Brad Bykkonen

As a hair professional I’m here to help you feel as good about yourself and your look as I possibly can. This can involve many things. A haircut, a color, a great style out and even beautiful hair extensions. Some people hear the words Hair Exten…

The Most Anticipated Hair Trends For Spring 2013″Outré hairstyles are fun to look at but dont necessarily translate well off the runway when you don’t have a team of stylists at the ready. This season, there was no question that wearable looks had a major presence. Thats not to say creativity wasnt on full display—we saw new ways to wear your ponytail (think low and wide), braid your braid (try a crisscross direction), slick your part and tie a knot (tight!). And perhaps the most captivating trend this season? Hair accessories inspired by everything from blossoming flowers to sporty bands to beekeepers headpieces, for when you want to just slip something on and make a statement.”http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/hairarticles/spring2013hairtrends#slide8A little snippet from this months Harpers Bazaar.com.It seems like its going to be all about the low pony and the bun this spring, with a french braid thrown in for a little pizzaz. I like this. Its neat and tidy. Polished without being severe. Fun, and takes less effort than going through the blow out and curl process.There is one thing about this thats hitting me a bit sideways. Women are already doing this! Have been for many months, so I dane to ask what is really new? Do the fashion magazines always get it right?Here in Texas we have a somewhat short or lack there of, of a winter. Not surprisingly, styles dont fluctuate severely from spring/summer to fall/winter. Maybe a low light or two thrown in for good measure at the first sign of cold weather. Just to give it that touch of autumn. Then lightening it back up again in the spring causing damage and setting yourself up for a much needed haircut.I would really l like to see something more. Something truly revolutionary. I would like to see a softer blonde. Lets come out of our bleach cloud and find softness in the hair again. Growing out all of the previous damage done by over processing and hair color trend changing (which I never liked anyway).When I think spring I think renewal. I think shine and movement. Soft color with some soft waves. Maybe a braid or two. Giving a break to or putting away all together that over used flat iron. Replacing it with soft air dried or maybe hot rolled hair.Dont get me wrong, I love blonde hair and sometimes bleach blonde. But in my opinion its time to stop playing with different colors in the hair like its Crayola, or bleaching it to DEATH and never allowing it to grow and be healthy. Id love the trend to turn around and just be healthy beautiful hair. Long or short. Straight or wavy. Whatever, as long as its healthy.

The 70th annual Golden Globe awards this year were as stylish and flashy as ever. This year I noticed that old Hollywood glamour was the theme of the night. There were lots of long side waves, ponytails, and sculpted 30’s inspired updo’s.Th…

Tis the season for all things warm, fuzzy and formal. It never fails that December seems like the shortest month because our calendar is filled with shopping and parties and all of the things that go along with it.Updo’s may seem old fashioned, b…

Meandering around the internet this morning I came upon a great new site calledqueer in the kitchen.com. Just a few friends getting together and experimenting with food and ways to keep it healthy. I love this site. It reminds me of the days when as stylist we would,and sometimes still do, get together and brain storm new techniques and cool promos for our salon. Then I realized that Ive neglected my mens clientele by not talking about mens cutsDallas in my blog. No offense guys.Aside from all the color and extensions I do on my female clients I also have a pretty healthy client base of men. When I used to be able to grow a full head of hair I was one of those “picky” queens when it came to my hair. Consequetnly I could not find anyone that could cut my hair the way I liked it, so I did it myself. As karma would have it my pickiness probably led to my loss of hair, but I digress.Ive been doing hair since the days of Methuselah and Ive seen many clients come and go. Many styles come in and out of fashion, female and male. Remember the Rick Astley pompadour or the Vanilla Ice fade? Well theyre both back and its hard to believe that Ive actually been in the industry that long to see a full cycle. Yikes! IM ONLY 41 YEARS OLD!!!Here at The Beauty Box Salon we do specialize in color and hair extensions but that doesnt mean we dont do mens cuts as well. At least I do. And hey, if you want some weave put up on your dome I can do that as well. Im not a barber so Im not able to shave anyones face (thank god because those razors scare me).Check me out athttp://bradbykkonen.com/services/

