Imagine: it’s a sweltering July afternoon in Miami at 97 degrees and 99 percent humidity; you’re baking in the sun on the sandy shores of South Beach; your skin is glistening as you earn your sultry, summer glow and your hair is soft, sleek, and totally fuzz-free. Fantasy? Not anymore thanks to our groundbreaking Goldwell Kerasilk keratin treatment.
Once touted as a miracle treatment, keratin services are nothing new to the scene, though they’ve been slowly on the decline due to the rise of the ”˜natural’ hair movement (women embracing their natural texture) and the discovery of the treatment’s key component, formaldehyde, a well-known carcinogen.
The keratin treatment is a semi-permanent hair smoothing system, which targets the cuticle, or outside layer of the hair. The professional strand-smoother saturates the hair with a combination of the liquid version of the keratin protein that your hair is made up of a formaldehyde solution, which is then blow dried and flat ironed in to lock strands into a straight position.
For those looking to achieve a frizz-free summer style without taking a serious hit to their health, Goldwell’s Kerasilk system, as praised by Allure magazine as a “key player” on the forefront of safer strand-smoothing treatments, employs glyoxylic acid to temporarily mend bonds in the hair to fight frizz and leave locks humidity-proof for weeks. Perfect for those looking to smooth curls without smothering, the Kerasilk treatment maintains the integrity of hair’s natural texture, so curls are left glossy and manageable rather than stick-straight.
The Kerasilk system is not only non-toxic, but also completely customizable to best cater to the needs of each individual client. The revolutionary technique uses a two-component approach (one for shaping and one for smoothing), which allows your stylist to “diagnose” hair problems and tweak accordingly as pictured in the diagram below.
Silky-smooth and totally safe summer hair is at your fingertips, South Florida! Stop by McAllister Spa for your complimentary consultation today. Check out the pricing of our straightening and smoothing treatments today, along with our full salon menu for haircuts, color, highlights and more
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
The summer months are quickly approaching – ”˜tis the season to switch up your hair color. Welcome in the warmer weather with a refreshing blonde hue to compliment your skin’s sunny, summer glow. Picking the perfect shade can be a challenge, but we’ve taken the guesswork out of the equation with these simple tips from McAllister Spa’s Creative Director and renowned Goldwell Master Colorist Mark Holloway.
The key to successfully transitioning to blonde is choosing the shade that best compliments your skin tone, which ranges from cool, to neutral or warm with varying pink, golden and olive undertones.
Take the Quiz
First, take this short quiz to figure out your skin tone… Click here!
Now, Let’s Find Your Best Blonde!
Cool
People with cool skin tones typically have eyes that are blue, gray, greenish-blue or almost black. Cool tones are often associated with pink, peach or bluish undertones. These people are particularly good blonde candidates, as lightening locks is known to create a natural, radiant glow against cool skin tones.
To avoid looking flushed, steer clear of warmth in your blonde and instead opt for lighter, ashy shades, like sandy or beige blondes. The lighter your skin, the lighter you’re able to go with your blonde.
Warm
Warm skin tones are usually accompanied by green, hazel, amber or warm brown eyes. Those with warm tones tend to have yellow, golden, or peach undertones. To minimize tinges of green and yellow in the skin and add warmth to the face, opt for rich, honey hues and golden blonde tones like buttery, honey and strawberry blondes
Neutral
Lucky you! If your skin has no obvious pink or green undertones, you’re able to rock both warm and cool blonde shades. Play around to see what works best for you.
Whatever your skin tone, don’t be afraid to take a walk on the wild side with your color. With the introduction of Olaplex, stylists are now able to take clients lighter than they ever could have dreamed of with minimal damage. Where the lightening process previously broke down bonds in the hair, critical for maintaining strong, vibrant locks, the Olaplex treatment is now able to swoop in, acting as “bond multiplier” to rebuild those bonds, lessening the damage and even leaving hair stronger and healthier than it would be otherwise. The sky’s the limit – happy blonding!
Take Your Quiz to Determine “Your Blonde” at McAllister Spa
The team in the hair salon at McAllister Spa loves meeting potential new clients to talk about how they can deliver the perfect results for you. Consultations are always free and our stylists are available for you 7 days a week. If you want to learn more about the individual stylists at McAllister, just click here and you’ll be taken to our team member biography page.
When you are ready, just call us at 305-604-0550 or click “Request an Appointment” anywhere on our site to send an emailed request. We can’t wait to meet you!
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
Check out Destiny’s YouTube debut as she takes a couple of minutes to discuss how simple updos can dramatically transform your look in no time at all. Whether you book an Express Updo with the New Talent in McAllister’s StyleLab or you take an appointment with one of the members of our hair salon such as Destiny, you will leave with the look that fits the event and accentuates your natural beauty.
