My Hair Care Routine

My Hair Care Routine

• Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Evening lovelies!

I used to hate the dreaded night of the hair wash and blow-dry.. it meant nearly 2 hours of faffing about with drying and styling only to leave me with limp dull looking hair. 

More recently though I've started to not see it as so much of a chore- mainly due to the fact I'm using the right tools after years of just making do. So I thought it only right to share some of my fave products with you all!

So first, the washing-I have never really found a shampoo that I thought "I must put that on next months shopping list".  As you may have seen on recent posts, we hosted a blogger event and Lush came to spend a few hours with us. After having a chat with the ladies they recommended I try one of their shampoo bars, Ultimate Shine. I'd seen these in their stores but never really paid a lot of attention to them as I thought it was a bit of a bizarre way of shampooing your hair but as they kindly gifted me one I thought I'd give it a go.

After the first use I was converted! All you do is wet your hair and rub the bar down your locks a few times then lather it up. I was really surprised to see how little product you need to use to get a good coverage. I love the smell of it too! As with most Lush products my bathroom sells like a sweet shop after using this which is just how I like it. I have noticed that my hair is noticeably shinier but I am having to wash it more than I would when using 'normal' shampoos. Fine by me though as I love the smell! Using Ultimate Shine has made me think about using one of their conditioner bars/conditioners... can you recommend any?

I always like to use a serum in my hair before I go in with my hairdryer so at the moment I am using the Lee Stafford Shine Serum*- this was one of the products I received in my #TheCityGirls goody bag. All you do it pump a pea sized amount into your hands and then run it through your damp hair- the beauty of this product is that if you accidentally put too much on all you need to do is blast with your hairdryer and the product melts away. I've noticed a considerable difference after using this serum- my hair is so much sleeker and less knotty!

Once I've put in the serum I then use my Tangle Teezer*to get rid of any knots- I love this little thing! I keep it in my handbag all the time now for quick fringe fixes throughout the day.

For my birthday in December I was treated to a new hairdryer- for me, the most important thing when drying my hair is that it's quick and easy to manoeuvre. My hairdresser had been talking about how good the GHD range were so I checked them out online. Yes they are bloody expensive but I'd heard so many good things on review sites and other blogs I thought it must be worth the money. I chose the GHD Air model which is £99.

The GHD Air's selling points are that it drys your hair in half the time. Its also got a mega powerful motor and advanced Ionic technology which helps reduce frizz and flyaway leaving your hair all nice and smooth- much like when you've been to a salon.

After trying this for the first time I completely agreed with the second point of leaving my hair soft and silky but the first point of quick drying was one that I had to work on- at first when I started using the hairdryer I would towel dry my hair then go straight in to blowdrying it straight. I actually found that it was taking just as long as my old crappy hairdryer so thought I'd watch a few Youtube videos (yes, I had a lot of time on my hands over xmas!) and realised where I was going wrong. A much quicker way is to roughly dry your hair until its 80% dry then go in with the brush to straighten it! I'm convinced that a lot of you will already know this but a girls gotta learn eh!

I love that this hairdryer has a 3 metres long cord- no more drying my hair in a small vanity mirror as I can reach my full length mirror.. woo.. little things eh!

I use the BodyShop Paddle Bamboo Brush when drying my hair- although I could do with a nice round brush for my fringe this one works really well at giving me a sleek finish.

Once I'm all dried and smelling delicious from the Lush Shampoo bar I then move on to styling- sometimes I go for a sleek straight look so get the straighteners on it but most of the time I just leave it with a slight natural wave- yay for less effort! 

If I want to go for more of a defined curl I have recently been using the Babyliss Pro Porcelain Conical Wand* in the mid length sections of my hair. I love this wand as its not got one of those annoying clamp things so you don't end up with a very unnatural clink in your curls!

 If I'm prepping for a night out I've been using the Fudge Unleaded SkyScraper* hair spray to add fix and then lightly brush it out to make the curls drop slightly and give me a bit of bounce.  This hairspray smells amazing- Apple and Coconut flavour..YUM! I don't use this everyday though as its a pretty strong hold (although its a medium hold spray) but for nights out when I want my hair to stay firmly in place it does the job well. Can you recommend me a good daytime hairspray?

Last but no means least are the Kodo Bobbles*. These little things are AMAZING! I love that I can pop my hair up when going to bed and in the morning wake up with no kinks to deal with. I am for sure going to be binning all my other hairbands as these are SO the way forward! Also another plus point is that they are more substantial than your normal Primark hair bobbles so I haven't lost any to the invisible hairband and hair-grip thief that lives in my house- WHERE DO THEY ALL GO!?

Must dash.. off to wash my hair!

XOXOX

(The Babyliss Wand,Kobo Bobbles, Tangle Teezer and the Fudge hairspray were all gifted to me by JustMyLook.co.uk. The Lee Stafford Serum was gifted to me in #TheCityGirls goody bag- my opinions on the items are 100% my own of course!)