All About My Hair! (Products/Styles etc)

I am quickly going to share with you what I use on a daily basis on my hair and then get into my 3 staple hair styles that I have been doing for quite sometime now and what key products I use to achieve those! :)

Cleaning/Maintaining:

Shampoo: I use almost anything on my hair (trying to get sulfate free when possible) I know, I know maybe I should be more conscious of what I put in my hair, but I have been using drugstore shampoo for years and my hair has remained perfectly healthy, so maybe my hair just likes it better ;) I do, however, justify this by using a clarifying shampoo once a week like that of Neutrogena's Anti-Residue Shampoo. It is comparable to my Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo but only 1/4 of the cost! This deep cleans out all of the product I have used on my hair throughout the week! Using it once a week is just enough to have fresh hair every week.

Conditioner: I have been using the Tresemme Naturals Conditioner and I absolutely love it!


*I only wash my hair an average of 3-4 times a week.  This assures I get less damage because think about it, your hair really needs some of its naturally produced oils and washing everyday just strips your hair bare!

Dry Shampoo: I use Salon Grafix Dry Shampoo on some of my off days if I feel necessary, although "training" my hair to only be washed a few times a week as opposed to everyday, I feel like it doesn't get anywhere near as oily as you would expect it to so I rarely need this! :)


Styling/Protecting

I have 5 staple hair styles (all of them are with hair down coincidentally!) 4 of them are variations of curling my hair and the other is sleek and straight. Here is how I achieve those looks!

1. Hot Rollers:

Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Multi Size Rollers

 

Using these hot rollers helps me achieve this subtle wavy look. Set it with some flexible hold hairspray (L'Oreal's Elnett) and you're set for a cute style in less than 20 mins!

2. Curing Iron: 

Hot Tools 1.5 in curling iron

 

I have had this curling iron since High School and I have never had any problems with it! It still gets to maximum heat and everything! With this curling Iron you can achieve curls like the photo above, big spiral curls.  I usually spray these babies with my Tres Deux Hair Spray or my Big Sexy Hair for an extreme (but rather flexible) hold!

3. Curling Wand: 

Conair Infiniti Curling Wand

I don't know if you can tell in these two photos but this curling wand creates more of an S curl.  If you are having problems getting a curl to stay in your hair I highly recommend this. Be patient as this process can be a bit time consuming compared to other methods, but you will get a nice bouncy S curl that will last you at least 2 days perfectly! The pic above in the polka dot dress is me with this look day 1. The one with me underneath that is the next day with NO touch ups! I love this curling wand because its almost guaranteed to get two good hair days out of it! ;)

4. Triple Barrel Waver:

Revlon Jumbo Triple Barrel Waver

In this photo I used the Triple Barrel Waver.  Its almost like crimping, but not as 90's haha It actually creates a gorgeous waved look that is reminiscent of something finger-waves would create--but I don't have the time or patience for finger waves so I use this instead lol I didn't do an old Hollywood look this night, but will be having my stylist (and aunt) Allison, do a look using this to create a look like that within the next two weeks so I will be sure to do a whole post on that process as well! I love Old Hollywood Hair :)


5. Blow Dryer

ConairPro Silverbird Blow Dryer

I got this blow dryer for Christmas a few years back and lets just say I hope it never ever dies lol I love how shiny it makes my hair and how quickly it dries and smooths out my hair! I blow dry my hair in under 20 minutes, which is really fast considering my hair is now down to my belly button!!! (trim appt. already made haha) In the photo above I used this blow dryer to achieve straight flipped out hair :)

Protecting My Hair From Heat: 

Its a 10 Miracle Leave in Product

This product is AMAZING! I use it each and every time before I use any of the listed above heating tools.  It not only protects from heat damage, but conditions and prevents breakage amongst 8 other things that are all listed on the back of the bottle lol Oh, and did I mention after using this, your hair will smell GLORIOUS all day long! :)

When I run out of this I revert back to my backup up which is also another fabulous product and much less expensive, my Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray.  

 

Whoa, that was a long post! I don't typically fret over my hair during the week, the simpler for work the better, but during the weekend I like to compensate for all that "dullness" I had during the week and like to spice things up a little which is when I will reach for a curling tool etc. 

What are your favorite hair styling tools? 

