​UPDATE: Covid-19 & “Shelter in Place” Order
Today is Tuesday, March 31, 2020

The Coronavirus aka COVID-19 continues to have an impact on each and every one of our lives. Social distancing, now more than ever, is crucial. The ability to run my business and take care of your needs has become impossible. That said, I will be OK. We will get through this together.

San Francisco has extended the “Shelter in Place” order until Sunday, May 3, 2020.  As I previously expressed to you, I am compelled to do my part for myself, for the rest of the salon and for you, my client, to safeguard the health and wellness of our community. The function of my work makes it impossible to keep a safe distance between myself and you, my client. Therefore, with the extension of the “Shelter in Place” order I will remain closed until May 4th. I feel like this is the right thing to do to support myself, you, the rest of the salon, and the community.

If you have an appointment scheduled during this timeframe, I will be reaching out to you personally. During this temporary closure I do not know exactly when the salon will be allowed to reopen, but have opened my calendar for appointment dates from May 4th and forward, pending further notice.  There is a button below if you wish to schedule an appointment.  I am determined to get back to doing what I love as soon as possible and I remain as committed as ever to accommodating you in every way I can. 

I am available by email or text if you have any questions or concerns. Please also follow my Facebook Page, @HairbyBrian.SF, and check my website’s “The Beauty Blog” for regular updates. I share some funny things on Instagram, too, at @HairbyBrian_SF.  

Thank you for understanding and for your continued support during these unprecedented times. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the very near future.

Lastly, thank you to each of you who reached out to me. Your love and support has not gone unnoticed.

Be Well,
- Brian ✂️ 

Here's some helpful information for those of you wondering what to do with your roots while you're self-isolating.

Just remember not to apply the touch up color much further than your outgrowth (the hair that has grown since your last haircolor appointment). You'll want to overlap just a little so you don't create a band, what I call a line of demarcation, in your hair that has not been colored. By covering only the hair that has grown out since your last color appointment you won't be causing a situation that may result in a color correction when you are able to get back into the salon to see me.
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I hope you find it helpful.

I heard this referenced on a morning talk show and had to look it up.  We definitely did not call it this when I was growing up in the 70's.

Top definition

butt cut
Hair style parted down the middle, popular in the 70's to 80's. Usually feathered.
That dude is rockin a serious Butt Cut!
 
#butt cutt#haircut#feathered do#feathered#robert plant

Even if you don’t know the show this is from, you could probably guess a few things about them — they’re the most popular kids in middle school, the bad-boy heartthrobs all the girls are after, with names like Scott or Brandt or Dustin or Alex.

The show is Pen15, the unflinchingly funny 2019 Hulu series about two girls entering seventh grade in the year 2000. It’s digging up deep-seated blunder-year nostalgia in 30-something so-and-so’s like me — many of whom actually rocked this haircut, or a far-less-attractive Supercuts version of it. It’s the “butt cut” — so nicknamed for the shape it turns the top of the wearer’s head.

Lara Cilento, Pen15‘s hair department head, says the styling choice is no accident.

“We knew [the butt cut] was a must for the ‘popular’ kids, and ‘older’ kids like [lead character Maya’s brother] Shuji,” Cilento says. “While doing our research, we pored over Tiger Beat, J-14 and the like, and also just pulled from our own memories and photos from kids we grew up with for inspiration.”

The butt cut “was so popular during this time period,” she continues, “we had to be careful not to overdo it and really decide who was a best fit for the butt cut.” In other words, the butt cut phenomenon was stranger than fiction. A realistic representation of a Y2K-era seventh grade class might look overdone, or too on-the-nose, on TV.

But how did the butt cut, of all styles, come to be the de-facto haircut of late-’90s bad boys?
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Get the scoop here >>>

This year are started a section for the "Follically Challenged".  There are so many conversations and articles on the topic and I want make sure you are getting good information. 

This month I have an article for you from the New York Times.

​She Was Losing Fistfuls of Hair.
​What Was Causing It?

Sudden hair loss may seem alarming, but it may be caused by a temporary stress and grow back.

A woman in my knitting group recently asked if any of us knew where she could buy a gray wig. Though she seemed to have an ample head of hair, she reported that she’d been losing fistfuls every time she brushed or washed it. Obviously very upset about what was happening, she said she didn’t want to wait until she was bald to find a substitute for her naturally gray hair.

She also wondered why, suddenly, this was happening and how it could be stopped. The dermatologist she consulted asked some telling questions and suggested the likely cause. Three months earlier, my friend had undergone surgery for colon cancer and, as if that weren’t enough of a stress, she had developed a serious postoperative infection.

The delayed result, a form of diffuse hair loss called telogen effluvium, was causing her hair to fall out in frightening clumps. The good news was that absent another physical or psychological insult, within a year she most likely will have regained her normal head of hair and can donate the wig she bought to a gray-haired woman about to undergo chemotherapy.

In a book about symptoms called “Am I Dying?!” by Drs. Christopher Kelly and Marc Eisenberg, both affiliated with the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the chapter on hair loss offers a simple description of the three stages of normal hair growth and how they might be disrupted. Under typical circumstances, people have about 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on their heads, with each hair follicle going through its growth cycle independently.

