2015 - Small Changes Can Add Up to a Healthier You

 Every year we do the same thing. We set big goals and have poor execution plans. This year let's all make smaller goals and take it step by step. We hope to be a healthier, happier version of which we already are year in and year out. In reality it is quite simple. Making small life changes helps us in the long run. Maybe switch to oats with cinnamon instead of cereal.

Make a switch from soda to water. Then make sure to drink plenty of water each day. The changes you make to the inside of your body shine through.

Drinking plenty of water each day helps your skin get a natural glow. But help it stay beautiful with proper skin care. Follow the typical steps of Cleanser, Toner, & Moisturizer and you're almost golden. At Alba we carry a brilliant skincare line which is Paraben Free, Vegan, Gluten Free, and Cruelty Free. It doesn't get much better than that, well, except for it does! It is also insanely cost efficient. You want to go with all three steps ideally. The cleanser cleans your face of all the dirt and toxins your skin comes in contact with throughout the day, and helps your skin keep a healthy complexion. The toner is often a skipped step, but personally I believe it is one of the more important ones. It adds moisture back into the skin and it balances out the pH in your skin. What balancing out the pH does is it lets the moisturizer penetrate the skin quicker and deeper. After a rough cleaning the skin is trying to find its normal balance and it can take up to five hours for it to regulate again, and while it's busy trying to regulate itself the moisturizer just sits there and can't do what it’s there to do, which you know is to keep you looking fresh, glowing, and beautiful.

When you feel better you naturally look better, but sometimes we want more. We have the beautiful face down, but now what do we do with our hair? Clearly stay away from box color, because that’s just scary! But we can take another baby step in the right direction, maybe this year another little goal can be to go out of our comfort zone. Try something a bit healthier for your hair. The first route we take at Alba is an ammonia free hair color. Our color line is the only permanent color line available with certified organically grown ingredients. It also functions as a reconstructor and helps the hair be healthy from the inside out rather than adding a layer of silicone on the top to make it appear shiny and healthy; this line actually does the deed. Ammonia can be responsible for destroying a protein in your hair called Tyrosine, which is responsible for your hairs natural pigment. Our color uses heat instead of ammonia to open the hair cuticle for the color processing. Using heat makes it easier for us to close the cuticle and bring it back to its normal pH which prevents unnecessary bleeding of color breakage, and dry feeling hair. To expand on the benefits of using ammonia free color over, well, ammonia color, it is simply a healthier option. Ammonia is extremely damaging to your hair and it usually contains such a high percentage of other chemicals which can be harmful to your health over a long period of time. I stumbled across this salon in Arizona who really knows their stuff on Ammonia color lines so if you're interested in more details about the difference between the two, check out their info ammonia-and-ammonia-free-hair-color 

Not only is our color healthy for your hair, but our styling products are also top notch being Sulphate Free, Paraben Free, and Cruelty Free. We carry a broad range of products each with individual benefits to target problem areas, or to finish off a perfect style! Our stylists each have their favorite products, and a vast knowledge on them all. So come visit us and learn a little more on how to be a little bit healthier this year.

BY: Becci Jahn  - Alba Organic Beauty Studio  /  Cincy Organic Stylebar Team Member

Three Reasons to try a Waterless Pedicure

The whole world is going green, and salons are no exception. The beauty world is helping the planet conserve a precious resource by switching to cleaner, greener waterless pedicures. But it’s understandable if you are skeptical about your favorite salon going waterless, so here are three reasons to try a waterless pedicure.

Waterless Pedicures Are Green

Every time you hit the salon for a pedicure, the first step (after grabbing your favorite gossip magazine, of course) is to soak your feet. Everyone loves this part of a pedicure. It is soothing. It is heavenly. It is horrible for the environment.

Most standard spa tubs use somewhere between 15 and 18 gallons of water per pedicure. That’s nearly as much as a load of laundry. Water is one of the planet’s most valuable natural resources, and with every traditional pedicure we are literally watching it go down the drain.

