New Beauty Column from Katherine and Company Salon and Day Spa

I’d like to introduce myself. I am Katherine Steinmuller, master colorist and salon owner of Katherine and Company Salon and Day Spa, located in Westhampton Beach. In the upcoming months I will take your questions on hair color, cutting, facial treatments and nail enhancement services.

At Katherine and Company we like to combat winter dryness and lack of shine by using the Brazilian blowout. Through the use of a proprietary polymer system, the Brazilian blowout actually improves the condition of the hair by creating a protective protein layer around the hair shaft to eliminate frizz and smooth the hair cuticle—resulting in healthy, conditioned hair with radiant shine. There are several different manufactures of this type of treatments available. While this treatment continues to be a hot topic in the media, I suggest asking your stylist to use a non-formaldehyde treatment (many of our clients love the end result).

Our clients also always ask how to combat static electricity during the winter months. Here are a few tricks that have worked well for me: I turn my winter hat inside out and spray lightly with hairspray; I spray my scarf lightly as well. I add a small pea-size of sojourn monoi oil to my hair as I finish my blow dry. And there’s always the old standby—spray your hairbrush with hairspray before your finial brush-through.

Ellen Gabriel, Katherine and Company’s Head Esthetician, recommends her skin-care clients get peels during the winter months. As Ellen explained to me, during the winter her clients are less likely to be in the sun, so winter is the perfect time to exfoliate the dermas in order to remove sun damage and accumulated hyper pigmentation. Since peels remove up to 30 percent of the dry dead skin cells, moisturizer and other age-defying products are better absorbed into the freshly resurfaced skin.

Have your own questions for Katherine and Company? You can contact her at katherineandcompany@yahoo.com.