Spared an underlying insult, about 90 percent of your hair is in the anagen, or growth, stage, which can last for years and result in long tresses unless cut. The remaining 10 percent is either in the catagen stage, lasting four to six weeks and during which the hairs start to loosen in their follicles, or the resting telogen stage of two to three months, when the hairs are ready to fall out and end up in the brush, on your clothes or in the shower drain.

It’s normal to shed about 100 to 150 telogen phase hairs a day. But the loss of 100 or more hairs in one washing or brushing is not normal and, as with my friend, likely to cause alarm. This can happen when hair follicles in the anagen phase prematurely progress to the telogen phase and result in abnormal hair loss two to three months later.

In the hair loss chapter of the symptoms book, edited by Dr. Lindsey Bordone, assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia, the authors note that “the intense stress associated with surgery, weight loss, childbirth and any other emotional experience can force most of your hairs into the telogen stage. Since this stage lasts an average of three months, most of your hairs start to fall out after you’ve moved on from the stressor,” prompting you to wonder why it is happening and what can be done to reverse course.

Happily, there is a simple answer to the latter question. Assuming the stressful event has ended, consider getting a wig, head scarf, turban, cap or hat and wait until your hair grows back. Rest assured, if the hair loss was caused by a temporary stress, it will grow back, but patience is highly recommended. Regrowth is usually not apparent for four to six months and may take 12 to 18 months before it is cosmetically acceptable. There’s really nothing that can speed up the process, the doctors write, so don’t waste your money on supplements and other nonmedical hair loss remedies.

Other possible causes of diffuse telogen hair loss include an overactive or underactive thyroid, with normal hair growth restored once the hormonal abnormality is corrected. Various chronic or inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases or chronic infections may also cause diffuse telogen hair loss.

Nutritional deficiencies, especially of iron or zinc, protein, fatty acids or vitamin D, are other possible causes, as well as extreme caloric restriction and crash diets. Regardless of what you may suspect, getting a thorough medical checkup is highly recommended to determine a specific and often correctable cause of diffuse hair loss, Dr. Bordone urged.

Loss of hair in the anagen phase is never normal and most commonly results from a toxic exposure like treatment with anticancer drugs. Abnormal hair loss is usually noticed a week or two after the start of chemotherapy and is most apparent by two months. Scalp hair is most likely to be affected, but all facial and body hair may also be lost. However, hair will start to grow back within weeks after chemotherapy ends.

Other causes of anagen hair loss that can be permanent include radiation and heavy metal poisoning. In addition to chemotherapeutic drugs, medications that can sometimes cause hair loss include warfarin, steroids, birth control pills, lithium, amphetamines and vitamin A supplements, though hair will most often grow back when the offending medication is stopped.

The most common form of hair loss is age-related and is not associated with any underlying disease, deficiency or distressing situation. It is androgenetic alopecia, most commonly called male-pattern baldness, or female-pattern baldness when it affects women. This type of hair loss is most common in white men, affecting about half of them by age 50. White women tend to keep their hair longer, though about a third of them experience hair loss marked by a general thinning out of their hair by age 70, the Columbia doctors report.

Several medications are available that can help to counter androgenetic alopecia, at least to some extent. One is minoxidil, a scalp cream sold as Rogaine, among other brands; another is a pill called finasteride, sold as Propecia. The latter can help to shrink an enlarged prostate and improve urination, but in 1 percent of men it can cause sexual dysfunction.

Women can also use minoxidil to counter hair-thinning caused by androgenetic alopecia. However, some women contribute to their hair loss by adopting tight hairstyles like a ponytail or cornrows that tug on the hair, practices that prompted the Columbia doctors to recommend letting your hair down.

The most mystifying form of hair loss, called alopecia areata, results from an attack on hair follicles by the body’s own immune system. It usually results in smooth, coin-size bald patches on the head, although the autoimmune attack on hair follicles can also affect a man’s beard, all the hair on a person’s head, or all the hair on the entire body. Hair regrows within a year in about half of patients, although hair loss can sometimes recur, the doctors said.

Jane Brody is the Personal Health columnist, a position she has held since 1976. She has written more than a dozen books including the best sellers “Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book” and “Jane Brody’s Good Food Book.”

A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 4, 2020, Section D, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: She Was Losing Fistfuls of Hair. But Why?

Here's another good article with helpful information for you during these times.

The only section I am in disagreement with is regarding "at-home" color kits.  Doing something like this jeopardizes my license and is a liability issue waiting to happen. AND if you've ever colored your own hair you know it's not easy and can make a huge mess if you don't know what you're doing.  I did make a comment on the Today Shows Facebook post that they should ask those of us working in the field and not rely solely on "celebrity" stylists.

Other than that one section, there is a lot of helpful information in this article.

1. It's OK to cancel your hair appointment right now
2. Salons are putting your health first
3. You can maintain great hair at home
4. Send your stylist some love
5. Stylists are eager to get back to work, too

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"We are not just in the business of doing hair; we are in the business of making people look good and feel good"
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