There’s something about summer that just makes you want to try out something new. And for us at Artemis Salon, that means a new hairstyle!

We’ve been keeping tabs on all the hottest color trends for summer and let us tell you, they are BEAUTIFUL! Here’s what to expect this summer:

High Contrast Color

This summer is going to be all about high contrast color. If you’re stuck between color choices, why not get them both? This vibrant trend will be everywhere this summer and we’ll be honest, we are here for it.

Dark & Shiny Locks

If you want to shimmer in the sun this summer, this sparkling trend is the one for you. Our stylist, Nicole has perfected this trend and it looks beautiful on her! Dark hair is no longer reserved for winter; it’s coming out in full force this summer with some added shine. Gloss, anyone?

Follow Nicole on Instagram at: @nicole_artemissalon

Blorange

More than just a play on words (or sounding like a beachy cocktail), blorange is a new take on the “old” strawberry blonde. Plus, it compliments those sunny days perfectly. Who else is ready for the beach?

Dip Dye

This summer, hair is going to be all about being bold, bright and colorful. If you’re not quite sure you’re ready to dye your full head, then the dip dye trend is perfect for you. With your ends gently dyed a vibrant color, this trend is the perfect way to transform your hair in an innovative new way. Plus, we think it looks amazing!

Bold Roots

Quarantine hair, don’t care. One of the hottest trends to emerge this summer are bold roots and if you ask us, they definitely make a statement!

Strawberry Brown

No longer just reserved for blondes, brunettes are finally getting the strawberry love treatment they deserve. What a great way to add a pop of color to your natural hue, right?

Jet Black

The darker, the better. That’s the motto of one of this year’s hottest summer hair color trends. Bold, jet-black hair is going to be everywhere this year and it’s a trend we can’t get enough of.

Pops of Color

Like the dip dye trend, pops of color are an easy and effective way to add a little pizazz to your hair style. It’s simple but definitely effective.

“Fantasy” Hair

One of our favorite things to do here, at Artemis Salon, is play with color so this neon trend is right up our alley. Neon shades are the hottest new trend and trust us when we say, yes, you can definitely pull this off!

Iced Gray

While gray has been a trendy color for a couple years now, iced shades are elevating this look to a whole new level.

As you can see, there are a ton of fun, vibrant and beautiful color trends coming up in the next few months. Don’t be afraid to try something outside the box. Your hair is an extension of your self-expression and here at Artemis Salon, we’re here to help you feel your most beautiful. We can’t wait to reopen our doors and help you rock these newest summer trends. We’ll see you soon.

It goes without saying that Earth Day will be celebrated much differently than in years past.

Annually celebrated on April 22nd, Earth Day is all about providing support for environmental protection. And here, at Artemis Salon, we’re proud to be practicing that mission everyday. Traditionally, many companies and individuals will celebrate Earth Day by choosing to ride their bike to and from their destination, buy fruit and vegetables from their local farmer’s market or plant a tree or other type of greenery. In light of Covid-19, our world is living a bit differently nowadays. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate Earth Day! Below are five unique ways you can celebrate Earth Day while self-isolating.

Start a Compost Pile

Starting your own compost pile is an excellent way to provide nutrient-rich soil for your garden while also serving as a beautiful way to give back to Mother Earth. One of the best benefits about starting a compost pile is that it not only recycles common kitchen waste, but it minimizes the amount of garbage that gets sent to landfills. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to get started. Commonly used compost items include egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags and even human hair. Fun fact: human hair can help plants grow due to how rich in nitrogen it is! So next time you’re cleaning out your hair brush, grab a few strands to bury in your plant’s soil and watch them grow.

Stream a Nature Documentary

Did you know that watching nature documentaries are actually good for your mental health? According to a study conducted by BBC Earth and the University of California Berkeley, watching nature documentaries resulted in decreased stress and anxiety levels while also boosting curiosity and happiness. Instead of flipping on an old staple (here’s looking at you, the Office), why not commemorate Earth Day with a documentary on what makes our planet such an incredible place to live? What we love about nature documentaries is that we always learn something new. Learning about the ways in which we can get involved and give back to our planet is one of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day. Who knows, the documentary you watch may help spark some environmentally-conscious ideas you’ll be eager to try moving forward!

