Goodbye 2011!

Last post of the year!!

This year has been an awesome one! I mean it when I say it's literally flown by, with school, interning, working, and trying to have a social life and relationship. But, I wouldn't have it any other way, I've been absolutely happy and loving life this year...

Keeping this blog going has been so much fun. It's a lot more work than I thought, and sometimes I have absolutely no motivation to write anything, but one of my resolutions in the New Year is to work on the blog a little more than I have been, it's something I like to do, and it's fun.

I wish everybody a safe and happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2012!

Baby Lips

I know I don't usually write about non hair products, but I really like this one so I figured other people might too!

I keep seeing these Baby Lips in the stores. I didn't know what they were, I thought they were a little kiddie version of Lip Smackers or something. WRONG.

They are made by Maybelline, and after seeing a commercial for them on TV the other day (Yes, I'm a sucker for product commercials!) I decided to try them out.

I'd also like to state that I HATE lipstick. I never wear it, it always rubs off and I see no real purpose for it. The same goes for lipglosses, and anything else that feels gunky and greasy on my lips. The only thing I ever really use it Chapstick, or any sort of lip moisturizer, which is exactly what this stuff is.

I got my Baby Lips (I opted for the nonflavored, light blue tube) yesterday, and the stuff is great! I doesn't feel gross on my lips, leaves them feeling nice and soft, and LASTS! It comes in a bunch of different flavors to suit anyone's tastes, and at under $5 it's not a bad deal!

Round Brush tip

After countless hours of practicing, I feel pretty confident in my ability to wield a blow dryer. I know I've nothing on the pros, but still, I can blow dry some hair.

That said, there seems to be some confusion among my classmates on the art of using a roundbrush, and if THEY are confused, I'm sure there are tons of other women out there who are also confused. So, here are my tips...

1. Don't even take the brush to your head until your hair is at least 75% dry! Use your fingers to comb through your hair until you get it to that dry point, then take out the brush.

2. Section off your hair, starting at the bottom, and work your way up section by section.

3. The best way I find to keep my hair smooth (I roundbrush my own hair every day!) is to keep the brush in constant motion, rolling it in a continuous circle. Hold the section straight up when you dry it to achieve more body.

4. To prevent frizz, ALWAYS point your nozzle DOWN the hair shaft. I see so many girls at school blowing straight up towards the head, and then don't understand why the client's hair isn't smooth. DOWN DOWN DOWN!

I'm also learning nifty tricks at my internship, such a making corkscrew curls using nothing but a blowdryer, and I'm practicing that like crazy, but I still mostly suck at it.

Practice makes perfect!

6 weeks

That's right, I've got about six weeks left of school, and I'm stuck somewhere between super excited and absolutely terrified. I think the last time I felt this crazy was when I was getting ready to graduate college.

I'm trying to get all my ducks lined up for after school, jobwise. So far I've turned in my resume at the salon I'm interning at, and have a 2nd interview lined up for a very nice salon in Dayton, as an assistant.

My biggest dilemma was trying to decide if I wanted to go work in a salon doing hair right out of the gate, or get some more training, work as an assistant, and aquire some more skills. There are pluses and drawbacks to each option.

I've decided the way I want to go is the way of an apprenticeship. I feel there's SO much more for me to learn, and in learning more I'd be gaining in skill as well as confidence, and I feel that for me it's the right thing to be doing after I finish school.

It's difficult when most people get jobs doing hair at salons right off the bat, but for me, I don't think that's the way I'm going to go right away. I know the type of salon I want to work at, and I think in the longrun I'll help both myself and my career in going the apprentice option first.

Getting so close!

Infuse Me!

Last week I ordered this Aveda Smooth Infusion serum from the salon, and was super excited that it came in this week for me to try out.

I've been going through a lot of serums lately, mainly at school so I know what works on clients, and also on myself so that I know what's good for my hair.

I put on a dime sized amount and ran it though my hair and blow dried as usual. Compared to other serums (like the Matrix Sleek and Shine) it didn't leave my hair as soft, BUT, it did leave my hair incredibly shiny, swishy, and healthy feeling. For those of you that have curly hair you know when you straighten it it's often lifeless and stiff. This felt like a breath of fresh air! My hair looked noticeably fuller and I got numerous compliments on it.

As a bonus, when I mix a tiny bit of this serum with my Be Curly, it leaves even my curls totally soft, natural feeling, and full of body.

At $24 a pop it's a little pricey, but I'd highly recommend it. It's also got that yummy Aveda scent which I think I'm starting to become addicted to.

And we are ROLLING!

After a few retakes and lots of "um", I have finally figured out how to post video on here. Don't be cruel, just patient with me as I work out the video tutorials for your future enjoymen. Suggestions and topic ideas are always welcome!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Happy Christmas!

I hope everybody got to spend the day with family and loved ones, and enjoyed the holiday, because I know I did!

In my family we open gifts at night, so today was mostly spent being lazy, although I did go see a movie.

At some point I also found myself slathered in face mask, in pajamas, with a hair treatment on my head... it felt great!

Christmas wishes to everyone!

