My holy grail hair conditioner..

Never did I think I'd see the day when I'd find a conditioner that would please the demon that is my hair.

Before I tell you what it is, let me take you on the journey that ended with me finding and falling in love with this.

Many years ago now..and I mean many years, it was about 1997 in fact.. I used to love John Freida's Frizz Ease range.  I was amazed after using it that my fuzzy hair was nice and curly. That was, of course, until I brushed it.  I've learnt now that you don't brush curly hair.

Anyway, over time, that stopped working for so I switched to another one..and then another one and then I just went rogue and bought the first one that would catch my eye.

I've used nearly every conditioner out there, I went from L'Oreal to Aussie to Herbal Essences to Head and Shoulders and then back to Aussie..

The only reason I bought my HG one was because it was on offer.  I remember the day well, I bought another conditioner with it and finished that one months before I even opened this.

This conditioner is by Dove.  It's the Dove Nourishing Oil Express Conditioner. Now, Dove doesn't agree with me in shampoo or shower gel form.  In soap form, the normal one makes me greasy and the one for sensitive skin gives me spots.  The shower gel leaves me feeling 'smudgey'.  I'm telling you now that smudgey is an actual word.  I'm convinced that no matter how much I wash it off, there is still some left on my body.

Yeah, I've bought three because they were on offer..and then I have one in the bathroom here and two at my  winter residence/can't be bothered to cook residence.

So why do I love this so much?

• It mixes an conditioner with oil. What a fantastic idea!
• It is called an express conditioner.  You don't have to leave it in for ages!  It suggests that you use it every day but I don't wash my hair so this obviously doesn't happen. You can wash it out in just one minute.  The strange thing is, the usual conditioner that comes with this is to be left on for three or four minutes.  By the way, you don't use shampoo, standard conditioner AND this. You just use shampoo and this or shampoo and the standard conditioner. I welcome this express conditioner as a product because all you usually get it shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner.  The annoying thing about Boots is that I haven't been to one branch (and I've checked in eight) that has the WHOLE range.  I have seen that they do a deep conditioner which I have also picked up.
• It doesn't grease your hair up.  I find that a lot of moisturising conditioners do this and that's not what I want at all.
• You don't need much.  My hair is currently midway down my back (I can put my hand just above my bum and touch it.  To clarify, I mean the hair, not my bum).
• It lasts for ages.  I have been using mine twice a week since they started showing The Secret History of Our Streets on TV.  Actually no, since the started showing that markets programme on BBC.  You know, the one when they went behind the scenes at Billingsgate, the London meat market (or as I call it, west London on a Saturday night) and the veg market.  The veg market was my favourite with the cockney Singh who used to work for the Krays.
• It makes very dry hair and hair with split ends look very healthy. My hair is horrendous at the moment and this conditioner sorts it out.  You can tell when I've used this conditioner and when I haven't.
• The packaging is very user friendly.  You can get every last drop of this out as it is in a squeezy tube.

Has anyone else tried this?

It costs about £3.00 or so from Boots, I can't be more precise because the Boots website is currently down.  Actually, I think I paid £1.60 odd for it so it's a bit more than £3.00.

Vidal Sassoon straighteners for £15!

In celebration of the Royal wedding, Vidal Sassoon have slashed the price on their Union Jack hair straighteners from £59.99 to a very purse friendly £15.  Even someone as crap at maths as me knows that's not the kind of deal to pass up, it's practically half half price.

The plates are ceramic coated, which I've found do a decent enough job of straightening even the curliest hair (i.e. mine).  They also come with a variable heat setting (maximum 200˚c) which lets you control how much heat you want to use.  I'm always bit iffy about using full strength heat on my hair when it's already had the main straighten..

They also boast Ionic technology which helps seal moisturse in and leave your hair looking super glossy.  A heat resistant pouch and three sectioning clips are also thrown in so you really do get more bang for your buck.

Hurry on down to Argos to pick it up, Sassoon straighteners for £15 is not a price to be sniffed at. The offer starts today and expires on May 17th so rush on down to your local Argos!

Stylerush straighteners: A cheaper alternative to GHD's?

I was recently sent some Stylerush straighteners to review and I wanted to see if they could act as a GHD replacement iron.  Those plates of solid ceramic goodness have let me get my hair from soaking wet to pin straight in 20 minutes.  I dry my hair with a blow dryer before I get my irons on it because if you don't your hair will hiss like a pissed off cat and it won't straighten well at all. 

The Stylerush irons glide through my hair a bit too quickly, so much so that I feel that I have to do some bits twice.  My GHD's seem a bit sturdier in that respect as they "clamp" down on my hair a bit more and straighten it perfectly in one swipe.  I think because the GHD plates are thicker, they work through my thick, curly hair better.  Neither iron snags my hair either which is always a good thing.  Having said that, getting my hair straight with the Stylerush straighteners isn't always a pain.  I only feel a bit wound up when I'm feeling lazy and wish they'd work with one swipe.  Two/three swipes usually take the curl out properly.

