Donating my hair to charity

I had been growing my hair for years, ever since I last had a bob in about 2006 I think! I always wanted my hair to be long enough to cover my boobs at the front, something about Daryl Hannah in Splash being able to keep her modesty hidden that way was ingrained in me. After years of growth I finally made it but towards the end of last year it was starting to irritate me. It got caught on everything, it was in the way in bed and took ages to wash and dry.

By the way, if you are trying to grow your hair, mine really started to grow quicker when I managed to cut my hair washing down from every two days to every three days - just a little tip for you there.

So a couple of months ago I started toying with the idea of a long bob or lob as it is also known. Shorter hair seemed to be the way the fashion world was heading and for once I was ahead of the game. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Kim Kardashian copied me don't you know!? :)

In the build up to getting the chop, I mentioned it to a lady at work and she told me about hair donation. I didn't really know anything about it and I didn't think I had enough to give away. But I did some research into it and came across Little Princess Trust - a charity to provide real hair wigs to children suffering hair loss. The minimum length they could use was 7 inches and I think I had almost 8 chopped off in the end. All you have to do is mention it to your hair dresser, then they tie it in a pony tail and cut that off so its all tied together ready to be donated.

Getting scared, on the day of the cut

My pony tail

I was so nervious on the day, but excited at the same time. Once that ponytail was cut off, there was no turning back. After my hair being finished and styled how I wanted it - centre parting, deliberate grown out fringe and longer hair at the front, slightly shorter at the back with slight layering, I took my hair home in a bag and posted it to the charity. At the post office the cashier asked me what was in my parcel (nosey bugger!) and I think he had a bit of a shock when I replied hair! He said "not your hair though?" and I was like "yep!". When he took the parcel and saw the address he realised what I had done, but it was a funny situation.

It took me a while to get used to my new do. In fact for the first couple of days I said to my boyfriend - I think I hate my hair cut. But I worked on styling it and my preferred style is the wavy look I've shown above. I used my Babyliss curling wand to create loose waves and use a texturising spray. I'm still not too keen on it straight, mainly because it flicks out at the back of my neck rather than staying straight. I think next time I'll either get more off at the back or get it slightly more layered.

A couple of weeks after my cut the charity emailed me a certificate, so hopefully they've been able to make use of my hair for a child who has had cancer treatment or alopecia.

If you are thinking in following in my (or Cheryl or Kim's footsteps) then I would thoroughly recommend considering donating. Don't worry about the condition of your hair either as it will still have to go through a treatment process in order for it to be used alongside someone elses hair to contribute to a wig. So even if you think your hair is in bad condition they will be able to make use of it.

Toni & Guy big barrel curling tongs

I love big, wavy, voluminous hair and when I discovered the large barrel curling tongs to help achieve this, they went straight on my wish list. 

I decided to go for the Toni and Guy ones. I read the reviews on those and the Babyliss and there didn't seem to be much in it.

I used the Hollie Wakeham - how to get big hair like Cheryl Cole video as a guideline. http://youtu.be/TsG8jYK-MI8

I prepped my hair with GHD curling spray, then curled all of my hair, pinning it up as I went. I curled my fringe and put it up in my sleep rollers large fringe roller.

I left it up in the clips for about an hour. It had fully cooled down. Then released the clips to reveal lovely big wavey curls.

I pulled them through with my fingers to shape it how I wanted then spritzed plenty of hair spray all over.

So far so good and pretty easy to do. Now for the downside. This look only lasted a couple of hours at best before all the curls started to drop out. By the evening my hair was practically straight. 

I have no idea what went wrong. Was my hair spray not strong enough? Did I not prep my hair properly? I have done this twice now and had the same problem both times. I curl my hair with my GHDs and Babyliss conical wand all the time and the curls last a couple of days, so it's not my hair type.

If you have any advice on how to keep my curls, please leave a comment below. Would love to be able to maintain this look for a day, or a night out.

