Quick Tip: Preserve that Blowout

   I like to wash my hair as little as possible.  Before you think that sounds gross, it's not.  My hair could absorb half of the Atlantic Ocean and still be fine.  The best tip I found on preserving a blowout or maintaining any style longer, is to KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!  The oils from your hands and your fingers transfer to your hair creating a big ol' mess.  This may be difficult for those of you nervous hair twirlers or flirtatious hair flippers (like myself), but the more you keep your hands off your hair, the longer your style will last!

The Many Uses of Jojoba Oil

  A few weeks ago I ordered jojoba oil from Vitacost.com.  I ordered it mainly to use as a carrier oil for tea tree oil to use as an acne treatment.  After buying such a decent size though I decided to do some research on the other uses of Jojoba oil.  Here are some of the suggestions I came across:

*Eye and face makeup remover- Apply a few drops to a cotton pad and use to remove face or eye makeup.  Rinse off with water and follow up with your regular cleanser.

*Use as a facial moisturizer- Now this is one that I see a lot of raves about, but also a lot of rants about. People either say this gives you the most smooth and plump skin ever or breaks you out like crazy.  As my skin has been misbehaving lately I'm not going to be trying this.

*Body Moisturizer- Apply right after you get out of bath or shower to lock in moisture.

*Add a few drops to a bath for a moisturizing soak.

*Apply oil to hands or feet, wrap in cellophane and add some socks and gloves for an hour or so for a super luxe treatment.

*Add a few drops to your scalp and gently massage.  Make sure to double shampoo out.

*Use a quarter size drop to apply to damp hair (concentrating on ends) and leave in for 10-15 minutes for a deep conditioning treatment.

*Use as a cuticle oil

*Apply to lips in place of lip balm

*Use a carrier oil for stronger essential oils

*Apply to wet hair prior to swimming to seal hair shaft

*Massage into stretchmarks to use as a lightening treatment

*Apply a teensy tiny amount to dry hair to use as a shine serum



As you can see one super affordable product has TONS of uses!

 Do you use jojoba oil?

Review: Conair Jumbo Hot Rollers

   I love the look of va-va-voom hair.  I usually have to utilize heat to get the voluminous hair I desire and not teasing, because teasing and my hair and my hand just don't combine!  Since I suck at being able to do my own at home blowout, I purchased a set of jumbo hot rollers quite a while ago to achieve my va-va-voom hair.

I purchased this set of Conair Jumbo Hot Rollers from Amazon about  a year ago.  When I purchased these rollers, it didn't include the claw clips that the set includes now.  I purchased those on my own because I prefer the clips that go all the way around the roller.  This set includes only two size rollers- 4 super jumbo rollers and 8 medium to large size rollers.

On to my review:

My major complaint with these rollers is that I don't feel they get hot enough.  I've seen YouTube review of this product and the girls seem to be almost burning their fingers because the rollers are so hot and I'm able to hold them no problem.  I'm assuming this is a problem with just my set and not with all of them.

Due to the fact that my rollers don't get hot enough, I don't feel like I'm getting the best results from this set.  My friend Mamita explained that it may be the way I roll them which is preventing me from getting the most volume at the roots, so she needs to come give me a lesson soon!

Now some pics:

When you initially look at the set of the rollers, you may not think there is enough for your entire head, but I have a lot of hair and the 12 rollers fit on my head perfectly.  I definitely recommend using these types of clips for ANY hot rollers that you may use.

As you an see the rollers do give my hair a lot of movement, but not a whole lot of lift!  

Pros:

*Very affordable

*Gives straight hair great movement

*Available to purchase at a lot of different stores

Cons:

-Doesn't get hot enough

-Doesn't provide a lot of volume at roots

Would I repurchase?: Unless I realize I'm doing something wrong and these rollers give me some volume, probably not.

If you have any recommendations as to how to use these to get more volume at the roots, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Also, what's your favorite method to getting volume at the roots? I'm willing to try anything! 

Heat Free Curls: French Braid

   I'm continuing my quest to find the best heat free curling method for my stubborn hair.  So far I've had successes with the  foam roller method , sock curl method,and  headband method and failures with the standard braid method, sock bun method and french twist method.  I've found another success in the french braid method.

This curling method simply consists of french braiding your hair when it is slightly damp and sleeping in the braid.  It's comfortable to sleep in, unlike some of the other heat free curl methods.  Only downside with this method is, you have to know how to french braid.  I don't know how, especially on myself, so my friend Danielle braided my hair for me.

From the back it looks quite crazy!  Next time I have to ask Danielle to braid further down.

