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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What did one aspiring wig say to the other aspiring wig?
I wanna get a head!

Wigs.  The bane of many-a-joke.  Historically… and in my life time, wigs have been the preserve of fancy dress parties and old guys with combovers to disguise.  Let’s be honest, the wig itself is a valid reason for not wanting to ever wield a gavel in a courtroom, an otherwise totally aspirational profession.

But as Bob Dylan once said, the times they are-a-changin’ and wigs are now one of the most fashionable accessories you can add to your shopping basket in advance of a night out!

My only experiences with wigs have been less frivolous, during times of cancer care… but seeing the profound difference that this fairly uncomplicated piece of headwear can make to a person’s confidence ensures that you’ll never underestimate the power of a full head of hair again.

When it comes to wearing wigs for fun, the only rule to abide by is a simple “does it look good?” assessment.  I haven’t taken the plunge yet when it comes to “for fun” wig-wearing but I do have my eyes locked on a few…

01: Tannah // £49 // hothair.co.uk
02: Two tone short & spiky wig // £17.99 // ebay.co.uk
03: Joanna (not in that colour!) // £129 // hothair.co.uk
04: Elle // £26.99 // annabelleswigs.co.uk
05: Tess (my favourite) // £24.99 // annabelleswigs.co.uk

The sky is the limit when it comes to style, colour, and in many cases, price but it’s a good idea to know your basics before commiting to a purchase and the most obvious decision you’ll need to make when considering a style is whether you want to opt for a synthetic or human hair wig.

You would be forgiven for assuming that human hair will always beat the synthetic option but this simply isn’t true.  On the whole, synthetic wigs take less maintenance than human hair and can hold their initial style better.  Of course, you must never approach them with any heated styling tools and durability is unlikely to be as good as the human hair variety, but improvements in their realistic texture and an attractive lower price-point mean that synthetic styles are a good choice for casual wearers.

What about you… do you wear wigs?  What have been your experiences with them and do you have any tips to share?

Would you like to buy a wig but don’t know where to start?  Let me know if you’ve seen any lust-worthy hairpieces recently and feel free to link me in the comments, I’m always up for a bit of virtual wig shopping!

* I’m so sorry for the unsubscription-worthy title, once you get something like that stuck in your head… it’s damn near impossible to extract it.

I’m a simple girl. I don’t want much from life: flawless skin, lashes that touch my eyebrows, a bigger bum/smaller belly, and hair that doesn’t look like it’s been backcombed, when it hasn’t.

When I was growing up, I didn’t associate “frizzy hair” with my hair-type.  I thought that “the frizzies” was something only women with thick, curly hair were afflicted with.  You remember the old adverts on the telly where some super-serum would turn a mass of unruly curls into poker-straight silken locks yes? Well, that’s not me.

My hair is pretty straight to begin with but full of flyaways and random sticky-out bits that won’t lie flat?  And let’s not forget the flat-at-the-roots, major poofy stuff going on at the ends which results in my number-one nemesis, triangle hair.

It took me far too long to realise that half my problem was being caused by my hair dryer.  I can emerge from the salon with the hair of my dreams and most of the time, there’s very little “product” in it because the stylist always tells me that… “your hair is fine, you don’t want to weigh it down.”  OK.  Then what VOODOO are they doing to my hair that I can’t do at home?

“It’s all in the blow dry!” they say (as smug as you like), wriggling their fingers at me like they’ve been possessed with the powers of the late, great Alexandre de Paris himself.

“Shut up.”  says me.  OK, I don’t… but I bloody want to.

The Nicky Clarke Hair Therapy 2000-watt Hair Dryer* is a supposed solution for taming the frizz on a daily basis.  It’s far bulkier than my current hair dryer and boasts three heat and two speed settings with a cool-shot button which is great for “setting” curls if you’re using rollers.  Despite its bulk, it’s really lightweight… infact, it feels pretty “cheap” to be blunt.

I guess there’s always a payoff between designing something like this so that your arms don’t ache after 30-seconds of use, and wanting the product to actually “feel” good in the hand.  This doesn’t feel good in the hand… but then, it doesn’t make my arms drop off either.