My New Hair candy - Popband Review

Popband ★★★★

I came across Popband on a blog earlier this week and the review instantly sold it to me.

It's a stylish hair tie, that is meant to be "kind on your hair, cute on your wrist." Popbands are meant to be better for your hair compared to normal hair elastics because they are gentler yet just as strong and they claim to not add a kink to your hair. They are also rather pretty.

I bought the Little Prince Popband which is navy blue with a silver crown (apparently special edition in honour of Prince George). There are a variety of colours with different charms available.

I ordered it Tuesday night and it arrived on Friday in a cute metallic pink Jiffy bag. Not bad for free delivery.

The next day, I tried it out. It is definitely cute and a little bit different to the usual boring hair elastics, so for that alone I would recommend that everyone needs something like this in their lives. On a slightly negative note, it isn't as tight/strong holding as the hair bands I normally use, so my high pony did slip slightly.

In terms of not kinking the hair, it mainly didn't. I don't think you can ever get away with absolutely no kink when putting your hair up, but this was pretty minimalist.

Little Prince

Overall, I really like the concept and design. I will probably by more, as I would like to have a handful of different colours and designs to choose from when putting my hair up.

You can get yours from www.thepopband.com.

Arm candy

VO5 Hair Products Review

On a recent shopping trip I purchased me some VO5! So, was it any good I hear you ask? Let's see...

 

VO5 Dry Backcomb Spray ★★★★ 

I recently saw the VO5 dry backcomb spray being demonstrated on a YouTube video and immediately put it on my shopping list.

It claims to “immediately add fullness for amazing volume” and I wasn’t disappointed. You spray it in then place your hands in your hair lifting it and giving it a bit of a ruffle. It gives your hair an instant lift, and saves it from any damage that could be caused if you backcombed. The spray also seems to last well throughout the day. It smells beautiful too.

I’ve given this 4 stars as I love it, but it isn’t perfect. My only gripe is that it doesn’t quite give “backcombed” level of volume. It does increase the volume, and for that it is great, but not to the amount you’d get if you were backcombing. Maybe I haven’t quite mastered the use of this product yet, and if this is the case I will change my rating if I change my mind as I do with all of my reviews. 

In summary, I will buy again because it’s always handy to add some extra volume!

 

VO5 Tousled Texture Spray ★★★★★

The funny this about the tousled style spray is that I never would have bought it if Boots didn’t have an offer on. The VO5 item I already had in my basket was £3.89, so as it was 2 for £5 I thought I may as well spend another £1.11 to get another one of the same value! I scanned the products and this leapt out at me.

I don’t know about you, but when I get up the day after curling my hair and give it a brush, my curls look fluffy and undefined. I normally add some hair spray and/or mousse to try and get some definition back, but it doesn’t do all that much. This product is perfect for this purpose. It instantly gives curls and waves definition and smells good to boot. It also gives my blonde hair a lovely golden healthy looking shine.

I will certainly be trying more VO5 products in the future.

Buy buy buy!

Flat fluffy hair, first thing in the morning

Volumised hair after using the dry backcomb spray

Now hair has added texture after using the tousled style spray

 

Boots mini haul

I went to Boots the day before yesterday and had myself a bit of a haul, well a mini one anyway. I'll tell you a bit about what I got and my first impressions. Full reviews will follow as I've only tried this stuff out once due to just buying it.

L-R: Essie Grow Stronger base coat, Nivea Express Hydration Primer. VO5 Dry Backcomb Spray, VO5 Tousled Style Spray, Nivea Pearly Shine lip balm

Essie Grow Stronger: My nails are so weak, always have been. It may be down to the fact that I used to bite them when I was younger, or it could be down to my diet (I hardly eat any fruit or veg, this is very bad of me and I'm sorry mum!).

I'm never one to really bother with a base coat, I tend to always have nail varnish on, so I am not worried about stains on my nails and because I do my nails every 4-5 days I try and do them quick quickly. However, it would be nice if I had stronger nails that don't break and peel and would probably make my nail varnish last longer, so thought I'd give this a go.