Hair update

I just looked at the picture from Dec 1 of my hair... it's already feeling MUCH longer than that picture looks!

I got some comments this week about how my hair is nicely taking shape and growing super fast, and after looking at that picture I believe it!

I also ordered some more Aveda products from the salon, so I'm looking forward to putting those on my hair and furthering my whole "let's keep the hair healthy" plan. I have curly products, so I ordered some straightening and smoothing serum to protect it while I blow dry. I'm excited about it, and should be getting it this Friday, and writing a review on it as soon as I try it out.

As far as Christmas gifts go, I'm super excited to get new shears from my mom.... Will def be posting photo and info on those as soon as I get them! And don't forget, it's always a horrible idea to trim your own bangs, no matter what the tutorials tells you on YouTube....

Be Curly

I've finally caved and gone Aveda. It was only one product, but still, I now have a list of things I want to buy, because this one product... AMAZING!

I find it a little difficult to find products for curly hair that leave my hair soft. Lots of curly products leave my hair crunchy, which this blogger does NOT like.

I blotted my hair with a towel after the shower, and used a little less than a quarter amount of the Be Curly. I ran it through my hair, and then used the diffuser on my curl. Instead of putting the diffuser IN my hair like I usually do, I just moved it around in a circular motion all over my head, lightly holding up my roots, until it was almost dry. I straightened my bangs, and off I went.

I absolutely LOVE this stuff. It smells amazing, left my hair soft and touchable, and after 2 days of not washing my hair it's STILL looking and smelling great.

Grade: A+

Intern Perk

I discovered a sweet perk of interning today, which came in the form of a bang trim.

Long story short, when I bleached my hair a few months ago, my bangs were on life support, and I've only let one person touch them since. Every few weeks she "fluffed" them for me, taking the dead ends off for me bit by bit. That friend has since graduated hair school, and I've been left to fend for myself in the cutting my bangs department. It's not pretty.

A stylist took pity on me today, sat me down in her chair, and with some ninja moves my bangs look AWESOME.

They have finally grown almost back down to my eyebrows, and I've promised myself to never cut them again!

I see the finish line!

Just wanted to write a quick post and say that I have less than 300 hours left in cosmetology school before I graduate!!!!!

Braids

I have 10 weeks of school left. That said, with 10 weeks of school left I still can't braid to save my life!

You'd think it would be easy, right? Wrong!

I don't know what it is about those little strands of hair, they just don't listen to me. Practice, practice, practice, and when I'm done it looks like a 5 year old just went to town on a mannequin head.

The little front braid I can do, the fishtail braid is my bitch, and if you want a simple ole' 3 strand braid, I'm your girl. Anything else? SORRY!

Red in HD

Matrix makes a little line of HD colors, one of them being red. I've never used them before, and today decided to play around with it a little bit. I picked a mannequin (she can't talk back) and went to work.

I did the front panel in the photograph with the red, and threw in some red booster to boot. She had already had highlights on her with an original brown, so it gave the red a nice definition, almost a sort of red with super red highlights. Her back I did in just a chocolate brown.

The picture doesn't really do justice to the red, but I was super happy with the way it turned out!

December hair length

As promised, I'm posting the first picture of my hair in my Mission Impossible task... the task? Growing out my hair for three years. Yes, it's daunting, but hey, it might be fun!

I took this photo on Dec. 1, 2011. It's fresh from a cut about a month ago, and from here on out, TRIMS only. I really like the cut and I think it should grow out nicely from here...

Right now I've also got about half an inch of regrowth coming in, and it's blond. So, I have dark brown hair with blond roots, which I'll be taking care of in 3 weeks with highlights to blend the two contrasting colors together. Next picture to come Jan 1!

Bed Head

I gave this Bed Head Extreme Straight shampoo and conditioner and whirl last week.

Overall I really liked the product. It left my hair feeling soft and manageable, and above all else, did exactly what it said it would do! After blowdrying my hair it was smooth, and I had a much easier time getting it straight than usual.

Along with these two products, after I shampooed I also used the Matrix Sleek and Shine , and then dried in sections using a round brush.

Holiday Hair

It's the holiday season! That means parties! All kinds of parties, ranging from the office, to the homes of friends, and then there's the nightlife... and being that it's Christmas, time to give your hair a little bit something extra when you're going out!

I found some updos that are pretty, but not too fussy, that if I had hair, I'd love to try...

For those of us with short hair, you can never really go wrong with something shiny and sparkly. From headbands, to clips, to using brooches as hairpieces, feel free to play around and experiment! Merry Christmas!

Here Moussy Moussy!

As a curly girl, I am a huge fan of mousse. With a tendency to leave hair crunchy and sticky if not properly used, it's not for everyone, however, I find that the right mousse (for me it's Aussie's Catch the Wave) turns my insane hair into a halo of ringlets, and that's all I'm asking for on a good day!

I got to try some Matrix volumizing mousse on a client today. After I colored and cut her hair, I sprayed a handful of the mousse into my palms and worked it into her hair, concentrating on her root area. The result was bouncy and voluminous hair, and she left super happy.