Review: Tara Smith Straight Away Shampoo and Conditioner

Made in the UK out of natural and organic ingredients, sulfate free and vegan approved with shampoos and conditioners costing £3.75, Tara Smith's new haircare line promises not only to be earth friendly, but also purse friendly.  With varying sizes of shampoos and conditioners, it's perfect for those who want to try SLS free shampoos on a budget.  The entire range is also formulated to be safe for those who have had a Keratin treatment and those who want a natural anti fade haircare products.
 
The range is free of:

• Parabens
• Sodium Laureth Sulphates (SLS)
• Glycols
• Phthalates
• PEGs
• Artificial colouring
• Synthetic fragrance
• Animal derivatives

The Straight Away Shampoo and Conditioner are probably the first time I've ever truly been happy using a shampoo and conditioner for the same hair "ailment" from the same brand.

The shampoo is more liquid than my usual shampoos and has the trademark PVA glue-like SLS free feeling to it when I first applied it.  Upon massaging it in..it foams! An SLS free shampoo that foams!  The foam is thick but non clingy.  Once I got over the shock of Foamgate and washed it out, I was surprised  to see that it had left my hair feeling smoother than my SLS loaded shampoos do.

The conditioner splodges out of the bottle in a manner akin to sourcing the last dregs of ketchup from the bottle.  Don't try to take the lid off as it is impossible, I tried and it just wouldn't turn.  It was slightly easier to wash out and didn't cling to the hair as much as SLS conditioners do. 

The smell reminds me of fragrances that toe the fine line between bleach and high end perfume..the shampoo smells exactly like the Bvlgari handcream you used to get on British Airways back in the day before they went all la di da and got those Anya Hindmach dealies in. 

Here are the results after I ran my GHD's over my bonce.  I'm quite impressed by how smooth it both felt and looked.

If you're looking to choose between this SLS free range and the one by The Body Shop, I'd suggest this one as it worked better..and you can buy a trial size.  All the shampoos and conditioners in the range come in two sizes so you can try a smaller size before committing to the bigger size.  The smaller sizes (100ml) cost £3.75 and the larger sizes (250ml) are £6.50.  You can pick them up from here.

Pantene Colour Protect Instant Nourishing Shine Spray and 2 Min Damage Rescue Treatment

This review comes courtesy of the two ladies in my family who constantly dye their hair.

I've had this range since before Christmas, thus they've tested it for a fair old while.

Party 1: A hair dyer who air dries her hair and only roughly blowdries their hair.
Party 2: A hair dyer who beats her hair with heat on a daily basis.

Both parties have shoulder length dyed hair.

My photos make the labels look red, they're a bright pink in real life.

Pantene Colour Protect Instant Nourishing Shine Spray (£4.07)
Ingredients:

Aqua, Amodimethicone, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, PPG-2 Methyl Ether, Polyquaternium-11, Disodium EDTA, Polysorbate 80, Parfum, Aminomethyl Propanol, Citric Acid, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Cetrimonium Chloride, Trideceth-12, Lysine HCl, DMDM Hydantoin, Hexyl Cinnamal, Methyl Tyrosinate HCl, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Histidine, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Acetate, Linalool, Limonene, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Benzyl Benzoate.

Both parties have been using this once every two/three days and are very impressed.  They wash their hair about three times a week anyway so their hair never looks greasy or lank.  I've seen both raven haired foxes whilst they've been using this and their hair looks like glass.  It looks a lot healthier than it used to before.

Batiste Tones: The verdict..

The Batiste Tone I have is the one for dark hair as, surprise surprise, my hair is dark.  You'd never expect an Indian person to have naturally dark hair, would you?!

This stuff literally whooshes out of the tube, it's louder than the usual offering from Batiste and quite a fair bit does come out.  Thus, don't get trigger happy and hold it further away than you usually would but check which way the nozzle is facing..

It comes out a dark grey-ish colour but once you've rubbed it in and brushed it out, your hair looks darker.  My hair is not black, it's black/brown and when I had this on, it turned my hair raven black so there is colour there..

See that rogue "white" hair? That's how far this baby sprayed me..

When it's brushed in, it turns black..the only reason my hair looks grey is because of the flash but trust me, that's black there..

Also, you know that there is colour coming out because the nozzle is stained..

When you brush it out, it doesn't stain your clothes.  I was wearing a white top and there were no annoying black flecks on it, I just tapped them out of my hairbrush when I finished doing my hair.