Waterless Pedicures Are Healthy

A waterless pedicure begins by sanitizing your feet with a hot, steamed towel. This protects you from any water-borne bacteria lurking in a tub that hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned. Even if your favorite nail tech cleans her tub like a pro, a faulty filtration system can allow fungus to grow in the tub’s pipes. If you remove the water, you remove the pipes, the margin for error, and all the ways a traditional pedicure can harm your feet.

A waterless pedicure is still healthy in all the ways you are used to. You’ll still have your nails and cuticles treated; you’ll still have your calluses taken care of, and you’ll still leave the salon with smooth, moisturized feet. A waterless pedicure gives you all the health benefits of a watered pedicure, with none of the drawbacks.

Waterless Pedicures Are Long-Lasting

Let’s try an experiment—come on, humor us. Turn on any faucet in the house and run your hand under the water. When you pull your hand away, it will have the appearance of being cleaner and smoother. And all you did was leave it under water for a few seconds.

The same thing can happen during a traditional pedicure. The water, by moisturizing your feet, actually masks your problem areas. A waterless pedicure allows your tech to see all of your feet’s flaws and fix them—so your feet look better, longer.

Many women find that their nail polish lasts longer after a waterless pedicure. The reason for this is thermal expansion. It’s time for another experiment. Head back to the faucet, but this time take an unopened jar with a medal lid. Run the lid under hot water. You’ll find the jar is easier to open because the warm water caused the lid to expand. That’s thermal expansion at work.

But how does that apply to your toenails? All that soaking in the tub causes your nails to expand. Typically, they are still a bit bigger when you have nail polish applied. But by the time you get home, your nails contract, causing your polish to crack. With a waterless pedicure, this doesn’t happen and your favorite shade stays on your feet for a longer time.

Waterless pedicures are better for the environment, healthier for you, and longer lasting than their water-using counterparts. Want to see what it feels like? Book an appointment today and find out for yourself.

Breathe Free at Cincy Organic Stylebar

There is something missing at Cincy Organic Stylebar: that nail salon smell. You know the one—the odor that makes a day of beauty smell more like the third shift at a paint factory. This is no accident. Cincy Organic Stylebar’s commitment to non-toxic nail polish keeps its customers and employees healthy and safe. It also keeps the place smelling fantastic.

In most salons, the smell of polish and artificial nail products will almost knock you out quicker than you can pick your favorite shade. Unfortunately, it is not just a nasty smell in the air.  The nail polishes and associated products causing the offensive odor contain chemicals that are potential carcinogens. 

A common toxin in nail polish is formaldehyde. That is right—the stunning shade of red you swipe on before a hot date may contain the same chemical used to preserve dead bodies. And that is just the toxic tip of the nail polish iceberg.

Recently, some health-conscious brands of polish began removing carcinogens including formaldehyde, toluene, and dibutylphthalate. Cincy Organic Stylebar went on a mission to find the best and safest brands of nail polish.

Cincy Organic Stylebar selected Priti NYC, a non-toxic polish free of five carcinogens. This 5-free polish is not only safe enough for children and pregnant women to use, it is also vegan and cruelty-free. Nothing is harmed in the making of Priti, but that is just one of the reasons Cincy Organic Stylebar uses it.

You are probably thinking non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free nail polish comes in two colors: drab and boring. Lucky for you, that is not the case. Priti comes in over 100 different shades from simple nudes to eye-catching neons, mattes, metallics and rich darks.

In addition to being non-toxic and gorgeous, Priti performs like a dream. Not only is the polish fast drying, it is chip resistant.  Some of Cincy Organic Stylebar’s customers report their manis look great for well over a week and pedis even longer! It is eco-friendly and real-life ready—talk about the best of both worlds.

Stop by Cincy Organic Stylebar and check out their wide selection of 5-free polish. Better yet, book an appointment for a classic manicure. You will leave with glamorous nails that will not chip on the drive home. More important is what you will not get: exposure to dangerous carcinogens and a noseful of that awful typical nail salon smell.