Current Hair Care Routine

Hi everyone,

It has taken a few years of trying and testing hair products to find the ones that actually work well for me, and what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't share them with you.

I have tried all kinds of products, from high end to ones that are cheap as chips (from Poundland!) and have come to the conclusion that when it comes to shampoos and conditioners, price doesn't really change much. A really expensive shampoo will clean your hair just as well as a cheap one. It's the before and after shower products that I personally like to splurge on. 

I don't use the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme before every hair wash (I wash my hair every 2 or 3 days, which doesn't mean I shower every 2-3 days just in case you were worried!) just because it's so expensive and I want to be able to spread it out over a couple of months. I usually use it every Sunday because Sunday equals pamper day. I only started using it this year and am already on my second tub, that's how much I love the stuff. I have really noticed a huge difference, my hair is less damaged despite having had it dyed and bleached back in April. My hair has never been in better condition and I feel like this product plays a huge factor in that. If you want to read my full review, I will link it here.

I tend to change up my shampoo and conditioner a lot, but these are the two I always come back to. Nothing fancy or expensive, just good old Nivea. There are several different Nivea shampoos and conditioners that I like, one of which being the Long Repair range, but the ones I am currently using are the Diamond Gloss shampoo and conditioner. I adore the smell of them more than anything and it's the kind of scent that clings to the hair for a long time, and they do add a lovely shine to my hair. I shampoo twice and then use the conditioner on my lengths and ends and leave it on for a while before rinsing.

Now for after care. I have tried many different oils and my number one is MoroccanOil. It works best for my hair out of all of the ones I have previously tried. I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of it so I won't go into too much detail. I apply it on towel dried hair, just on the lengths and ends and then comb it through with my tangle teezer. 

Then I use Kérastase Ciment Thermique, also on the lengths and ends, and comb my hair again. I have a review of this as well, so I will leave a link here. I feel like these two products combined tame the frizz and keep my hair nice and shiny looking. 

And finally, I use a heat defense spray and the one I am currently using is the Lee Stafford Straight Heat Protection. It smells amazing, I love the smell of all of the Lee Stafford products. I spray it all over my hair, brush it through and then tie it all up in a towel.

When my hair is mostly dry, I use my hair dryer to finish it. I usually section my hair into three parts to make sure it's properly dried. 

And that's all I do in terms of hair care. I usually avoid using anything on my hair when it's dry, because it just makes my hair greasy. On day 3, I do tend to use dry shampoo on the roots if I choose to wear my hair down, but it usually lasts nicely and doesn't get horribly greasy on day 3.

Hope this has been helpful to some of you. Have a great weekend!

Milkmaid Braid

Confession time: I love the TV show Teen Wolf. It's right up there with my favourites and I am not ashamed. It started out as a funny, not so scary werewolf show and has slowly turned into a much more serious, a lot scarier werewolf show. And I love it. My favourite character, apart from Scott obviously, is Lydia. I love her style and I especially love all of her hairstyles, many of which involve plaits. I tried to recreate one of the easier ones, the milkmaid braid. It's quite a popular hairstyle and is really easy to do. 

I decided to keep my fringe out and kept that parting but then parted the rest of my hair down the middle. I did two quick plaits on either side of my head and secured them with little elastic bands. Then I pulled them out a bit to make them thicker. I pinned the smaller one up first and used hair pins to secure it to my head and then repeated this step with the thicker plait. I made sure to hide the end of the first plait and then tuck the end of the second plait behind the beginning of the first one and pinned it in place. Then I pinned them more wherever I felt everything needed to be more secure.

I especially love doing this hair style on second or third day hair, where I just want it all out of my face (apart from my fringe obviously). It's pretty but really easy and looks like you made more of an effort. I was in a hurry while doing it and the back did look a bit messy but I though I would just embrace the messy look. You can neaten it up if you want to though.

Accent Plait

I've decided to start doing Hair of the Day blogposts, since I've recently been experimenting with different hair styles, rather than just leaving my hair down. I really like doing plaits and would love to try more difficult hair styles using them. This first one is really easy and great if you just want to do a small change to your usual style.