The smell is not your typical Batiste smell so nobody knows you've dry shampoo'd on the sly.  I quite like that about Batiste..the secret got out so they've literally thrown people off the scent.  Once you've brushed it out, there is no obvious scent.

ETA: I washed my hair today for the first time after using this and the colour does wash out so don't be surprised to see the water turn that greyish colour it does when you accidentally wash your hairdye out.  One wash was enough to get all the colour out but obviously, if you use more..keep washing until the water becomes clear.

Now for the important question, is it worth it?

If you want it to cover the roots for a day, this will do the job but I wouldn't suggest using it as a fix for longer than a day, you can always use mascara for that..

This took the grease out of my hair better than my original one does, I didn't have to use it again on Sunday as the grease was still not making a comeback.  I can't do with my standard Batiste. I'm not sure if the formula is different or if the black colour hides the grease better but I know when my million and one bottles of dry shampoo run out, I'll be seeking this one out over the rest. 

As before, you can buy it in Boots and Superdrug and it will cost you £3.05.  I haven't included links because they're not online yet but you can click here to see the other shades in the range.

New from Batiste: Batiste Tones

Remember back the in the day when all you could get was standard Batiste?   Well, those days are long gone as now you can get it in different smells, different colours and different textures.

Now Batiste have brought out Batiste Tones.  They're a range of dry shampoos aimed at those who dye/highlight their hair as they help blend the regrowth in with the dyed colour AND they can also be used to disguise stray grey hair...  They will be replacing the existing dry shampoo they have which is aimed at darker hair..

There are three different "shades" available.  One for light to blonde hair, one for medium to brunette hair and one for dark to deep brown hair.

They're out very soon and will set you back £3.05.  You can pick them up from the usual suspects (Boots and Superdrug!)

Get Nude with Batiste!

I quite like Batiste as a brand, they make a product that everyone knows and uses and they haven't jacked the price up since the secret was let out and their packaging hasn't changed too much either.

I have used this a fair bit and I quite like it.

The natural dry shampoo I had before this was a bit hit and miss, the exit route for the product was similar to the top of those containers you get hundreds and thousands in and so you had to shake it to ensure the powder was loose and then put the powder in your hands and rake your hands through your hair.  A whole lot of fuss for something that didn't really do anything..

This is why I was super glad that Batiste had a nozzle instead of just an open topped bottle under a cap.

I used it when my hair was just slightly greasy and when it really needed a wash and it was up to task of refreshing it on both occassions.  I found the best way to use it was to clip my hair up and give my roots some nozzle action.

There was a tiny bit of fallout but that's to be expected and it didn't rub into my clothes, I just shook it off.

It says it is fragrance free and it is.  That brings me onto something else...it eliminates smell from your hair like nothing else.  When you make Indian food, you have to fry up garlic, onions etc..and you get a smell.  This takes the smell right of your hair which is brilliant as it saves you a job, all you need to do is shower or change your clothes.  I read somewhere that you weren't meant to put perfume in your hair unless it was freshly washed because it took the moisture out of it but I'm not sure how true that is.  If it is true, this would be brilliant if you worked with food and washing your hair took too long.

It's not fiddly to use.  You can just tip the bottle and squeeze and a decent amount of product comes out.  Also, I forgot to add this before but it doesn't make your hair look white/grey at all which is really good if you're a brunette because you don't want tell tale patches of dry shampoo usage.

If you want a dry shampoo to get rid of the grease and takes smells right out, this would be the one for you.  It will set you back less than £4 in both Superdrug and Boots.

An unusual brush cleaner fit for a Lord..

One of my most hated beautification things is cleaning my brushes, I hate hate doing it as I think they get messy way too quickly.

I give them a quick clean daily but they're properly washed once every two weeks.  I used to find removing the hair from my brush such an ordeal, then I started using a nail brush to get the hairs out and it worked perfectly.

I always wondered why someone didn't make a brush cleaner for this situation and then there I was, a few weeks ago in John Lewis looking at the shampoos and I saw this beauty from Denman..their very own brush cleaner!

How perfect is that?! You just slide it back and forth along the rows of "teeth" and it removes all hair and fluff.

It set me back about £4-ish and it's been a Godsend, it makes cleaning my brushes so easy.  And no, you don't need a brush cleaning brush cleaner as I find the hair just falls out of this.

PS the title is in homage to this guy..

(Time for a little lesson in law)..

Lord Denman..a name that every law student has etched on their hearts after doing first year contract law.  He gave judgment as Lord Chief Justice (along with Judge Patteson and Judge Littledale) in one my all time favourite cases..Williams v Cawardine.  A guy had been murdered, Mrs Williams was called to give evidence and she didn't tell the court everything that she knew (tut tut, perjury).  The defendents were acquitted.  Mr Cawardine (brother of the guy who got murdered) took out an ad offering money for any more evidence about his brother's murder.  Mrs Williams gave him more information and as a result, two more guys went up on trial and were convicted (one of whom was her husband..)

