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| Forgive me for this photo being two years old, but I've run out of photos and this one shows my natural hair colour quite well. I'm having a cuddle with my nephew Micky. |
Anonymous asked:
I am envious of your gorgeous hair- looks so healthy! Can you tell us how you care for it and how you tend to style it? Any helpful tips you can share will be so appreciated!
That�s really nice of you to say, Anonymous, and it makes me laugh a little bit because my hair is often my biggest source of stress. Will it go frizzy today? Should I colour it differently or let it go natural? How can I heat-style it to look nice without damaging it too much? Is this way I do it too young or too old? So many questions.
But let�s start from the beginning, in the shower. I�ve tried fancy shampoos in the past, and found them no better than less expensive ones (in my opinion). I�ve been using L�Or�al Elvive shampoo and conditioners for a while and really like them. They are a great price at the supermarket and I even pulled an extreme couponing move this week when I bought a $6.59 bottle of shampoo on special at $4.00, and I had a $3.00 manufacturer�s coupon. $1.00 total! I was so proud of myself.
I used to wash my hair every second day but thought I�d try every third day to not overwash. So far so good and I�ve been doing it close to a month. I don�t feel so bad about using my hairdryer and occasional flat-irons now. I do have good quality appliances. My mum bought me, at my request an Italian Parlux hairdryer for my fortieth birthday, and I have a set of GHDs which have been in use for several years now (bought through a hairdressing salon) so no complaints with the longevity of these.
Something else I have that I love, is one of those micro-fibre turbans. It�s so nice to comb my wet hair and then put that on. It means I can enjoy my breakfast without wet hang dangling around my neck. And when I take it off to blow-dry my hair most of the moisture is gone.
I use a very light hand with hair products before blow-drying because my hair is very fine so it easily gets weighed down. Sometimes I use nothing and sometimes I use a light serum or gel/cream. Just a tiny bit and I comb it through, then start drying it with the hairdryer using my hands before I move onto a round brush.
Depending on my mood I might dry my hair entirely with my hands for a natural slightly wavy look, or I might section starting from the bottom, holding it with a beak-type clip that hairdressers use, and straighten it out one layer at a time. That certainly makes it nice and shiny but takes a while and by the time I get near the top of my hair my hairdryer arm is aching.
I used to let my hair dry naturally but it does me no favours. The type of hair I have is lots of it but fine, and it dries a bit woolly with curly and wavy areas. I feel like the coloured areas are a bit wrecked on the ends (and I�ve just had it trimmed), so I�m going without colour for a while for a change.
Air-drying amplifies the grey hairs I have, since they�re a more wiry texture, and I don�t want to look like one of those crazy ladies (you know the ones). Blow-drying definitely blends in grey hairs, both in colour and texture, and I tell myself that my natural colour is a highly expensive and rare, extremely fine, priceless in fact, shade.
After my last trim and blow-wave my husband asked if I�d had colour, which just tells me I need to keep on blow-drying to not want to go back to damaging colour. Blow-dying makes your hair look better which is quite ironic since it�s not better for your hair than air-drying, in fact a lot worse.
I always reserve the right to change my mind about colour though. I go through phases.
Last time I had some colour the hairdresser did �high-lift tint� highlights rather than colour/bleach highlights, so if I feel like a boost, then I may get a handful of high-lift tint highlights scattered over the top. Usually I had a half-head of highlights/low-lights (it was about every three months) done very naturally so I didn�t have obvious regrowth. The underneath colour is completely natural.
Ways I like to wear my hair are:
- Down, parted on one side or the other
- A sleek ponytail, high or low
- Half-up, with the bottom down and the top looped up at the back with two bobby pins crossed over to hold it
I haven�t worn my hair in a chignon for a while. Even though I say I feel French in it, I actually feel like a grandma. And even though technically I am a cat-grandma, I don�t want to dress or look like one (a customer did actually say that to me yesterday, without the word �technically� or �cat� in the sentence).
One thing I can�t live without, and that�s hairspray. I use it every day. I used to buy supermarket hairspray but always wanted to try Elnett. I finally got some, in a big gold can and it�s wonderful. It looks and smells glamorous and I love using it. A big can lasts for so long too, I think I can forget the price and treat myself.
I hope you�re not too bored by now, I know I am listening to me go on about my hair, but if there is anything else you�d like to know, ask away.