The 2000-watt motor delivers enough power to dry my hair within around four-minutes.  This is particularly interesting because my old hair-dryer (also rated at 2000-watts) takes around seven-minutes to get my hair dry enough so I can leave the house.  That’s a pretty good time-saver, and I’m assuming that I have the ionic and tourmaline technology to thank for this difference.

Or maybe it’s VOODOO!  Either way, it gives me more time to enjoy my cup of tea that I usually have to leave half-finished… and for that, I’m thankful.

The Nicky Clarke Hair Therapy Hair Dryer is also pretty quiet.  I live in a flat and have washed and dried my hair later than 9pm with ALL OF THE GUILT.  I try to do it as quickly as I can… with all the doors shut and sometimes, if I’ll just do my fringe (absolute essential!) because I’m a considerate neighbour… but this hairdryer is pretty quiet.

I must admit, I didn’t notice it at first and it was my husband who pointed out the difference.  You can imagine the fun I had annoying him by comparing the two hairdryers for noise levels.  Don’t worry, I made sure I did it during daylight hours!

This dryer comes with some freebies, they’re pretty lame.  An unbranded, generic comb and a couple of sectioning clips.  I kinda wish it came with one of those BIG HAIR diffusers as well as the nozzle style for when I’m rocking the curly-haired look but I guess we’re not in the 80s anymore Toto.  Perhaps more impressively, it comes with a loop so you can hang it up if you want.  Ok, it’s only me that’s impressed by that addition.

There’s one final thing that I don’t like about this hair dryer, the cord isn’t quite long enough for me.  I mean, cords have been getting longer and longer haven’t they?  I need a longggggg cord to stretch into the hall so I can use the big mirror sometimes, and this doesn’t reach.

It’s not shamefully short (don’t make me go and measure it) but if you need a hair-dryer with a “long” cord, don’t get this one.

And finally, what about the frizz?  Am I now sporting super-sleek locks?  Well, I sort-of am actually.

Ok, it’s no salon blow-dry, it’s not a miracle but, BUT… there is definite improvement.  No longer am I sporting an equilateral triangle on my head, it’s now more…. Isoceles.  And that’s a good thing people.

The Nicky Clarke Hair Therapy 2000-watt Hair Dryer is priced from (a ridiculously reasonable) £18.00 and available to buy online from very.co.uk

* press sample

Hair perfume. Hair what?! Hair perfume!

I’m sure you’re familliar with the idea of spraying your perfume onto your hair for a scent that follows you around like a haunting?

Well, this inventive conditioner from LUSH works on the same premise and uses your hair as the carrier for its wonderful scent.  And wonderful it is, a positively uplifting blend of neroli, rose, grapefruit, rosewood, orange flower absolute and benzoin that works really well now, but will work even better in Summer’s warmth.

It’s not cheap… priced at £18 for 250g (which is about the size of a standard bottle of conditioner) but I fear that once you try it, you might be as hooked as I am. Unfortunately, it will be a habit that is ultimately too expensive for me to maintain – for one reason, and one reason only.  I have to wash my hair daily/once every 2 days at the least, I literally dream of being one of those women who wash and straighten their hair only once a week.  DREAM.  If you’re one, please tell me your secrets!

So, you see… I would need to purchase this fairly often… and I just can’t justify it.

Conditioning properties? Well, it’s neither here nor there, it does the job – though not as well as some of my intensive conditioners… mind, this isn’t supposed to be an intensive conditioner – just an incredibly well-scented one.

I have found a cheeky solution though via the LUSH reviews on their website… the consistency of the conditioner is rather thin and after using my regular conditioner, I have been using just a little of the LUSH Happy Happy Joy Joy as a leave-in conditioner on the ends (I KNOW I PROBABLY SHOULDN’T!)  but my hair doesn’t seem to have suffered as a result and I get to use far less product.  If you hair is very fine, you may find that it weighs your locks down too much to do this.

Try and get a sample instore and see how it works for you.

LUSH Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioning Hair Perfume is available to buy instore and online at lush.co.uk, priced from £9.00

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Argan Oil (and the like) has done for leave-in hair serums what the Hummingbird Bakery did for cupcakes.  I have spoken to plenty of women who class these serums as game-changers for taming unruly locks and I too, use them on wet hair before blow-drying and on the ends of my dry hair to seal the cuticle and give the impression of sleeker locks.

