Taming the BEAST (Reprinted from Jingle Press Newsletter , Issue 2, and Jingle Press Online)

By Cindylu Thomas

You and I will be entering into the world of caring for the ‘BEAST.’ You may be wondering what on earth I could be talking about. Well, gentlemen (and ladies too, involved in this endeavor) it is TIME to talk about it; very likely past time, to tell you the truth. Some of you know me, many don’t, but by the time you’re finished reading this, I hope you will have more insight as to where our journey is going over the next several months. Now you’re REALLY scratching your head (or your beard) aren’t you?

A Little History I am Cindylu Thomas, otherwise known as Mrs. Claus to Santa Charlie of Alabaster, Alabama. I have had the distinct ‘honor’ of being Santa Charlie’s groomer, in addition to being the chief cook, bottle washer and all those other things that go with being his wife and Mrs. Claus. Charlie has had a beard ever since I can remember (at least 36 years). I never gave it much thought through most of those years, other than the one time he cut it completely off and I nearly went into cardiac arrest thinking some unknown man had broken into our house. When I saw his hairless face it was quite a shock, I must confess. After a few nights waking up in the middle of the night, frightened in my sleep induced state that there was some other man in my bed, I finally told him I would be eternally grateful if he would just grow it back again. He eagerly agreed, as by then he had cut his face with that dreaded razor more times than he could count. It was a reminder to him why he had grown the beard in the first place. His beard started off a bright red. Through the years it started dying, little by little, to the point it became more than half gray. (That’s what gray hair is, by the way. Dead hair.) As such, it poses many of its own unique problems.

Facial Versus Scalp Hair

There is also a huge difference between facial hair and scalp hair. Each responds to chemicals differently. What works on your hair won’t necessarily work on your beard, or at best, works differently. Through the coming months we’ll explore these differences. Some years ago, when Charlie determined portraying Santa was his calling, we entered this marvelous journey together. It became my calling, as well, as Mrs. Claus. We were committed, and began our education in Santaclausology. Suddenly we were faced with the ‘BEAST’. Up to that point, I had never become involved with the care and upkeep of a beard. It did not take long when I started noticing a lot of split ends and hair that had just broken off.

Shampooing Habits

After further investigation, I found the culprit. Charlie and his shampooing habits were causing the problem. Gentlemen, when washing your hair and beard, do not tackle it as though you were wrestling a bear. Be gentle, using your fingertips ... NOT FINGERNAILS ... to massage shampoo into the scalp and face. Work the shampoo in thoroughly and then bring it out to the ends of the hair and beard. Shampoo with warm water, not hot. Heat of any kind is damaging to hair, but especially damaging to the beard. Apply the same gentle rules when using conditioners and always leave the conditioner on for at least a few minutes, giving it time to be absorbed into the follicles of the hair and beard. I suggest when you first get into the shower, wash your hair and beard, condition and leave the conditioner in while you wash the rest of your body. Make rinsing the conditioner out the last thing you do before getting out of the shower. Now you know what I’m referring to as the “BEAST.” Of course its the beard, and it IS a beast to try and tame for so many of you.

In this column I will offer knowledge I have acquired and suggestions on taming your beast, and how to do it on a shoestring budget. We’ll be looking at various shampoos, conditioners, etc. We will discuss split ends, styling, brushes, combs, the bleaching process, coloring process and all those neat things that are so elusive to so many of you. Please understand that while I don’t profess to be an expert, I do have a background in this field of endeavor, having attended a top rated beauty school. I became a professional beautician. I decided to make it my career, however, my legs had other ideas and couldn’t hold up to the rigors of being on them all day long. I had to abandon that career. I have kept up with changes, new products and procedures through the years. After all, I am a woman and we women, or at least most of us, do like to look our best. We’re geared that way. You gentlemen aren’t for the most part. UNTIL you decided to become Santa, that is. Each of you has your stories of how it all happened.

Having made that decision, you find yourselves learning things you never dreamed of. It was a delight to hear many of those stories at the 2006 convention in Branson MO. I also had the occasion to observe many, many ‘BEASTS.’ Some beards were very handsome, some were OK, some were rather pitiful and there were a select ‘few’ that were just downright embarrassing. Having become Charlie’s groomer and then seeing those disasters at the convention; I decided it was time to take action.

Beardology

I gave myself a complete refresher course on ‘Beardology’. The good news is: You don’t have to be rich to have a rich looking beard! Please understand, what works well for one may not work as well for another. I’ll offer suggestions, with lots of information on products and their use, but ONLY YOU will be able to determine what works best for YOU. I make NO guarantees, only suggestions. Lets take just a minute to talk about those ‘embarrassing beasts’ that showed up at the convention.