Now, just because something works on a client does NOT mean it's going to work for my hair. I have tried and failed many times to make something work for me that's just not going to. That said, I think I'm going to give this mousse a try sometime here soon, because the results I got today were fantastic!

Mission Impossible?

While sitting at the airport having great conversation last night, I had an idea for a challenge, for myself.

Mission: to grow out my hair for the next 3 (that's right, THREE) years. Why? Because I can, and I want to see how long I can get it. It got pretty long with just under a year and a half of letting it go, so I'm curious to see where three will get me.

Rules I'm setting for myself

1. To take photos at least once a month to track my hair, to see the difference and how fast it's growing.

2. Grow my bangs out along with the rest of my hair.

3. Continue to get regular trims.

4. To color it as little as possible.

I'm doing this because I'm at a point right now where I've basically chopped all the grossness out of my hair, and it's healthy, curly, soft, and I think it's a great starting point to start letting it grow while taking care of it better than I have been. I've learned a VERY important lesson in hair school, and that's just because all those chemicals are there does NOT mean you should use them all on your hair!!

Pinterest

I've been spending a lot of time lately on Pinterest.com, and the inspiration is flooding my brain!

The idea of Pinterest is to have your own virtual pinboards, for visual inspiration or whatnot. I use them to when I'm feeling short on hair ideas, I refer to something I've pinned so that I can try it out.

I am loving this site to find new ides for hairstyles, haircare, and tips for growing out hair, cutting your own bangs, and all kinds of fun stuff...

PIN AWAY!

Short hair

For those of you that read on a regular basis, you know I went short a few weeks ago. That said... WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Contrary to popular belief, short hair is insanely high maintenance, I'd forgotten how much. I mean, who wants to style their hair EVERY DAY?! I don't!

I'm fortunate enough to only have to straighten my hair once every few days, so I don't have to wet, blow dry, curl, every single day. But still... there's no such thing as just throwing it into a ponytail if you don't feel like styling it. Why?

With longer hair, even if it's messy you can pull off a sleek ponytail with a headband, or make it look somewhat like you tried. With short hair? If I didn't try, you'll be able to tell.

It's driving me a little bit crazy, and I sort of miss my ponytail. On the plus side, at least it's healthy now...

The wardrobe

In the summer of 2009 I worked in a corporate setting, and every day to work I wore some version of slacks, blouse, heels, etc. It was frumpy, boring, and my closet reminded me of what a middle aged woman would wear.

Flash forward to November of 2011. There are currently only 1 pair of slacks left in my closet, and 1 button up shirt because I can't bear to get rid of it (I like the ruffles). Neither have been worn since I last stepped foot into my old office.

A completely delightful and unexpected fact is that when I switched careers, I sort of switched around my whole life, especially my style. My closet is now full of billowy tops, chunky sweaters, short skirts, leggings, knee high boots, and lots and LOTS of black!

I love that there's no "dress code" in this field, and that I have the option to get creative with what I'm wearing. I'm wearing things these days I wouldn't have been caught dead in 3 years ago, and I'm loving it.

While I still prefer to keep it simple and classy, I'm still having tons of fun with these perks I didn't even think of when I signed up to switch careers...

If anyone needs a collared shirt or some slacks, call me...

Blow Drying

I think today while interning I witnessed a miracle of hair design. I watched the owner blow dry a client who had gorgeous curly hair, using only her fingers and a blow dryer and, wait for it, NO DIFFUSER.

Ok I admit, if you're reading this and you're a professional at doing hair, I might sound like a moron, but personally, I've never seen someone take a blow dryer straight to a curly head of hair and watch them leaving the salon looking like a super sexy vixen, which is exactly what happened today.

As a curly hair myself, I'm ashamed that I can't even barely blow dry my own hair WITH a diffuser, let alone what I saw today. From what I could gather when I watched, she left the blow dryer on a low setting, started at the roots for lift, and then gently curled the hair with her fingers as she went.

Every day I'm interning I'm learning something kick ass that I can't wait to try. I call these stylists hair ninjas, and I'm impressed with all of them, they are all so good at what they do, and I could stand there and watch them all day.

Silky and Smooth

I knew it was only a matter of time after I started interning, that I would get hooked on the products they use there. It only took 3 weeks.

I practiced doing hand, arm, shoulder and neck massages on the stylists today, and when they do that they use the Aveda hand relief lotion, so that's what I used on them.

Let me just say in the wintertime I suffer from SUPER dry skin, but, NOT TODAY PEOPLE! That lotion is A-mazing!

The consistency of it is perfect, it doesn't feel to greasy, but leaves your skin feeling softer, smoother, and like it's actually penetrated and left moisture behind. It's also got that signature pepperminty Aveda smell I've come to associate with all of their products.

Thinking I'm going to have to pick myself up a bottle for this upcoming winter season. And let's hope for the sake of my wallet nobody volunteers to shampoo me with all those yummy smelling products...

November to try

After a less than great October home recipe (the avacado made a MESS) it's on to November. I'd like to say thanks to Summer over at WellRoundedHippie for sending me some info on organic hair and skincare, which is where I got this recipe.