I was a bit bored with my hair and did a simple plait on one side of my head, starting from the top. Then I secured it with a tiny, black elastic band and got two hair pins ready. I parted the hair on the opposite side of the plait and flipped a section over so I could pin the plait underneath. I flipped the hair back over and made sure it hid the pins and the end of the plait. I left my fringe out but you could incorporate it into the plait as well. I left the rest of my hair natural but curls would look great with this style too.

You could even do two plaits, one on each side, but I thought it would look nice like this as well. 

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme

After having had highlights done, I decided to invest in some products that would keep my hair nice and soft. The first product I bought was the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme. It's a pre-shampoo treatment specifically meant for coarse, damaged, dry hair. It claims to add elasticity and to strengthen the hair, as well as smoothing and adding shine to the hair. 

I've never used a pre-shampoo treatment before so I wasn't sure what to expect. You are meant to apply this to wet hair and then put on the shower cap that is provided and let it sit for 10 to 20 minutes. Not wanting to stay in the bathroom for 20 minutes, I wet my hair in the sink and put the treatment on, focusing on the length and ends rather than the roots. I wasn't sure whether I was meant to use this on my roots, but I try not to use any kind of product apart from shampoo on my roots, so they don't get oily. Then I put the shower cap on for 20 minutes and did some work. When I rinsed it in the shower my hair already felt soft and had almost no tangles which is definitely new. I hadn't brushed my hair beforehand so I was expecting it to be a knotted mess. I made sure all the product was rinsed out before shampooing and conditioning as usual. 

The box says to use this every time you shower, but I don't think I will because it was expensive and who actually has the time to do that? I will probably do this once a week. 

It left my hair feeling very soft and I thought my hair was a lot more manageable. Even after blow drying and straightening, my hair still felt soft, even the bleached parts. I also noticed that there weren't a lot of split ends. So far this product gets a thumbs up from me.

I bought mine from lookfantastic and it cost 27,27€.

Have any of you tried this before? What are your thoughts?

New Hair

Before

Before

After

After

After

After dyeing my hair with box dye and hoping it would magically lighten all of my dark hair (and not just the roots, which is sadly normal since the rest of the hair doesn't take to box colour as well)  I ended up with a weird reverse ombre style. So I decided to go to the professionals in order to fix it. I don't often go to the hairdressers because it tends to cost a lot, even if you just want a trim. This was an emergency though. At least that's what I tell myself to not feel so guilty about spending so much money. (Technically it all could have been avoided if I just hadn't coloured my hair in the first place, but I wanted a change!) 

So off I went to Ferber in the Walfer Shopping Center, a bundle of nerves. I have only had my hair professionally dyed twice, both times ended disastrously. But this time I was prepared with an abundance of photos and technical terms. I asked for caramel balayage highlights and a trim. The colour turned out how I had imagined it, the cut not so much, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I didn't want a full ombre look and I also didn't want the highlights to be blonde. I showed them my photo and they said that it wouldn't go blonde anyway, which was fine. They had to dye my roots a dark brown (close to my natural colour) first and then started the balayage. (I was in the hair salon for about three hours total!) I don't think they toned my hair when they washed it, but then again I couldn't see what they were doing.  

I had asked for a trim in order to get rid of the majority of my split ends and had also said that I wanted to keep the length as much as possible as I am trying to grow my hair. I loved the length it was before I got it cut because it was the longest and healthiest it has ever been. I have only ever been happy once with how my hair has been cut and sadly this was not that time. First of all, she took off a lot more than I had asked for, about 7cm. By the time I realised, it was obviously too late. Then she cut my fringe too short, but I didn't really mind that because my fringe grows so quickly anyway and I can clip it up. Next time I need my hair cut, I'll stick to my favourite place, Lisa Emmerich Coiffure in Bereldange. Why I didn't go there in the first place, I don't know.

They styled it the way I like, straight on top with a curls at the bottom. Then I left, minus 145€. It hurt but oh well. At least I didn't look weird anymore!