After that trial, Mrs Williams took Mr Cawardine to the civil courts and said that he was in breach of contract because she gave him the info but he didn't give her money.  During her trial, they found out that the reason she had come forward to give more info was because between the first trial (where she was hush hush) and the second trial (where her old man was convicted), he'd beaten her.  Denman and his cronies decided that your motives for entering a contract are irrelevant, if you enter a contract whereby you get something, you're entitled to it, regardless of why you entered into it.  Which makes sense to me, if I'm giving you something and you promised to give me something in return..you best honour that.

And I remembered all that off by heart *brainbox in the house*

Review: John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo and Conditioner

I used to love John Frieda.  I remember being 14 or so and seeing an advertisement for his Frizz Ease serum on TV.  For a girl with hair like mine, that advert was a dream come true.  I was too young to know that what happens in the adverts isn't what happens in real life.  I bought practically everything from that range, it worked..and then abruptly stopped.

When I first got the Root Awakening set, I thought they were a root lift combo.  Then I found out that their premis was to strengthen the roots so as to give your hair strength.

I have the set for dry hair as I know my hair isn't normal and as it has frizz at times, I assume its dry..

So..(I feel I haven't done this for ages!) what do John Frieda say?
Of the shampoo: "Refreshes and feeds the roots while restoring deep moisture for silky, soft hair that's noticeably more radiant and resilient with every use.  Infused with natural eucalyptus and peppermint oil, simply massage this formula into the roots for a cooling, tingling, and stimulating sensation."

Of the conditioner: "Deeply hydrates from roots to ends for soft, silky-smooth hair that's noticeably more radiant and resilient with every use.  Infused with natural eucalyptus and peppermint oil, simply massage this formula into the roots for a cooling, tingling, and stimulating sensation."


What do I/my mother/my brother say?
ETA: I've edited this from my initial review..
I took this shampoo to my mum's house when I went to stay with her and as you know, you leave something in the bathroom, the male of the species will use it.  My brother did this.  He said it smelt of minty stuff..but not polos or mint..kind of like if an apple had a bit of mint injected into it.  I echo that.

I didn't like the shampoo.  It made my head very dry and itchy.  My mum found the same.  It worked for my bother though and he really liked the smell and said it gave him that "time to wake up and get your arse out of sleep mode" feeling.  I don't think it made the roots feel any softer and there was no moisture as my scalp was very dry and itchy and my hair didn't look much more hydrated than it had done before.  The tingling claims are all correct though, it definitely tingles.

My brother has short hair and it worked fine on him, no itching or anything.  A few days later his scalp started to itch like mad and became really really dry, there were massive flakes of skin coming off and he had to oil it to stop the itching and get the moisture back..  Suffice to say, all bottles of the shampoo have been chucked out.

I really liked the conditioner but now I'm having second thoughts, if the shampoo is that bad, I worry that the conditioner will turn on me..

Would I repurchase? 
No..the shampoo will definitely not get a repurchase from anyone in the household.  I wouldn't really buy the conditioner either unless I was in a bind and couldn't find anything else that I liked.  It does work but I've used better.  Re. the shampoo, if it was the only one on the shelf, I'd dry shampoo it up.

How to get perfect curls

ETA: My hair is naturally curly and this is how I get my curls looking perfect.  If you have straight hair and are looking to curl it, I can't help, sorry!

This is my own tried and tested method and it has never failed me, regardless of however many different shampoos I use.

When I go on my massive bouts of "no straightener use", I do this procedure about once a week.  When I do straighten my hair, I do it about once a month.

Here's what you do:

Make sure your hair is dry and in need of a wash.

Whack on some clothes that you don't mind getting dirty..my current attire is a Dangermouse t-shirt.

Pick up a few hair clips (I use a mixture of these and these, which by the way, are really good.  They don't pull at your hair or anything..and they last ages, I've had mine for about 3 years now).

The mixture is a result of trial and error.  It has worked for me for the past three years.  Quarter a tub of Tresemme Moisture Rich Treatment and three quarters a tub of Boots Ingredients Camomile and Lemon Balm Intensive Hair Mask..  I have done some experimentations with this and you can substitute the Tresemme deep conditioner for any other in their range but the Boots conditioner I use works best.  It's best if the mixture is more yellow than white.

Get a glob in your hand and smooth it through your hair.  Comb your hair with your fingers and then with a comb.  As I'm a hard nut, I go straight to the finer toothed part of the comb.  The first few times I did this, I did use the thicker part first and then the thinner part to get rid of any leftover knots.  You can feel the mixture smoothing your hair as you go.

Your hand will hurt a bit. That fleshy part of the palm always starts to wimp out but I keep it together.