So far so good. I applied it under fresh nail varnsh two days ago and there's only a slight sign of wear on the ends. We shall see.

Nivea Express Hydration Primer: As I don't give myself much time to get ready in the mornings I try to have a pretty quick makeup routine and don't bother using a primer on a day to day basis, only for special occasions, I do however moisturise. So when I saw this advertised on TV - a moisturiser and primer in one, I thought I'd give it a go. I think Boots had it on a introductory price too at £3.33 rather than the RRP of £4.99. I bought the one for "dry and sensitive skin". My skin is quite sensitive to break-outs so I am always warey of trying new moisturisers. Again, so far so good. It's a really nice moisturiser, not strongly scented, but nicely scented. It does a good job of making you feel moisturised and fresh, and I think my makeup is holding on better too and lasting longer.

VO5 Dry Backcomb Spray: I saw this being used on SWalkerMakeup's YouTube channel and the results were really impressive. I requires no backcombing and therefore no damaging of your hair, just spray and plump!

I curled my hair yesterday and it was quite volumised to begin with so I didn't use it then. After sleeping on the curls last night, my hair was looking rather flat this morning so I gave it a go. It definitely does work! I didn't get as extreme results as I saw on the video, but this could be due to not using enough, or maybe my hair length or type. When I've used it a few more times I'll be able to tell and report back. Overall I am impressed and it smells lovely.


As Boots were doing 2 VO5 products for £5 and one cost £3.89, I decided to pick up something else too.

VO5 Tousled Style Spray: This also got used on my day-old curled hair this morning. After brushing my hair it had gone a bit fluffy, so I needed something to bring it back to a more sleek look. Great smelling product again and it worked really well. It's a bit like using mousse, it sticks strands of your hair together to give you a bit of the beach hair look, I really like it and will give it a go when having my hair natural as well as curly.

Nivea Pearly Shine: I love having a lip balm on hand at work, something I can slick over my lips inbetween rushing around when I don't have time to look in a mirror and reapply my lippy. I have seen many people referring to this over the years so decided it was time to try it. I like the slightly pinky pearlescent shine it gives you, it looks lovely on. In terms of moisturising the lips it's OK, but it doesn't compare using Vaseline. I probably wouldn't buy again, because for me it's not moisturising enough.


Here concludes my mini haul. Let me know in the comments if you like this type of post as I'll do more in the future. Have a nice day!

Life changing discovery

Today I just made a life changing discovery. Now that I know it seems obvious but for 29 years I have been oblivious.

So you know hair grips right?! Well apparently the bumpy bit should be put face down in your hair rather than upwards! 

Now I've been told, it makes complete sense. Why did I never work this out before? You will surely have a better 'grip' with the grips facing downwards. 

How comes there are millions of women around the world are also in the dark like I was?

Well now you know ladies, hair grips go bumpy side down.

Happy hair days!

Reverse Ombré

A little while ago I mentioned that I was liking the ombré look and thinking about the reverse ombré for myself.

Well, I just took the plunge!

By the way, I've just started using a mobile hairdresser and my oh my it's great to have someone come to you! But that's another post.

Anyway here is my reverse ombré hair-do before and after adding a little curl.

What do you think?

I could probably have been a bit braver and let her go a little higher up, but maybe next time.

The Fringe Roller by Sleep-In Rollers

The fringe roller: ★★★★★

A-MA-ZING!

I love it!

I first saw the fringe roller by Sleep-in Rollers on a Holly Wakeham video and had to try it. Sleep-in Rollers grew massively in 2012 expanding their range from the velcro sleep rollers to all sorts of other hair accessories including the fringe roller.

You may be wondering how it is different from any other standard roller you can buy in the shops? Well, for a start this is much bigger. It's long enough to get your whole fringe around this one roller, so you don't end up with an uneven gap in the middle like if you used two normal rollers. It's also wider than your average roller, to give you more of a wave, rather than a curl on your fringe. Finally, it has a special inner layer that retains heat, which helps give you that amazing curl, just by blasting a bit of hot hair on it, then waiting for it to cool.

