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Adding a stretching routine to your day can alleviate strain and stress—and bigger problems down the road.

Upper Back and Shoulders

1. Lie on your belly with your hands by your shoulders.  Gently glide your shoulder blades together and then start to lift your neck and upper back a couple of inches off of the ground.  Lower down and repeat.

2. Sit on the ground, or a chair, interlace your hands behind the back holding the opened position for a few breaths. Couple this stretch with a Back Stretch Prep, which works the muscles between the shoulder blades and the upper back.

3. When days are spent with the shoulders rounded forward, the front of the shoulder gets strong and upper back muscles get weak. This causes discomfort between the shoulder blades and creates a rounded posture. Plewes suggests opening up the chest and shoulder area and strengthening the upper back.

Neck

When days are spent with the shoulders rounded forward, the front of the shoulder gets strong and upper back muscles get weak. This causes discomfort between the shoulder blades and creates a rounded posture. Plewes suggests opening up the chest and shoulder area and strengthening the upper back:

4. Sitting on a chair reach your right arm down and tilt your head to the left side. Hold for three breaths. Repeat on the other side.

5. Seated: reach your arms out to the side and spin the whole arm down and up. Keeping the fingers stretched and open during this move will also help to release strain in the hands that may eventually lead to Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

6. Lie on your back and reach your arms over head. Circle the arms down, around and back up. Repeat and reverse your circles. 

Lower Back/Spine

“Your spine is your well being,” says Plewes.  Standing all day will cause problems through your spine and often results in lower back discomfort, so you want to move it as many different ways as possible.

7. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the ground.  Tuck your pelvis in towards you, roll your spine off the ground so your bum is lifted and you are resting on your shoulders.  Pull your abdominals in towards your spine and roll back down trying to get each of your vertebrae to connect with the ground one at a time.

8. Lie on your back reaching your arms out to either side of your body. Bend knees in towards you and then let the knees fall to one side.  This will also open up the tight chest muscles that result from rounding the shoulders forward all day.  Repeat on the other side.

9. Massaging a tennis ball under each foot at the end of the day is also a nice relief (especially for those of you that wear heels).  This will  help you stand more evenly in the feet helping to realign the spine and relieve back pain.

10. Lunges are a great exercise to strengthen the gluteus, as well as stretch out hip flexors, which can get tight from standing all day.

We’re not sure how we feel about Coco Rocha’s pink tips from Met Gala night. Check out more of the hottest hair from the red-carpet event and let us know what you think in the comments! [Fashionista]

At this year’s Met Gala in New York, Tom Brady showed up with an asymmetrical faux-hawk. Why, Patriot, why? Speculation has it that his übermodel wife, Gisele, had some input. Have any of your clients held the power of persuasion over her husband’s hair? [DailyMail]

Nail polish inspired by sprinkles! Yum! Is this the next big trend for summer? [She Finds]

Heidi Klum’s supermodel hair secret? Wash and wear, even sleeping on wet hair (gasp!) to get a more un-done, look to her blonde locks. She does have a point about selecting the right wetlines for your hair type. Have you talked about this basic regimen with your client today? [People]

Does your salon carry shea butter? It might go a longer way than you think … like to Mali and Burkina Faso, where shea butter production supports generations of women. Good to know, just in time for Mother’s Day! [The Wip] 

Who: Twenty-two Canadian stylists, salon owners and distributors joined nearly 3,000 other beauty industry professionals from 53 countries around the world at the yearly Revlon Professional Style Masters gala. Canadian stylist Tim Kuo was one of seven stylists, chosen from among the 24 country winners, who competed for the title of Global Style Master at the event. The winners from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and Spain presented their styles live on stage at the end of the night.

What: In addition to seeing the work of the stylists who compete in the Style Masters competition, the night was also full of international inspiration and was a celebration of what hairstylists do best. Gun-Britt Zeller presented Clandestine, a collection of tight, ‘50s-inspired cuts. Charlie Price brought his Cinematic collection to life with video, a singer and pianist and, of course, glamourous movie-inspired hair. American Crew presented four segments of men’s styles, including modern day cowboys and a take on their Mattematic collection.

When & Where: April 28 – May 1 in Budapest, Hungary

Highlights: The Canadian group took full advantage of the four-day trip with tours of the city, dinner on the Danube River by boat, visits to Hungarian baths and even a few stops in Budapest’s many salons.

PHOTOS BY ANTHONY CROSS AND MELISSA HILL

It was an invitation not to be missed. Mark Hayes, International Creative Director Sassoon for close to 35 years, alongside Richie Rivera and Traci Sakosits, both recently appointed Creative Director and Colour Director, respectively for North America, Omar Antonio and Carole Protat, VIP platform artists for Sebastian, as well as French stylist Cyrill Brune, who won the Trendvision award in 2003, all fashioned their magic onstage. Quebec distributors Ami-co and Cantin Beauté put together the very special event, which took two years to prep.

Ciryll Brune opened the show Sunday morning with a tribute to Michael Jackson – a punchy, sequin-infused presentation, where the stylist showed off his perfect dance moves right down to an impeccable Moonwalk! “Before I decided to try out my luck in hairstyling I was a dancer”, explains the soft-spoken man who says he is a daydreamer before anything else.

Later on, Omar Antonio and Carole Protat from Sebastian captivated the audience with their avant-garde styles. Definitely edgier and a bit dark for Omar, who says he is deeply influenced by Tim Burton’s films, and more technical in execution for Carole, who is in charge of R&D at Sebastian.

Then the Sassoon team came onstage with their highly precise, perfectly geometrical cuts and wonderful colour created by Richie on models they flew in for the show. “We work with the same models in every show we do because we want to create that same look. It has to do with an attitude. We’re not a very dramatic sort of show. It’s very contained, so we have to work with a certain type of personality. Because we have a very specific way of working with hair. It polarises people. Either you love it or you don’t get it”, says Mark Hayes.