This years Emmy awards were filled with hot and not so hot fashion and a lot of hair extensions.The designer gowns, towering stilettos, glittering gems and weave are back.Red Carpet mainstays Nicole Kidman, Zooey Deschanel, Tina Fey, Sofia Vergara, Claire Danes and the lovely ladies of “Mad Men,” among others, all of whom never fail to dazzle us with fashion as well as popping in a few extra pieces of hair for that sexy bombshell look.Sofia Vergara and Heidi Klum ramped up the sizzle Sunday night in sexyslitupto“there” gowns. And chartreuse (yellow) made it to the red carpet on Julianne Moore and Claire Danes. Danes of course never fails to look drop dead gorgeous. And on top of it all she’s pregnant. I love her.Kelly Osbournewore one of the most expensive accessory at the Emmy Awards. No, it was not her lavender gown, hair color, or her jewelry. It was her black diamond fingernail polish that costs $250,000 for just one bottle. A very extravagant polish that’s going to end up soaked into a cotton ball and thrown into the trash can. YIKES! How about buying someone a condo instead?The biggest wow of the evening for me was Tina Fey. I’ve never seen her looking so gorgeous on a red carpet. She definitely got it right this time.All in all the awards ceremony was in my opinion fantastic. Everyone brought major fashion credibility to the Nokia Theatre, even if they werent necessarily my favorites.

The last photo in our wedding series is the actual wedding itself.For this I sat back for a bit and let the rest of the team get their hands in there and create. There was a point where I saw something in what they were creating and at that point I ask…

A cocktail is an alcoholic mixture that contains two or more ingredients. We all love a good cocktail. The word cocktail is sometimes used figuratively for a mixture of liquids or other substances as well. Lately weve been using the term for mixing two…

Being in the beauty industry for some time Ive seen products and styles come in and out of fashion like the mythical winds of Chicago. I thought hair extensions would be like this.In the beginning they were big bulky strands of hair held on by a kerati…

The latest from Paris Fashion Week. Prada has reinterpretated the hombre look. I love the fun play on last years hot trend to make it new and playful.

Bobs, bangs, and retro oh my! This past Sundays Academy Awards showed off lots of fun hair. Lots of heavy bangs and retro inspired celebrity hair; some also done very simply with a dash of casual. As usual the red carpet was a better show than the cere…

“Blondes make the best victims. Theyre like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.” Alfred Hitchcock loved blonde hair.Blondes must have been mesmerizing for the king of suspense. Almost every heroine in an Alfred Hitchcock film was a blonde. There is something angelic and sweet looking about a beautiful blonde, thats probably why Hitchcock cast them. Who better to play the victim than an angel?From Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe to Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren to Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker celebrities/movie stars use blonde hair to sell sex, innocence and vulnerability and it all seems so easy for them. However its not always so easy to get there. Going blonde can be a delicate process.The process of going blonde can go perfectly and then in a split second go horribly wrong. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when making someone blonde. The most important thing is to know where youre starting from and knowing where youre going. Seems easy, I know, but there are a lot of stylists out there that dont realize that its a journey that must not be taken lightly. It is also an expensive journey, so be prepaired.How dark the hair is naturally determines where your journey starts. How light you want the hair to be and what tone youre going for is where the journey ends. For instance if youre trying to achieve a level 9 or 10 and you start at a natural level 5 youre going to have a longer journey than if youre starting at a level 7. There are methods that speed up the bleaching process; however I caution you to use these wisely. Using aggressive methods of bleaching can over process the hair and cause loss of shine and condition to breakage.In my opinion the most effective way to insure a beautiful blonde with minimal damage is to use a low volume peroxide and do a slow bleaching process. It may not be the most efficient but its absolutely the best way to minimize damage.Peroxide (developer) is what opens the hair cuticle and its the chemical reaction (oxidation) with ammonia that releases or devolves the melanin. The amount of melanin in your hair is what determines its level and shade. It is very important that you dont over process the cuticle of the hair. The reason why is because the cuticle is the essential strength of the hair. The more its opened and damaged the less strength it has and the less it will hold tone. Hair is a nonliving tissue and is unable to heal itself or to be healed. Once the cuticle has been damaged it can never be repaired so take great caution when coloring or bleaching. Blond hair is often the most damaged hair because of the methods needed to acheive a pale result.Remember that there are 7 stages of lightening. Going through all 7 slowly will insure that the blonde youre creating will be healthy, shiny and beautiful.*Please keep in mind that anything is possible with in reason. You may be unable to acheive your desired result due to your natural base color or previous color processes. *