It's a honey moisturizing mask, and I am giving it a whirl!

1/2 cup of honey
1 TBSP vegetable oil
Mix, massage onto damn hair and leave on for 30 min. Shampoo as usual.

Hopefully I can get to it before I head out of town for Thanksgiving, and write a full report on it. Something tells me it's going to be sticky, but we shall see...

Acrylics? No thank you!

In school this week we're learning how to do acrylic nails. The verdict? Um, no thanks.

I used to get them myself, which I actually loved. The twice monthly trips to the nail salon and the cost? Not so much. But they looked real purrrty. In the past year I've since given up the acrylics and let my nails grow out, and they are now healthy, strong, and nice looking all on their own.

Actually learning how to put on acrylic nails is a whole new beast altogether, and I'm thanking the stars I had no inclination to go into the nail program.

1) I'm currently battling a rager of a headache from the fumes of putting the damn things on.

2) I may or may not have accidentally spilled the acrylic powder all over myself. I'll never tell.

3) The bead that I painstakingly formed fell OFF my brush in a pathetic lump.

I'm guessing practice makes perfect, and when it comes to hair and learning I have endless enthusiasm and patience. With nails, not so much. With a practical looming next week I'm hoping just to get through it, make them look presentable, and move on with my hair adventures...

Holy Haircut!

Well, as promised, I went through with the big chop, and will be hopefully posting photos later on.

This morning was the first time I've washed my hair since she cut it on Monday, and I let it air dry. Let me just say this... HOLY CURLS!

Since she cut off all the damaged parts, my hair is literally back to it's old corkscrew curly self, and they are sticking up all over my head... and I absolutely LOVE it!

The front is still a little damaged, as we cut less of there, but the curls are there nevertheless, and I couldn't be happier. I thought I had damaged them beyond repair, but turns out I'm indeed a curly girl, and those babies are stubborn and prevailed.

On a sad note, the red I put in my hair 2 weeks ago is already looking horribly faded and disgusting, so no more red for me. I can't believe that only after 2 weeks it's already looking so icky, so I'll be going back to the chocolate for the holiday season...

Pictures this afternoon!

Chop Chop

It's been stewing in my mind for a few weeks now, and usually once that happens there's no stopping me.... I'm cutting my hair off on Monday.

Currently my hair is at about shoulder length, but by Monday should be pretty high off my shoulders and stacked in the back. Why, you ask?

1. My hair is incredibly damaged from all the trauma I've inflicted on it. My hair is curly underneath and so fried on top that I can't let it air dry if I want it to look decent. I'm hoping a chop will cut off all of the damaged parts and let the healthy curly part come back out.

2. I seem to be rocking a mullet at the moment. I'm not sure how the sides of my hair got shorter than the back, when my original haircut was a diagonal forward, could someone please explain this to me?

Ok, so there's really only two reasons I'm cutting it off. I want it to be long in the end, but I think to do that at the moment I have to start sort of fresh again.

And it's back to the drawing board...

Interning Day 1

Today was the first day of my internship, and I might be in love. Also, I've been home for an hour and still reek of Aveda, so I keep sniffing my clothes. Smells yummy!

I got there at 12 today, and was given the quick rundown of where the toilet paper is, the towel cabinet, the broom, etc. 10 minutes after THAT I was off and running.

I did a lot of laundry today, folded towels, cleaned up shampoo bowls, washed out color dishes, swept up hair, and just got my bearings in the salon. I also spent a fair amount of time watching the stylists, asking questions, and learning about a bajillion things I sure as hell haven't learned in hair school. I also helped unpack 2 big boxes of product, and got to at least see the Aveda stuff and start familiarizing myself with what they have.

Everyone I met today was extremely nice, helpful, and informative. The day went by pretty fast except for about an hour where it was slow. I left the salon about 7, got home 10 minutes later, and am ready and excited to go back in tommorrow morning!

Bioluxe

When I went on vacation earlier this year, I stopped by CVS to pick up some travel shampoo and conditioner, and ended up with a pair from Bioluxe. I'd never used their products, and was pleasantly surprised to find they left my hair feeling absolutely wonderful...

Yesterday I decided to try their Hydrating Deep Conditioner, specifically formulated for very dry and very damaged hair. It was a little under $11 at CVS, but the jar was a pretty decent size, so I'm not complaining.

The back of the jar tells you to use it once a week to deep condition, or daily if you want, so I'm doing the daily route. The consistency of it is super thick (which to me screams "I WORK!") and I didn't need too much of it. I massaged it into my hair, concentrating on my bangs (which hate me right now, poor guys) and my ends. I left it on for about 10 minutes, and rinsed. My hair was soft and felt noticeably better right away.

I took it a step further and also used about a quarter sized amount as a leave in conditioner this morning, and let my hair air dry naturally with a headband on. 8 hours later my hair is the softest it's been in quite awhile, and you can barely tell what's left of my bangs are a frazzled fuzzy mess.

As for right now this is looking like my go to route for the time being: condition, use as leave in, and then let my hair air dry and put it in a ponytail with a headband. The less heat I can put on it for the time being the better, and hopefully soon we'll start seeing results!