I find that the knots are worse on the ends and at the nape of the neck so I pin up what I've already sorted through and then add more conditioner there and work through it.  This is why you need the clips.  It is messy work!

Do this to both sides.

Pin up all your hair, you will look stupid so it's best to do it at a time when nobody will call.  What this time is, I don't know because I've always been interrupted whilst looking this sexy:

Leave it on for as long as you wish, I find that 20 minutes is enough but when I want to give my hair a real treat, I leave it on for a lot longer (it's been 2 hours today).  There's no funky smell or anything and you can go about your (at home) business as you please.

Then comes the washing off part.  Now, you've had a deep conditioner on your head for the best part of either 20 minutes or a lot longer.  A normal shampoo won't cut it.  You need a good clarifying shampoo, I tend to use this:

This is quite hard to find sometimes so I do also use this one by Pantene.  

Wash your hair using the clarifying shampoo.

You need no other shampoo.

Let your hair dry naturally and this is what you will have:

This photo has only been edited to add my text, my curls are as smooth as they look in the pic when I follow this method.

They stay this way until you wash them again..

TIGI Urban Antidotes 2

Urban Antidotes is a new range brought out by TIGI and it aims to help those who dye their hair and use heat on it.  It comes in three types:

• Type 1 is for those who don't dye their hair and don't really use any heat on it.
• Type 2 is for those who dye their hair and use a little bit of heat.
• Type 3 is for those who dye and beat their hair with heat.

I don't dye my hair.  I used to, but now I don't.

However, I still batter it with the heat implements so I knew this shampoo could do something for me.

These are not SLS free.  TIGI do have ranges which are SLS free (the Love, Peace and the Planet range) so they do cater to those who are looking for an SLS free alternative.

I tried my best to capture the colour of these tubes in the photo but I failed, they're like an electric turquoise colour.  They both smell really nice too, I knew straight away what the smell was, Opal Fruits!

I had to use the shampoo in the same way that I use an SLS free shampoo (make sure my hands and hair were really wet as otherwise it applied quite dry) but it did clean my hair.  My hair felt nice and bouncy after using it.  The conditioner was used in the standard conditioner way (whack it on, wait a bit, wash it off).

Both products lead me to have the kind of curls I have always dreamt of from a shampoo.  Bouncy, full of life and NO FRIZZ.  NO.FRIZZ!!

I finally have a simple haircare routine that gave me effortless curls.  I slept with my hair out like I usually do, woke up and my hair was still not frizzy! I didn't have to put a serum on or anything.

You can buy them from here.

A Curly Haired Girl's experience with The Body Shop's SLS-free Range

My shampoo and conditioner history is somewhat chequered.

When I was younger, my mum used to just comb the curls out of my hair and use any standard shampoo on me..

Then the Pantene ads with the vitamin capsule came about and my brother decided he would re-enact the advert at home.  Whilst I was sleeping, he took a massive bunch of grapes from the kitchen and split them so the "vitamins" fell onto my hair.  My mum was not impressed.  Funnily enough, the defence of "I tried to give her hair more vitality", didn't hold much water with her.

This was how the first bottle of Pantene shampoo came into my household.  My dad was of the thinking that to prevent any more grape related hair casualties, he'd just buy the real thing and the wannabe coiffeur in the house could merrily use that..

Before Pantene, all we used was Pears..I remember getting it in my eye because I was convinced you could use it as a facewash.  What a seven year old needed a facewash for, I don't know.

Then came the day that I saw Frizz Ease in the shops.  I was about 14.  I remember buying the shampoo and being so excited because the photographs on the front showed me exactly the kind of hair I wanted.  I used it a few times and it gave me lovely curly hair.  I dried it as per usual and had my usual frizzy mop.   

It took me until I was 24 to find a shampoo which gave me effortless frizz-less hair.  And it was a Pound Shop marvel..

Then came SLS-free shampoos and conditioners.  I was never really interested in these as I had found my perfect shampoo.  Had the SLS free situation come around before I found my perfect shampoo, you beter believe that I'd be there, front of the queue buying up every SLS-free shampoo and conditioner going.

I got my first bottles of SLS-free shampoo and conditioner from The Body Shop bloggers event.  I have the variants for dry hair, I figure that if my hair washes slightly frizzy with plain water, it needs moisture as if there was enough moisture, it wouldn't frizz, right?

What have I learnt from using these?

• If you have curly hair, it will take you a while to see any improvement in your hair.  You need to use it for about four or five washes before you see a difference.

• If you want effortless curls after washing, this particular range will not satisfy you.

• Your curly hair will feel a bit dry after the first use but as time goes on, your hair feels softer and softer.  No visible shine.

