Hair.

With longer longs popping out my head left, right & centre it is only fitting that I explore the vast array of hair products up for grabs. After 3 years of pixie cuts and limited products that are useful to a few steps off a buzz cut I have rediscovered the delight in finding a hair product that serves it's very need. Recently I have found products that are working for me and giving me the full, sleek hair I am after. Four products minus shampoo and conditioner might seem excessive to some but each to their own, I guess.

This One Is For When The Heat Is On - Blow Dry Spray 

VO5 Smoothly Does It - Heat Protect Serum

Schwarzkopf Got 2 B. - Rise 'n Shine Volume + Shine Whipped Mousse

Schwarzkopf Got 2 B. - Rise 'n Shine Volume + Shine Hairspray 

Applied in the order they appear, these little treasures protect my hair while smoothing fly aways and giving the roots of my hair volume and a bit of texture.

Heat protection is important especially as I want my hair to grow. I think of heat protection like an oven glove, you wouldn't get your pepporoni pizza out the oven without an oven glove would you? So why put high temperatures on your hair without giving a little protection? This One was bought purely because it was on offer and the cheapest. It's good but I've used better but for now it is doing the job. VO5 are good for a hair oil. Affordable and quality products. This is another heat protection product however it provides a smoothing, shine enhancing factor that I love. Pea size drop of this through the ends followed by a little time spent drying your hair properly and you will have lovely sleek hair (with volume in the roots from the mousse, naturally.) I love the VO5 miracle oil but for whatever reasons decided to gander in the oil world a little, I'll be back with the ol' faithful soon. I always do.

Big hair was a love of mine prior to the chop, who wants super sleek straight hair - not me! It just doesn't work for me. Poker straight hair is just not my cup of tea. The Whipped mousse is one of my favourite products. Before I tried this mousse I had found ones that were good but never really amazing. Aussie has a good offering but they just seem to be getting more and more pricey as a brand and I like a bargain. The mousse and hair spray were 2 for £5 in Superdrug so naturally I needed both... Amazing products that definitely do what they say on the tin.

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Hair: 37 Week Pixie Update

37 weeks, that is 9 months & 1 week of hair growth.

Following my last update at 29 weeks, my hair has grown quite a lot. I have enough length to pin back the back(!) or put my hair in a tiny pony tail. This way the length doesn't annoy me and I can fake longer hair. I just got my hair tidied up and the weight taken out today as it was starting to look really shapeless and heavy.Personally, leaving my hair to grow as long as possible before getting it cut is the best option I find. I don't have vaults full of money where I can splash out on a haircut every 6 weeks. Sadly.

Last week I put a golden brown dye through my hair purely to cover the greys and for a little change without going for the chop. I quite like the colour against my natural skintone. So that is my 37 week update hopefully soon I will have myself a little bob that will allow me to style in some messy curls.

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Trying out

 

I went into Superdrug to get eyelashes on Wednesday afternoon, I came out with £28 worth of goodies including these Tresemme products. I'm not usually a fan of Tresemme products, I don't really know why, it just tends to be a brand that I ignore! These products were on 3 for £6.99 - at £5.99 and £5.49 each  it was an offer I couldn't resist really.

With layers of bleach under my botched home dye job, my hair needs some TLC before drying & hair oils tend to do the job perfectly. I am a big fan of the VO5 hair miracle concentrate but they didn't have that in stock so the Tresemme Argan Oil treatment it was! I've only used it once or twice but so far it has left my hair feeling soft & silky while adding some shine.

The 24 hour body powder is good, does what it says on the tin - or little plastic bottle - but it is quite a sticky product. It also feels like you've bought an empty bottle but that's nothing to do with anything really!

I would probably consider repurchasing these products at some point but as of Tuesday when I get my long, flowing locks (This is total sarcasm fyi) chopped off I doubt I will need them - I will probably still use the oil treatment but I fear the Body powder will sink to the deepest darkest corner of my products drawer till my hair returns to its current state.

Ever tried these products? What did you think of them?

Happy Saturday!

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Short hair.

I have been writing a lot of university essay & the like as of late so I feel like my creative juices are in full flow which I is probably why I got up this morning & decided to write on short hair of all things. As some of you may or may not know I have had short hair for about 3 years & I highly doubt I will ever return to the land of long, tousled locks - it just isn't me. I feel like myself with short hair & it has allowed me to dabble in colour & cuts - it isn't as limited as you may think.