Motivation

If you're a regular reader of this blog, I've been lazy lately. Ok, not so much lazy, as just simply lacking any and all motivation to do anything at all.

I'm calling it my hair school senioritis. The only time I'm happy lately at school is when I have my hands on someone's hair, but I spend most of my time listening to gossip, whining, and people telling me they know how life works better than I do. I have no response to this, so I just sit numbly in school for 8 hours, painting my nails and hiding from people. I'm tired of listening about how to be an adult from a 22 year old, and I'm tired of hearing other people's opinions that I did not ask for.

I know, it's awful! I want to get back to the hair!!!

I bought a hair mask today that I am SUPER excited to try, my insanely damaged hair needs all the help it can get at this point.

I also am extremely excited about the fact that I made an appointment next week at an actual salon to get my hair cut by my old stylist, who I haven't seen since I started hair school. Hopefully she can whip my hair into some kind of better shape than it is now, and I'll be posting pictures as soon as I'm finished with her Monday.

Another big thing this week: INTERN TIME!! That's right! My first day interning is on Thursday, and although I'm extremely excited, I might also be mildly terrified.

Full reports on all things hair coming this week, and thanks for reading!

L-O-V-E

Today I fell in love with a hair product. Seriously.

Lately I cannot stop coloring my hair. I'm sure at some point soon here it's going to fall out, but really, I just can't stop. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I hate hate HATE my cut right now and want it to grow as fast as possible, and because of this, I keep coloring it so that maybe I'll be happy with my hair. It's a vicious and endless cycle of abuse.

Today I went red (photos coming tommorrow!) and in doing so I'm sure I further damaged my poor strands.

I'm also on this kick lately of trying all of the new products at school, so I grabbed the Matrix Design Pulse Serum out of the cabinet to give it a whirl.

This is where I fell in love. As damaged as my hair probably is, right now it feels incredibly soft, healthy, and is full of body and movement. Even my mangled bangs look healthy. Folks I'm not kidding, this stuff is incredible, and at $12 a bottle (3 oz) I'm going to have to go out and stock up.

We just got the entire Matrix line at school, so lots of Matrix reviews will be posted in the upcoming weeks, and I'm looking forward to trying out more stuff!

Happy Wednesday!

Bed Head

As mentioned in a previous post, I am not really a fan of Bed Head products. Initially when I see them, they look cheap and tacky to me. That said, I will totally admit when I'm wrong, and readers, I WAS WRONG!

Last week we finally got our Bed Head products up on the back bar and I've had quite a fun time trying them all out to see how they work.

My two favorites so far are the serum and the split end mender. I mix a little of the two and then rub it through my hair before blow drying. It leaves my hair feeling frizz free, smooth, and soft, and so far I'm a huge fan. I love how they make my hair feel, and realized that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover until I try it out...

Columbus Hair Show 2011

I spent my Monday with two friends, a lot of Red Bull, and a full tank of gas, and headed up to Columbus for my first hair show. I think my expectations were a little bit TOO high. Our instructors had told us how amazing hair shows are, with tons of free loot, great deals on hair and makeup products, and amazing demos. Here's the rundown.

Ticket = $35
Gas = $35
Red Bull = $8
Parking = $8
Lunch = $15

We got to the hair show at 10 a.m. The first thing I noticed were the insane amount of girls there that a)looked like they were 16, and b)looked like professional streetwalkers. I wasn't sure if I was at a hair show or a porn show.

We did a loop around the convention center, and I was surprised to find that the "deals" were nonexistant. Paying money to come into this hair show I had expected products to be wholesale at the least, and wasn't prepared to shell out $18 for a bottle of shampoo. I could have stayed in Cincinnati and done that. Everything was selling at retail prices, none of the vendors wanted to bargain, and all the "freebies" had been given out the day before.

On the bright side, I did meet with a wonderful stylist who just launched his own product line (The Hair Architect), so I bought a sample bag of shampoo, conditioner, leave in treatments, shine spray, and conditioning mask. He was super excited about his products, which made me super excited to try them, and then blog about them, which I'll be doing as soon as I give them a go.

I also bought a weaving comb, mostly as a toy and for fun, but also to see how well it works on my clients versus actually doing the weaving by hand. The comb's teeth are positioned to where it automatically separates the hair for you, maybe sparing you 10 extra seconds of work. Seriously?! Yea, I bought one.

All in all the Columbus Hair Show was a big fat DUD, and I sort of wish I hadn't have spent all that money to go. I have learned my lesson for the future and will be sticking to the "real" hair shows in New York and Chicago.

1000!

I hit the 1,000 hour mark yesterday in my race to get through cosmetology school!

Ohio requires 1500 hours for a cosmetology license, and for the longest time I've felt like I'm just dragging on, never going to finish, and just trying to hang in there.

On a part time basis I was averaging about 77 hours a month, which is turtle pace. I'm extremely impatient also, so that doesn't help. Since the switch to days I'm averaging about 32-40 hours a week, and the hours have been racking up!

