All About My Hair

WowPale!

My hair is like my comfort blanket. I feel so much better about myself when I have taken time in the morning to properly do my hair, rather than just throwing it up and running out the door. Its taken me a long time to grow my hair and it is my only physical feature that I can honestly say I like about myself and even though I put it through its paces from time to time, its still in nice condition give or take a few split ends. Without sounding like I'm tooting my own flute, I do stack up a fair few compliments about my ever growing mane. Therefore, I thought I would share with you everything there is to know about my locks. 

Cut

Being honest, I haven't cut my hair in over a year. I hate, hate, hate getting my hair cut! Even getting "just a trim" makes me feel like I have been scalped. Some people fear the dentist, I fear the hairdressers. When I have plucked up the courage to let someone hack at my beloved hair, I just get a simple "trim" with a few layers. Nothing too drastic. Although about five years ago I did cut off my bum length hair off into a "Pob" Vicky Beckham style. - Never again!

Colour

Scott Cornwall Colour Restore Cool Ash  Hair Toner - £12.99 |Jerome Russell B Blonde Hair Lightening Kit - £5.99

I know some people will be horrified but I always to my colour myself, using drugstore bought products. I love my hair far to much to let anyone go near it, If its going to get messed up, I would rather try it myself and live with the consequences, than trust someone else and have them ruin it for me. I have never had any problems doing my own colour, I used box dyes for years dying my hair one colour all over. This did cause my hair to go really dark, with lots of colour build up so I had a year and a half break in dying my hair in order to get to the colour I am now. Right now the top of my hair is my natural colour and my ends are bleached. I done my own blayage ombre using Jerome Russell B Blonde Hair Lightening Kit. I wouldn't really call this a kit though as it only comes with the bleach so I also bought the Jerome Russell 40 vol Maximum Lift Developer too. To tone my hair and banish any brassy tones left from the bleach I use Scott Cornwall Colour Restore Cool Ash  Hair Toner. If you would like a full blog post on how I achieved my balayage ombre, then let me know in the comments. - Please note, I am a qualified hairdresser and I don't recommend dying your hair yourself if you do not feel confident about it. I spent a good 6 months to a year researching the best techniques and products to use before I bleached my own hair.

Shampoo & Conditioner

Alberto Balsam Coconut and Lychee Shampoo - £1.49 | Touch of Silver Shine Weekly Treatment Shampoo - £3.09 | L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oils Nourishing Mask Balm - £3.99

To clean my hair I like to do one shampoo with Alberto Balsam Coconut and Lychee Shampoo. I am not to fussy when it comes to shampoos, as long as the scent is nice and it produces a nice thick lather I'll be happy. Coconut is my favourite smell so I will always opt for that over anything else. As my hair is bleached I like to do a second shampoo with the Touch of Silver Shine Weekly Treatment Shampoo. I lather this up and leave it on my hair whilst I wash and exfoliate my body and do any of the other delightful chores us girls have to do in the shower! This shampoo is bright purple so it acts as a toner, brightening the bleached parts of my hair and helping to keep brassy tones at bay. I am one of the lucky girls who only has to wash their hair once or twice a week, so every time I do I like to use a hair mask as my conditioner. My new fave is the L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oils Nourishing Mask Balm. This mask has teeny tiny glitters in that makes your hair look so, so shiny once the mask has been rinsed out and the smell lingers for days. I like to apply this once I am out the shower, I towel dry my hair to remove any excess moisture and slather the mask all over the mid lengths and ends of my hair. I probably use to much but I always get carried away! Once my ends are completely drenched in the stuff I run what ever is left on my hand through the roots of my hair, comb it through, throw my hair in a top knot and leave it to work its magic. The instructions say to leave it for 2-3 minutes but I'm not one to do things by halves so mine stays on for a good few hours. I give it a extra good rinse when it comes to washing it out and voilà super soft, shiny locks that smell incredible!

Heat Protection

Shwarzkopf Got2b Guardian Angel 220°C Heat Protection Spray - £4.07 | OGX Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil - £6.99

Before blow drying my hair I like to give it a good few sprays of the Shwarzkopf Got2b Guardian Angel 220°C Heat Protection Spray. This does what it says on the bottle, and protects my precious mane from getting too damaged when I style it using heat. After wards I add a tiny amount of OGX Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil to the ends of my hair, this just provides extra protection and the oils also add strength and shine to the hair shaft. A little bit goes a long way with this though, its so easy to over do it! Then I'll start the mammoth chore of blow drying and then head to bed!

Styling

Vo5 Extra Hold Weather Resistant Hairspray - £3.15 | Vo5 Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray - £3.79 | Vo5 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder - £4.19

I usually style my hair the day after washing so I will always start by giving it another quick spray with my heat protector, then curl my hair using my Mark Hill curling wand (I cant find the exact one, as mine is leopard print but this looks like it could be the same shape/size). Once I have finished curling my hair I use a little bit of the Vo5 Extra Hold Weather Resistant Hairspray. This stuff is like cement at first and makes your hair feel a bit crispy, but once I give my curls a good shake that's completely gone and my hair feels like hair again! To finish ill use a little bit of my argan oil again. Usually that is all I will do styling wise and I'm good to go, but if my hair is getting close to needing a wash, I will use either the Plump It Up Dry Backcomb Spray or Vo5 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder to put a bit of life back into my roots. 

If you would like in depth reviews on any of these products then just let me know in the comments or on my social media:

Twitter - @WithLoveABlog

Instagram - @withloveax

Catch up soon,

With Love ... A x

♥