Cook a Plant-Friendly Meal From Home

One unique and easy way to celebrate Earth Day is cooking a plant-based meal at home. Plant-based meals are often very high in fiber, which can help lower your cholesterol, maintain a healthy wait and help you live longer. Additionally, plant-friendly lifestyles help to reduce your carbon footprint, slow deforestation and save the lives of animals. There are a ton of easy and unique dishes to make, too, which makes this one of our favorite ways to commemorate the holiday. Hop on over to Google and see what stands out to you. You may even have many of the ingredients in your cabinets already!

Go Outside

While this entry may seem a little silly, one of the best ways to celebrate our environment is by enjoying it. As our world has technologically evolved, the time we spend outdoors has severely diminished. Studies show that people spend 90% of their time indoors. While this does account for relaxing at home, commuting and spending time at work, experts recommend getting at least 20 minutes of outdoor time per day in order to maximize its effects. Now is the perfect time to do it. There are many benefits to spending time outdoors, including a boost to creativity, concentration and your overall mood. There are also physical benefits to spending time outdoors such as a stronger immune system, proper Vitamin D intake and lowering anxiety levels.

Clean Up Your Neighborhood

While the state parks and many other areas in New Jersey are temporarily shut down, that doesn’t mean you can’t help clean up the areas nearby. Even if you walked around your neighborhood a hundred times, you’d be surprised by how much garbage is left on the street when you’re paying attention to it. Cleaning up items such as soda cans or straw wrappers not only protects animals in the area like squirrels and birds from ingesting harmful products but it’s also a huge help to the soil and water reserve. Garbage that’s not properly disposed of can severely contaminate the water both humans and animals consume.

Earth Day is a beautiful reminder of what we owe to our planet. Whether you start your own compost pile, begin recycling, donate to your favorite environmental cause, or even something as simple as using a reusable water bottle instead of plastic, everything adds up to help protect and nurture our planet. That’s why we recycle 85% of our salon waste through Green Circle Salons, a program that promotes sustainable beauty in an effort to protect our environment. We hope you join us this Earth Day in helping keep our planet beautiful.

We’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments what you’re doing to celebrate Earth Day!

I have fine, oily hair. Regardless of my hair style or the products I’d use, I never felt confident having long hair because of how oily and unhealthy it always looked. This is why, as a child, I rocked bob cuts and the reason why, as an adult, I tend to use extensions when I want to have the long, healthy hair I’ve always dreamt of. As a result of my hair type, going a day without washing was just not in the cards for me. Even when I did use any sort of product on it, my hair never felt better...just greasier. So when the opportunity to try Oway products knocked on my door, I was skeptical. How transformative could ANOTHER product be when so many in the past have failed me?

Girl, let me tell you.

First up on my list was Oway’s frequent-use conditioner. Infused with biodynamic lemon and organic white tea (my favorite), Oway’s frequent-use conditioner did something no other product has done before: it didn’t make my hair feel heavy! Other conditioners I’ve used in the past succeeded in making my hair feel smoother but I was often left feeling oily; by the end of the day it looked like my hair wasn’t even clean. What I failed to realize before using Oway’s product was that some conditioners can be too heavy for certain hair types. This is because some conditioning products contain silicone, which can result in fine hair feeling too greasy or heavy. Before Oway, I didn’t even know that was a thing!

Because of this, what I loved most about Oway’s frequent-use conditioner was learning that their formula was suitable for all hair types. I had spent so many years accepting that my hair would always feel oily and greasy to suddenly realizing that there were products out there, like Oway’s frequent-use conditioner, that made a notable difference on how I looked and felt. Traditionally, if I washed my hair the night before, it would feel heavy and look matted and stringy the morning after. On the first morning after using Oway’s frequent-use conditioner, my hair was bouncy, healthy and shiny. It was the first time in years my hair looked so naturally healthy that I didn’t have to style it; it genuinely just looked (and felt) good without much effort.

While I loved using Oway’s frequent-use conditioner every time I washed my hair, life gets hectic, so washing my hair is not always possible depending on what my day entails. But my hair is normally oily and greasy, so going a day without washing my hair was something I simply couldn’t do. It was on mornings like this that I wished I had my mother’s hair. She could go days without washing her hair and it still looked pretty fabulous. Me, on the other hand, I have to wash my hair on a daily basis. On those days when life got busy, I’d opt for using dry shampoo. I’d bend my head down, close my eyes and do my best to avoid inhaling the pungent odor that caused my bathroom mirror to fog up as I pressed my finger down onto the spray bottle. All this dry shampoo did, though (beside burn my eyes), was make my hair look less dirty; not once did those products act like a good substitute for my hair feeling cleaner. Oway’s plant and mineral refresh wasn’t like this.