Lately I've also been feeling super UNmotivated to come to school, as all I seem to be doing lately is reading through books and sitting in hair chairs doing a whole lot of nothing. The highlight of my week so far has been an eyebrow wax... not so exciting. I think I'm also extremely ready to start interning, which makes me want to be at school even less.

However, seeing that I've finally reached 1,000 hours makes me feel like I'm SO close to being finished. My expected graduation at this rate is the end of January, which is only 3 months away!

Almost finished!

Wigging out

The weather this week has left me a little short on the motivation to do anything other than lay around in sweatpants and watch horrible movies, hence the lack of blogs.

Not today! Our class took a field trip to the beauty outlet, where after swearing I wouldn't buy another wig, I bought another wig. I'm in that weird in between stage of growing out my hair, and I just try and have fun with the wigs, they cheer me up a little bit on a bad hair day.

Also, who doesn't want a fuzzy hat?! (Hideously hilarious)

Going solo

This weekend marked my first "go" with doing color without any type of supervision, and using my very own brain to figure it out. No help, no instructors, just me and a wall of color and my own creativity. Needless to say I'm glad that it turned out the way I wanted to.

Meet my best friend, who has been blonde since I met her in the 12th grade. She wanted to go darker, a reddish brown. I didn't want to take her TOO dark the first go around, for fear of giving her a heart attack, so this is what we ended up with. She loves her hair, and I love the fact that I didn't turn her entire head pink.

Avacado Hair Mask

I'd like to first off point out that half the people I go to school with make fun of me for writing a hair blog, especially my "do it at home" hair treatments. That said, I prevail. Also, sometimes with these hair remedies it's hit or miss, you never really know.

Today was originally my September to try, and since it's now October I may have dropped the ball on that a little bit. But still, the avacado hair treatment is done. The recipe for it can be found on a previous post

I did exactly what the recipe called for, including even the egg (it didn't smell like it did last time) and slapped that gunk on my head. Right off the bat I'd like to say that this hair mask is MESSY. There were little bits of avacado falling onto my shirt the whole time I was putting it on, and I may have gotten some mashed in my ear. I covered my whole head, starting at the ends and working my way up, massaged my scalp, and left the whole mixture on for about 30 minutes.

SHAMPOO AND CONDITION AS USUAL

After all is said and done and my hair is blow dried and styled, I'm honestly not really sure I feel a difference. My bangs actually feel even MORE damaged than they were before. My hair is pretty soft right now, but I also put on WEN and Matrix repair serum before blow drying, so I can't really tell if it's the hair mask or the hair products.

I'm not sure I'll be doing this mask again. I much prefer the mayo one to this, where I could tell there was a change (for the better) in my hair. Also, I'm not really a fan of the mess and clean up I created for myself. Next time I will be saving the avacados for eating!

Chop Chop

I had a referral come in today, I had cut the hair of her coworker. She wanted the long bob with the stack in the back, and to keep the front pretty long.

I had some help from an instructor with this, and did the cut dry, I think it turned out pretty well.

I'd also like to add that in the 45 minutes she was in my chair I dropped 4 hair clips, 2 combs, my blow dryer, and then I cut my finger so bad that I bled everywhere... I'm a work in progress.

Hair supplies

I'm not sure if this is a secret I just discovered awhile back and everyone knew but me, but TJ Maxx and Marshalls have some great hair supplies for super cheap!

A few months back I ran into Marshalls to kill some time before school, and stumbled upon their stash of hair stuff. I picked up some great brushes for $5 apiece, and also a really cute curling iron cover that I'm still using today. The brushes were two round brushes and a paddle brush, both of which I get tons of use out of and have gotten compliments on at school.

Today I went into TJ Maxx and found my blow dryer. I also found a shelf full of really nice hair profucts. Although I didn't buy any, they were all name brand and I know normally they're super expensive. They also had hair clips, brushes, flat irons, and a bunch of cute storage containers.

When it comes to hair products and buying them in stores like this, always remember to check the expiration date, as many times they will be old and funky. Smelling the product and checking it's consistency is also a good idea.

If you're heading in for hair stuff, it's usually located somewhere between the shoes and lingerie, and in some stores if you blink you'll miss it entirely, but it's there!

New toy!

I'm pretty excited about the new blow dryer I got today, so I thought I'd post about it, since this IS a hair blog!

Part of our school tuition includes our "kit", which is all of our equipment, and includes a blow dryer. I've been in school now for one year and almost one month, and I hate to say it, but out "kit" blow dryer is an absolute piece of crap. It goes from scalding hot to freezing cold, turns off at will, and every few minutes makes this whirring sound that makes me scared to put it near a client's head. A good blow dryer should not go psycho on you after only a year! The one I have at home is at least 4 years old, and it's amazing. So amazing that I won't bring it to school because people have sticky fingers, so I went out today and bought one just for professional use.

I found it (of all places) at TJ Maxx, tossed in some clearance bin for $20. I wrestled it out of it's box and made sure it worked, and when I got home I also tried it out, and I am loving it!

