A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Unlike most in the fashion and beauty world, the messy bun and top-knot trends are here to stay.  The truth is that for women with plenty of hair, it’s the perfect solution for sweeping your mane away from your face with the least amount of fuss and bother.  For those of us who are less-than-blessed in the plentiful hair department, it serves as a stark reminder of “shit we can’t do”.

Perhaps you can get away with using a hair doughnut to add a little volume to your bun, or perhaps like me, you find that without meticulous strand-placement, you still don’t have quite enough hair to cover the bulky doughnut without creating a healthy dose of can-you-see-my-doughnut paranoia?  If this is you, I may have found a solution that still manages to keep things just as simple.

The Messy Hair Bun from Foxy Hair Extensions delivers a clip-on solution that works surprisingly well.  All you need to do is scrape your own hair back into some semblance of a pitifully small bun, secured with a hair band.  The single benefit of having such fine hair is the fact that I can keep my baby-bun secure all day with just two bands, one for the initial ponytail and one for the wrapped-around-my-finger bun.

After doing this, all you need to do is place the faux-bun over the top of your own and secure it with the provided clips (and bobby pins if needed).  No faffing about looking for your own methods of securing the extension, just align and clip into place.

For my hair colouring, the shade Dark Chocolate was a good match, perhaps just a hint too dark, but as soon as I redo my roots, it’ll be perfect.  Although the Messy Hair Bun is synthetic, it doesn’t look overly shiny or false, the only thing I’m not sure about is that for me, it’s a little too sleek… a little too… ballerina?  I’d prefer it to be a touch messier without such an obvious, neat “swirl” at the back.  Having said that, it shows promise of looking more naturally untidy with each use… any little tugs and pulls will only serve to create a messier better-looking bun.

You can wear the bun-extension as high or as low as you like, attach it off-centre for an oh-so-fashionable side bun or keep things simple as I did.

The Messy Hair Bun is priced at £14.95 and is available online from www.foxyhairextensions.net in a range of 12-shades from the lightest platinum blonde through to the darkest black.

* press sample

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Whilst this may not be the most important question we’ll ever ponder, for me… it was all I could think about a fortnight ago as I sat in the hair salon umm-ing and ahh-ing over this very dilemma.

In the end, I did what I always do in situations like this, I semi-commited.  I let the stylist cut me a hint of a fringe, a slight side sweep.  A fringe for wimps really.

I don’t like it. It’s bitty and it’s annoying… it says “Here stands a woman who has no faith in her own judgement!”

What I should have done, is bought one of these before visiting the salon.

The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe in Darkest Brown.  A clip-in fringe for commitment-phobes!

It’s the easiest thing in the world to attach, simply align wherever you want the end of your fringe to reach and press on the two clips that come attached.  Voila!

Instant fringe!

Now, whilst I am actually in love with my new fringe, it doesn’t come without issues.

1. It’s synthetic and therefore shiny.  If only my real hair were this shiny!  Now, don’t get me wrong… we’re not in doll’s hair territory, it’s not a horrible synthetic shine but it does contrast to my own hair and I need to fix this before I’d wear it out.  I’ve heard that some dry shampoo should do the trick.

2. If you have fine hair like mine, you need to play around with the back of the fringe (where it meets your hair) to ensure that the join is as well-hidden as possible.  Those with thicker locks will probably find this a doddle, I need a bit of careful placement and backcombing.

3.  Beware of relationships with partners, family and friends.  Mr. L and I are no longer on speaking terms since he called me Duane Dibley.

On the plus side, it provides instant gratification for a striking new look on nights out or when I want to confuse my 2 year old.  It’s well cut and heavy enough without being comedy-heavy and perhaps best of all, it covers my grey roots like a dream!

You can purchase The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe* online at HotHair, priced at £24.

* Press Sample

Although ‘officially’ past that awkward inbetween length, my hair still feels very much like it’s making me endure the teenage years.  Up until 18 months ago, I’d had long hair my entire adult life… but along came a baby and with her; dribble, snot, vomit and spitup – most of which used to end up coating my locks.

I’d like to say that I’ve loved having short hair, I know that in theory… a neat, slightly-angled bob has always suited my round face better than heavy curtains that hang down either side of my hamster cheeks… but theory is called theory because it’s the opposite of practice.

I simply haven’t had the patience, inclination or time to style my short hair and stop it from looking untamed.  I’ve spent the last 18 months with what amounts to a bad hair day.  My feelings on this were hugely reinforced on Saturday when I attached the human hair extensions that I was sent by Halo Hair Extensions.

I’m a total hair extension n00b and have never considered myself a hair extension kinda girl.  I opened the package… looked blankly at the strands of hair infront of me and quite honestly thought “what the hell did I go and agree to give my feedback on these for?”  Curiosity would be the honest answer to that question.

First things first, did they even match my hair?  I held them up alongside my mane and Mr. L answered in the affirmative.  Obviously, you don’t trust a man’s opinion on such important matters so I hot-footed it to the bathroom and checked for myself.   I was sent this set in darkest brown and it’s a damn decent match to the ends of my hair… no ombre here (apart from the overprocessing I’ve done to my self).

I spread the 8 piece set out on the bed infront of me, marvelling at how the softness put my own to shame and wondering if the coarseness of my rough locks would look odd in comparison to the pieces I was about to “install”.

The set I received contained: 2 pieces of hair which are 8” wide (with 3 clips), 2 pieces which are 6” wide (with 2 clips) and 4 pieces which are 2” wide (with 1 clip).

I started with the widest pieces at the back, parting my hair horizontally with a rat-tailed comb and clipping them to my own hair.  I’m rubbish at describing things like this, if you’re as clueless as I was, I suggest that you go and watch one of the how-to videos on their website for more insight and tips into how they actually attach.

Once in, they felt secure and I was able to brush through gently with my hairbrush to blend my hair with the extensions.  It frankly felt amazing to have such thick, luxurious feeling hair… what a confidence boost.  I admittedly spent the entire day asking my husband if he could see the clips (he didn’t once say yes) but perhaps that kind of confidence in wear will come with time.

Wanna see how they look?  Bear in mind that this was my very first attempt at putting them in and they literally took me 5 minutes from start to finish.  I’m so impressed with how ‘usable’ they are, I really thought I’d struggle and turn the air blue trying to get them in but I didn’t enconter a single problem.

Things I’d do differently next time…

I can see a ‘shelf’ at the back and I appreciate now that I should have included the other 3-clip piece that I left on the bed thinking that I ‘didn’t need it’.

I’d contemplate trimming them just a touch to get rid of any wispiness from the ends.

This is a real glowing review, I’m struggling to find fault with the product (and I always like to find at least a little fault!)… so I will have to be pernickity and state that I did have to spend a good 10 minutes ‘picking’ bits of fluff/tacky glue out of some of the wefts.

But that’s my only negative experience with these clip-in hair extensions from Halo Hair.  Even the £39 price tag is reasonable… you could pay that easily for a decent haircut round my way.  I wish I’d tried them sooner, I just didn’t realise how easy they would be to put in.

Do you wear hair extensions?  Any tricks or tips to share?