The Journal

Written for the woman
planning something.

A wedding in Saugatuck, a girls' night in Holland, a change she's been putting off. Not how-to, not trend reports — the questions she types at eleven at night, answered by the people who'll see her in the chair.
Empty salon chair | QVD Salon in Holland, MI.

The Appointment You Keep Canceling on Yourself

You have rescheduled it three times. Everyone else on the calendar was kept. The children’s dentist appointment was kept. Your mother’s follow-up was kept — you drove her. The vet, the parent-teacher thing, the friend’s birthday dinner you were too tired for. All kept. Yours moved. Then it moved again. And at some point it stopped being a thing you were rescheduling and became a thing you were not going to do, without either of those being a decision you actually made.

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Interior of Quinn Vise Hair Design & Co. nail room. Bachelorette nail parties in Holland, MI.

Where to Host a Bachelorette Party in Holland

Eight women, one weekend, and a group chat that has been arguing about it since March. Somebody wants the beach. Somebody wants a winery. Somebody has a baby and can only do Saturday. Somebody has not said anything at all, which is somehow worse. And you are the one who has to book it, because you are always the one who has to book it. Here is a weekend in Holland that works, and one part of it that almost nobody plans.

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A high-contrast flash photo of a gold-gloved hand pointing at a spot on a client's foiled blonde hair.

Why Your Blonde Goes Brassy in West Michigan — and What Actually Fixes It

It is not your stylist. It is your shower. You left the salon with the exact blonde you asked for. Three weeks later, it has a warmth to it that was not there before, and by week six, it is doing something orange at the ends that you did not sign up for. This happens to almost every blonde in West Michigan, and it happens faster here than it does in most places. Here is why, and what actually stops it.

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Two-tiered standing rack with natural-colored hair extension packs in a salon | Quinn Vise Hair Design & Co. Hair Extensions in Holland, MI.

Hand-Tied, Tape-In or K-Tip: Which Extensions Are Actually Right for You

Three methods, three completely different lives. Most articles about this are written to sell you one of them. This one is written by people who install all three, which means we have also taken all three out of hair that should never have had them in the first place. So here is the comparison, including the part nobody publishes: who each method is wrong for.

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Quinn Vise of QVD in Holland, Michigan, smiling next to a window, wearing a white blazer and a black midi skirt.

What Determines the Cost of Wedding Hair and Makeup

You have been on four vendor websites tonight, and not one of them told you what this costs. That is frustrating, and it is going to keep happening, so here is the honest explanation of why — and then the five things that actually determine your number, so that when you do ask, you can tell whether the answer you get is a real one.

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One note a month.

What's new in the house, what's worth booking before the season, nothing else.