It's a Chi, and this one in particular is designed for faster drying time, which I am a huge fan of. There was a normal nozzle, as well as a slightly larger one. The package said the larger one was for speedier drying, but only a good testing between the two will let me know if that's true. It has awesome air flow, 3 speeds, and hot,medium, and cool settings.

Excited to take it to school and start playing with it!

Do you think I'm sexy?

Today in class we did this cut, and combination of solid form, increase layers, and uniform all on the same head. Initially my teacher got a great big "HUH?!" from me, until I saw the pictures in the book, realized how to do it, and I churned that haircut out in about 20 minutes.

Top photo is before, all hair was the same lenght, and this sexy mannequin was in dire need of a good shampooing.

Second and third photos are my finished product.

Blow me

Today's lesson: the Blow Out

You will need:
1. Blow dryer (with the directional nozzle attached, if you have one)
2. Round brush
3. Hair clips (to keep hair separated while you're working on sections)

First, towel dry your hair and comb out all the tangles. This is also the part where I like to put the smoothing serum (Matrix Biolage makes a great one, although a little pricey at $28)on my hair, starting at the ends and working my way up to the scalp.

After your product is applied, take the blow dryer and start finger combing your hair while you're blow drying it. At this stage just run your fingers through your hair and try to get your hair about 75-80% dry.

Once your hair is almost (but not quite!) dry, that's when you section it off. I always do a big section at the top, one in the middle, and leave the bottom out.

Take your round brush and take small sections of hair at a time. Point the nozzle of the blowdryer down so it's moving in the same direction as your hair around the brush. This prevents frizz and helps keep the hair smooth.

Do small sections like this, working the entire way up your head, until you are finished. You should have a smooth finished look that is bouncy and full of body!

Extra tips
1. For added volume, pull the brush UP, not down or out, to give hair that extra oomph
2. Keep the dryer about 2 inches from your scalp so you don't burn yourself
3. Section should be no larger than fit around the brush, I usually prefer about 1 inch partings
4. Keep the brush continually moving in a circular motion to make it as smooth as possible

Matrix

Our school is slowly but surely replacing our old crap color line (which shall remain nameless) with the Matrix line, which I'm really starting to like.

The bonus of getting in new stuff is that we all get to try it, so we know how it works, which brings me to my experiment of the day...

Last week I went back to blonde, and not without some breakage, tears, and a whole lot of conditioner. That said, this week the blonde is looking more orange than anything else, and we decided to try the Matrix Color Sync in SPV to tone it.

The SPV is basically a violet designed to neutralize the orange brassy tones in the hair. It's mixed with equal parts of the 9V activator, and applied to the hair much like you would color. We let it sit on for 20 minutes, and when we rinsed it out I was much less Bozo the Clown and moreso the honey color that I had originally gone for.

The color gloss can also be used to brighten up shades of blonde, giving them more dimension and shine, so I think I'll be recommending this product as an add on when I'm doing cuts if the client looks like they could use a bit of freshening up on their color.

Grade = B

100!

Today I'm writing my 100th post on Curly Girl! I'm super excited to have reached this mini milestone, and wanted to share it all with you.

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, THANK YOU!

Lately I've been veering away from the product reviews, as I don't think I need to be putting anything on my hair for awhile, and therefore haven't bought anything new.

I'm working on getting some video tutorials going, both hair and makeup, and am hoping to have those posted sometime in the near future. I'm also working on more monthly "to try" sections, I'd like to make those a more prominent feature, along with more photos. When I start interning next month I'm sure there will be lots of articles going up about Aveda, as it's something I'm extremely excited to be learning about.

As always, comments and suggestions are always welcome, and thanks for reading!

Networking

Going into the hairdressing field, I know how absolutely important networking is. That said, I'm really BAD at it! Seriously. But... I'm getting better.

This morning I had to take my dog (an adorably lovable cocker spaniel if you'd like to know) to the groomer. While there I randomly mentioned that at time I'd like to take my own clippers to him, at which point the girl realized I did hair.

She said she had just moved here, and didn't have a hairstylist yet, so what did I do? I gave her my business card of course! So sometime next week it looks like I'll have myself a brand new client!

At work last night, I was waiting on a family, and when the mom commented on my hair I said I was in hair school. She had me write my information down for her so that she could book an appointment with me.

I'm slowly realizing that it's not about "selling" or being creepy, both of which I'm insanely uncomfortable with. I hate "salespeople". For me, it's just casual conversation that warms me up to people, and if there's a connection, then they'll come see me.

Both of these women said that they had planned to book appointments with me, which made me super happy and excited. Each time this happens I gain more confidence in what I'm doing, and it makes networking not so bad after all!

Demo Day!

I love days at school where we get to see teachers do hair, it's always a fun learning experience.

Todays demo: asymmetrical cuts! Sadly I only got to watch the beginning of this cut, but I stayed long enough to see the starting lines, take the picture, and make a dash for home... Also thanks to Bryce for bringing a little bit o' creepiness to the photograph.

Happy Tuesday!

Whoops

I can't believe I'm saying this, but after a year and a month in cosmetology school, I've officially ruined my hair. I'm sure it happens to most hair students (c'mon, with all the goodies at your fingertips disaster is inevitable!) and I'm now reluctantly joining their ranks.

