We have had hundreds of viewers write in desperately seeking our resident hairstylist Fabio's hair advice! So we had him come in to work with some people in our audience and to answer YOUR e-mail questions!

HAIR CONSULTATION #1 - COLOUR
NANCY SAYS:
I have sported the dull, flat and fly away hairstyle for the past five years. It is STRAIGHT & BORING. I love curly hair. My ends are brittle and dry. I need Fabio to modernize my hair and add some umph.....(volume....lots and lots of volume!) With the kaleidoscope of colours on my hair now you would never beleive that my natural hair colour is light brown. I never liked my natural hair colour because it made my face look so pale..I don't know what suits me!!!!! Fabio, I need your help! As I am slowly arriving at the ripe age of 40, I have noticed that my hair is slowly loosing its elasticity. My hair appears thinner and has lost its shine! It could be due to hormonal changes but I feel as if more and more hair is falling out.

FABIO SAYS:
My first thought is you are not alone in the "straight and boring" funk that you find your hair in. I encounter this hair issue often and understand your concerns. Good news is I am the Straight and Boring Hair Warrior and I can help make your hair bouncy and sexy, let me help you out.
Firstly, I want to teach you how to be successful with your styling. Once hair is clean use a Leave-in conditioner likes "Detangler from Color Preserve, then using a soft styling gel, shaping spray or mousse and apply where volume is needed.
Blow dry by hand lifting away from the root area until hair is just humid.
Option 1: Use a large round brush to smooth and clip up as you work.
Option 2: My favorite aids are the Hot rollers, they are fast, easy to use and give long lasting support.
Follow up with Hairspray to hold

Fab's Tip: Hair must move and be touchable, no frozen sculptures

Colour:

Your hair colour is a classic example of too many highlights, with too many tones and porosities. We need to step away from the bleach for a second and together let's change our thought process;
Currently your hair colour and skin colour are too similar therefore your beautiful eyes and smile have no frame to accentuate the portrait.
Looking at your skin tone and eye colour a beautiful luscious milk chocolate brown colour with just accents of caramel tones to add dimension, would be ideal.
This would alleviate some of the commitment and cost in up keeping your current colour and more importantly your hair would look healthy and shiny.

Fab's Tip: Use the skin colour/tone and secondary tone in the eye colour to determine the optimum tonal hair colour family, brown, red, blonde, auburn, black and/or a combination of.

Any hair problems:

Nancy, don't worry about elasticity for this is a process that women and men go through as they gain wisdom, therefore with our mind shift on colour it wont be an issue any longer.
As you move away from highlighting with bleach and/or high lift colour your hair elasticity issue will go away. When hair is lightened it literally opens the cuticle, strips your natural hair of pigment and then your hair cuticle has to close once again to be smooth. Not an easy assignment especially because you have had this process done numerous times.
Instead, let's deepen your hair with a semi-permanent colour using a developer to gently colour your hair. This will actually make your hair soft and smooth with loads of shine, because your outer cuticle layer is smooth and reflects light....Shine.
Now your stylists can be creative and contour your colour with streams of caramel highlights just to add a touch of Fabiolous!!!!

Fab's Tip: hair above the scalp can only be rebuilt by the sebum your scalp creates; this oil helps to rebuild the cuticle. Therefore the longer your hair is, the more gentle your colour process should be.

HAIR CONSULATION #2- CUT/STYLE
ELENI from Vancouver BC SAYS:
For the last five years my hair has been typically long. I usually have streaks in it, before I had a mix of blonde and brown, but now I just have brown streaks. To spice things up, I have had bangs, which looked okay, but because my hair is fine, they never stayed in place. When I would put gel or hairspray on my bangs, it just made them look dirty and greasy. Also, I have put on a little bit of weight in the last couple of years, so bangs just make me look fat now. So, I won't be doing them again anytime soon. My hair is naturally black, straight and fine. I am half Taiwanese, so tell Fabio to think "Asian hair".

FABIO SAYS:
Eleni's preoccupation with fine hair is of growing concern with women today. There are so many products and treatments available for fine hair but nothing takes the place of the right hair cut and colour combination. (My mother has struggled with very fine hair so I am well versed and trained on this topic)

Colour:
Eleni's hair is naturally dark and fine. Also a large percentage of women who have fine straight hair also have slightly oily hair. Therefore in order to increase the thickness of her hair and decrease the oily feel, colour and highlighting services will actually make the hair feel thicker and yes slightly dryer. We have to be careful not to overdo because fine hair is also fragile so my recommendation would be to lift the base colour by 2 shades and add some very fine strands of medium honey blonde highlights so the hair has dimension and it suits her skin tone.

Fab's Tip: Don't try to lighten too much - instead try to find the ideal base level and then work from there to high light 2 more shades.

Hair problems:
The universal lament of women is flat hair, but not to worry because in today's day and age with shampoos and conditioners that promotes volume the gravity defying volume is but a squeeze of a product away. Also how you blow dry or air dry your hair is crucial to adding volume. Think upside down and not too much brushing, or apply a mousse then tie a ponytail high up on your head for 15-20 minutes and then let down and tousle with a blow dryer.

Fab's Tip: Don't be afraid to use products but be careful not to place on scalp, aerosol sprays are ideal

Haircut:
For women who have fine hair, a good hair cut is crucial and being committed to maintaining the cut is also important. With Eleni's face shape she is an ideal candidate for a "special side sweeping bang" that is cut on an angle and able to tuck behind the ear if needed. The biggest mistake inexperienced stylists make is because the hair is fine they are afraid to use a substantial section for bangs. Therefore the fringe should begin at the top of the head down to each corner of the eye. A big wedge shaped section.
Also some strategic texturizing internally will also add to the building of volume. Finally, the length, ladies we have to realize that if you have fine hair the possibility of having that Cindy Crawford mane is not realistic, but who cares because like a tailored suit when hair has sharp lines on or above the shoulder with few layers it will look thicker and more fashionable.

HAIR CONSULTATION #3- HAIR BRUSHING
Jessica from Montreal, Quebec writes:
Fabio - is it ever ok to brush your hair wet- if so what type of brush should you use?

FABIO SAYS:
Only use a BIG TOOTH comb to detangle wet hair with. Once your hair is almost dry, then you can style with other brushes.