Featured Salon: Duarte Salon

Honest, zealous, and illuminating are just a few ways to describe Eva Diaz Duarte, owner of Duarte Salon on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. While I had originally intended this piece to exclusively focus on the salon itself, Duarte’s knowledge and expertise in hair captured my attention, in every respect, giving me no choice but to share what I learned in her chair.

“I work really hard to establish awareness of [haircare] and the long term consequences,” the third generation hairstylist explained. This began our four-hour conversation in which she introduced me to a side of haircare that I was completely unaware of.

“I know this woman whose hair, for some reason, never passes a certain length,” Duarte continued. “Now, they’re coming out with all these chemical treatments for blow outs, right? But what people don’t know—and this may be why that woman’s hair won’t grow—is that there is a real connection between long hair and the scalp. And what you’re doing, in a way, is wearing a rain coat constantly, where your hair cannot breathe out toxins or breathe in any nourishment.”

“Hm, good thing I don’t have time to get my hair done,” I thought half-bummed and half-relieved at the idea of having healthier hair, maybe.

Duarte stressed that the scalp needs to be cleaned like one would clean his or her face. It needs to be exfoliated, nourished, and stimulated. She emphasized that hairstylists should be required to become trichologists. She believes that trichology, the study of health relating exclusively to the hair and scalp, would provide stylists with a greater knowledge with which they will be able to determine the best products and ways to care for hair in a healthful manner.

“That deeper knowledge, that’s what we’re lacking in our industry and that’s what’s creating all the problems, like people questioning why they should pay more for a certain product or service,” Duarte said. “They just don’t know the difference; they don’t know how much healthier it is for them. Yes, I like luxury and I like to look and feel good, but I feel obligated to encourage new hairdressers to become highly educated  so that they are able to guide their consumers toward having a healthier beauty experience. That’s my new mission, and I’ll do it one customer at a time.”

I’m going to go ahead and assume I fell under the customer category.

“We need to find local, independent hairdressers who want to take it to the next level,” Duarte said. “We cannot have products that have been stored on the shelves for years; it has to be freshly made like juices, like food. What are we doing, people? How have they managed to manipulate us to believe that we can never wash our hair without getting a blow-dry? It’s a tricky situation, but it’s time for the truth. When was the last time that you let your hair dry naturally and felt proud of your beauty? These chemical formulations are overpowering our own colors; they are killing their own colors. And the people who do this don’t even know they have natural highlights. They are hooked to these chemical products.”

After telling me that I should have dyed my hair black with henna and that my hair is thinner at the top and much too dry at the ends, she pulled a strand of my hair out and tugged the strand apart by each end. Thoroughly confused, I watched for her next move. Next, she took the same strand of hair that she had pulled out of my head seconds earlier and attempted to curl it the same way you’d curl the string of a balloon with scissors—only she did it with her fingernails. My hair didn’t curl which means my hair needs to be moisturized. My bulbs were good which means I’m healthy on the inside, but Duarte still considers my outside “compromised.”

“Your hair has to be elastic,” she said. “What it is my love, Sabrina, you’re doing the best you can with the knowledge that you have.”

Next, she asked me if I had any complaints about my hair or if I had any symptoms of discomfort. I responded by telling her that my hair gets oily at the roots within a day, so I try to wash it as often as I can without it being everyday (every stylist will tell you that washing every day is a huge no-no).

“You must remove that oil; however, you must treat the production of oil. Your scalp can only be three things: dry, oily, or neutral. You need to overcome too much oil to get it to be neutral,” Duarte explained.

Then, she asked me about shedding. I kind of just gave her a look; that “Hello? Obviously” kind of look. Ladies, how many times do you overwhelm every inch of your bathroom with long strands of hair? We all do, which is why I assumed it was totally fine. Apparently, this is not OK.

“Shedding is considered normal based on the density of hair that you have. What you shed when you were 15, in proportion of the hair that you have, was unnoticeable, but if you keep shedding like that for the next 10 years, you’ll have a third of the hair you have right now,” she said.

Hair loss has to do with genetics, hormones, medication, stress, your diet, and your environment. Luckily, both my parents have good hair.

A solution for my shedding and oily scalp already in mind, she hurried to the back room and brought back a device that magnifies your scalp 200 times larger on a screen on her iPad. It was so gross that it blew my mind.

“No wonder why you itch,” she said. “We’re going to do a treatment on you. You’re going to die of pleasure.”

Sounded good to me.

When I asked Duarte what sparked her curiosity in healthy, nourished hair—void of constant chemical application—she said, “I am a very curious person. I’m nerdy in a way; I like to get to the bottom of things. I’m obsessed with it.”

She applied powders made of pure plant extract and put me under a heater for 15 minutes. I sat there, closed my eyes, and felt relaxed for the first time in a very long time. Go visit Eva. She’s real, no bullish*t. You’ll love her.