Hair

Best/Worst Hair Styling Tools?

October 24th, 2018 by Karen 19 Comments

ghd soft curl — This thing is practically an extension of my arm —> the ghd Soft Curl.

So, I try to let my hair air dry as much as possible. I usually wash it at night before bed and go to sleep with it a little damp, but then it’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates when I wake up… I never know what I’m gonna get, ha ha ha!

I usually need help wrangling it into a semi-respectable state with some styling tools, like these that I love:

The T3 hair dryer. I still have my first-gen one from a billion years ago (OMG, here’s the review from 2007. Have a laugh at my brows.), and it’s still going strong. It’s unbelievably lightweight, and I’m constantly surprised by how quickly it dries hair. I use it every day to help straighten my bangs so they fall the way I like.
The ghd Curve Soft Curl Curling Iron. This iron is CRAZY expensive ($245!), but hear me out. It LEGIT heats up ? in less than a minute, but it never gets so hot that I burn my hair (which happened when I was into the T3 curling irons for a spell). The curls last all day, too.
A round boar’s hair brush. I can’t remember where or when I bought the one I have. It’s so old that the label’s worn off… It may have been around 1999? Whatever the case, it smooths out my bangs and wayward pieces better than anything.

As for hair styling tools I don’t love…I’ve haven’t had much success with inexpensive curling irons and hair dryers. The very affordable ones I’ve gotten from drugstores or Target never got hot enough to actually do anything to my hair. I used to have a hairdryer by Revlon that literally did nothing when it came to actual, ya know, hair drying.

Oh, and you know those hairdryers that are attached to the wall in some hotel rooms? Really, so dumb. What’s the point? They just end up blowing the water around and not really drying my hair at all.

Also, again about the T3 curling iron… Was. Not. My. Favorite. A few years ago, I accidentally fried a big chunk of hair with it, and it’s been buried at the bottom of a drawer ever since.

How about you? What are the hair styling tools you love/loathe the most? Which hairdryers, curlers, flat irons, brushes? And what do you like, or don’t like, about them?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

With Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray Wax, Luminous Locks Are a Few Sprays Away

October 19th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

OK, so, the thing about Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray Wax is that it’s so good that you will never want to part with it, but it’s also $42 for a dainty 4.2-oz. bottle.

But…but…but…GLOSSY LOCKS. I don’t think my hair has ever looked this shiny in my entire life, and that’s no small feat because my ends have this really annoying habit of drying out on me, especially when I’m in a blow-drying phase, like I usually go through in fall and winter.

The not-so-great thing?

As previously mentioned, it’s $42 for a 4.2-oz. bottle.

Ouch.

Thankfully, you only have to use a little. I do a quick jooj on dry hair after it’s styled, then psssst, psssst, psssst on my side-swept bangs, the pieces that frame my face, on my ends, and on the uppermost layer of my hair. Then I gently work it through with my fingers for enough shine to make all the mirrors in Versailles jealous. 🙂

I used to think that Oribe Texturizing Spray was the end-all, be-all of products for perfectly tousled hair, but then I met this.

By the way, it isn’t just a shine spray.

“Create weightless, buildable texture with control and lasting hold. This ultra-fine wax mist adds style, separation and sheen to short cuts and long lengths.”

— oribe.com

For the most part, Flash Form does what Oribe Texturizing Spray does, too — weightlessly separates and defines hair for schemxy texture while it boosts volume and gently holds curls and waves in place, but it also smooths frizz, (which Texturizing Spray doesn’t really do).

Oh, and there’s the shine, of course! Texturizing Spray has a matte finish, which is fine for roots, but maaaan! Gimme shiny, piece-y ends any day of the week.

Benefits:

Fortifying Polymer Blend creates texture and light hold while strengthening hair.

Wheat Starch adds buildable, brushable texture and separation.

Soy Protein provides strength and elasticity to hair.

Plant-Derived Amino Acids help the hair retain moisture while adding light shine.

Glycerin and Panthenol hydrate and condition to protect against breakage.

Amber Extract delivers antioxidant, conditioning and hair-strengthening properties.

Oribe Signature Complex (Watermelon, Lychee and Edelweiss Flower Extracts) defends hair from oxidative stress, photoaging and the deterioration of natural keratin all while protecting from the drying, damaging and color-depleting effects of the elements.

I want to warn you and say “DON’T DO IT” because it’s so expensive, but I also want to say “DO IT DO IT DO IT” because it’s awesome-sauce.

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Was Hair Dye Ever a Forbidden Thing for You?

