all photos by Josh Fee who loves nothing better then taking picture of my head!

Hair that is thin or thinning, fine, breaks easily or lacks brilliance? There is something new that can help you out with that:

Kérastase Initialiste Advanced Scalp and Hair Concentrate - 60ml - $55 - for hair that feels thicker, looks shinier and is more resistant to breakage

I recently had a chance to try it for myself with a little help from Duyen Huynh at Taz Hair Co. in Toronto.





My fine hair can really use some thickness and shine as you can see from the before picture...
The concentrate is applied with a dropper to my roots and the important part is to massage it in, which is where letting someone else apply your treatment is a great thing - there is nothing better than a head massage!
And here's my hair after 1 week and 3 treatments - while a professional cut and blowout certainly does improve the way my hair looks I think you can also visibly notice that my hair looks thicker, it certainly does feel that way!

Initialiste is available at all Kérastase salons including Taz Hair Co. which you will find at 24 Bellair Street, Second Floor in Toronto - 416-922-6060.

Toronto lovers of beauty rejoice - Beautylicious is back again!  For those not familiar with what it is, many of the salons and spas in the Bloor-Yorkville area offer consumers set value-priced packages and services for a set period of time.  there is a wide array of hair, spa, skin and health & wellness service packages available at three set prices - $25, $75 and $125 in four categories: hair (hair/colour/cut/style); spa (includes massage and/or facial and/or mani/pedi); skin (non-invasive procedures including Botox, Restylane or chemical peel); and Health & Wellness (nutrition services, dental, chiropractic services)

There are too many packages for me to even begin to tell you about but you can find all the event info at www.bloor-yorkville.com with details of all the participating spas and salons as well as the packages available.  But I will share with you a few of the ones I have my eye on as well as a few that I have tried already and can recommend:

Marc Anthony Salon - 38 Avenue Road - 416-413-1521 has an amazing $125 offering of an all-over colour, wash, deep conditioning treatment, Shiatsu scalp massage, haircut and blowout (for new clients only).  I got my hair cut there with Byron last week and it was great - you can read the review here.

Taz Hair Co. - 11 Yorkville Avenue - 416-922-6060 has a great $75 or $125 package involving colour and/or highlights - snag Susan if you can, she's great and they use the INOA colour there which has to be experienced to be believed!  You can read my review here.

Pure + Simple - 41 Avenue Road - 416-924-6555 - I can't say enough about the deluxe sea salt microdermabrasion so you will just have to go an experience it for yourself for $125!  You can read the review here.

and don't miss out on seeing Dr. Cory Torgerson - Facial Cosmetic Surgery - 70 Yorkville Avenue, Suite 31 - 647-343-0207 - who is offering special promotional prices on Restylane or Perlane injectable fillers as well as Botox.  If you aren't ready for that yet, he is also offering a complimentary consultation and 3D photo image session - check out what you could look like after a bit (or a lot) of work!  I did it and it was fun, you can check out the post here.

What sounds interesting that I haven't tried:

Clarins Skin Spa - 87 Yorkville Avenue - 416-924-9124 - for $125 I can have a Hawaiian Wave body treatment + Firmer bust: super moisturizing treatment for the body and bust and decollete treatment to stimulate and tone for firmer skin in this delicate area.

OxyBeauty - 14A Hazelton Avenue, Suite 304 - 416-929-4597 - for $75 I can have a OXYjet facial: removes pore impurities, replenishes antioxidant content and provides deep skin moisturizing for environmentally damaged skin

Spa at the Windor Arms Hotel - 18 St. Thomas Street - 416-934-6031 - for $75 I can have a 60 minute Pumpkin Body Wrap: this vitamin-rich masque stimulates blood flow and nourishes the skin.

I have no idea how I will ever choose - it's too bad I only have one face (unlike Christelle)!

Check it out at www.bloor-yorkville.com and help me make a decision and if you're going to book, do it soon, they book up fast and it only runs October 28-November 7!

A couple of months ago I told you here about an event that I went to held by L'Oréal Professionnel to introduce their innovative new hair colouring product - INOA. Now it's all well and good to watch a slick presentation and admire the colour on a bunch of models but as someone smart once said - the proof is in the pudding!  Not that I wanted pudding on my head but I sure was up for trying some INOA hair colour so off I went on Saturday to Taz Hair Co. in Yorkville to have the full INOA experience.  Taz is located in a funky lower level shop on Yorkville Avenue and looks exactly like you would expect a salon in this super trendy part of town to look but at the same time I found it very warm and friendly.

I was sitting in the waiting area when I saw a girl with bright red hair show up.  Her arms were covered in tatoos, her shirt kept slipping off her shoulder and she was wearing a skirt so short, I was praying she wouldn't drop anything.  Of course, this turned out to be my colourist - Susan!  Now really,  is this what you expect a Susan to look like?  Susan's are mousy haired, wallflower accountants (no offense meant to any other Susans out there)!  They are not tattoo sporting, Bret Micheals loving, award winning colourists,  - but there you go - all my preconceived Susan notions have gone out the window!  On with the colour!

Here's a before so you can get an idea of what she started with - a dark auburn.  We decided to go light for spring.  I would have liked a strawberry blonde but INOA doesn't have a full range of reds yet so we decided on a light copper with a few highlights thrown in to lighten things up.  I had the best time with Susan while she coloured my hair and I'm pretty sure she is certifiable.  She warned me if Bret Michaels came up on the playlist that she would have to stop and slow dance - it never did happen so I didn't find out if it was me she would have been dancing with...  I would also be remiss if I didn't mention that Taz has some great eye candy... just sayin'...

And here's the after - beautiful no?!  Lighter, brighter and much more springlike!  Now let me tell you, the INOA really is better than any other dye I've used or had used on me.  There was NO smell and no scalp burning to it whatsoever.  Even the semi-permanent colour I usually use at home smells terrible and stings a bit! INOA is like having conditioner on your head - if it wasn't for the colour (mine was purple) you would never know you were colouring your hair!  So if you've been avoiding hair colour because you hate the smell/pain you are going to love this stuff!

Even better, the INOA shampoo they wash the colour out with smells amazing!  All fresh and fruity, I'm going to have to find out if this stuff is sold separately!  After the blowdry I could not get over how shiny and soft my hair was - this is so not your usual damaging hair dye!

Do I love it?  Yes!  Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  Do you need some INOA hair love of your own?  Why are you still asking me crazy questions?! - get yourself to Taz immediately!  

Colourist prices are $50-$70 and up.

Stylist prices are $50-$100 and up.


They also have a full array of esthetic services from Esthetics by Eva including facials - from $50, manicures - from $24, pedicures - from $45 as well as waxing and tinting.

You can find Taz at 11 Yorkville Avenue - 416-922-6060  If you aren't lucky enough to have Taz near you, INOA is available at all L'Oréal salons, you can go here to find yours.