Pretty Pretty Pretty

In the news: heat damage August 21, 2008

This from Stuff about hair straighteners.

Some dermatologist says:

Patients with major hair damage from tongs are told to keep their hair short for one to two years, stop use of tongs, hair dryers and heat products altogether and avoid sun exposure. But to avoid damage in the first place, only use the equipment on dry hair, never more then (sic) twice a week and at temperatures under 170 degrees celsius.

Which may be good advice, but don’t give up your GHDs just yet. If you get crud hair from your straighteners, then obviously give them up. But if you can maintain good hair with regular use, then why stop?

How to: Pretty Pouf June 20, 2008

Here’s a vid I made on how to make pouf with a pony tail. It’s easy peasy - you just need a tail comb, hair spray and bobby pins. Oh and medium to long hair.

However, I mucked up the pony tail in the video - it could’ve been higher and the pouf flatter. But I’m sure you get gist and do a much better job than I did. (and I also say ‘pouf’ really funny, hehehe).

How to: tone down frizz June 4, 2008

I have naturally curly hair, and it goes through different phases of frizz depending on where I am in the wash cycle, and whether I’ve straightened (or even curled) it.

I haven’t found a way to permanently stop frizz, but there’s heaps of advice out there for frizzy-haired types. Here’s my quick frizz fixes.

(1) The Chemically Way: My hair responds best to ’serums’. I first used SP Ends Express (at least I’m pretty sure that was the one) a few years ago, and I remember it being the first product I’d ever used that actually instantly smoothed frizz. Then I bought KMS flat out shine serum (I think they’ve changed their packaging but the link is what mine looks like) which works almost as well as the SP product. Both are serumy products and you apply a few drops through your hair for instant de-frizz.

(2) The Hot Way: Whether you’ve got straight & frizzy hair or curly & frizzy hair, heat’s always a good way to smooth out frizz. I run my GHDs randomly through my hair - not to straighten it - just to de-frizz. Just grab big chunks of hair and run straighteners through, then work a bit more carefully on fringes and sides bits, like for about five mins. It works a treat. Hot hair curlers can also remove frizz from curly hair by smoothing and redefining curls.

I would like to add that occasionally I like my frizz - big, poufy hair (see picture) makes me feel footloose and fancy free!

Pictured below is my hair, starting from left with frizzy, naked hair. Then in photo 2 I added the KMS serum, and in photo 3 I did a bit of random straightening with the GHDs for a couple of minutes.

Cheeky Chignon May 8, 2008

Welcome to my first ever instructional video dear ones. It demonstrates how to do my version of a chignon (fancy bun hair-do). You’d look fanatastic in it! 

I figured out how to do this style when I asked a pretty lady how she got her hair into this beautiful bun (a “how does she do it” moment). She explained very vaguely, but i think i worked it out. And here it is…

You will need:

• two elastic hair ties
• bobby pins or discrete hair clips
• hairspray
• long hair

The video has no audio, so as you watch it read these instructions:

• You’ll need straight hair, so straighten by blow drying or using straightening tongs.
• Start with a neat pony tail, not too low, but not too high either.
• Grab the tip of your pony tail, hold your pony tail straight out from your skull, and fold the pony tail in half towards the top of you head.
• Hold the tips of your pony tail around the base of your pony tail and secure the tips with another hair tie - creating a loop.
• Now select a section of hair from your loop, starting at the top. Gently pull this section forward towards your face, and secure the underneath with a hair pin.
• Repeat sectioning your loop and securing it with pins all around the base of you pony tail. Play around, fiddle with it and start over if you have to to getting looking right for you. It’s quick and easy and you can have it as smooth or messy as you like.
• Smooth with hairspray.

Pretty Pretty Pretty Prettifying Party Part I. April 28, 2008

Amy and I really like the idea of getting a bunch of girls together to do all kinds of girlifying things, and so we put our idea into action this past Saturday. Our lovely friend Shirley played host to us and four other girls, so we could drink bubbly mixed with ginger wine, watch Breakfast at Tiffany’sMolly Ringwald movies and partial episodes of Pride and Prejudice, and most importantly, try out some products and techniques on each other.

Kirsten and I self-identified as having problems with blackheads, so we started out our facial routine with a good steam. This is super easy to do - simply fill a bowl with boiling water and hold your head above it for five minutes or more, covered up with a towel. This is where we recommend investing in some straws for your champagne glasses so that you can stay hydrated while you steam. If you happen to have a blocked nose while you do this, feel free to add a little peppermint oil or vicks vapour rub to the water to clear out your sinuses while you’re at it. After five or ten minutes or however long you can stand the steam, you should come out dripping, but feeling slightly detoxified. In sort-of scientific terms, your pores are now open and ready to receive some product-loving.

We instructed all the attendees to bring along some girlie products to share, so we had a wide range of options when it came to putting on face masques, including the masques from our earlier trial. As well as providing us with a venue and stunning pizzas, Shirley offered us a choice of mud from both Egypt and Rotovegas. Brave Kowhai went with the former, but after laughing at how hard she had to wash to get it off, I stayed national. The Rotorua mud came in a hugeass tub and was only $23.50. The Egyptian mud would be in the thousands of dollars price range, cos you’d need to buy a ticket over there to get it.

 

We both enjoyed the tightening sensation as the mud dried, and mine came off pretty easily with some warm water, although I did have to clean up Shirley’s sink afterwards. My skin felt super soft and smooth, but I still wanted some moisturiser. Luckily, Kowhai had come to the party with some Nude Moisturiser she’d purchased at the fabulous store of Wanda Harland for around $30. To be honest, I thought the cream was a little bit too rich for me for my face, and I’m not a huge fan of lavender scent, but Kowhai obviously likes it, and that’s a good enough recommendation!

We did some lip plumping that Amy will be blogging about soon, and then we moved on to our hands. Heather had a set of Mary Kay Satin Hands to share with us. Now, you might think that a four step process (rub on emollient, then a scrub, then cleansing gel, then wash it off, then apply a moisturiser) sounds ridiculous, but oh my lordy, your hands feel like they are made out of angels afterwards. Honestly, wow, just wow. It’s like giving yourself a stranger. And if you’re applying it at a party, we really recommend that you and your friends give each other a little handrub afterwards too, using a little extra moisturiser. You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good, and all the boys watching on webcam waiting for panties and pillow fights will get a quick thrill too.

We had more products to try out, but the lure of more pizza and more Molly proved to be a little too strong, but I will hand the computer over to Amy now so she can describe what she did to Kirsten’s hair as part of the girlification.

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Well Jo, with modern technology, girlification is made easy. I merely twirled Kirsten’s pretty locks around my Remington Teflon Curling wand* and voila! (By ‘voila’ i really mean an hour of combing, pinning, heating and holding.) Without any hairspray at hand, i left Kirsten’s new ringlets hanging. With a bit of spray i might have gently brushed through the ringlets to create a Veronica Lake do. aaah well, some other time perhaps. *Disclaimer: i’m actually a little disappointed with this curler, and hankering for a new one. So i do not recommend this product.

Yay! It was a fantastic night all around, we had lots and lots of fun, tried some lovely things, and just generally had some fabulous girl-time. We intend on having lots more of these events, so we think you should become friends of ours, and then we’ll invite you along, and everyone will have a great pretty time!