September 13th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

Back during my blonde ambition phase, ha ha!

It was in my family when I was growing up, but it wasn’t directly addressed out loud like makeup was. Lipstick, eyeliner and blush were definite hard “NOs,” but it was kinda implied that hair dye was too.

Not that I really wanted to dye my hair when I was a kid. The curiosity kicked in later when I was in college, and that’s when I started experimenting with box dyes and at-home highlighting kits… Mind you, I wasn’t good at any of it, and I’m 100% sure my hair color looked terrible because I’d always leave the color in too long, or the hair color in the back would be applied hella patchy.

Girl, I was a mess!

I see kids in elementary school and middle school now with vibrant hair colors like blue, purple or pink and think, “Wow, your mom must be a cool mom!” — ’cause that wouldn’t have flown in our conservative house.

My brother was actually the one who was more curious about it than I was! He’s always been a rock ‘n’ roller, and when he was in sixth grade he managed to scrape together enough to buy some Jolene cream bleach. (Ya know, the one used for upper lip hair? I used it and rocked an orange mustache pretty hard back in the day, LOL!) He used it on his head for some terrible DIY orange streaks. Funny thing is, my parents didn’t notice for months. I’m talking at least half the school year. I was in college at the time, and when they finally figured it out, my brother left a cryptic four-word message on our shared landline voicemail (!) — “The jig is up.”

I immediately knew he was talking about the hair dye.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What Are Your Biggest Personal Hair Pet Peeves?

August 16th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

Thank goodness for hats on crazy hair days!

Even though my mane is currently under moderate control, and even though I’m relatively happy with my ‘do right now, I’m going to work under the assumption that there will still be days when it goes crazy…because cray hair days are inevitable. And even though I’m relatively content with my coif today, I still have my personal hair pet peeves.

In no particular order…

I have a widow’s peak, and I have NO control over baby hairs in it. Absolutely none! They do what they want, whenever they want to, and I can only get them to submit to my will if I use a round brush, a hairdryer, elbow grease and A LOT of styling products.

It’s work, and even when I go through the effort to tame them, those baby hairs still end up sticking up every which way.
So, I have wavy hair, and the curl pattern is tighter on my right side than it is on my left… On more than one occasion when new people have cut my hair, I’ve ended up with a lopsided ‘do that looked like I was trying to do a cool Salt ‘N’ Pepa style from the ’80s but failed miserably.

Sigh!
The bangs on the left side of my head always poof up and never lie quite right on their own, so I always have to use a heat styler to get them to fall the way I want them to.

‘Tis annoying.
Dandruff…

It’s annoying, and it ain’t cute, but I get it on occasion. (It’s the worst when the seasons are changing and my scalp goes nuts.)

How about you? Do you have any personal hair pet peeves?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Easy Everyday Hair Styles for the Dog Days of Summer, Day 4: Friday Fun Buns

August 10th, 2018 by Karen 6 Comments

And for more heat-less hair styles for the dog days of summer, check out…

Day 1: The Woven Wonder

Day 2: Textured, Tousled Waves

Day 3: Wash-and-Wear Wow

OK, I’m sweating behind my knees and between my toes right now… I woke up this morning to second-day air-dried bed-head hair and scorching heat (today’s been in the ’90s, and we don’t have air conditioning), which left me with the following choices for living my best hair life on a blisteringly hot day like today: 1) throw it into a high pony (boring), 2) squirrel it underneath a hat (which is great for sun protection, but man…hats make me sweat so much.), or 3) fun bun it up.

Wanna guess which option I went with?

I feel like buns had a mega moment a few years back with the whole sock bun trend, but I’m still here for them in a major way. It’s an easy hairstyle for a summer Friday because you can look as sleek and done or as messy and undone as ya please! Do a single bun, or double the fun with two. Keep it simple, or jooj it up with dainty Dutch braids (like I do here). They’re surprisingly versatile.

Today’s fun buns is/are the last of the heat-less summer hair styles I had planned for this week, and they build on day 3’s wash-and-wear ‘do.

Once again, I Oribe’d it up…

Dry Texturizing Spray is an old fave of mine (I like keeping a backup on hand), but Mystify Restyling Spray is new to me. You spray it on second-day (or third- or fourth-day hair, for that matter), and it reactivates whatever styling product you have in your hair from the day before. It also has UV and heat protectors to guard your hair if you decide to use hot tools.

Let’s get ready to put the fun in ‘ze bun…

1. Fix flatness with dry shampoo

Spray a dry shampoo or texturizing spray through your hair, concentrating at the roots, to lift your second-day style.

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