Grooming: Keep Neatly Trimmed

Gentlemen, if you don’t intend to portray Santa year round, that’s fine, but please don’t portray one of those men we mothers warn our children to stay away from by just ignoring how you look 10 months of the year! Go to your local Barber shop or Salon and have that beard cut back to an inch long or shave it off altogether and start re-growing it, taking care through the year to keep it neatly trimmed.

For you Santas that do portray Santa all year long, I cannot stress the importance of keeping your beard neatly groomed, in good condition and keeping your roots bleached out periodically. As most of you probably know, kids will identify you through the whole year as being Santa, so be the best looking one you can be while you’re at it. It’s not only is the right thing to do, but you may pick up several bookings along the way for the next Christmas season. People always rely on that first impression in determining whether they want to hire you or not. Speaking from personal experience, you never know whose path you may cross, anywhere, anytime.

Next: Shampoos and Conditioners

Now that we have come this far, next issue we will discuss shampoos and conditioners. I will try to cover affordable ones, pricey ones, deep conditioners, light conditioners and various shampoos that will work wonders for your ‘BEAST.’ I am humbled to be a part of this publication and hope you fellows, and those lucky enough to have a Mrs. Claus to help, will enjoy taking the journey to becoming a Stunning Santa with me. I invite each of you to share your experiences along this journey and I will try and answer any questions you may have. I welcome your questions and will feature some of them, along with my answers, in each issue. Just email me at \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Cindylu

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Taming the Beast - Lesson 1 –(reprinted from Jingle Press issue #3)

Shampoos & Conditioners

By Cindylu Thomas

Greetings to All,

Before we get started, many thanks to all the emails and calls I’ve gotten from so many of you and your kind comments. It’s always good to hear from you, so keep the e-mails/calls coming. I’ll be conducting a class in Santa Gary’s Santa Claus Academy in Atlanta on October 6, 2007 and would love to meet some of you ladies and gentlemen! (By the time you read this, we will have returned home) Can it be October already? It’s hard to believe but it’s time to start getting serious about the 2007 Christmas Season and all the Joy and Wonder the season brings to all. Whether you are a Santa at a mall with your Mrs. being your set manager, or if you’re going solo, or prefer to do the private parties, etc, the season is the same. It is magical and full of laughter, joy and giving of oneself for the good of all humanity. Preparing for the season can be quite stressful in itself so we sure don’t need hair and beard problems plaguing us and adding further stress to the season, so let’s talk about that for a little while..

Now is a good time to stock up on your shampoo’s, conditioners, deep conditioning conditioners and your bleaching products. There will be no time to be running to the store to get these things. If you have a professional taking care of your hair and beard, get those appointments made now. Your beautician, if she has a lot of Santa’s to take care of, will be just as busy as you and you may not be able to get an appointment. And fellows, if you’ve never done your own bleaching before, now is NOT the time to start. There is NO room for error this time of the year. Experiment all you wish right after the New Year. Most of you will have plenty of time to correct any ‘mistakes’ and not ruin your season.

Now, lets talk about shampoo’s and conditioners. Before you bleach, your hair needs to be in good/excellent condition. The only way for that to happen is to use the gentle everyday shampoos with moisturizer and conditioners on a regular basis ... like, every day. (Ok, at least every OTHER day, for sure.) If you have plenty of money, check out the Nioxin product line. You can find a lot of good stuff there, but it IS expensive and I’m not entirely convinced their products do any better than the more reasonably priced products you can purchase at a beauty store such as Sally’s Beauty World or Wal-mart/Target. You CAN look like a million bucks without spending a million. Trust me on this. One of my most favorite products I recommend for deep conditioning is Cowboy Magic Demineralizer/Conditioner. I’m happy to report that it can now be purchased online at a somewhat lower price than perhaps locally, but, as is usually the case, shipping charges ruin a good thing. Still, purchasing online remains a bit cheaper than at your local ‘tack shop’ which is the only other place you can purchase Cowboy Magic. Here’s the link to the Website: http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/ cowboyproducts.html

