peter coppola

Halloween Dreams by Misti Blu Day

/ Blu Owl Gypsy / Leave a comment

  

“I, myself, am strange and unusual.”

-Lydia Deetz from Beatlejuice 1988

Model: Elisha McClure

Hair/Makeup/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Products: Peter Coppola Mud

   
   

 “Jack! But they said you were dead. You must be… DOUBLE DEAD!” 

-Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas 1993

Model/Makeup Artist: Christina Moore

Hair/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Hair Products: Peter Coppola Steel, Mud and HD Gloss

     
   

 “My first experiment was so lovely that we made her a Queen. Charming, don’t you think? Then of course, we had to have a King. Now, he’s so madly in love with her that we have to seal him in.”

 -Dr. Petorious from Bride of Frankenstein 1935

Model: Sasha Rosenblum

Hair/Makeup/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Products: Peter Coppola Titanium and Mud

  
Model: Reznor Sikes

Hair/Makeup/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Products: Peter Coppola Mud

“Eyes in every direction! They’re coming for us.” 

-Rick from The Walking Dead

   
   
Model: Frazier Philpot

Hair/Makeup/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Hair Products: Peter Coppola Steel

“Most people are so ungrateful to be alive, but not you, not any more…”

-Saw 2004

   
 

“Who will survive and what will be left of them?” 

-Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974

   
 
Model: Sushii Xhyvette

Hair/Makeup/Photography: Misti Blu Day

Products: Peter Coppola

“You girls watch out for those weirdos.”

“We are the weirdos, mister.”

-The Craft 1996

Salon Life: Peter Coppola Refinishing System

/ Blu Owl Gypsy / 1 Comment

By Misti Blu Day

 

Peter Coppola is not just a product line. This is an all encompassing haircare brand that is here to galvanize the beauty industry with something real. For me, it is a culture.

Peter Coppola is the reason why the term “unisex” exists. In the 70s you could not step foot in a beauty parlor if you were a man. It was illegal! Women could not go to barbershops. Peter Coppola took this to the Supreme Court and fought for a change. He won the case and the next day, unisex was a word.


When I first began my career in cosmetology, I noticed how cutthroat other stylist were. They would talk poorly about their peers behind their back to make themselves look better and more skilled. They would take clients and keep their knowledge to themselves like secrets. I love that this industry has grown so much over the years and changed in such a positive way. Now, we have each other’s backs and share our knowledge and education with each other. In my salon, we even share our clients sometimes and it is no big deal! I love that companies like Hattori Hanzo Shears and Peter Coppola are the package deal and inspire passion, education and giving back. We are in this industry together and share a passion together. Be the change!

What I love about this product is that is is simple, safe and versatile. Other treatments require you to open the doors in your salon and plug in a fan at your station while you try not to breathe in the toxic fumes and fog up the room. Peter Coppola Keratin Treatment has a step that requires the product to be rinsed out prior to applying heat. This also means that your client can leave and wash their hair whenever. No more waiting three days with a filmy residue and avoiding clips. They leave ensured with a perfectly manageable texture that will leave them constantly running their fingers through their hair for up to 90 days.


Sasha before:


Sasha after:

   

What you need:

Blow Dryer
Flat Iron

Clips

Bowl

Cape

Towel

Brush
Fine Tooth Comb

Prep:

-Shampoo the hair with the Peter Coppola Clarifying Shampoo. Shampoo the hair, not scalp, by sliding down the hair as opposed to rubbing, which prevents tangling. Shampoo once or twice and towel dry hair to 80% dry by patting like you do with a perm.

Treatment:

Part the hair in four quadrants and start in the back right, back left, front right, front left.

Apply product with a comb or color brush. Comb through at the end as close to scalp without applying to scalp.

Processing time is minimum 20 minutes to maximum of 50 minutes. You can put under dryer for first 10 minutes for very highly texturd hair.) Comb every 5-10 min to make sure it is straight, creating mechanical manipulation and tension.

Rinse the hair and blowout their hair out the way they want, straight or volumized. Flat Iron hair the same way was applied. Comb followed by flat iron for 3-8 passes at 350-430 degrees and refinishing the texture your client desires. The range of the passes and temperature vary based on desired results and condition of the hair giving you control of the clients end results.