On Monday I decided to get my longer pixie cut bleached blonde barnet chopped super short & into a medium brown - I love it. I look tanned! I will know doubt get bored & go back to blonde but for now I am happy as a brunette.  I love thi article that I saw another blogger mention:

http://www.paulwhkan.com/pq/shorthair.html

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Style Crush #11

She may not be everyone's cup of tea in Made in Chelsea but personalities & opinions on such aside, the girl has style!

Rosie Fortescue mixes designer & high street to perfection. Along side a mixture of  textures, patterns & colours. Everything is pretty simple but styled to perfection & kept interesting through accessories including hats, handbags, jewellery & sunglasses.

My favourites have to be oufit 3, outfit 4 & outfit 5 ... or all of them! What is your favourite? 

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Hair care

Hair care is something that I have really gotten into recently. Having bleached hair for the 2nd time in my life I know from my 1st experience that it requires a lot of care. It gets very dry, takes on a lovely fluffy cloud texture in the morning & feels funny when it gets wet. This said, these are my go to products in order to keep my hair soft & nourished as well as keeping brassy yellow tones at bay and adding some shine. You can see my full hair history here. 

Not all products mentioned are pictured as I am at my Mum & Dad's house, grabbing the most convenient products while packing has resulted in leaving a few in the flat! 

Washing & Conditioning
My 1st journey into Team Blonde saw me use firstly, John Fredia Colour renew shampoo & conditioner before moving onto the Lee Stafford Bleach blondes shampoo & conditioner. The Lee Stafford products I chose to use again this time around until I discovered the Touch of Silver line through blogs. This stuff is not only cheap but an amazing product that really cares for the hair. Currently I am using the Daily Maintenance shampoo, nourishing shampoo & the twice a week brightening shampoo. These three products, particularly the twice a week shampoo keep my colour bright & yellow free without breaking the bank!

To keep add some moisture back to my hair I use the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration shampoo, conditioner & hair mask. All three of these products leave my hair feeling soft & helps to combat the fluffy texture bleached hair can take on sometimes. Generally I use the The touch of silver line shampoo & conditioner one day then the Herbal Essences the next with the twice a week brightening shampoo funnily enough twice a week! I like to do a hair mask at least twice a week leaving it on for as long as possible. This can sometimes be up to an hour depending on time constraints.

Blow drying
My hair needs to be blow dried. It is of a style that if it isn't blow dried bad things happen...

I keep this pretty simple currently switching between two products. The first is the VO5 Miracle Concentrate with Argan oil. This product does wonders when blow drying my hair, it makes it smooth & soft along with taming any fly away. Although my hair is short I like to use a generous amount of this product simple because my hair is so dry it needs it! I was a total div & spilt my bottle losing about a 1/5 of it - not a happy bunny that morning! I will 100% repurchase this stuff when my bottle runs dry. Total miracle product.

The second is the Tresemme Split Remedy Treatment. Something I bought on a whim trying to make up an offer in actual fact it has become a firm favourite hair care product for me. It leaves me hair soft & tamed without weighting it down or making it greasy. I wouldn't chose this over the Miracle Concentrate but it is a lovely product that works really well. I like to think of this as my not doing much but am doing my hair-hair product. If that even makes sense?!

I also use the Toni & Guy Heat defense spray lightly on my fringe prior to straightening.

Styling
This last step is key in getting the style correct with my hair cut but it doesn't really have any products which particularly 'care' for my hair. For volume I like to use a powder/dust, currently it is a Schwarzkopf one that a friend left at my flat & later gifted to me but I loved the VO5 version too. I use this for a little bit of height &texture through the top of my hair. To mess it up a little & to hold the style in place I choose one of three products; Toni & Guy Defining wax for defined texture (silver pot) or the Toni & Guy Funky gum for flexible separation with shine or my one true hair wax love that is oh so expensive but fabulous the Shu Uemura Kengo Feather. If I could chose one product to style my hair with it would be the Kengo Feather but I can't afford it every time I need a new tube although the tubes last for ages. One day I will use this bad boy everyday but for now the Toni & Guy waxes do the job when I don't feel like using my Kengo feather. The defining wax funnily enough gives my hair definition & texture while adding a bit of weight whereas the Funky gum gives a lighter feel to the hair as well as giving the hair some texture & shine.

So that is pretty much my hair routine! Hopefully someone finds it useful?!

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