Hair

Kate here, Things are getting pretty rough these days. My parents tell me that everyone experiences a hard "adjustment period" after college. There are not a million people your age whose only goal is to be your friend (or for the male variety, some sort of goal that relates to seeing you naked). Your hard work doesn't always pay off when you get a paper or test back. You can't sleep in until 10 for an 11 o'clock class and you can't just "not show up" to your work because you are "sick" (ahem...hung-over slash still wearing the same clothes from last night). But I think that my adjustment period has to be a little worse than most. Even bagillionaires are facing rough economic times these days due to the stock market's similarity to Britney Spears' reputation last year. Neither me, nor my college educated roommates, friends, siblings etc can find any sort of job worth anything. It is a struggle to pay the bills, much less indulge in the necessities (splurges) of beauty. For this reason, when I received Jessicurl Too Shea! Extra Moisturizing Conditioner to try, I was extremely relieved, as I had just run out of conditioner and had literally no money to buy a new one.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous to try Jessicurl because I have used a tried and true system for my hair for over two years now, and I am very reluctant to change it. But boy, am I glad I did. Remember how I said things are getting pretty rough these days? Well one thing that is not rough is my hair! Jessicurl made my hair unbelievably soft and I could tell it was working almost immediately when I rubbed it through my hair. After straightening , my hair had a silkiness that I did not think was possible for someone with hair as coarse and thick as mine. This is a WONDERFUL conditioner that did not weigh my hair down at all (although to be fair with hair as coarse and thick as mine I don't think oil grease could really weigh my hair down) and lived up to every claim it made. I would definitely recommend this product, and not just to curly haired ladies who want to improve their curl, but to anyone who wants extra moisture and softness.

Here is what Jessicurl has to say about Too Shea! Extra Moisturizing Conditioner:

This thick conditioner uses Shea Butter for its moisturizing properties, adding wonderful softness to super dry hair. It also utilizes the beneficial properties of 14 different herbs and spices. Good for daily use on thick, dry hair; it may be too heavy for hair that gets weighed down easily.

Anyone else tried Jessicurl products? Tell me someone else understands what I'm going through to try and make ends meet!

JESSICURL! BUY IT HERE!

Sweetassgal here to bring you the best natural and organic products our Mother Earth has to offer us by the way of Green Chi Tuesdays!

Ahhh how times have changed! My beautiful (and so grown up daughter) had her Junior Year Homecoming dance this weekend. When I was growing up the Homecoming Dance consisted of kids in preppy shirts, jeans, and socked feet only so our school principal wouldn't have a cow about dancing on the basketball court. Homecoming Dance circa 2008 in suburban California....TOTALLY different story. It's all about formal dresses, corsages, dinners out and of course, the perfect updo!

Times being what they are we circumvented the stylist and did the 'do' at home. I'm not completely without talent in this arena so we popped in a chick flick, sat down with bobby pins and curling iron in hand and assessed the situation. My girl has incredibly gorgeous and thick hair but straight as a pin. This is the death of an updo as its so heavy it can fall out and so straight that curls don't hold long unless they're pinned and shellacked into place. Unfortunately today the situation was worsened by the fact that she had JUST washed her hair and we weren't privy to the 'second day dirty hair' that is best for formal do's. What to do...what to do?

Jonathan's Silky Dirt Shine and Define Creme with Essential Waters and 100% Vegan to the rescue! Just a TINY dab of this on your fingertips, run through your hair, and VOILA...you are second day dirty. This can be applied on wet hair for definition or to dry hair to tame frizzies, pump up the shine factor and help style too soft, just cleansed hair. I'm curly and frizzy...my girl is soft and straight. It works for both of us on different levels. A word to the wise however...a little goes a LONG way. If you over apply you will have greasy looking hair. I would not recommend this for people with very thin hair or for those with super oily hair. But I can recommend it for the curlies, wavies and straighties who need a little shine, definition and control!

