with silky, soft shiny hair for 6 weeks. This service is $100 and can be applied the same day as your cut and/or color appointment.

Aveda Make-Up
NeXt Salon is so proud to announce that we now have Aveda Make-Up!!! The make up is absolutely stunning and incredibly it is all organic. We have everything from foundations and powder to lip stick and eye shadows in every color imaginable. This is also the make up we will be using for our Update Everything Event, so if you haven't had the chance to use Aveda Make-Up November 11th is a great time to sample this great product. Also lip touch ups will be complimentary with all services at NeXt starting today.

Bling Strands
We have new colors! In addition to our fuscia, we now have copper and blue. They only take a few minutes to apply and last any where from 2-4 weeks. For all of you that are fans of the Real Housewives on Bravo, Adrienne on the newest season does indeed have gold bling strands in her hair. They are 4 for $10 and are available for appointments as well as walkins.

Product Tax is on US!In celebration of NeXt Salons 1 year anniversary, we are paying the taxes on your product. Please take avantage of this as this is a limited time only and excludes make up.

Clear Glaze Special
Make over your hair with this amazing special. Clear glaze is an awesome service to add that extra shine to your gorgeous locks of hair. The clear glaze is applied just like color is applied. This is service is great to give your color that extra pop and is especially great for those of you that do not have color on your hair. If you do not have color on your hair, this glaze will give your hair a total make over with out the color and is available for $15 for a limited time only.

If you have any questions about any of the above services and events, please feel free to call the salon @ 480.812.4818 , you can also email us at next.salon@gmail.com. We are more than happy to assist you in any way we can.

Until NeXt time!

xoxo Next Girl

WInd, Rain, and Hail OH MY!!!

Mother Nature was a wild woman this week as she brought us several hail storms in less than 24 hours. In the 17 years I have lived in Arizona, I have never experienced a storm like the one we had. I wouldn't mind at all if we had weather like that more often. Bring it on Mother Nature!

Despite the weather fiasco we had this week, the first ever Red Couch Reading Club was a success. The book of the hour was The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein. I read the book in a week! I thought it would take me a few weeks to read it but it was that good. Im a bit disapointed that it is over already. Incase you were unavailable for this months meeting I will catch you up! ****Spoiler Alert!!!*** If you have not yet read the book and want to, dont read this paragraph!! If you haven't read this book and you would like to know what happens, then by all means, read ahead. This book really took me by surprise. I have a HUGE habit of trying to figure out the book before I finish. I make predictions through every chapter. In this case I was wrong. That was a huge refresher and I kept my eyes glued to this book. It started out as an older dog reminiscing about his journey growing old. The dog Enzo, is everlasting faithful to his owner Denny. An avid racecar driver and BMW service employee. Denny marries a woman named Eve and starts a family with their daughter Zoe. Towards the begining of the novel, Eve has brain cancer. After brain surgery, she and Zoe go to stay with her parents so they can take care of her full time while Denny works and takes care of their home. After 8 months of battling her brain cancer, she passes away. As hard as the death of his wife was for every one, Eves parents demanded they have custody of Zoe. One terrible mistake caused Denny to lose his baby girl. The grandparents got full custody, leaving Denny with supervised visits. He quickly starts suffering finacially and when it could not get any worse, the grandparents demand he pay child support!! Oh the nerve of them! Well long story short, Enzo ends up turning Dennys life around, getting Denny's daughter back, and an incredible job offer across seas. Sadly Enzo passes away before he can enjoy life with Denny and Zoe in France. BUT, he then fulfills his life long dream of returning as a human and finding Denny. Great novel, I highly recomend to anyone, especially dog lovers. To find out what happened to Denny that cost him his rights as a parent, read the book! : )

We are making a decision on the next book for the Red Couch Reading Club and will let you all know the second we decide! Any recomendations are highly welcome. Join me next week for "Hair Do How To's". Enjoy this beautiful weekend everyone. Until NeXt time!!


XOXO Next Girl

October is Here!

Hello Next Family and Friends!