However, I LOVE the way it looks from the front.  It's definitely not a curl, as much as it is a wave/soft crimp.  It looks a little like lioness hair and provides great volume.  It's a very soft look and I think it will be perfect for spring and summer.  Plus, this is a heat free method where you don't look crazy when you're going to bed!

How to: Heatless Curls Part 4- Sock Curls

So my quest to test out as many heatless curling techniques as possible continues. So far I've had some success with the french twist technique, no success with the sock bun method and great success with the headband method. Will sock curls be a hit or miss for me?

Reminder: My hair is about to my collarbone, with some natural wave and is pretty thick.



I used this video for this technique. I've heard of using socks as rollers before, but I'm really glad I watched this video because Yaya only used three socks for her entire head. I would have done a lot more and probably would have looked like a poodle!

Can you tell I have a thing for argyle?

Results

LOOOOOOVE! This gave me full, voluminous waves. Kind of like if I set my hair with hot rollers. These babies held pretty well too, but started to frizz up quite badly. I think that had more to do with the weather though and my lack of product. I will definitely be using this technique again.

O, does anyone have a recommendation as to what styling product is best to use with these heat free techniques? I've been using a curling mousse on my damp hair and then a hairspray afterwards, but I'm not happy with the hold or the feel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

How to: Heatless Curls Part 3-Headband Curls

So my quest to find the perfect technique for heat free curls continued after so-so results with the french twist and total fail results with the sock bun, I have finally found success!!

How to curl your hair with a headband!!!



This is the original video I watched for this method, but after watching a few videos I ended up using a larger headband than what this video showed. I was so happy with the results of this! I ended up re-curling one or two of the back pieces because I got sloppy at the back. Also, I definitely recommend using a product in your hair prior to curling. I put a curling mousse in my damp hair, but wished I had used something on my hair right before curling it.

Before:

After:

Now I used a headband that was over an inch wide which gave me loser curls, but I also think that lead to some of the flatness towards the top. I'm definitely going to play around with this method, because I really like it. However, there are still a ton more heatless curl methods I want to try!

How to: Heatless Curls Part 1

After watching so many videos on heatless curls on Youtube, I've decided to begin a quest to find the best technique for my hair. My hair is super thick, no volume on top, a bit on the dry side with a natural wave. My hair is a bit on the short side for my liking right now, so I feel like I need to dress it up a bit more to keep from absolutely hating it!

Yaya has a lot of great heatless curl videos, and the first one I decided to try on a very lazy night. I just didn't feel like doing a damn thing, so this is a great heatless curl technique to do in a hurry or when you are feeling like a complete bum like me.



I put these french twist pigtails into my hair when it was about 90% dry. If you plan on sleeping in these, you need it to be at least that dry so it won't feel damp and gross when you wake up the next day.

Morning shot:

First of all, I can't wait for my hair to get longer so I can wear this out. It's such an easy and quick look and very cute. The problem with this method for my length hair, was that the bottom hairs or hairs from the back weren't included really in the twist, so those pieces ended up very straight.

Results:

You can see that the little curls are very cute, but the book of my head was a hot mess. Again, like I said because of my hair's length (about my collar bone) the hair in the back and bottom weren't twisted enough into the french twist. The back part of my head was pretty much completely straight! I had to use my curling wand to kind of balance the back out with the sides.

So, overall the results of this method weren't great for me. HOWEVER! I would totally recommend this to girls with longer hair and can't wait to try this again when my hair grows out a bit more.

Book Review: Lauren Conrad's "Style"

Several weeks ago I wrote about ordering Lauren Conrad's new book, "Style". I received and read it in about a weekend and I love it!

None of the advice is really new or groundbreaking, but it's a pretty book that's really nice to look through and it's nice to have all of these little tips in one book.




The book touches on everything from:
Building your Wardrobe
How to Shop
Mastering Our Closets
Getting Dressed for Different Events/Vacations
Makeup
Hair
And a whole lot of tailoring and vintage advice

My favorite tips from the book include tips on shopping and incorporating vintage into our wardrobes and for making alterations to clothing at home.

Some of my fave tips or lines from the book:

-A short tutorial on how to hem our own jeans if you're in a hurry
-Lots of small numbers, equal a big number (refering to buying at F21 or H&M)
-Add in vintage pieces in small doses, too much and you look like you are wearing a costume
-Beautiful clothes are meant to be seen, so why not show them off?

If you're looking for a cute, fun and stylish read, plus a pretty coffee table book this is a great deal.

Available at Barnes & Nobles, BN.com, Amazon or most book retailers

I ordered my SIGNED copy from BN.com for less than $12!