The problem that many women find with these products is that it’s very easy to go overboard when applying them.  Too close to the roots or a little too much on fine hair and you’re never going to be happy with a head that looks like the overspill from your chip pan.

I can probably count on more than one hand the number of times I’ve had to dart back into the bathroom to re-wash my fringe after getting a little too trigger-happy with the serums and it’s the kind of faux-pas that I, at least, haven’t been able to break with practise alone.

The thing that struck me so intensely about the new Charles Worthington Miracle Repair Elixir Oil is how different it feels in texture to many of the others.  It’s a lot lighter, a lot runnier and doesn’t seem to stay stuck to my palms for the rest of eternity.  Having said that, it still delivers the same manageability to my hair that I’ve grown to expect from using these serums.

For a “high street” name, at £14.99, you’re not paying a high-street price tag… but a quick look at the ingredients tells me that you’re not getting high-street quality either…

Unlike most mass-market “elixir oil” incarnations, the natural oils appear in the top half of the ingredient list, let me transcribe the (partial) list for those of you who might be interested, I’ll stop when things start getting tricky to spell 😉

Cyclopentasiloxane [stop now then shall I?], Dimethicanol, Cetyl Dimethicone, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Pentaclethra Macroloba (Pracaxi) Seed Oil, Camellia Sinensis (Camellia) Seed Oil, Triticum Vulgare (wheat) Germ Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Tocopherol, Phytantriol, Cocoglycerides, Capryllic/Capric Triglyceride, Aminopropyl Phenyl Trimethicone… (and the list goes on…)

4th ingredient down the list and bingo – which isn’t bad considering that when reading the back of the the much-loved Moroccan Oil packet, you’ll get to the 6th ingredient in the list before seeing the magic “argan” word.

I’m inclined to think that it’s more to do with the blend of silicones they pack into these things that aid the smoothening of the locks far more than the blend of natural oils, but… still, it’s nice to see that CW isn’t skimping on the oils part of the “magic formula” isn’t it?

This is definitely worth a try if you’re finer-haired and have had trouble with the heavier formulas of other argan oil-inspired products in the past.

Charles Worthington Miracle Repair Elixir Oil is priced at £14.99 for 50ml and is part of the new Charles Worthington Salon at Home range, which is available to buy now in Boots instore and online – I have a couple of other bits from the range that promise all sorts of wonderous things for your barnet – should they impress (or catastrophically disgust me), you can be sure that I’ll tell you about it.

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If we’re not straightening it, we’re curling it.  If we’re not dye-ing it, we’re stripping it.  Our hair goes through more daily turmoil than the cast of Eastenders and I’m always on the lookout for ways to protect my locks, because heaven forbid, I should actually just stop mistreating them!

Philip Kingsley, major hair guru (or trichologist to give him his proper name), offers an anti-breakage, heat protecting conditioning spray for all hair types in the form of his Daily Damage Defence* spray.  It’s spendy at £22.50 for 250ml but if you only straighten your hair a couple of times a week (like me), this hefty bottle is going to last you 6 months or more with no trouble.  If you straighten your hair daily, stop that at once!

Many of us straighten our hair to eliminate the frizzies, at least… that’s what I do.  I’m a little bit addicted to the glossiness that ironed hair imparts and I haven’t yet discovered the secrets to achieving the same with a decent blow-dry.  I’m only washing my hair a maximum of twice or three times a week at the moment because I lose too much colour, too quickly if I wash more frequently and I’m finding that this by itself is helping my hair retain more moisture than normal.

I wash (still keep cheating on my SLS-free shampo), condition (deep condition once a week), pat dry with a towel, spray with the Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence, and comb through with a boar-bristled brush.  Then I blow dry, and finally… run my straighteners through at as low a temperature as I can (anything above 180 degrees is really too hot for hair to handle).

The Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence is a silicone-based heat protectant (silicone avoiders beware) with added nourishing benefits from ingredients such as: hydrolised elastin, almond seedcake extract, amino acids and other hygroscopic (moisture-attracting) properties.  It smells good and dispenses a fine mist so I don’t overload my fine hair and weigh it down.  It’s the only styling product I’ve been using except for hairspray in an attempt to grasp any other benefits that it may be delivering.