• If you have curly hair and straighten it after using SLS-free shampoos and conditioners, you will see a difference straight away.  Your hair will be easier to straighten, the comb/brush will glide through and your hair will look fuller, shinier and bouncier.  It will also look healthier, my hair is in terrible state at the moment and this makes it look salon ready, even with my split ends.

• The shampoo is tricky to use.  If you apply it directly to wet hair, it applies like glue, it sticks to the roots.  The directions tell you that you need to mix it with water in your palm.  I find this can be tricky because if you add too much, the shampoo slides out of your hand and if you don't apply enough, it sticks in your hair.  I found a way to combat this, I get my hair and hands really wet, apply the shampoo to the roots and then blast them with the shower head.  Ta da!

• You need to use only a tiiiny bit of each, I used to overdo it with SLS shampoo but with these you only need a tiny bit.

• You won't see bubbles and tonnes of lather.  SLS is the lather maker and you know that old saying "where there's SLS, there's lather".  Don't keep adding more and more in the hope of seeing lather.  I only saw lather when I used way too much.  It feels a bit odd at first having a shampoo that doesn't lather, I think we're conditioned to believe that if shampoo doesn't lather, it's not working.

• The SLS-free conditioner seems to be more similar to the SLS conditioner than I thought it would be.  When I've mixed SLS-free shampoo with SLS conditioner, I've had the same results as if I use both SLS-free variants.

Do you use SLS-free shampoo and conditioner? Have you seen a difference? Let me know which ones you use as I think I'm going to make the switch now that I've used up a lot of my other shampoos and conditioners.

Batiste have some serious competition

Having thick, curly hair which I straighten is sometimes a problem.

My hair takes ages to wash and properly dry..and that's even before I can think about straightening it.

I usually get home from work at about 6 or 7 in the evening and by the time I've relaxed and even think about washing my hair, it's about 9..then my hair will take a good few hours to dry.

This is why dry shampoo is a Godsend.

I religiously use Batiste as I find it works well with my hair.  I just use the bog standard one as it doesn't make my hair look grey (although some have complained about this and Batiste have listened and bought out versions for ladies with darker hair who have this problem).  By the by, I've seen many reviews on Batiste Nude but haven't been able to find it ANYWHERE, boo!

Then I read this post and was intrigued..I never even knew Superdrug did their own version of dry shampoo, the only dry shampoo I ever saw in Superdrug was by Samy..which I'm sure has been discontinued as I haven't seen it in store for ages.

Another reason why I love this is the scent.  Everyone and their mum knows what Batiste smells like and they can figure out in a second that you're a dirty mare who hasn't washed her hair..and I'm poet and I don't know it!

The Superdrug version smells very strongly when you put it on but the smell soon fades but lingers (very lightly) throughout the day.  When I first had it on, I kept catching a whiff of it all through the day and couldn't figure out what the smell was.

The actual shampoo which is sprayed out is a lot finer than Batiste, you can't really see it on your hair which is brilliant as combing out is easy.

I really like this and it works well enough for me to either switch from Batiste or pick it up in a case of emergency.  Hair emergencies are real emergencies I tell you!

Compared to Batiste, I find that this absorbs oil just as well but then also leaves a little shine behind whereas Batiste takes the grease and goes, leaving your hair totally matte.

They had two variants in store but the other one didn't smell as nice as this so I chose this one.

It retails for less than £2 which is another reason why I loves it.  I still love Batiste but this gives me an added gloss which is nice.

What happens when a man rushes you to put your face on

The other week, me and the Mr were going out for dinner because we hadn't seen each other properly for a while, despite living with each other.

I got home waaaaaaaaay too early and so I wasted time reading nonsense online..as you do.

Before I knew it, it was half past 7 and the Mr was standing before me ready to go out.

I washed my hair as fast as I could and managed to put too much conditioner on which resulted in very defined and almost greasy looking curls.  I already had my clothes out anyway so I whopped them on, picked up the first pair of heels I saw and then decided to sit down and sort my makeup out thinking that the Mr would give me more than 5 minutes.

He didn't and this is what happened:

I did pluck my brows before leaving the house..

That was the only makeup I wore and I got more compliments wearing that than I ever get wearing a full "going out" face of makeup.  One lady asked me how I managed to get the colour to blend so well and how I got my skin looking so flawless.

I used the black eyeshadow you get in the Sleek Original palette and this eyeliner brush from Ruby and Millie, it blends surprisingly well.  That was all, no mascara or eyeliner.  I sound so thick saying this but I think it's pretty "comforting" to know that you can get so many results from using just one product alone and it makes you think, do you really need eyeliner/mascara/a million other things you would have used?

And...this is how the hair ended up looking:

The lime green top is not what I wore out by the way, I do have some class.

Rhamnousia's Recession Raves: Dabur Vatika Styling Hair Cream

Today's Recession Rave is a far cheaper and more effective (on me) alternative to the infamous Philip Kingsley Elasticizer.