You can get your fringe rollers here. I would definitely recommend if you want a big bouncy fringe on the side or in full!

Babyliss Curling Wand

Babyliss Curling Wand: ★★★★


I've wanted one of these for a while. I do love my GHDs for curls, but I wanted to try something that can give a looser curl. I know this can be done with the GHDs but I never manage to get the balance right.

So my lovely sister bought the curling wand for my birthday. It takes a couple of go's to get the hang of these, but I do love the result. I got a much more natural look than I get with my GHDs. (Please excuse my pink dressing gown!)

The wand heats up really quickly and there are 5 heat settings. I tend to use it on the hottest as I have quite thick hair, but if you have fine hair I'm sure one of the lower heats would be great. Also if you want more of a wave than a curl then maybe a lower heat would do that well.

They are tricky to get the hang of, especially when doing on your own hair. You have to let gravity help you as the hair will slip down to the end of the wand whilst you are wrapping it round, making it difficult to get an even curl.

I did my sister's hair with the wand on Christmas eve - they were much easier to use on someone else. I went all the way up to the root on her hair, so it looks very 'Carrie Bradshaw-esk'!

Ombré hair

I came across this photo on instagram recently. Love this look so much. I'm a natural blonde though. Not sure how good it would look with brown tips. I think it's called reverse ombré the other way round.

What do you think?

Pink Cherry Blossom GHDs

It was my birthday on Saturday and I was a lucky girl and got lots of nice things. My main present from my other half was these pink cherry blossom GHD straighteners.

They are gorgeous!

They are limited edition and £10 from every sale goes to cancer research. They come in a beautiful decorated black heat proof bag with blossom stitched on to it in gold and purple. The plates are pink and there is a pink GHD light to tell you when they are heated (which only takes about 5 seconds).

I have been a GHD fan for about 10 years now, and I'm sure everyone who uses them will agree. They are just so versatile; whether you want straight, curly or wavy - any look is possible with these nifty hair tools!

A 'must have' for any hair fanatic!

The bun ring hair-do

Ease of use: ★★★★
End result: ★★★★★

My sister introduced me to the idea of bun rings a while ago now and lately I've seen more and more appear in the accessories area of clothes shops. So yesterday I bit the bullet and got one! (£1 in Primark UK readers)


Steps:

1. You tie your hair up in a pony tail then slip the ring on

2. Lean your head forward and try to spread your hair evenly around the ring

3. Once you've done this slip another hair band over the top to hold the hair in place















4. Finally wrap the stray hair round the perimeter of the bun and secure in place with another hair band and/or kirby grips.
















And voila! Ballerina style bun.

Tresemmé Split Remedy

Tresemmé Split Remedy ★★★★★

With my latest ASOS purchase came some free samples of the new TRESemmé Split Remedy range. I got the shampoo, conditioner and some of the leave in treatment.

My hair is long overdue a trim and therefore I have plenty of split ends that need help.

The first thing I noticed on opening is the scent, it smells delicious. I'm a big fan of Herbal Essences for that reason and this product range certainly ticks that box.

When applying the shampoo I noticed straight away that it lathered really well. Then the conditioner made my hair tangle free. After my shower, before drying my hair, I used the leave-in treatment in place of where I'd normally use serum. It actually went on a lot better than serum, and made my hair feel even more smooth and tangle free.

Couple of hours on and my hair has been dried as straightened. Even after this one application it does feel a lot smoother and although the split ends are still there (it can't work complete miracles) I can hardly see any of the white ends; the ones where it's about to split. My hair looks less dry ad a lot more silky, without looking greasy.

TRESemmé Split Remedy

It's now that day after and my hair is still feeling smooth and still looks fresh. I will definitely be buying the full sized versions of this product range when I next head to the shops!