It is the begining of a new season and a new month! We have survived the hot and humid summer and have welcomed October weather with open arms. October is a very exciting month for us here at NeXt Salon. Lisa is back from her amazing trip to England. We were all so jealous and very eager to hear all about her time with family and friends. It is also time to get out your pink clothes, pink accesories and pink ribbons! October has also brought us Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is one of our favorite times because we get to help a very important cause aiding breast cancer research , as well as giving much support to those affected by breast cancer. This great campaign increases awareness of the disease, raises funds for research into its cause, prevention and cure. As well as providing a platform for breast cancer charities to raise awareness of their work and of the disease. BCAM is also a prime opportunity to remind women to be breast aware for earlier detection. In honor of BCAM, NeXt Salon has a special limited edition of Aveda PINK RIBBON HAND RELIEF Lotion. For every bottle of lotion sold, $4 of it goes to breast cancer research. Please help us support this great cause by stopping in for a ribbon and/or bottle of life saving lotion.

Dont have any pink to wear this month? Perhaps fuschia bling strands might interest you? NeXt Salon offers a brand new trend of accesorizing your hair with colorful, sparkling strands of color. Perfect for any and every occasion. I have had a few put in my hair this morning by Lisa, Sheika, and Erica and I love them! It only took a few minutes and was pain and mess free. Bling strands are tied in so you can change them when the mood suits. They last for about 3 weeks and are cared for just like your hair. Feel free to wash , curl and blow dry like normal, as long as you dont use anymore than 400 degrees of heat on them. Dont't worry fellow Moms, these are perfectly suitable and appropriate for young girls as well. ; )




Lets talk books. In case you are unfamiliar with our book club, NeXt has created the Red Couch Reading Club and we want you on our couch! The great read at this time is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. We meet every 6 weeks to discuss the book and our first meeting is on Monday the 4th at 5pm. The great read at this time is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It is a story about the life of a man and his family through the eyes of his elderly dog. The dog is a quirky and neat fellow. I myself have just started and after 6 short chapters I am hooked! So if you have not started yet, go grab a copy! They are available at the book store as well as availble on kindle and the nook. If not I will be summarizing a chunk of the book each week as I go along. Feel free to comment and discuss. Let me know what you think. If you have already read it let's discuss it more! I am eager to hear your thoughts and feelings or reactions towards the book.

I hope you all enjoy this fabulous weekend. Until NeXt time!
-- Next Girl


NeXt Salon
480-812-4818
MyNextSalon.com

Dry vs. Damaged

Summertime
And the livin’ is easy ....

... may not be true for our hair here in Arizona though! The sun, heat, chemical treatments and free-radicals are brutal on our hair drying it out, making it brittle, fading colour, leaving it lack lustre, coarse and not silky or smooth with split ends. But... is it dry or is it chemically damaged?

Dry;

Considering we do live in the desert and are exposed to the intense heat of the sun, you will find that curly hair is naturally coarse, frizzy and dry as well. Blow-drying, flat-ironing and other heat styling tools will add to the moisture depletion of our hair.

Damaged;

Damaged hair will feel lifeless, brittle, dry and 'weak', presenting itself with split ends and broken hair strands caused from heavily processing your hair (colour, perms, relaxers etc.) and from extensive sun exposure.

As you can see there are some very strong similarities between the two. The difference is that damaged hair is lacking a sufficient amount of protein, is structurally weak and porous resulting in a lack of elasticity. Where as dry hair does not have sufficient moisture and the naturally occurring oils it needs to feel silky, smooth and have shine and lustre. The easiest and quickest way for us to determine whether, or not, your hair is dry vs. damaged is to perform an elasticity test.

How to perform an elasticity test for yourself:

1. With your hair wet, hold a strand of hair at the scalp and at the end and gently stretch out the hair and release it.
2. If your hair returns to its original length, this means the elasticity is good, is DRY and needs moisture.
3. Should the strand not return to its original length this indicates your hair is DAMAGED and is lacking sufficient elasticity and needs repair.

We thought this information would be helpful for you because most of us do feel the effects of the sun and heat and most of us do chemically alter our hair in some way and since the words are very similar they really do mean two very different things.

No worries! At NEXT SALON, as you are well aware, we use salon and professional-only products! We are ALWAYS concerned for the integrity of your hair and will not jeopardize that in any way. It is our belief that healthy hair is the most beautiful hair and will help you decide if you are in need of any kind of special treatment! Most often choosing the correct shampoo and conditioner will help significantly along with a deep conditioning treatment.

