My name is Maria Elena Bonilla and I’m the owner of Helena Salon and Spa, located in Metairie.
I’ve been doing hair for 9 years and I love it. I think it’s one of the gifts God has given me because I can transport myself when I’m working on a client’s hair and show the art since it’s a very creative job.
I do a lot of haircuts and color corrections.
The reason why I do so many haircuts and color correction is because people come to my salon is when they want a complete makeover.
Between haircuts and hair color, I prefer hair color. I like haircuts but if you know the technique you can easily do it. With hair color, I have a little bit more of a challenge because you have to play with the texture of the hair as well as the formula and chemistry, the hair color of the client, and how the hair is.
Much of the time it’s damaged because the client does their own hair color with store-bought hair dye or they ask their friends to do it.
The difference between a store-bought hair dye and a hair salon hair dye is that the store-bought has more ammonia which is what helps to open the follicle so the color can penetrate better.
The hair dye from the supermarket has too much ammonia because they want the follicle to open and for the color to be deposited in a fast way. Hair salon dyes, especially the ones I use, have low levels of ammonia, penetrate the follicle, and don’t damage the hair, cover the grays, and don’t wash off fast.
The advise that I give people that don’t have the budget to go to a hair salon is don’t go and by hair color from the supermarket, especially if the color they want is a silver-blonde and they have a dark hair color because that will be a disaster, and then you’ll have to go to the hair salon to get it fixed and that takes time, patience and money.
My hair place is located on 3636 West Esplanade Ave, Metairie and the zip code is the 70002.