Curlformers!

So I finally broke down and got the Curlformers set in long & extra wide!

I've been dying to try these but hesitated due to the price. Just so you guys know, I have very stuburn hair. I refuses to curl, I've tried everything and nothing holds well at all. Lately I try to be as natural as possible to spare my body as much damage as possible. So I've tried every form of 'over night, heat free curling' that there is. rollers, braids, socks, rags, paper bags, ect. you name it and I've tried it. Some of those techniques worked but didn't give me the type of structered curl that I was looking for and the tended to go limp rather quick even with hair spray and such. So as a last ditch effort and after watching litterally every video review I could find on curlformers I ordered some. I still feel that they are rather pricy but after using my set I am very glad that I got it. Below is a picture of me with the curlformers in for the first time. Please forgive my au naturale face as I was ready for bed so I could sleep with the curlformers in and wake up and go.

First I have to tell you all that this is truly the easiest curling method that I have ever used! I have mid-length hair but its pretty thick and it likes to fight back ;-) typically to curl my hair with a normal curling iron it would take me over an hour mostly because I'd have to let the hair stay on it for sooooo long to hold the curl. the curlformers took me maybe half an hour to put in on my first try, big difference! I had no trouble at all with them either. Typically with curllers or hot rollers I end up having to re-wrap the hair around the roller several times because my layers come loose, ect. Not once did I have to re-try to put in a curlformer. I didn't have any issues with the hair getting tangled or anything. Not only did it take hardly any time but to avoid using any heat on my hair I put the curlformer in after showering at night and slept with them in. Since I haven't much luck with other curling methods, I was very nervous about how this was going to turn out. Honestly, sleeping with these in wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The curlformers, in my opinion where more comfortable to sleep in then typical rollers. After taking them out in the morning I was amazed, as was my roomate, at just how perfect and bouncy the curls were. I had a slight 'crimp' effect on a couple face framing/bang sections but I beleive that was my error for using large of a section. But for being a trial run I gotta say, curlformers knocked this one out of the park! I can't wait to play around more with these. Below is a picture of how well it turned out. What do you think? Stay tuned for more!



Top picture complements of http://www.curlformers.com/ 

get your own curlformers at http://www.curlformers.com/ or http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Search-Show?q=curlformers or http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=curlformers

Reviews are available on Sally beauty supply's website, amazon, and of course most can be found on you tube or here and other blog/webpages

Favorite DIY's and natural remedies

Soothing Face mask 
Mix 1 spoonful of ground oatmeal, 2 spoons of organic plain greek yogurt, about a teaspoon or so of honey ( organic grade A preffered).  I use this when my face seems dull & dry. Everything in this is great for hydrating. The oatmeal provides a great exfoliator while soothing and irritation. The yogurt is great for conditioning and brightening the skin while flooding it whith nutrients and hydration. The honey is for purifying, brightening and helps with the consistency of the mask. Did you know that honey is a natural anti biotic? You may want to exclude the honey if you're prone to acne due to the sugary nature of it.

You could also try blended up strawberries & yogurt to exfoliate, brighten and hydrate. Avocado is also amazing at hydrating & nurishing. Due to the oils in avocado I wouldn't recomend it for oily or acne prone skin.

Undereye Circles
       Blending a paste of cucumber & potatoe & applying to the under eye area helps depuff & reduce discoloration while soothing. Its best if chilled. The coolness also helps sooth & depuff.
             Green tea is amazing for many reasons. One good option is to make yourself a strong cup of green tea, cut a round cotton pad in half & soak each half in the tea, place the 2 halves in the freezer for a few minutes to get them chilled. After they are nice & chilly, place one half on each of you under eye's. Leave it on while you enjoy the rest of your cup of tea. The caffeine & cold help depuff & green tea has a bunch of antioxidants as well as flavonoids.                        

Sea Salt is great for many things.

Mix it with water in a spay bottle, spritz hair, & scrunch to get awesome beach waves. No need to spend money on an expensive 'sea spray' hair product!

