Hairdressers tend to get subscriptions to all sorts of magazines for free, and they don't know what to do with them all. We recently found out that the store near us has a dumpster in the back filled to the brim with nice, clean magazines. The second step is to write to the magazines to ask for a copy of their writer's guidelines. The guidelines will tell you what sort of articles they're looking for, how far in advance to submit seasonal queries, the word length they prefer, and so on. You can also check for the magazines' guidelines online.
Some magazines have their guidelines on their Web sites.
Others offer the guidelines via e-mail. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Take a look at several past issues of, say, Family Circle. Magazines are looking for the same old topics with a new twist. If you haven't published before, don't bring it up in the query.