Galen's Hair Story

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Galen is a fairly new client compared to my full client base.  She wasn’t able to get her desired appointment time/date for quite some time, so she would randomly appear on my schedule until her work schedule changed, allowing her to be available after work on a day that I had a recurring appointment available.  

We struggled with Galen’s sensitive scalp for a while.  She loves a relaxer and desires to cover her gray as well.  A dermatologist had prescribed Ketoconazole shampoo for her flaky scalp, but all it yielded was a 4 day solution, at her next weekly appointment, she returned to the salon with the same condition,  We knew that it was probably, inflammation, Malassezia (thick oily dandruff) and an allergy to the color.  So we started removing the barriers to her achieving her healthiest hair.

First, we continued to use the prescription shampoo as we tweaked her routine.  She had previously received relaxers every 4 weeks.  I am now relaxing her hair every 7-8 weeks.  Yes, her hair is still manageable and not only that, she has more body.

I then searched for a color line that could render the darker color yet did not contain PPD (paraphenylenediamine) which is usually the irritant found in the darker shades of color. Now, her gray is successfully covered and she has had major improvement on her scalp.  Our next steps will include attacking the inflammation and permanently ridding the scalp of the Malassezia.  

She is on a regular trim routine and I strictly monitor her hair’s need for moisture vs. protein.  Needless to say, her hair and scalp have greatly improved.  The plan is to keep it at this length for about a year to gradually trim the weaker hair, then we will continue to “skim"* the ends and allow the newer, healthier hair to flourish.   It’s not only important for me to do what I know to do, but that the client feels comfortable with the process as well.  I can safely say that Galen and I are both comfortable with the process.   See for yourself.

*Skim, (v) trimming a small amount on a regular basis, sometimes every week if necessary so that the hair ends never get a chance to split.  This process is necessary on hair that has split ends that traveled up the hair shaft as well as healthy hair that you want to keep as such.