My Recession Rave for today is...

 Dabur Vatika Styling Hair Cream

I am so glad that I bought this.  The instructions say to use it before washing your hair and to leave it on for a few minutes but I leave it on for about 20 minutes and it has, over time, totally changed my hair.  My hair is no longer frizzy and dry when I wash it.  It's nice and smooth and I know it's because of this product.  In texture it's like a normal conditioner but a bit more watery and you simply apply it to your hair as you would a deep conditioner and let it work..and boy, does it work. I've got no idea why it's called a hair styling cream when the instructions clearly say that you use it before you wash your hair and then you wash it out.

For the longest time I called it Kula because the Arabic font on the other side of the container looks like it says Kula..

It retails for about £2 and it was quite difficult to find.  I bought my first bottle two years ago and then I didn't find it again until last May..trust it to be the way that when I stock up, they have tonnes of stock left.

Mophead

My hair is in dire need of a cut.

I've had my hair quite a few shades and lengths over the years but about a year ago, I found the cut I liked.

Have I had it cut since then to maintain it? NO.

Why?

Many reasons really, one, work was hectic, two, I wanted to find THE cut I wanted, three, I thought I could grow it a bit.

My hair grows fast enough, even without the oils I use on it.  This is why my hair has long outgrown the bob stage and the awkward "she had a bob but didn't trim it" stage.  It now looks like I'm a dutty mare who hasn't bothered doing anything with her hair..which is partly true.

I've narrowed down my style choices now and all I need to do is book it and go and actually get it cut, here's what I like:

I am loving Miss Alba's hair and hope that I can make the fringe work on me but I have a notorious history with fringes as they do start to annoy me after a few hours.  I quite like Lauren's cut too but it seems a bit boring for my personal taste because I want a fringe that comes out a bit more so it looks like I'm to have Jessica's hair..now for the body, hehehe.

Am I the only one who has been lazy when it comes to getting her hair cut or are the rest of you like this too? Usually, I'm quite quick to get it cut but sinc the last time I cut it, so much has happened..I became fully qualified at work, I've been flying all over the place, I've had a trainee under my wing, I've had to do so much more work etc..and my free time has been used just bumming around..

Are you ladies influenced by the cuts that schelbs sport or do you usually go for what you like/your stylist suggests?

Hair oils

I bang on about hair oils and their benefits to anyone who will listen. I was brought up in an Indian household so hair oil was always being bandied about the place willy nilly. I used to HATE having oil put on my hair because it stank but I was still forced to use it.

Fast forward a good few years and I'm glad I was forced to use it because it gave me great hair, my hair was, and still is, super thick thanks solely to oil.

This post is solely about the different types of oils I use on my hair and what they do for the hair.

Lineup:
These are the oils I currently have in my bathroom cabinet and the ones I buy again and again.

Going from left to right we have:

• Cactus oil
• "Blood" (kakai) oil
• Castor oil
• Blood oil x2
  
• Amla oil
• Olive oil
• Amla and almond oil
• Coconut oil

My hair washing routine is thus:

Oil hair up with any of the aforementioned oils. Wait an hour or so. Blast hair with water to get most of the oil out. Wash and condition hair. Spray hair with leave in conditioner if hair is to remain curly. Spray hair with heat protectant if hair is to be straightened.

The traditional Indian way of using hair oil is as a styling aid but I don' think anyone really does that anymore, even my grandmother who used to do this now uses serum.

I should point out that you should ideally use this oil at least once a week or whenever you wash your hair for maximum results.

Cactus oil

• Used when I've got a headache
• Nice and cooling
• Easy to wash out
• Doesn't smell
• Makes hair super smooth and shiny

Blood oil

• Nice and cooling
• Easy to wash out
• Doesn't smell
• Makes hair smooth and shiny
• Easy to tell when you've washed it out as water runs clear
  

Castor oil

• MUST BE DILUTED
• If not diluted, it will burn your scalp
• Even when diluted it makes your hair grow really quick so I love using it for when I've miscut my hair at home
• Not much of a smell
• Easy to wash out
  

Amla oil

• Smelliest oil in the world
• Makes your hair stronger, longer, shinier and smoother
• Hard to wash the smell out so it's recommended that you mix it with something
• Nice and cooling though the smell drives you mad

Olive oil

• The shine giver, use this and watch your hair dazzle like glass
  
• You can't keep it on your hair for too long because it starts to smell like plasticine
• Easy to wash out

Amla and almond oil

• You already know what amla does but the almond smoothes your hair and makes it stronger
• Almond oil doesn't smell at all, regardless of how long you keep it on

Coconut oil

• Oldy but goody
• Godsend for damaged hair, don't bother with any treatments which say they will heal you hair, this badboy actually will
• Can be used warm or cold, warm is best if your hair is really damaged
• No smell, not even coconuts

All the oils are pretty cheap, they all come in at under £2 and considering how long they last you, they are well worth it.

