My Beauty Boot Camp

Cheryl Before & After 8 Weeks with Amy at the Gym

As you remember, each Thursday we will be reviewing each of our contetestants individual results. We are currently reviewing Cheryl. To view our scheduled calendar, click here.

The last 2 Thursdays we talked about Cheryl's hair makeover. This Thursday we want to share with you the before and after pictures showcasing Cheryl's eight weeks of progress working with Amy at Gym Of Buckhead.

If you have been following Cheryl's blog entries, you know just how much she put into her program. Amy reports that Cheryl lost a total of 12.5 inches in 8 weeks. She also lost 16 Pounds!

An important point on inches lost   
-by Amy Neal

When I measured the ladies I only measured 5 points on the body.  Waist, hips, thigh, chest and arm.  The inches lost reflect only these 5 points.The fact is, you don't lose inches on only 5 points of your body, but up and down your entire body. 

For example, I measured the waist (which may have represented an 3 inch loss); what was not represented in my measurements was the circumference around the ladies belly button. Most people lose more inches in this area than the waist. The inches lost could have very easily been doubled what I have represented with my measurements.  Congratulations ladies!!!

Cheryl's Before & After, Step 2 by Todd Suttles

Last Thursday we talked about Cheryl's Keratin Smoothing service that stylist Julie Moore did for Cheryl; how important that was in creating a manageable style for her. After all, it really doesn't matter how great you look when you leave the salon if you can't replicate the look yourself over the next 29 days outside the salon! I always ask my clients if they are getting compliments from strangers; that lets me know how they are doing with styling their look by themselves.

The next thing I wanted to address with Cheryl was the form, or shape, of her style. There are always 3 balance points for every client, at a minimum; short, medium and long. For Cheryl, I wanted to take her to the medium length balance point. The long hair she came to me with certainly was NOT in balance; it was dragging her down. We could have corrected that and left it long, but I did not feel that long would serve her well given her busy lifestyle with 3 kids. The medium balance point would be easier to maintain which always means looking good a greater percentage of the time. I think the way this medium length choice fits her is clearly evident in the photo above (click to enlarge). Next week I will explain my hair color choices and strategy that I selected for Cheryl.

READ MORE COMMENTS FROM CHERYL ABOUT BEAUTY BOOT CAMP

Cheryl's Before & After; Step 1 by Todd Suttles

I knew the instant I started talking to Cheryl what I wanted to do with her hair- at least in a general way. Cheryl is the Mom of 3 young boys. One of the first things out of her mouth was that fact. She is busy; all day, every day. As you can see in the before picture, she has lots of hair. That was problem one. You can also see that she does not have much time to spend on herself, thus long hair, easily grabbed and pulled back. Cheryl's hair style had evolved as a response to her lifestyle. It was not an expression of who she is but more a default result from what she does.

The very first thing I had to deliver was a style that would be as easy to manage as her default "leave long and pull back" style. Cheryl's hair texture when left to dry on its own was frizzy, fuzzy with uneven curl and wave. Left long, she was able to style it quickly by pulling as she dried with a flat brush; but it never really looked styled, just smaller and less fuzzy. One of our stylists, Julie Moore, performed our Keratin Smoothing Process on Cheryl's hair. We jokingly call this service the anti-perm amongst ourselves at Noland Suttles. This was just what Cheryl needed to give HER control of her hair. We had to make styling her hair easier, not harder because this was the critical criteria given the demands her life currently makes on her time.

READ CHERYL'S OWN THOUGHTS

Once Cheryl's primary obstacle had been overcome, the door to a larger selection of cut and color options was opened much wider. More about those choices in future posts...