Have you ever looked at a celebrity and thought to yourself ” I wonder what their favorite holiday is?”? Neither have I until I saw Katy Perry at the Grammys this past weekend.Im thinking her favorite holiday has to be easter. Can you guess why?A few months back I wrote a blog on pink hair and how it was cute on the new Barbie as well as on Katy Perry but Im at a loss with the faded out blue/green that she had at the Grammys. First of all she had mega roots and Im not sure but it seems like it started off being blue and faded blue/greenish. One things for sure, it wasnt cute.Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against coloring your hair blue. One of my best friends did that last summer and it looked great on her. What she did right was she retouched her color about once a week. This keeps that crisp primary color.Katy Perry walked around that stage with crimped blue/greenish hair that looked like it was dyed by Paas Easter egg dye.Maybe she was feeling the winter blues and felt that easter should come sooner.On things for sure. Pastels look good on eggs but not on hair. Poor poor pretty Perry; if you dont want your next partner to look like the Easter Bunny stop looking like an Easter egg.

Being a Dallas salon professional for almost 23 years Ive come across some products that Ive loved, hated and really thought were funny. Some have stood the test of time and are still around but many are reformulated, repackaged, renamed or just gone w…

Kelly Clarkson did a beautiful and appropriate rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl. She sang beautifully and for once looked comfortable in what she was wearing.Being a very cute voluptuous girl shes been recently styled in ill fitt…

Ive been watching the Today Show for a long time but recently Ive been making it my morning routine. My alarm goes off, my tv automatically turns on to NBC5 and the Today Show. I may or may not get out of bed but at least my eyes are open. If youre a T…

How to get long hair : Here it is folks. The first of my “Love it or Weave it” segments, where I talk about 5 celebrities who wear hair extensions and whether they do it well or should “weave it alone”.Ha ha, who doesnt love a little play on words?I often struggle with which should go first. The good, which then leaves the end of the post on a bad note or start with the bad and leave the post with a happy ending? Well I like a happy ending, so lets start with the “weave it”.I simply must begin withBritney Spears. She has some good days but mostly she has very bad days with her extensions. My belief is that she isnt the type of girl to really take good care of her hair.As a result her extensions as well as her natural hair suffer.This isno bueno Britney!Another “weave it” is her Mickey Mouse Club costarChristina Aguilera. Usually she looks pretty put together but recently shes been sporting weave that doesnt match her hair color as well as some hair I can only liken to atroll doll.Now that Ive gotten that out of the way lets get on the the “Love It”. I loveJennifer Lopezand all of her various weave she wears. She is obviously someone who cares about how she looks and knowshow to get long hairthat looks natural. Love, love, love how she always blends in her extensions and various pieces to match her color and looks fantasticJessica Simpsonis another who seems to have either terrific hair for extensions or she just knows how to work them like no other. She can even wear a completely different color from her and seem to make it work.Last but not least isPamela Andersonwho on her own has very fine hair but with the help of extensions achieves the full bombshell look. I love her.So either “Love it” or “Weave It” folks. Until next time. Ciao!

Its film and television awards season everyone!TheGolden Globeswere this past weekend and Im always excited to see how everyone looks walking down the red carpet.This was the year of the really bad gown.I may just work at a smallsalon in dallashowever …

Permanent haircolor foam? Is this necessary?Nice and Easy Color Blend Foam, John Frieda Precision Foam, and Clariol Foam are some of the leading hair color foam products.There is a new trend in drug store hair color. Instead of being a liquid or a gel …