Follow up with a trim if needed.

Additional notes:

Oxoacetemide and carbo-cysteine are the main active ingredients, making this product an acidic 1.8 pH, whereas formaldehyde and aldehyde based treatments are alkaline with a high pH. Hair has an approximate pH of 4.5ish. Pure h2O has a pH of 7.

Check out http://ewg.org/ to look up ingredients in any product if you are a nerd like me and want to know what and how chemicals work.

You can even do treatments on beards!

Top 5 Tuesday – Our Top 5 Favorite Photo Apps

/ Blu Owl Gypsy / 1 Comment

One of our favorite things is to take beautiful pictures that captures our favorite moments. Luckily, Misti Blu is an accomplished photographer but let’s face it, having the equipment to take all these pictures on the fly is just not an option. That’s where our handy dandy phones come to the rescue, but what do you do when you’ve captured a beautiful shot but it looks flat and uninspired?

Photo Apps to the rescue!

Many of the best photo Apps have a wide variety of options from preset adjustments to full autonomy where you can choose what the picture needs to adjust. I’ve also been known to use multiple apps on the same picture if I’m looking for a certain effect. Here are the ones we are playing with now but tell us your favorites!

1) Autodesk Pixlr 

This is a free app that gives tons of options for presets and is one of my favorites for selfies. Why? Because it has a lovely button to create a smooth glow to the picture. I also love their text options, borders and overlays that can add anything from laser beams to pretty morning light flecks that add a touch of magic.

imageimage

What I don’t like is their stickers. Though I’m not one to use them on the regular to begin with, I personally find their options cheesy.

*Bonus Feature: If you have a blemish there’s a “heal” button that will eliminate it. Sigh…if only there was one in real life.

2) VSCO

My son turned me on to this free app about a month ago. Though their options for presets are limited in the free version, I do love the many easy to use options to adjust the picture by hand. I find this app particularly helpful when I take a picture that is too dark. Sometimes just changing the lighting and contrast won’t cut it. The color and sharpness may get lost in the process which is where this app really shines. From tint colors, saturation, sharpness….I’ve taken pictures that were unrecognizable to wow in moments.

image

*What I don’t like? There’s no add ons, like writing text or overlays but as a straight up photo editor, it kicks ass.

3) TextsPhoto

image

Admittedly I’m just starting to play around with this one. I’ve tried several apps that add texts along with the option of banners and stickers for my advertising. Though you have to pay .99 cents to get all the font options, they still give you enough for free to feel like you can mix it up a bit. I love their banners, seals and scrolling that you can add to the picture however I’m still figuring out how to adequately shrink the text with out tilting it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so to see a line of text ever so slightly askew and I keep overshooting to make it straight again, I get frustrated and trash the whole project.

Again, this one has been superior than some of the other “just add text” apps but still has its quirks. I still use Pixlr Express because its a little more user friendly but it definitely does not have all the options that this app has.

4) Afterglow


  
Afterglow is Misti’s go to app. You can resize images into squares for Instagram, play with filters, add light leaks or film scratches, record actions and save them for easier and faster use. I love how artsy you can make an image. If I could change one thing about it, it would be that there was a text option.




5) Diptic



Diptic is a collage app that also lets you adjust filters, borders, color, text, etc. I especially love that it does not add it’s logo to your collage when done, like the other collage apps I have tried. It is great for personal as well as professional. I use it a lot for before and after shots and for marketing. Super simple and saves your favorite templates.

Shoutouts:
ABM: Cute and quirky fun photo app with filters and stickers and texts to dress up and photo on the fly.
 

Hipstamatic: Artsy film style camera that let’s you collect and use different lenses, film, flashes, etc. Great for the film nerd who misses their old camera.

