Hair Makeover Challenge: The Results

Week 3: Two weeks ago, Jessica walked out of Ted Gibson’s NYC salon with a new cut and head-turning color. She’s since delved into ideeli-supplied hair products and tools, styling her new ‘do differently for 14 days straight. How’d it go? Let’s find out!

Last week, Jessica gave us an update and told us how to get the look of three, new styles. Today she’s back with the three products she could not style without — all of which you can find in our 14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair sale (ending 4/19 at 10AM). Find out why Jessica loves them below!

Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner
“This stuff is luxurious! Taking a shower feels like I'm being bathed in a rich vanilla scent, and it sticks with me throughout the day. It's a great foundation for soft, moisturized hair that's not weighed down at all.”

CHI Digital Ceramic Hair Waver
This helped me create a look I've been wanting to try for years! It creates those finger waves that were so popular in the '20s, and I've never been able to create those on my own. This tool is great for a formal occasion where you want to shine in a crowd. Literally, the ceramic plates give the hair a glistening shine. It's really gorgeous!

Carol’s Daughter Macadamia Heat-Styling Spray
“Just before and after styling, I use this hairspray. It doesn't leave the hair crunchy and gives it a soft, supple hold. My hair has been infallible on windy — if anything, it looks better! No matter what I do, with this arsenal at my fingertips, every day is a good hair day!”

Tempted to start your own hair makeover? Learn more about Jessica’s from start to finish. To find out more about our 14-Day Makeover Series Challenge, go here, where you can also follow our healthy eating and fashion challenges.

14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair

Week 2: Last week, we left Jessica with a chic, new cut and irresistible, coppery-red color. Still basking in her post-salon glow, the hard part of the 14-Day Makeover Challenge was just beginning: giving her new locks a different style for two weeks straight. Now with one week down, left’s find out how she’s doing!

Turns out, a makeover challenge isn’t so hard when you love your hair. Jessica can’t stop experimenting with her new beauty products from ideeli, straightening and curling her locks into new looks every single day. In fact, she gets so many compliments, she can barely field them anymore! But while it’s nice to be noticed, the best part is how she feels about herself.

”I actually feel lighter, better, and more confident in myself when I walk out the door in the morning. It really makes a difference in your disposition when you're happy with how you're presenting yourself.”

Here are Jessica’s three favorite looks—with easy steps to making them your own.

Scrunched-up Waves
“I wanted tight-messy curls that would loosen as the day went on—so they could go from a day at the office to a night out.”

1. Blow-dry hair fully.
2. Use medium-size, clipless curling iron; wrap hair downward around the iron with your hand, but don’t curl the ends.
3. Add de-frizzing product (I used E.V.A. Argan Oil Treatment).

Soft and Sleek
“For a just-from-the-salon look at work, I did a total 180 from my usual wavy hair, straightening it but still keeping a slight curl at the bottom.”

1. Blow-dry hair completely.
2. Add a heat-protecting product (I used Carol's Daughter Heat-Protection Foam). Straighten with flat iron.
3. Add de-frizzing product, like E.V.A. Argan Oil Treatment.

Pin Straight
“I wanted to straighten my hair, but spend less time than I did with the style above. The result is edgier and more textured.”

1. Blow-dry hair completely.
2. Add a heat-protecting product, like Carol's Daughter Heat-Protection Foam. Straighten with flat iron.
3. Use a hairspray or gel (I used Carol's Daughter Macadamia Heat-Styling Hairspray) to add texture.

Tune in next Tuesday (4/17) for the final results of Jessica’s hair makeover and to score her favorite styling tools and hair products in our 14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair sale. You can also learn more about our makeover series and follow our healthy-eating and fashion challenges.

Hair Makeover: Meet the Experts

There's nothing quite like just-from-the-salon hair. It's light and shiny, and it smells so good! But sooner or later, you have to wash and style it on your own, which — if you're like us — is when all good hair intentions comes to an end. But now we’ve got professional help!

Yesterday we launched our 14-Day Makeover Challenge for hair and introduced you to Jessica, an ideeli employee who turned her dark-blond locks into head-turning coppery red waves, thanks to two experts at the Ted Gibson salon in NYC. We sat down with Jessica's colorist and stylist, Ronny and Jill, not only to learn how to get our own dream cut and color, but also to get a few styling tips for after the post-salon glow washes out. First up, Ronny tells us how to get the best hair color — and keep it.