Has my hair been breaking less?  Not really… at least, not that I’d directly attribute to the use of this product.  My hair breaks more so (in my opinion) because of my polycystic ovarian syndrome, I’m also a terrible shedder and I can’t have a shower without emptying the plughole of enough hair to stuff a pillow.  I haven’t noticed any improvements in this regard since using the Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence.

Do I see any benefits at all?  I find that it’s helping my straighteners glide through my hair more efficiently and more quickly, something which I believe is lessening the scope for damage whilst still delivering good results when I’m done.  I haven’t noticed it causing any additional colour leech, infact… I’d say that I’ve had less since I’ve been using it (and it does say “suitable for use on color treated hair”), something which has become a bit of a priority recently.  I’ve just been for the chop (4 inches off) so I can’t comment on split ends but I hadn’t noticed a significant improvement and really don’t believe that any product will deliver on that score!

It’s more than I’d want to pay for a heat-protectant… but you get a lot of product for your money and it’s packaged in such a way that there is no waste during use, so if you don’t already have something that you’re happy with and can stomach the initial splurge, I do recommend the Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence.  If you already use something that you swear by at a more bargainous price, I’m all ears!

I’ve tried a few and hadn’t (until now) found a happy balance between the product weighing down my hair and not actually achieving anything other than a bit of additional scent!  Thumbs up for this one.

Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence (250ml) is priced at £22.50 and available to buy instore and online at Marks&Spencer

* press sample

I know what you’re thinking… “Charlotte, don’t be stupid – you don’t just “accidentally” dye your hair”.  But allow me to explain, because it’s not as black and white (and red) as it may initially seem.

You remember that time when you accidentally ate someone else’s Krispy Kreme because you weren’t paying attention?  Or that time you innocently forgot to take your pill and had a baby as a result?  There are all kinds of accidents, it’s just that some of them aren’t completley blame-less.

I didn’t mean to wake up this morning with bright red hair that leans menacingly toward the cerise, but I’ll admit that it didn’t just ‘happen’ either.  It went something like this…

I bought a bottle of Crazy Color semi-permanent hair color cream online from Amazon… after umm-ing and ahh-ing over the shades, I went for #56 Fire mainly because the reviews of some of the other reds in the range were pretty poor.  I bought the Renbow Crazy Color because I was looking for something to refresh my recently dyed hair without causing further damage.  The Renbow Crazy Color range works by staining the hair shaft without opening the cuticle and penetrating into the hair, it’s a vegetable dye that doesn’t inflict damage in the same way as conventional dyes.

In order to refresh my locks and give them a little boost of colour, I intended to mix a little dye into my conditioner and let it sit for a couple of minutes before rinsing out.  Easy peasy!  Except, it didn’t quite work out like that.

Once I’d blow dried my hair, I could see that the dye had really taken to my lighter roots, creating an uneven halo effect.  Not only that but thanks to my cackhanded application, only the very top layer had grabbed the colour.  I tried to live with it for a couple of hours… but I couldn’t kid myself, I looked ridiculous.

So I went for it.

Ignoring the instructions, I applied 3/4 of the bottle to my dry hair and concentrated on ensuring that I was evenly distributing the product throughout.  I can’t lie to you, it was messy.  At one point, Paul commented that it looked like he’d been trying to murder me.  I knew from reading reviews that vegetable dyes are notorious for staining skin and bathrooms but I don’t mind admitting that I got to the point where I didn’t care!

Once I was satisfied that every strand had been covered (and combed through for extra insurance), I set to work on the cleanup.  I’d been wearing disposable gloves… an absolute must, trust me.  The rest of the cleanup was surprisingly easy – the sink was treated to a hefty dose of Cillit Bang and any ‘staining’ wiped off without any bother.  As for my skin?  I used a damp flannel and rubbed until  my skin bled I decided that I’d rather live with the staining than keep going.  I left the dye on for around 30 minutes before rinsing.

And rinsing.  And rinsing.  I was stood under the shower for another 30 minutes in an attempt to get the water to run clear.  Eventually I got bored (and a bit cold) and gave up.  At this point, don’t reach for one of your nice towels – you’ll ruin it.  I’m gonna burn mine to hide the evidence.