Yes, this product is used on horses manes and tails, but it is also approved for human use and does a wonderful job. I recommend using it at least once a week to keep the buildup from building up on your beard which eventually makes it dull. The good news is that you only use a small amount, about the size of a nickel, in the palm of your hand for your hair and another nickel size amount for your beard. So, whereas it might be a little on the pricey side, a bottle will last you a very long time. Follow the directions for use and you will be astounded by the results you get. I also suggest you leave the conditioner in your beard a minute or two longer than in your hair, as your beard is so porous it needs a little extra time for the minerals to completely soak in. If you missed my first article which covered the ‘art’ of shampooing, please refer to it to learn how to shampoo your hair and beard. Hint: NO fingernails are involved, and ‘gentle’ is the key word to always remember when working with your hair and beard. (It can be found online at http://www.AORBSantas.com) Cowboy Magic also offers a Rosewater Shampoo that is quite gentle and good for use every day. For those of you that have some serious issues with your hair and beard getting tangled up, I highly recommend the Cowboy Magic Detangler, but beware, THAT product IS rather pricey. Not as pricey as Nioxin products, but still more than I prefer to pay. It is worth it though, so I bite the frugal bullet and buy it while I grimace. When I see how well it works, I always smile and think how nice it is to actually get your moneys worth out of a product.

For everyday conditioning (and yes, gentlemen, you should condition daily) I really like the effect Dove conditioners have. The Dove shampoos are quite good as well, especially the Cool Moisture Cucumber & Green Tea Scent Shampoo and Conditioner. They not only cleanse and condition well, they leave a really nice scent to your hair and beard. When using these products, first thing you need to do when you get in the shower is wash your hair and beard thoroughly and then apply the conditioner to your beard and hair and leave it in to perform it’s magic while you wash the rest of your body. The last thing to do before exiting the shower is rinse the conditioner out. All conditioners, with the exception of Cowboy Magic, should be left in the hair and beard for at least 5 minutes. Cowboy Magic, 2 minutes or so. Once a month, take some time out to use a hot oil conditioner on your beard and the hair as well if you feel the need. Remember, beards and your scalp hair are two different beasts that you need to do different things to tame. The beard, in most instances the most unruly of the two, although there are some Santas that have let their hair grow out so long it has taken on a completely different life of its own. Whether you wear your hair short, medium length, or long though, in order to maintain control, it does need a regime of conditioning each day. If circumstances are such that you find it not possible to shampoo and condition one day, there are some good ‘leave-in’ conditioners on the market. Pantene makes a good one in spray bottle that you just spray on your dry beard, work it in, and just leave it in to keep the conditioning action going. Pantene makes some great products too, especially the Pro-V product line. You may want to try using the Pantene Restoratives Time Renewal Replenishing Mask for your deep conditioning instead of the Cowboy Magic first. It’s much less expensive and does a great job too. I also have had good results using the Pantene Restoratives Breakage Defense Shampoo. It works really well on those split ends and strengthens the beard hair especially. Gentlemen, please don’t expect any of these products to work miracles on damaged beards overnight. If you have stressed your hair and beard from over bleaching or overlapping bleach and have serious breakage and thinning hair and beard, NO product will work overnight. With continued and intensive use of the aforementioned products, you will see visible results in a couple weeks or so. Once you start seeing those results, don’t consider the problem solved and quit using them. You will need to continue using these products, or similar products for as long as you intend to portray Santa. As I said in my previous article, what works for one, may not work for another, so with these shampoos and conditioners, try them all if you aren’t satisfied with just the one that you choose. I really don’t think there are any ‘bad’ conditioners, just some that are better than others. There IS one out there that will work best for YOU! One last word about conditioning, there is NO such thing as too much conditioning. It has never happened and never will happen. So guys, condition, condition, condition and let me know how you’re doing! The next Jingle Press should be published around the middle of February, 2008. I want to personally wish each and every one of you the very best Season ever! Have fun, see a lot of kids, spread the Joy of the Magical Season called Christmas and above all, STAY HEALTHY!

Until next time,

Cindylu

\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it A Gathering In Texas

Santa Charlie Thomas AKA – BamaSanta

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Fur,

I need to make a clarification  to my most recent article on the Home Bleaching process.  It  should have been

included in the initial article and wasn't, so I do apologize. 

The instructions given are for virgin hair/beard and not for hair/beard that is already bleached and just needs

touching up.

For those of you that have your hair/beard bleached already and just want to start doing your own roots at

home, follow the same instructions as far as the mixing goes, but you ONLY apply the bleach solution to the roots

and DO NOT put bleach solution on the hair and beard that has been previously bleached.

At the time I wrote the article I was concentrating on the newer Santas that have consulted me about bleaching

out their hair/beards at home and it's hair that has never been bleached before.

I do hope this omission has not caused any of you any problems, and again I do apologize for my oversight.

As an aside, I need to hear from you Santas/helpers/Mrs. Clauses as to what you would like for me to

cover in my next article.  So send me an e-mail and let me know what you think.   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thanks for your patience and kindness~    

 _^Cindylu