Off to work, 

xox

Product Review: Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Hot Rollers

Shown above are the Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Hot Rollers.  I purchased these for around $34 at Target.  I haven't owned a set of these for YEARS. The last ones I ever used were, I believe, for my 5th grade school photo and they were my grandmothers! haha I have tons of curling irons, wands, etc..but I wanted to try to achieve a more voluminous loose look for those days where I am time restricted (and I will tell you why this is great for those on a time constraint in a second).  I seem to have been getting really lucky with the hair tools that I am purchasing lately because I think they are all winners! I have yet to be disappointed, thank goodness :)

What this comes with: 

1. 20 Hot Rollers in 3 different sizes, large, medium and small. 
2. Around 23 Clips
3. The case, obviously! haha

 What I loved about this product: 

• These rollers heat up SUPER fast. I would say about 45 seconds and you are good to go.  There is an indicator on the top of one of the hot rollers that turns clear when they are ready :)
• The fact that there are different sizes. This is great because sometimes you want only the large waves and sometimes you want a tighter look. What I do is I use ALL of them in my whole head but concentrate the different sizes in different areas for the perfect look. 
• I love that there is a tiny spot on the right where 3 clips can be held.  The clips are actually clamped over a hot piece of metal that allows them to heat a little too, this helps generate more heat into your roller as you clamp it into place.
• These clips, unlike the old fashioned metal wire like ones that I used to use, don't hurt your head at all :)
• In just 20 minutes, the time it takes me to shower pretty much, my hair is ready to be let down.  That's pretty amazing considering the beautiful results I achieve. 
• These store nicely in their case. I have seen the ones that come in a bag and whatnot and I definitely prefer this case, it protects all of the equipment and stores nicely underneath my vanity :) Oh and I love that they are pink, are you seeing a trend with the last two hair products I have reviewed ? ;) haha

*Always use a heat protectant on your hair before any type of heat exposure.  I use the It's A 10 Miracle Leave in Product when I have just washed my hair, and on those days where I am using hot rollers on my "day old" hair (which is when I generally use this because it gives your hair SERIOUS va-va voom where it would look pretty dull otherwise), use a regular spray in protectant like Tresemme etc. 

*Another key in achieving the look I am going to show you below is to GENTLY run your hair through the curls after they are let down and cooled etc.  This will soften them :)

*Last but not least, be sure to apply a flexible hairspray LIGHTLY.  Remember you want to achieve natural flowy glamorous hair not stiff overworked locks.

Of course the only picture I had readily available was one I took on my iPhone! The quality isn't that great but hopefully you can catch the gist of how flowy and soft this hair looks.  This is on my next day hair too! Who would have "thunk" it?! :) xox

To remembering to take pics on my digital camera instead of my phone next time,

xox

Product Review: Power of Pink Conair Infiniti Curling Wand

I am so excited to review this product for you guys! It is by far my FAVORITE hair product I have purchased all year, and that says a lot.  I originally wanted this a few months ago, but didn't get around to purchasing it so when I saw that during the month of October, Ulta was offering this Limited Edition Breast Cancer Awareness version of the original one (I think it is just the color that is limited edition honestly) I was sure to scoop it up!

This is the curling wand that was featured in my most recent Shop and Tell Breast Cancer Month Feature. Here are a few of the pro's and con's that I found with this hair tool and my final thoughts on it:

Pros: 

• I love the bright pink color, very different than the other lighter pink tones that I was seeing everywhere, adds a nice special "limited edition" touch!
• I love the swivel cord because this assures that you never have any of those messy tangled wires to deal with.  
• I love that you can choose from various different heat settings depending on what temperature you are comfortable with using on your hair type. (I use the hottest one because in my opinion, after a heat protectant, my hair can handle this :)
• The fact that this curling wand heats up in no time is just wonderful as well, who wants to wait forever for their curling iron to heat up after all right?!
• Another small but very helpful feature is a little plastic fastener on the cord. It allows you to secure the folded wire in place for safe and completely fool proof neat storage.

Cons: 

• I find that my hair often slips down the barrel and this is definitely because of the way it is shaped.  I love the shape of the curl I get, but hate that I often have to "re-wrap" my hair around the barrel.  Practice is really the only thing that can assure that you encounter this less often. 

• Another thing that I find happens a few times while I am in the process of curling is that I accidentally power off the curling iron all together! It's quite easy to do being that the button is right in an area where you are placing a good grip while curling.  It is easy to just switch it back on and because of the lightening fast heat up time, isn't REALLY a huge problem, but kind of annoying to say the least.  

** This comes with a glove to prevent you from burning the two fingers that get the closest to the iron while actually curling. Honestly, I need to separate the sections of my hair with those fingers, and wearing the glove didn't let me do so with ease, so I opted out of using this and I haven't really ever burned myself, so I don't think this is mandatory to use, up to you!

Some pics of my personal results:

 

I absolutely loved the results curling with this product gave me. They were the most natural looking beautiful waves ever! They started out tighter and throughout the day, fell just perfectly to a gorgeous look.  To top it off, I was SO surprised to find that even the next morning when I woke up, they looked the absolute SAME! I touched up the top of my hair a little with some hairspray and pinned back my bangs the next day and had the SAME beautiful waves, it was as if I had just curled them again.  This proved that this wand provides long lasting curls and I love that.  

**I used Heat Protectant as always, and for the hairspray, I used Paul Mitchell Soft Spray. 

Flowy Waves, 

xox