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
Stylists in Miami -and the world over – have long acknowledged the Holy Grail of hair coloring, yet no one has ever been able to answer the seemingly unanswerable- how do you color and lighten hair without damaging it in the process? For decades, it was thought that some damage was unavoidable when attempting dramatic hair coloring, particularly bleach-blonde highlights, serious balayages and crazy ombres. And the best professional hair colorists at McAllister Spa have long been asked by new clients to attempt repairs of damage caused by other stylists through artful corrective color jobs, hydrating treatments, keratin and smoothing treatments. Clients see celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and Kim Kardashian changing their tresses with the same frequency as most people change their outfits and have long sought after the same transformative ability of hair color. At last, the grail quest is over; Olaplex has landed at McAllister Spa. You ask…what is Olaplex? Read on to find out.
Meet Olaplex
Olaplex is a truly revolutionary hair product that attacks the problem of broken, damaged and bleached hair at its literal root. Hair is damaged through a variety of means, from hair color application, to hair lightening, blonding and highlighting, to exposure to styling heat and environmental factors (heat, humidity, pollution, chlorinated water, etc) and even mechanical forces like friction experienced by the hair when washed or wet-combed. All of these factors damage otherwise healthy hair – making it brittle, dry, coarse and weak. The use of Olaplex repairs and restores damaged hair by resolving the common causes through chemistry. …The big question everyone keeps asking the McAllister Spa Team is – how does Olaplex work!?
Chemistry 101 of Olaplex
So we know that hair is damaged through a variety of mechanisms. One of the primary sites of damage is where disulfide bonds are altered or broken within the structure of hair strands. These broken bonds result in the visible changes that we collectiely refer to as “damage.” Olaplex reconnects these broken bonds, which restores the appearance of hair to a more natural, healthy state. When combined with hair color, bleach, perms, relaxers, lighteners during the application process. Olaplex also restructures distressed disulfide bonds when used in concert with blowouts and flat iron use; Olaplex actually protects disulfide bonds from the stresses that break these disulfide bonds, preventing these issues in the first place.
Let’s also mention what Olaplex is not. While Olaplex is a mixture of polymers (…just a fancy word for strings and chains of molecules…), it is free of silicones, oils, aldehydes, parabens, gluten and is cruelty-free.
Olaplex’s Organic Chemistry for Dummies
If you are a typical hair nerd like the McAllister team, you aren’t yet fully satisfied with this explanation. So let’s spend just a moment going into a little further detail. Your hair is nearly entirely made of proteins belonging to a family of fibrous keratin molecules (a familiar clan to most of us!). Keratin molecules are held in place and together by disulfide bonds where a common amino acid cysteine is in the mix, along with certain salts and hydrogen atoms. These disulfide bonds give the hair strength, flexibility and make the hair more resistant to the stresses of everyday living. If you’re thinking right now – Smelly sulfur? No! Not in MY hair – sorry to break the news…it’s in there and you actually need it! =) Need proof? Have you ever burnt your hair with a blowdryer? Do you remember that distinctly disagreeable, sulfur-like smell? That pungent aroma is partly created by the cleavage of disulfide bonds. These broken bonds then interact with oxygen, making hair brittle and prone to breakage. You may or may not see this destruction happen in real-time, but you may feel the changes in hair texture, you can at times faintly smell the reactions as they occur and your natural beauty will obviously suffer from its result. And these are the processes disrupted and reversed through Olaplex’s incredible action.
Who Created Olaplex?
As the story goes, a guy by the name of Dean Christal was working to develop a product to repair damaged hair and compete against the fabled MoroccanOil, and while toiling with formulation details, he was introduced to a chemist named Craig Hawker at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Within their conversation spanning just a few minutes, Dr. Hawker had theoretically invented the solution to one of hair coloring’s oldest troubles. It took Dean a bit longer to persuade Craig to physically concoct what would become known as Olaplex. When Dr. Hawker did finally agree to formulate this magic stuff, he collaborated with a colleague named, Dr. Eric Pressly.
Together, this duo of renowned academics within the Industrial Materials & Chemistry space unwittingly started a fashion and beauty revolution when they handed over a small jar of Olaplex to Dean. In turn, Dean reached out to several celebrity colorists who gave the product a trial run and the rest – as the story goes – is #Instagood Instagram history!
A Superficial Overview of the Olaplex Process
The explanations of how Olaplex can be used during hair treatments and to repair damaged hair will be the subject of another blog post in the Olaplex series in the near future. It can be used in several ways and this blog post is already long enough! =) For now, we will give you a quick, 30,000-foot view.
Olaplex is a simple system, comprised of just three essential components. They are known as the Bond Multiplier No.1, the Bond Perfector No.2 and Olaplex Hair Perfect No.3 Take Home Treatment. Generally speaking, Olaplex can be used to achieve more beautiful, healthier hair in one of three different ways: a.) to protect your hair’s disulfide bonds from damage resulting from chemical processes during the application of color or chemicals during your salon visit, b.) to reorganize and repair disulfide bonds that were exposed to chemicals, bleaches, lighteners, heat or environmental factors prior to the salon visit, or c.) a combination of protection, reorganization & repair.