Enough talking… it’s just hair dye.  Here’s how it turned out….

BRIGHT!

I’m anticipating that it’s gonna fade quickly (6-8 washes maybe?) so I’ve bought another bottle online and I still have about 1/4 of the first bottle left to go back to my original plan of refreshing the colour by mixing a little in with my conditioner when I wash my hair.  I’ll be honest, I’m a bit unsure of my new ‘do’ – it makes my eyes look really green but I think it clashes with my skintone!

Anyway, that’s the story of how one might become an accidental redhead.  Call it a cautionary tale if you like.

Do you use vegetable dyes?  Got any favourites?!

* oh, by the way, I need to tell you that you all disgusted me, disgusted me with your grubby ways on yesterday’s post – you brilliant, brilliant lot.

It takes a special kind of lady to rock certain styles – I’m not a special kind of lady, “speshul” maybe…

I’ve been eyeing up some pretty hair jewellery around the interwebs and wondering what it would take for me to take the plunge and invest in a pretty piece.  I think the answer lies somewhere near the bottom of the bottle of Malibu lurking in the fridge.  Yes, I’m uncool enough to still love a bit of Malibu!

Silver Wings ($40.00)  |  Wildfox Daisy Chain (£47.47)  |  Kyoto Moon-Kanzashi Geisha Hair Stick ($40.00)  |  Moustache Ear Cuff (£8.00)

Honestly? I can just imagine getting horribly tangled up in it all the time.  Perhaps it’s a trend better suited to those with effortlessly sleek locks that seemingly never frizz?

Me?  I’d turn my head too quickly and attach myself to a fucking kitchen cupboard.

Do you own and wear any hair jewellery?  Hair bands and combs don’t count – I’m talking proper barnet bling!

I think I’ve cracked it.  It’s only taken me 30 years but I’m absolutely, definitely, completely (most-likely) going to return to the hairdresser I visited yesterday for a trim.  I was doing some shopping in town whilst Leila was on her first-ever play date *bites knuckles* and I dared myself to walk into the first hair salon I saw for a cut (I do shit like this to myself all the time – I think it’s a touch of OCD).

I did have some exceptions to that rule: no salons with the word “cuts” and “super” in the name, no salons with more children than adults in the chairs, and no salons which filled their windows with the products they would be blatantly hard-selling me thirty minutes later.

The first salon to cross my path was Trevor Mitchell on East Street.  From the outside, I wasn’t convinced, it was like the 1970s had met with a 1990s revival and gotten lost on the way to the nought-ies.  The inside wasn’t a whole lot better and I don’t like the name Trevor.  Still, I can’t deny that I wasn’t tempted by the offer of a £25.50 haircut on the price list.  I mean, I didn’t want anything too drastic… just a (good) trim and a fringe-reshape.  I shuddered at the thought of all the different ways the fringe-reshape could go horribly wrong.  I stepped inside anyway.

There isn’t much in the way of luxury going on at Trev’s place.  There are no cups of tea on offer and the dayglo gowns felt and looked like something I’d put on Leila to protect her from a Play-Doh attack.  Does anyone else get anxious about which way round you’re going to be asked to wear the gown?  Posh salons have ones that you put on like a coat and the rest make you wear them like a straight jacket right?

I’m not a big talker when someone is holding a pair of scissors centimetres from my ear, mostly because I’m fairly socially-retarded and tend to giggle inappropriately.  Thankfully, my stylist Kylie wasn’t much of a talker either – except for where it mattered.  I gave her free reign to chop off what she needed to restore health, tame the over-processing and neaten everything up.  Before she started cutting, she showed me the various lengths of my old layers and reassured me that she would leave it well-beyond the annoying ‘growing out’ length.

Admittedly, a basic trim isn’t the easiest thing in the world to mess up… but the scary bit was still to come.  The fringe.

Long story short, she cut it perfectly and not only that but she had my hair foibles sussed within seconds of looking at me.  Dodgy lick on one side of fringe = don’t touch it until it’s dried.  I went to one hairdresser in January who literally snipped in a straight line across my wet fringe… I had a puffy sticky up bit for weeks.  Traumatic.  She suggested that the outer edges needed more blending and by this time, I trusted her.  She also thinned the hair at the edges and boy, that’s made a huge difference as to how it sits against my forehead!  Before I left, she gave me some tips on fading old colour and apparently Vosene works better than Head & Shoulders for lifting dark dye!