 

Wanderlust Wednesday – Chicago 

/ Blu Owl Gypsy / Leave a comment

Day 1: Up bright and early to head to the Orlando International Airport on about 2 hours of sleep. Being a raging insomniac and a morning person is no joke! Anyway, I do my usual headphones and sunglasses to portray the “I don’t feel like chatting” vibe. It is all I do all day, everyday. Traveling is so peaceful to me because of the music in my ears and speeding through the airport hallways blurs the rest of the world. Zoning out of the airplane window let’s my mind wander, like dancing in a large field with an endless horizon, whereas at home it feels more like a whirlwind of unorganized thoughts. I dream when I am up in the air and feel like a bird that was just released from it’s cage.  
I fell in love with this cat sculpture at my layover in Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. 

  

  


Day 2: Thank the gods for coffee and gatorade! I am at the Pivot Point outside of Chicago. We learned about everything from history and chemistry to culture and just learning about each other. Everything was very intimate as well as informative. 

Mandatory dinner at Prairie Moon in Evanston, Illinois. My brain is very full! Goodnight!

   

We met the publisher of Modern Salon! So much amazing information to soak in!

   

  

Day 3: 

So busy! Class is from 8:30am-6:00pm then mandatory karaoke at Trader Todd’s from 8:00pm-12am.   

   
 

Day 4:  Peter Coppola went to the Supreme Court in 1972 to fight for lifting the ban of men’s cuts in beauty salons. The next day, the term “unisex” was coined. What I love about this company is that we all come from different backgrounds and different cultures, ethnicities, genders, and we all have out own brand of crazy. The product line is not the reason we are here. It is genuine and unisex and simple. The products are amazing. They make our jobs in this industry more sufficient and effective. 

The name, the brand, is a culture. We want to inspire the industry with simplicity, safety and versatility. We are all equals. We are here to galvanize the beauty industry with something real and to unite our industry with inspiration, education and support. Humility is the secret to success. Mastery takes a lifetime. 

  
At the end of all of this, I found that I have found a family and others that I can relate to. It felt more like a spiritual journey for all of us. We all caught the feels. I cannot wait to see what happens next and where this journey will take me. 

  

Top 5 Tuesday-How to Take Care of Your Hair

/ Blu Owl Gypsy / Leave a comment
  1. How to shampoo: Most of you are shampooing wrong! The most effective way to shampoo your hair is to make sure it is wet enough and creates a lather. If it has been a few days, shampoo twice! I always do and occasionally need to use a clarifying shampoo to remove product buildup. You only need to shampoo your scalp. When you rinse your hair, it will rinse down through your ends. You want to avoid directly putting shampoo on your ends or it can cause dyness. You should not shampoo everyday. Invest in a good dry shampoo for inbetween.  
  2. Conditioning: The opposite goes for conditioning. You do not want to condition the scalp because it is new, healthy hair and your scalp produces oil already. Conditioning your scalp can cause an oily look and will require you to shampoo sooner. I like to leave the conditioner in while I do the rest of my shower business so that the steam and time helps to open the cuticle and get a deep conditioning.  Finally, make sure you rinse your back after conditioning so that you do not have an oily film that can cause breakouts.  
  3. After Treatment: I chronically torture my hair with hot tools and color services, therefore, I like to use leave in treatments for my poor ends.  For those with curly hair, where the hair bends is more fragile and finer than the other areas of the hair, which means: breakage. Leave in conditioners are important but make sure it is meant to be left in. I hear sometimes people leave their conditioner in and it is not meant for that. 
  4. Haircuts: I know most of the ladies want to grow out their hair, believe me, I am one of them. However, when you have split ends, the ends will continue to split up the hairshaft or break off. Maintaining a trim on a 4-6 week basis will help keep your hail healthy and prevent breakage.   
  5. Hair Ties: Please stop. Just….. Stop. You are causing friction from constantly pulling your hair up and twisting the hair ties around, which erodes the hair and causes breakage. I see this too often with clients. If you feel the need to wear your hair up daily, I suggest getting a haircut or doing something to switch it up so that you are out of your hair rut. Otherwise, I know it gets hot and some of you people live at the gym. Just use with caution and moderately.    

Misti Blu Day is a stylist and co-owns a salon with her brother Danny Day in Cocoa Village called The Big Bang Studio. She was an educator for Sexy Hair and now is beginning training to be be an educator for Peter Coppola.