We hope that you find this blog post informative?!?!! If you have any ideas, questions or suggestions please feel free to post a comment :)

The Staff of NEXT SALON

Beginning of Next Salon

It all began many, many, MANY moons ago when I was about 3 yrs old and took the scissors from my nursing kit (you know, way back when they had real scissors in them) and cut off the beautiful golden wavy locks of my sister Teresa who is 21 months my junior. Oops meant to say just one side! It was during that beautiful summer's day that the 'hair dresser' was born - I can not tell you what year for fear of age discrimination LOL!



I was always encouraged to 'spread my wings' and leave the very small town (probably considered a village in the great USA), go to college,being a hair dresser would've meant I would be stuck there. My Dad really gave me the courage to go out in to the wild yonder and see more than Leiston, Suffolk. I did.



Fast forward a couple of decades; meeting my husband, moving to California and the USA, then Arizona, working in the medical field, oh yeah - cutting my sister's hair again, one side again, at some point in there ;) , and finding myself at a crossroads of what to do. With the enthusiasm, encouragement and persuasion of my darling husband, Paul, sisters, family and friends I FINALLY went to cosmetology college. Surprisingly, I was not the oldest student there!



I worked at a large, corporate salon immediately upon getting my cosmetology license. I worked there knowing they had advanced training and education - one of my passions! I love learning and knew that I wanted to expand my basic knowledge. During my employment I had to take a leave to go home to England to help care for one of my sister's and her 4 children. This gave me the opportunity to reflect on how much I really liked the culture that this salon had created - I didn't like it. I left there with much knowledge and never looked back.



I was lured into helping a friend manage a concierge physician practice - loved the patients, hated the office environment - STIFLING!!! I had to return a T-shirt to the Gap and in asking my mechanic husband to drop me off at the mall so I could nip into the Gap he, of course, dropped me off at the entrance to the tool department of Sears! As I was leaving the mall just 10-15 mins later I bumped into Julie (the ONLY other normal person that I worked with at the first salon and missed terribly!) - we had lost contact. Some one was watching out for me that day!!! Long story short - I ended up working at Cloud 9 with Julie and met sooooo many wonderful clients/friends.



I worked at Cloud 9 for over 2 1/2 years taking on the role of Network Educator, becoming a leader amongst the stylists. Things were changing at Cloud 9 and I was becoming increasingly frustrated so during a dinner conversation with my husband he just said ".. why don't you do your own thing?!". I had him expand upon that to find out that he had to point out my passion - to have my very own salon! It had been my dream from the time I cut Teresa's hair with the nursing scissors :)



With those words to the day of opening only about 8 or 9 weeks went by. I found this location at Raintree Ranch, signed the lease contract and at approximately week 3 the construction began! My passion and dream was happening with my husband holding my hand all the way!! It was not long before some of my dear friends took a leap of faith with me to come to " ______ " ??? What were we going to name the salon???



Within a couple of days I was talking to my friend, telling her about our new endeavour. Guess what she asked me........... "What are you going to call the salon?" We talked about how my vision was for it to be different; modern, urban loft, art gallery and with English subtleties. As we stood there it came to me "NEXT! And the "x" can be a pair of shears!!" - I got chills down my spine, that was it! Wasn't it??? Oh no! Family and friends, near and far, all partook in an intense analysis of possible names but it always came back to NeXt. Next is the name of one of my favourite clothing stores in England. It was full speed ahead to November 2nd, 2009!! Eight months after collecting our very first dollar bill, we are growing with the addition of fabulous new team members and are looking forward to planing our 1st Anniversary party.



We hope that you find our first blog enlightening, providing you with an understanding of how a strong passion brought us here together as an outstanding team of professionals?!!



Our blog has been created so that we may share with you each of our passions for everything hair! We, also, want it to be informative and educational as far as choosing the right products, styling tips etc. Should you have any suggestions for our blog we are 'all ears'!!

Thank you for following us and coming along on this journey!

Welcome

NeXt Salon is very excited to start their online blog - WAHOO!!! You never know what you might learn, discover, rediscover, uncover or just simply have fun with because of this launch!!! Don't forget you can always stay connected on Facebook, Twitter and our website:

http://www.mynextsalon.com

Thank you for all your support!!!

Your friends at NeXt Salon