I hadn’t had a good, full haircut since I first got my fringe cut in last year and had only found one salon in Soho (Studio12) who had trimmed my fringe to my liking.  A bit of shine spray and £25.50 (+ tip) later and I’m walking somewhat taller with my noo doo.

Cheers Trev!  Oh and just for giggles, Trevor Mitchell (the man behind the local salon chain) introduced Kevin Keegan to his infamous perm in the 80s!  I think I had a lucky escape!

Have you had a happy haircut recently?

I bought a hair-dye from TK Maxx last week (it sounds like a bad idea already) and decided that the recent crop of ever-increasing greys needed a severe talking to.  That night, I checked out the packet… L’Oreal Recital Preference Hair Color Ultra Lightening in 6.3, Golden Brown.  I knew I was taking a risk… a). I’ve never tried the L’Oreal Recital Preference range before and b). Golden Brown?  Do I look like Beyonce?  I can’t remember the last time my hair was golden anything.

I calculated my options in my head and decided that I’d spent the whole year being a very careful home hair-dyer.  I’ve been touching up only the roots for a very long time now and felt that the ends had gradually faded in colour.  There was still a lot of build-up but nothing like it had been a year previously.  I deserved to take a chance.

I’ve been wanting to go lighter for a long time, I’m working on the assumption that if my hair is lighter it will make the regrowth a little bit less obvious leading to less-frequent dying and ultimately, healthier hair.  It’s all good right?

Except that I’d do well to remember that I haven’t seen myself anything other than a dark, dark brown for many years.  To put it bluntly, I nearly shat myself when I took the towel off my head.  My grey roots were a delightful shade of Donald Trump, glowing furiously under the hallway light.  Fuck.  I took to Twitter and said as much.  Fuck, said I.

Long story short, a wash or two later and a little bit of time to get used to it?  I’m loving it.  Sure… the roots are lighter than the ends but I’m gonna head to the hair-dressers next week and get it all cropped back to just below my shoulders again which should go some way toward helping the situation.

My problem is that I have no idea where to go from here.  I’m tempted to try and go a touch lighter again… but when and how?  I don’t want to overload my hair or damage it seeing as I’ve been trying to be so good for so long!  I’m giving my hair regular coconut oil treatments and treating it to some proper TLC while I weigh up my next move.  I’m thinking that colour remover thing next… (but not for a few weeks yet!)

Anyone else wanting to go lighter for the Summer?  Are you DIYing it too?

I don’t talk enough about hair on here, mostly because I’m pretty rubbish at taming my locks.  Not only rubbish but also a little bit intimidated by hair looks, styles, accessories… the whole kit and kaboodle.  Anyone else feel like this?

Anyway, I wanted to share with you my new favourite blog; Hair Romance, because if anyone can inspire me to reach for my kirby grips, Sydneysider Christina can.

And on another hair-related note, I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the hair-madness that goes on backstage during London Fashion Week.  I already experienced first-hand just how crazy it gets behind the scenes… but throw in a bunch of styling tools and I bet it gets even hotter in the hair corner!

You can see some more Fashion Week videos from ghd including some great how-tos from their creative director Kenna on the ghd youtube channel.

Did you have a bad hair day today?

I’m not a “hair” person.  Hairy, yes.  Hair. No.

However, I have been a good girl for the last 6 months and have stopped over-processing my poor locks to within an inch of their life.  To battle the greys, I make sure to dye only the roots and am starting to see a slight colour lift as the regrowth gets longer.  My poor, sorry ends are still very dark and I’m not sure that anything can be done to save them apart from a pair of scissors.

my hair always looks this glossy – honest.

Condition-wise, well it’s not too bad.  A little dry – but nothing serious.

Where am I going with all this? Well…

I want to go lighter but I have no idea how.  Not massively lighter, just enough so that I look less pasty/ill as the days hopefully begin to warm up.  Please share what you know about lifting your colour DIY style.  I’m not in any rush, I know that things like this need to be done sloooowly and with care.

Have you gone lighter?  How many shades and was it a success?