Miami’s Olaplex Hair Coloring Experts
McAllister Spa, located on Miami Beach, has been working with Olaplex since just after it was born. And while using it, the stylists and colorists at McAllister have experienced some incredible results. We’ve taken hair to lighter blondes than ever before and restored horribly damaged hair in a matter of minutes with Olaplex. And as we continue along this journey with Olaplex, the McAllister Spa team will provide you with more details!
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
Meet Olaplex – the revolutionary hair color additive coveted by sought-after celebrity stylists, changing the game for hair professionals and color junkies alike. While traditional hair color penetrates the shaft and alters the bond structure of the strand, Olaplex utilizes polymers (the same used in transplant surgery to prevent rejection) to maintain bond structure throughout the process, leaving strands in their natural state from start to finish, resulting in ZERO damage and longer-lasting color.
Less is More With Olaplex
Olaplex has been used thousands of times around the country and already hundreds of times at McAllister Spa. The results speak for themselves – the look is nothing short of amazing. The only mistake you can use is using too much Olaplex – and the only “side effect” of using too much is the processing time climbs and climbs. The hair can never be damaged through the use of Olaplex!
Simple & Safe to Use on All Hair Types
The process for McAllister stylists & colorists of hair coloring is not that much different when you include the use of Olaplex. Your stylists will start by mixing the chosen color or lightener and then add the Olaplex Bond Multiplier No. 1 to the mixed color. Your McAllister stylist will then rinse the color from your hair and apply the Olaplex Bond Perfector No. 2 for a minimum of 5 minutes. After the passage of time, the stylist can then rinse, shampoo and condition your newly colored hair – or you can choose to leave it in the hair as a cutting lotion! The final step is the purchase of Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 to use once a week at home to further strengthen your hair.
Olaplex’s Results Last & Last…
The restorative effects of Olaplex are dramatic and they last since the results are based upon strengthened natural bonds within the hair shaft itself. It isn’t just a coating or a conditioner – it fundamentally changes the chemical composition of your hair, repairing the damage naturally encountered during the coloring or lightening processes and from everyday environmental stresses. One of the common concerns revolves around whether Olaplex “builds up” in the hair, resulting in more resistant color applications in the future. The answer is no – the hair becomes healthier by returning to a more naturally undamaged state; it doesn’t inhibit future attempts to color or lighten the hair.
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
Check out the November 2014 edition of American Salon Magazine. McAllister Spa has been acknowledged as one of Miami Beach’s best salons in the “Our Town” section. Congratulate the team next time you are in for one of your next appointment! The text of this release can be found by clicking here.
McAllister Spa & Salon
McAllister Spa & Salon is housed in a converted historic villa, and offers cuts, highlights, blowouts, color, straightening treatments, extensions, and eyebrow and eyelash tinting. “The most rewarding part of owning a salon is being able to carry on my great-great-grandfather’s legacy by perpetuating the warm hospitality synonymous with our family name,” says salon owner William McAllister.
Opened in 2010, the 2,000-square-foot salon boasts old-world charm with wooden floors and bold geometric furnishings, making it a comprehensive, upscale solution for the community’s beauty and wellness needs. The staff of 25 is always brainstorming new services, like BYOB [Bring Your Own Brush] ladies’ night, where the staff leads makeup tutorials and clients use their own beauty products.
In stock: CND, Dermalogica, Goldwell, Moroccanoil, OPI
More than a decade ago, William McAllister hatched an idea to disrupt the beauty salon industry in Miami Beach. He contemplated what salons once were in years gone by. He yearned to recapture their unique contributions to both personal beauty & community. In the past 10 years, he’s forever changed the industry, and according to him, he’s just getting started! He draws from a unique background – encompassing everything from neurophysiology, business to firefighting- and built South Beach’s busiest & most reviewed beauty concept in South Florida.
We are here for you. We’d LOVE to help you schedule a time to come see us. Our Stylists are kind, gentle & caring. We’ve been doing this for decades and served thousands of happy clients. I’m sure you will enjoy our service … But it’s our Salon, and of course I would say that. So, if you’d like, I’m pleased to offer you a 100% no-cost risk-free consultation. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have to make sure you are happy & see how things are going. So you know we are right for you. There is no risk to calling us, if you do it’s worth every penny. And, if you decide that things just didn’t work out – that’s fine too, you’ll owe nothing. Don’t know what style or color you want? No problem! Now Open 7 Days a Week!
Voted Best Salon in Miami Beach, FL. Decades of knowledge and experience. 5-Star rated Spa, Hair & Nail Salon in South Beach, FL. Nails, Essie Colors. Keratin Treatment, Cinderella Extensions & More!
