Tek Salon | Tera Rae Stephens .com

Our Favorite Turban {And a Giveaway!}

April 1, 2013 by Tera Rae Stephens 4 Comments

I recently met HipAtHeartBoutique on Instagram, the creator of our new favorite turbans! Harper and I both wear our hair long (and usually dirty) so we love a cute way to keep it out of our eyes while still looking stylish. Hip At Heart turbans are not only super cute and in fabrics that will coordinate with any outfit, they are seriously comfortable! Anything too tight gives me an instant headache and will last 2 seconds on Harper. And how stinkin cute that you can be twinsies with your mini me!!!

Make sure to check out Hip At Heart to see all of the other patterns, fabrics and color options. I would love to know which you like best in the comments below!

Wouldn’t you love to win a turban of your choice from Hip At Heart? There are 2 ways to win! Enter in Rafflecopter below or check out @teraraestephens on Instagram for another chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hip At Heart sent us a few different turbans to check out but our opinions and love for them are all our own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Products Tagged With: baby turban, beachy hair, extensions, hairstylist, hipatheart, hot heads, mom, Oc, orange county, salon, stylist, Tek Salon, tera Rae stephens, turban

The Perfect Natural Blonde

March 18, 2013 by Tera Rae Stephens 1 Comment

Let’s face it, few of us are blessed with the perfect natural blonde hair. In Newport Beach, California, where I do hair, natural blonde highlights are the most requested color. (God bless the handful of brunettes that add a little variety to my day!)

One of my biggest hair color pet peeves is over processed blondes. I like to think my color specialty is bringing “blonderexics” back to a more natural, easier to maintain blonde that doesn’t scream “I did this myself at home!!!”

Here is a before and after shot of one of my favorite and sweetest clients. She has been doing her own blonde at home to save time and money. I get it, I know getting your color done can be a big expense! With her baby girl due in a few weeks, she was ready to get back to a more natural blonde that she can maintain with visits to the salon every couple of months rather than doing her base every 4 weeks at home.

If you have been suffering from blonderexia, here’s what you should tell your stylist to get back to a more natural perfect blonde:

1. I don’t want my natural base lightened. (Unless you’re natural base is a level 6 or darker, then ask your stylist to lighten it up to a level 7. No lighter!)

2. I want to be highlighted and LOWLIGHTED! Ask that lowlights are the same level and tone as your natural (or slightly lightened) base.

3. If you’re super blonde, like my client, you need more lowlights than highlights.

4. Stress to your stylist that your goal is to get back to a more natural blonde so ask that foils not be placed really close together. You want some natural to start coming in, this is what adds depth and dimension.

Tell me… What do you think of this change? Do you like a more natural looking blonde?

Filed Under: Afters, Before, Color Tagged With: after, beachy hair, before, before and after, blonde, hairstylist, highlights, orange county, salon, stylist, Tek Salon, tera Rae stephens

The Style(ist)

January 25, 2013 by Tera Rae Stephens 6 Comments

I’m linking up with The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday!

Filed Under: Wearing Tagged With: blonde, booties, brown, costa Mesa, donald j pliner, extensions, hairstylist, highlights, hot heads, long, lux revival, madewell, mom, Newport Beach, now wearing, Oc, orange county, patterson kincaid, salon, skirt, smooth, stylist, Tek Salon, tera, tera Rae stephens

A Day In The Life: Mom and Hair Stylist

January 23, 2013 by Tera Rae Stephens 6 Comments

Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen

Pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life…

I guess that’s where my similarity to Dolly Parton’s morning ends! I have been incredibly blessed with my career as a hair stylist. Besides loving the actual work I do, the best thing about my job has to be my schedule and the time it allows me to spend with my husband and 3 kids. I have clients ask all the time how I fit it all in so I thought I would share what a typical day looks like for me.

6:00 am My alarm goes off and I have to jump out of bed to accomplish all that needs to be done before I leave the house

6:15 am Make sure the darling teenaged son is awake and getting dressed and head downstairs to make his breakfast and 3 lunches

6:30 am Argue with the teenager (as he eats breakfast) that he should be riding his bike to school and ultimately give in and drive him

6:45 am Head out the door knowing that at least I’ll have a Starbucks in my hand soon

7:00 am Grab coffee for the hubs and I then rush home to feed and dress the littles

7:15 am Check emails and text my assistant any changes that need to be made to my schedule

7:30am Argue with my almost 4 year old daughter about what she’s wearing to school and ultimately give in. (Choosing my battles!)

7:40 am My sweet hubs heads out the door with the 2 little kids to deliver them to school while I get myself ready for work

The best hour of my day… I have one quiet, uninterrupted hour to take a shower, do my hair and make up and get dressed. All alone!

8:40 am Rush out the door, my first client is in 20 minutes!!! Luckily the salon is about 15 minutes from home!

On this particular day, I worked in the salon from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. I work 3 days a week so the days are usually long!

I saw 9 clients and did 2 tints, 5 highlights, 4 extension move ups, 4 haircuts and 8 blow drys.

In between clients, I can usually be found on my iPhone checking emails, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Sometimes my sweet clients surprise me with treats like these new sunglasses by IVI from Sharon. Love her!

None of my days would be complete without the help of my fantastic assistant, Erin. She literally guides me through the day, keeping me on schedule, abreast of schedule changes, client formulas, shampooing, mixing color, blow drying, taking payments and pre booking clients. And Lord knows I wouldn’t eat if she didn’t remind me, pick up lunch and tell me when to sit down and eat it!!! She will be a great hair stylist when she starts taking her own clients.

As this day was wrapping up, I started to think about the unfinished closet reorganization project I had going on at home. Since the kids would surely be in bed by the time I got home I decided a quick stop at Target was in order. I really wanted to finish the clean up in the next few days and it’s always so much quicker to go to Target alone! This is what my bedroom looked like when I got home…