When I started to use Oway’s plant and mineral refresh, my unwashed hair both looked and felt cleaner the first morning I went without washing it. The thing I loved most about it? It’s suited for people like me who have fine hair and don’t want a product that weighs their hair down. After using Oway’s plant and mineral refresh, I took it upon myself to conduct some research into the other products I’d been using in the past. One of the things that startled me in my research about other dry shampoo products on the market was their apparent link to cancer. This link is the result of many dry shampoo products containing talc - a mineral made of elements like silicon and magnesium. Remember how I said my bathroom would fill up with “smoke,” after I sprayed my dry shampoo? I cringe thinking about how many times I did this and how harmful it may have been to me now that I’ve done the research. With Oway’s plant and mineral refresh, I didn’t have to worry about what I was putting on my body (or the environment for that matter). Oway’s plant and mineral refresh is talc-free. And, as someone who lost their mother to breast cancer, I felt a lot more confident using it.

While Oway’s products helped transform my hair and helped me to (finally) feel like my hair was beautiful, the most impactful aspect of using their products has been knowing exactly what I’m putting on my body. Next to every Oway product listed on their website is a comprehensive list of ingredients, including what’s excluded from their formula. Neither of Oway’s frequent-use conditioner or bio-rich water (both products I used and loved), contain artificial colorants or parabens (chemicals that can link to both scalp damage and breast cancer). Even more helpful is that Oway provided instructions on how to use each of their products, as well as a helpful guide on which hair type the product is most beneficial for.

When it came time to write about my personal experience with Oway products, I couldn’t wait to share my experience with you all. Not only do I feel confident with the hair type, that for so many years, I misunderstood, but I feel so empowered by choosing products that are healthy. We’re all guilty of consuming products that we don’t do much research on, but when you go down the rabbit hole of what these products actually are, you begin to realize how important it is to get informed about the kinds of items you’re using. That’s why our motto here, at Artemis Salon, is ‘the goddess within.” We believe that while having beautiful, healthy hair is a key component to feeling good, having knowledge and understanding about your hair is the true essence of beauty.

The world is changing. And with it, a more revolutionary realization that the world needs our help. At Artemis Salon, we’re pushing forward an initiative to do just that. That’s why we proudly partner with progressive, environmentally friendly companies like Oway and Original Mineral, pioneers in the organic hair care industry.

So how exactly is the world changing?

Vegan lifestyles have soared in popularity as a result of consumers wanting to know where their products are sourced and how they impact animals and the environment. As a result, the vegan cosmetic industry has an expected growth forecast of 7.1% from the year 2018 through 2023, according to Grand View Research. Vegan and animal cruelty-free products are no longer just a trend; they're a way of life.

The importance of animal cruelty-free products can be found in the form of animal testing.

Animal testing affects approximately 115 million animals worldwide, according to a report from Cruelty Free International. These animals - who are not protected by law due to their laboratory status - are subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions which include being confined to small cages, mutilation and blindness. While the Animal Welfare Act doesn’t protect animals from being used for research, it regulates what scientists can and cannot do with the animals in the lab. As a result, scientists are allowed to put animals through pain and duress as it is approved under the guidelines. While this information is upsetting, perhaps the worst part about animal testing is that it’s not necessary. The Food, Drug and Comsmetic Act does not require the use of animal testing.

Aside from the reasons listed above, there are additional environmental drawbacks to animal testing. Products that are used in testing are ultimately thrown away with little to no concern of their environmental impact. When you switch to a vegan, animal cruelty-free product, you’re not only saying “NO” to animal cruelty, you’re helping to minimize harzardous waste on the environment.

There’s a lot of truth in the assumption that if a chemical is bad for an animal, what makes it any better (or safer) for a human? Ammonia and phenylenediamine for example (chemicals commonly found in hair dye) have been linked to many negative health effects such as allergic reactions, birth defects and skin irritation. These are just a few of the reasons why more and more people are turning to organic products and an alternative, vegan lifestyle. People want to know what is in their products and how they are obtained.

That’s why we exclusively use Oway and Original Mineral products. The risk is just too large for us not to do our part to help the environment. While it’s only human nature to be upset at the realization of what some brands do behind closed laboratory doors, it’s also empowering to know that there is something we can do to promote positive change in the hair care industry.

If you're interested in an organic alternative, contact us for an appointment. We’d love to see you!