'Perfect for dull or damaged hair, this grooming creme helps me create amazing supermodel shine plus sexy, natural hair definition. The best part is I can use it on damp hair for extra control or on dry hair for a smooth, lasting finish.' ~ Jonathan

I find this everywhere...Ulta, Sephora, online at just about every beauty website. You can buy a full size tube for $28 or half size for $16. It will last you forever...which is more than I can say about my daughters updo! Home by 11:30 and though she still looked FABULOUS in her red dress and perfectly coiffed hair...out came the pins and down came the hair. All good things must end!

Let's hear from those of you who've got a hair story or know about Jonathan's Silky Dirt...do you love it as much as I do??? GLAM ON megsmakeup gals!

Buy It Here!

Meg here! Before I start can we send some good wishes off in our hearts to Gigi our resident Drugstore Deal Diva whose taking this week to be with her family.

I' here today filling in with not a drugstore deal but a new way to get sun-kissed locks without frying your hair or looking like a skunk. I hope all of you grab a pen and write this new process down so you can remember to ask your stylist about it for your next appointment!

It's called balayage, from those chic Parisians where balayage translates in English to "SWEEP." I heard about this new technique from Martina Harrer at Clark Nova hair salon in LA. It makes sense Martina would be the expert on this. Her salon is all European flavor with internationally trained stylists! It's like a Benetton ad in there!

Out with the foil, it never really gets the roots and it's hard to control how much time your hair is cooking while wrapped up out of sight. The balayage technique is all about the artistry and controlled with a paintbrush. Your hair becomes a cannvass and there is no where near the damage of traditional highlights.

Seriously, Are you writing this term down? You know you're going to forget so get to jotting.

Clark Nova is a great, unpretentious place. Because Martina is European she doesn't really crave the celeb crowd like her Beverly Hills counterparts. She's very funny about it. She had an actor in her chair and everyone was congratulating him. Martina said "Oh, Happy Birthday!" Her staff waited until the actor left to let Martina know that it wasn't his birthday. He had just won the Best Actor Oscar.

So everyone gets the same treatment at Clark Nova, you don't have to be rich or famous. You do have to trust me and call over there (If you're in LA) or call your local stylist and check out Balayage!

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Anyone else a fan of Balayage?

Clark Nova-Balayage Experts!

Xstatic817 here and not to step on the impeccably pedicured toes of our drugstore deal gal Gigi, but this week I just felt inspired to write about one of my favorite home hair colors - straight outta CVS.

I realized last week when I was choosing my new shade that I have now been dyeing my hair for half my life; I’m 28 and my first coloring experience was when I was 14. A brief hair color history: Anyone remember Glints? Well, that was my first foray and it was a temporary dye that lasted about 2 weeks and never actually showed up in my dark brown hair.

Did I mention that my goal color was that of Claire Danes from My So-Called Life? My blonde best friend at the time was able to achieve this color - accidentally -- using another new semi-permanent dye called Natural Instincts in a color called Cinnaberry. She wanted an auburn tint; she got Angela Chase. I got frustrated. Then I got purple hair from some burgundy hair dye that I thought would make me into the object of Jordan Catalano’s affection. Since then I’ve tried pretty much every dye on the shelves -- seriously, I don’t even want to list all of the brands because there are just too many.

A few highlights (pardon the pun) of my hair coloring life

1) The reverse-skunk look my mom did with a home coloring kit to be in high school. We were so afraid that we’d miss the roots that we ended up ONLY getting the roots. Thankfully, this led to her paying for 2 years worth of beautiful blonde and caramel highlights at an actual salon.

2) When I bleached my hair a month before college graduation. It was short then, I’d never been BLONDE blonde, I was broke, and I decided it would be easy to bleach my hair. Heck, I even read up on how to do it on the internet. Well, it was blond...ish - orange-y blonde, I’d say, and I wore it with pride -- even as my parents cringed during graduation pictures and made multiple comments about the “value” of my ivy league education.