Holy Grail Haircare

A while ago I made this thread:
http://makeuptrialsandtribulations.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-my-hg-productsever.html
about my HG face care products. This is the follow up one for haircare.

This is my HG shampoo, Revlon Flex Clarifying shampoo:

I found this badboy in Poundland. I wasn't expecting much from this shampoo on its own. Let me explain. Washing my hair is a ritual which starts with me oiling my hair up with the desi oil a la mode. That stays on for about an hour and then I wash my hair with clarifying shampoo (usually Pantene) to get the oil out and then a moisturising shampoo which is featured below this one.

I used this and it left me with, for the first time ever, LOVELY NO FIRZZ CURLS! I thought it might be a fluke but every time I used this, it gave me the same result.

Imagine my heartbreak when I went back to buy some more and it wasn't there. I tried for months on end and never found it. This was until last week when upon a random trip to the 99p store (which seem to be eating up all the old Woollies) when I saw my baby on the shelf. I ended up buying 7 bottles for less than £7.

My second HG shampoo is Herbal Essences None of your Frizzness:
I love this shampoo, it smells gorgeous and it makes my hair feel clean and the curls are well looked after.

My hair is currently short but when it's longer I use Aussie Luscious Long shampoo:
It's hard to look after long hair but this badboy manages to make the whole length of the hair look like it's of the same health, you know what I mean. When your hair grows to a certain length and you haven't had it trimmed as often as you should, this shampoo doesn't give you fluffy ends, it makes the whole shaft (I feel so dirty typing that hehe) look and feel nice, healthy and soft like it has been freshly trimmed.

My HG shampoos mainly concentrate on giving me curly hair without frizz as that is easier to straighten. Conditioners are a whole different ball game, depending on the end result I want from my hair I use different conditioners.

Conditioners for when I want straight, soft hair:
Aussie 3 Minute Luscious Long Deep Treatment:
In my world, deep conditioning happens before I wash my hair and not after. I use this when I want sexy smooth hair and I have the time to hang around. Unlike the shampoo I use this all the time, regardless of the length of my hair.

When I don't have the time I use L'Oreal Elvive Nutri-Gloss:
Smells nice and it doesn't weigh your hair down and you get noticeable shine for a low price. The thing I love about this is the fact that the more you use it, the shinier your hair gets which doesn't happen to me with a lot of shine inducing conditioners. I used to use Umberto Gianini before and that paled in shine after the second wash. This makes your hair really soft and shiny but it also leaves your hair feeling thick which a lot of shine shampoos don't do, basically it doesn't weigh your hair down to give you shine.

When I want curly hair I use Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Frizz Remedy Deep Treatment:
This gives me salon hair, it looks as if I have had it curled professionally and no matter how I touch it or sleep on it, I wake up with lovely curls. I've got a photo of how this conditioner makes my hair look, when I find it I will post it up.

I haven't added photos of my desi oils which I use but if anyone wants to know then I can do another post about them too.

We move swiftly onto styling stuff.

I will do curly hair first seeing as I only use two products on it, very easy to style (yay!).

I use these two interchangeably on both wet and dry hair and they don't weigh it down or make it look greasy, I get really nice, bouncy, salon made curls. These two products are the only high end ones I use and even then they aren't too pricey.

L'Oreal Tecni-Art Natural Liss:

This smells like watermelons and is very watery in its consistency but it is nothing like water as it actually controls the curls but leaves them soft, no crunchy feeling. RESULT.

L'Oreal Tecni-Art Liss Control:
As above but not so much watermelon-y in smell, it's another leave in conditioner but I find it a bit heavy so I either use a tiny bit or use it as a wash out conditioner.

For straight hair I use:
I'm heavy handed when it comes to spraying these types of products on and I love this one as it lasts me well over a year even with my heavy hand and if you apply too much it doesn't show and it won't weigh your hair down at all and it's cheap. Ticks all boxes.

After straightening, depending on how my hair looks I will use one of these two:
John Frieda Secret Agent:
If for some reason I'm having a bad hair day and my hair isn't as smooth as it could be I use a tiny tiny bit of this and it smooths everything down and is well worth the money. I have one tube which I have been using for three years and only now is it semi empty. I really like the name because it is like a secret agent, you can't tell it's there but it makes a great deal of difference and a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit goes a long long way.

If my hair has behaved and I want some extra shine and softness, I use Pantene Smooth and Sleek Serum:
I have been using this religiously recently and it still looks full, a tiny tiny tiny bit covers all my hair and it smells nice too.

All photos from Google.

And there we have my HG haircare products, next is makeup!