Ronny's Coloring Tips
Q: What’s the best way to go about picking a new hair color?
A. Keep your natural hair color in mind and look at how far this new shade is from that. Then think about the level of maintenance you're willing to commit to, and if you have gray or not (as that means more trips to the salon for touch-ups). The further you get away from your natural color, the more upkeep you’ll have.

Q: What should you never do when coloring hair?
A. Never color it at home. There are so many things that can easily go wrong. Box colors tend to be a shade (or two) darker than the actual dye is. If you must color your hair at home, only do your roots.

Q: What's special about Iona, the hair-color line you used for Jessica's makeover?
A. It's by L'Oreal, and it's the first hair-color line that doesn’t have ammonia in it — you can barely smell it! Iona doesn't open up the hair cuticles as much as ammonia-based dyes, so your hair won’t fade as easily.

Q: What hair color trend is not going anywhere anytime soon?
A. Ombré. I thought it was trend, but it's so easy to maintain, because it's darker on the top and lighter on the bottom.

Jill's Styling Tips
Q: How do you get the haircut you want when you go to a salon? Are photos really useful?
A. It's all about what the client wants to feel. When people describe what they’re looking for, what they're really telling me is how they want to feel afterward. As for photos, celebrity references are wonderful. Even if you have a different hair texture, I can tell what you're feeling — there's is no way to misinterpret what you want!

Q: What are good ways to get that just-from-the-salon feel at home?
A. A new haircut is all about sleekness, scent, and feel, so anything you can do to play up one of these three things will help. Use pomade and piece your hair out. That’s like a foolproof way to get texture — you can scrunch it out.

Q: You cut Jessica's hair shorter in the back and longer in the front — what does that do?
A. Narrower faces should always get more layers, while wider ones should have less (especially around the face). If you do have a wider face, longer, more-angled layers are better.

Q: What's a common misconception about styling products?
A. That a flat iron will fry your hair. Yes, it will if you don't protect it! Use any kind of styling product — a cream, smoothing serum, or a heat-protecting spray. They work as a lubricant or sheath, safeguarding your hair from the iron's extreme heat.

Learn more about our 14-Day Makeover Challenge and our healthy-eating makeover. Check back next Wednesday (4/11) to see how Jessica is maintaining her shiny new locks.

14-Day Makeover Challenge: Hair

Week 1: The haircut and color is always the real reveal in a makeover. Good ones brighten the face and balance its shape, allowing all the best features to stand out. Ready to tame her mane, our member specialist, Jessica, put her three main goals into writing:

1. Find the perfect cut, color, and style for her face shape, hair type, and personality
2. Get her hair as healthy as possible
3. Experiment with ways to wear her new style (and, hopefully, find a few foolproof 'dos to stand up to the summer humidity)

To help Jessica jump-start her new look, we hooked her up with a visit to the NYC salon of beloved celebrity stylist Ted Gibson, where two of his expert stylists set out to transform her long, fine locks into voluminous, red waves.

Jessica arrived at the salon with a folder full of inspiration — from photos of Jennifer Aniston's beachy waves to magazine tear-outs of Christina Hendricks's fiery red locks. Within minutes, expert colorist Ronny deemed Aniston's sun-kissed color too safe. (It is a makeover, after all!) A few pep talks later, and Jessica is on board for trying a coppery red shade. But she'll keep the length fairly long, because — makeover or not — it's best, says her stylist Jill, to stick to one major change at a time.

With the cut and color finished, Jessica and her duo of stylists dove right in to the next challenge, which was: what do I do with my hair now? They experimented with new styles — up, down, curled, and straightened — so that Jessica now has an arsenal of go-to hair tricks to turn to during her morning dash. And to help with the transformation, we’ve supplied her with some of ideeli's best-selling hair products and tools, which she'll test-drive and tell us all about over the next two weeks.

Check back tomorrow for a Q&A with Ted Gibson colorist Ronny and stylist Jill — and next Wednesday 4/ 11 to see how Jessica’s doing, one week into her hair challenge. Want to learn more about the ideeli 14-Day Makeover Challenge? Click here.

You can also follow our 14-Day Makeover Challenge: Healthy Eating. Click here.