3) My Bettie Page phase. Technically, this is still going on - I love all things rockabilly, leopard, retro, cherry and so on. Last year, I decided to dye my hair black. Not once, but twice. I enjoyed it, but I just can’t keep a hair color for more than a few months so this spring I decided I was over it and wanted lighter hair. I decided to go all out and splurge at a fancy NYC salon and ended up at the one that the likes of J. Lo and Jessica Simpson go to. Well, $500 dollars and 8 hours later my black hair had been stripped, re-colored, and highlighted. I looked like a million bucks.

Problem is, it wasn’t me. Maybe it’s because I felt that I looked like everyone else in NY and Long Island, where I live. I was tortured. I didn’t have the money, obviously, to go back to a professional but honestly, I just hated looking at myself in the mirror. So I decided to go back to my roots (and the hair puns just keep on comin’). I wanted red hair and bought Natural Instincts in Cinnaberry.

It’s super simple to use and takes almost no time at all. In fact, this is one of the first times I’ve dyed my hair myself and not gotten hair color splatter all over the bathroom. I’ve never done the strand tests or allergy tests; sorry, I just don’t have the patience for that. The resulting color? Well, I was ready to call over Ricky and Rayanne. I think the color took well because of the blonde highlights I had, but of course, there are now sooo many color options that I think even if you have dark hair, you’ll be able to get the color you want. And my hair felt freakin’ amazing! Clairol says: “Natural Instincts is rich in antioxidants and free of ammonia, so you can feel free to use it month after month. And the more often you color, the healthier your hair looks!” I know, it seems counter-intuitive. I realize my hair isn’t actually healthier, but it does look super healthy and shiny, and hey, I’ll take it!

So, what’s your favorite home hair dye? Anyone else out there have a hair color to dye for? (sorry, I just love the puns today!)

Katehrm777 here with another installment of Hump Day Hair Day to help everyone achieve beautiful, bouncy, bodyfull (made up word), bodacious hair!

I went to UC Berkeley for college (see above for proof of my excellent skills of alliteration). There are a lot of great people at Berkeley. There are people who want to save the world, and really smart people and driven people and intimidating people. There are not, however, a lot of particularly well groomed people. I could walk around Berkeley and feel like I had an edge on people if I had washed my hair within the past 2 weeks and did not have dreadlocks. Knowing the difference between eyeliner and mascara made me a beauty maven. Having bleached blonde hair with a full face of makeup and wearing heels to class? Made me a bit of a freak.

However I recently moved to Newport Beach. Now I feel un-groomed if my hair is in a ponytail. People here not only wash their hair on a regular basis but they get it washed and styled by a professional EVERY TIME (I am not kidding...terrifying. Slash I am super jealous and wish I had the time and money to have it done to me). Everyone is blonde. Just wearing my hair down and a clean outfit doesn't cut it anymore. So I have been wanting to add a little bit more style to my hair and I was thinking of going and investing in a good hairspray. Instead I got Biolage Freeze Fix Hair Spray to test.

Here is what Biolage has to say about Freeze Fix:

"Biolage styling strengthens and shines to optimize style results. STRONGStem Technology blends strong-cling polymers, strengthening macro-lipids, high-climbing akebia vine and resilient sugarcane. Biolage Freeze Fix Hair Spray is a humidity-resistant, water-free, fast-dry spray for all-day control. Lifts and locks styles into place with firm hold and aerial support."

It all sounds very scientific and confusing to me, but what I have to say is that this stuff works really well! I always had a bit of an aversion to hairspray because I had images of Aqua Net-style 80's hair, and I felt like it takes away the shine and bounciness of hair. But this stuff holds your style without getting sticky (as long as you don't use too much) and actually adds shine! I tried the firm hold, but there is also a light hold, a medium hold and an ultra firm hold. When I teased my hair before I went out the other night, it held through an entire night of dancing and didn't frizz at all. All in all, I would say if you are trying to step up your style and need a bit of hold this stuff definitely does the trick.

Any other ladies love themselves some hairspray or can't get enough of the Biolage line?


Biolage Buy It Here!