I like to use Sea Salt in my body scrub mix. My body scrub recipe...
1 spoonful of sea salt, coursely ground is best - exfoliant that helps dry up breakups
1 spoonful of oatmeal - moursturizing exfoliant
1-2 spoonfulls of coffee ground, used or unused ( I don't drink coffee but my roomates do so I sneak some their leftover coffee grounds in the morning. Waste not want not.) The caffeine in the grounds helps draw out any excess water being stored in your skin, helping to reduce/prevent cellulite. The grounds may offer a hint of color as well. So thoes are all the exfoliants, now chose the creamy mix to finish the recipe :-)
     Take your pick! For a creamy, nourishing, moisturizing 'bonder' add one or all of these... All natural plain greek yogurt, organic grade A honey, or you can use whatever leftover body washes you may have laying around. you can even use some leftover conditioner. BTW leftover hair conditioners that may not have been very impressive can also be used as body wash & shave cream. Conditioner as shave gel works wonders for my dry legs!

You can also use this scrub on your face. I would recomend upping the sea salt & lessening the coffee. I wouldn't recommend using a leftover body wash or conditioner for this purpose. Either the yogurt or honey would be a good choice but you could also use an egg or egg white.

Hair Masks
                     Yogurt, egg, avocado, honey, jojoba oil, coconut oil, & many other indrenients can help you have the hair of your dreams! I personally don't like using egg because I'm afraid the hot water in my shower will cook the egg into my hair, not peasant lol. Any concoction of the other options works great as either an in shower deep conditoiner or overnight mask. I don't recomend doing an overnight mask more then once a week to aviod buildup or oilyness.

                                  Get creative, have fun, & stay beautiful!!

Hair Drama - Nexxus Pro Mend, yadda

So some info about me and my hair. I have oily, straight, light brown (that's the natural color which doesn't really show), massively damaged hair. Sad, yes I know.

So I've been on a quest to restore my hair as much as possible. One of my first thoughts was to go as natural as possible. This led me to look into the WEN hair care line. WEN is a 'cleansing conditioner' that's received huge praise for saving peoples hair. It is a sulfate free, all natural product. The down side is that it's super expensive. Which led me to search for a cheap alternative to try since I couldn't afford the WEN. Thanks to all the wonderful YouTube reviews and comparisons, I found Hair One which is available at Sally Beauty Supply for about $10-$11. Hair One comes in the same size bottle and is also sulfate free and from what I can tell, all natural. I did Google every single ingredient on the label and they all seem to be naturally occurring. Now I can't say it's better or as good as WEN as I haven't been able to try WEN, but Hair One has been a godsend for both my mother and myself. My mother has very thin/fat hair and mine is the complete opposite. It gave us both such serious volume that I actually have trouble getting my bangs to stay down now. My mothers hair looks so full and thick, I've never seen it look so healthy. We both also experienced shine, improved color and texture. I also like that the Hair One comes in a variety of formulas such as for, colored hair, dry hair, dry scalp, normal hair.

Nexxus pro Mend.
I can't bring myself to try any shampoos or conditioners other than Hair One but in my desperation to hide my irreversible damage, I purchased the Nexxus Pro Mend leave in conditioner, heat protector, and overnight hair mask. Now I highly doubt that this product can 'heal' split ends. I believe its more of a "bind the splits back together" type of approach. At this point I have no choice but to take what I can get. I haven't witnessed a miracle or anything but when I use these products I do see a difference in appearance. My hair seems less straw like, has better color, less frizzy. The nicest part about this line for me is that I get an improvement without getting greasy. The products don't have much of a smell and what they do have is pretty tolerable. While I haven't Googled all the ingredients like I did for Hair One, I suspect these to contain a few silicons among other possible 'buildup" bad guys. I personally haven't noticed any build up or residue type of feeling. I pleasantly surprised that the leave in conditioner contains some keratin. Overall, I like that line but if I can find a more natural replacement, I'll take it.

Obviously I'm new to all this.

So ya, Hello there!

I'm new to this blogging stuff and would love any tips you guys out there could offer. For the time being I will be blogging about products, experiences, fashion, ect. My aim is to also do matching you tube videos (I've almost gotten enough gutts up to start). Consider yourself warned that their will probly be alot on here about my dog Lady as well since I tend to obsess over her a little ;)