Part 1

Preparation

Greetings Santas , Mrs. Claus, Elves, and other helpers,

So, ok, you had a great Christmas Season and a few months to recoup from it, now you are ready to get going in your planning for the next one. That ‘next one’ can be all the way until November 2008 or, if you are an Independent Contractor could be as soon as Christmas in July events, which seem to be becoming more and more popular with each passing year. As you probably know, Santa Charlie and I, (as his Mrs. Claus) are Independent Contractors and spent a great deal of time last year marketing ourselves for Christmas In July events which turned out to be quite successful. We’re doing a couple repeats this year.

For those of you that only appear as Santa during the Christmas Season (such as Mall Santas), now is the time to do experimenting with your hair and beard.

Some of you have sent e-mails to me, usually in September or October, inquiring about home bleaching and how to get your hair and beard whiter looking. I deliberately have not covered the bleaching process during that period of time because, if something should go wrong, you would not have time to re-grow your hair/beard for the upcoming season.

If you want to learn how to bleach your hair and beard yourself, now is the time for home bleaching experimentation because you DO have time for re-growth, should an accident occur. If you follow my instructions to the letter, you will not have any accidents. If you have any questions about those instructions or it isn’t clear to you, please e-mail me before you start the process. Err on the side of caution. Best to be safe and not sorry and I don’t mind answering any of your questions. Together, we can get you looking great and you won’t even have to take out a loan! Goodness knows, you gentlemen, spend enough on wardrobe and accessories without spending a fortune to have a world class beard.

Before we begin, please understand that the information I am about to share with you is general information and you may or may not get the same results that other Santas have with their bleaching efforts. You each have your own ‘beasts’ to contend with.. No two are alike and no two react exactly the same. For instance, if your hair/beard is naturally black/brown, you most likely will have to go through the entire bleaching process at least twice, maybe more, before you get to the pale yellow stage you need to be. The hardest and most stubborn are the ones that have a lot of red pigment. Redheads take a lot of time and patience. My advice is just that…..advice . I offer no guarantees and can only advise. You are the keepers of your hair/beard and know what condition it’s in. I will say, however, to those of you that are willing to follow my instructions EXACTLY as I give them, I don’t think you will be disappointed by the outcome. To achieve success, you must make a commitment to follow through and follow instructions to the letter, NO shortcuts allowed.

I know how some of you gentlemen like to take shortcuts and trust me when I tell you there are NO shortcuts when it comes to working with chemicals. If you decide to create your own shortcuts, you do so at your own peril and I will not assume any responsibility for your failure to achieve the results you are seeking. I hope you will excuse my harshness on this topic, but I want to be very clear so we are all on the same page with this all-important task you are about to undertake. It’s serious stuff and should be taken seriously.

If you are not a patient person and get frustrated easily, I would encourage you to just find a good beautician that specializes in beards and get your checkbook out.

There are a lot of really good beauticians out there that do a wonderful job, but facial hair IS a specialty, and certainly the bleaching process of that facial hair can get pretty dicey. Before you schedule an appointment, speak with the beautician, in person. If you have a Mrs. Claus or other helper that will be involved in the process, take them along with you to also ask questions, such as how long she/he has been a professional beautician and especially how much experience she/he has with the bleaching of facial hair. If she/he indicates facial hair is the same as scalp hair……….. leave immediately and don’t look back - she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

The ultimate goal, regardless of what your natural hair color is, is to reach a very, very pale yellow color that is uniform. That applies whether you are bleaching it yourself, or a qualified beautician is doing it. Generally, it has been my experience that the scalp hair will achieve the pale yellow color before the facial hair does, but understand that the darker your natural hair/beard color is, the longer it will take to get to the pale yellow stage. Also, understand that you will never bleach out to WHITE. The whitening comes through the use of a color rinse or toner AFTER you have achieved the pale yellow stage from your bleaching efforts.

We’ve all heard the horror stories from some of the Santas that have been to a “Professional” to get their bleaching done for the Season and all the burning, breakage, facial sores and misery they have gone through. I am here to tell you that NO Santa should ever suffer chemical burns and endure the discoloration and sores that are left from such burning. What happens to cause this? What happens is the beautician applying too strong a developer and trying to bleach out all at one time in order to get you bleached out and another customer in her chair as quickly as possible. If your scalp or face starts burning, the bleach should immediately be rinsed out with cool water. You may feel a bit of a ‘tingling’ sensation when the mixture is first applied, that’s normal, but in no event should it burn. I assure you, if you have burning and your beautician tells you it’s to be expected, she/he does NOT have your best interests at heart, but rather hers/his.

If you have decided to learn how to do your own bleaching, here are some useful tips in order to prepare for it.

A few days before bleaching, don’t eat any spicy food. I know it sounds crazy and I don’t know the reasoning, but there are cases on record that clearly indicate diet has a lot to do with how your body chemistry will work with the bleaching process. So leave off the spicy food for a few days.

Use a mild shampoo and gently shampoo your hair and beard each day for 3 days using a generous amount of a good conditioner on both. Use your fingertips to work the shampoo through the hair…never use your fingernails.

On the day of the scheduled bleaching, shampoo your hair and rinse thoroughly, but do NOT apply any conditioner. (This is the ONLY time you will ever hear me tell you NOT to condition) but it’s important that you do not have a conditioner on your hair and beard so the follicles will soak in the bleach and not be blocked by conditioner.

Check your scalp & face for any rash, cuts or abrasions. If you have any sores, cuts, abrasions, etc. postpone the bleaching process until completely healed.

If your hair or beard has a lot of split ends or is real dry and/or brittle, you must get it in tip top shape before bleaching. Snip the split ends and start working on getting your hair and beard in good condition. I strongly discourage bleaching at all if your hair and/or beard is not in good condition. Anytime you are applying chemicals to hair, whether it be scalp or facial hair, it will weaken the hair somewhat. If your hair is already in bad shape, it will only get worse through the bleaching process, and especially if you have to repeat the bleaching process two or three times.

An example of hair and a beard in good condition is one that is soft, shiny and feels silky to the touch when wet before conditioner is applied. If your face is dry and you have a lot of flaking of dry skin onto your clothes, chances are real good that your beard is very dry too. Again, I do not recommend bleaching until that dryness has been treated for a couple weeks with a really good conditioner each day and a nice ‘leave in’ conditioner at night while sleeping. In other words 24 hr conditioning for two full weeks.

Ok, now you know what is needed before the bleaching process can take place and I imagine there are a number of you out there that will need a couple weeks to get your hair and beard in good enough condition for bleaching to take place. Get to work on it, stay vigilant and I’ll be back in a couple weeks and give you step by step very detailed instructions on the actual bleaching process.

In closing, for those of you that might have the dry, brittle or damaged beards/hair, I recommend you purchase a jar of Pantene Pro-V Restoratives “Time Renewal Replenishing Mask. It’s a thick cream conditioner in 7.6 fl. Oz. jar and can be found at any Wal-Mart or Target store. Use a gentle shampoo and condition each day. At night, after shampooing/conditioning, before going to bed spray a generous amount of Pantene Pro-v daily renewal treatment leave-in formula. It comes in a Pearl White spray pump plastic 10.2 Fl. Oz. Bottle. This product corrects and revitalizes dry/damaged hair while you sleep. Spray it on the beard and hair, work it through with your fingertips, then comb it through to spread it evenly. I think you will be astonished at the difference in your hair and beard texture over the next couple weeks.

Until next time, I wish you all well in your efforts! If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail. I’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Best Wishes to all, I’ll see you in a couple weeks!

Cindylu