Last September, my hair was past my shoulders, soft, and a gorgeous honey blond shade. It curled when I wanted it curly, straightened when I took the flat iron to it, and was just generally healthy and beautiful.

I have since fried it, cut it, colored it, and wreaked all sorts of havoc on it. I'm now paying the price. I can't even describe the yellow/gold shade it is now, and when I blow dry it the end just come flying off. I think it's safe to say that I have killed my hair. Am I regretting it? YES! I'll be the first to admit I'm horribly vain about my hair, and that it can ruin my whole day when my hair looks like shit, so this is not such a good phase for me.

Lucky for me, I am an eternal optimist. I keep telling myself that it will grow, and to just keep conditioning it, and to put as little heat and chemicals on it as possible. I know my hair will grow back, the curls will come back, and by this time next year it will hopefully be in the same shape as it was last September.

In the meantime, I've got a wig too! :-) I'm sure you'll be reading LOTS of conditioning blogs in the near future!

Finally!

I finally got my hair to behave and do what I wanted to do today, which brings me to a lesson in curling irons for my readers.

The shorter your hair, the smaller barrel irons you should be using. Yesterday I used 1 1/2" barrel on my hair, and the effect was more soccer mom and less pretty waves. Today, I did my 1/2" barrel and this was the result, which was what I was going for yesterday.

Still getting used to the color, but happy with the end result of styling it!

Um...

Yesterday I came within a split second of cutting ALL of my hair off. Had I found a pair of shears in time, I probably would have done so. I'm sort of thankful at the moment that I didn't, but still, I'm considering just chopping it all off and starting fresh.

New bangs

My bangs are the bane of my existence. I love them, I hate them, and round and round it goes.

I am also extremely attached to my bangs, and I decided to grow them out a few weeks ago. That said, after my color job on Wednesday, the blogger was due for a hair cut, and unfortunatley that included a whole inch off my beloved bangs.

Thankfully, Jamie did an AMAZING job. I told her to do whatever she wanted and thought I needed, and she did, and the result was these, which I'd like to call my tribute to Betty Paige. I'm going to be rocking some pin up curls with these come next week...

Conditioning

Yesterday I ravaged WWHair on my head, and today I'm paying the price. I got to school this morning and poured about half a jar of coconut oil on my head, massaged it into the ends, and 2 hours later I'm still sitting here roasting and smelling like a pina colada.

I wanted to take a moment and stress the benefits of putting moisture back into your hair after you do something drastic (such as bleaching) to it. Doing procedures like this to your hair strips it of all the great things that leave it looking great, and half the time I'm in school I see people neglect to even take care of their hair. My advice to you if you're going the "at home color" route? Get a deep conditioning mask, and after you're done with your color, put it on there and leave it sitting!

As much crazyness that my hair goes through, most of the time I want it to be healthy, and I'm going to do everything that I can to reduce the stress on it and keep it as nice as I can. That's the biggest reason I do all the at home remedies, they work!

So don't forget everyone, moisture, moisture, moisture!!

New hair (again)

I'm happy to report I still have hair on my head...

New hair!

Seeing the light

About 2 months ago, I went to the dark side and said goodbye to my blonde hair. Naturally, I'm a dirty dishwater blond (which somehow turns white in the summer), but I haven't had my natural hair color since I was about 16, except for with the help of highlights, which aren't natural either.

This afternoon we're doing a little experiment. It's called "let's get Jasmin back to a lighter, more natural hair color, so that she doesn't have to continually color it". That said, I sure hope I still HAVE hair when we're finished.

My reasoning at this point is that the closest to natural I can get it, the less I will have to color it when it grows out. I know, I know, LEAVE YOUR HAIR ALONE JASMIN (for you, Summer), but I think with the healthy state it's in now and a fresh haircut, maintenance on it will be much easier, and I can say goodbye to coloring it.

Doing a deep conditioning treatment this morning to prepare, and will post before and after photos after lunch...

What it SHOULD look like when we're done:

Wine & Cheese

Happy Tuesday! I'm still getting used to my new shedule of not working or having school on Mondays, so today essentially feels like my Monday, so happy start of my week to you!

Yesterday was the long awaited Wine and Cheese event for my hair school, which is basically a job fair for hairstylists. After grooming myself to within an inch of my life, I felt ready to mingle and network, and I sure as hell did just that! Sadly, my feet are paying the price today.

There were about 20 salons there, and 5 or so product companies. Most of the salons were up in Dayton, and since I already have an internship I wasn't really looking in that direction, but moreso the product lines, to see what they had to offer.

Turns out a college degree and being fluent in 2 languages makes people VERY interested in you, who knew?! I had really great and informative conversations with Pivot Point (who does the education and curriculum for our school) and Matrix, and left feeling confident and excited at the directions I could take my career in. I'm in love with doing hair, but I also have a strong desire to teach, and could see myself leaning in both directions, working in a salon or doing hair education.

The career path is looking up, and I'm getting closer to graduating (4 months) and more excited every day!

Color Levels

I was talking to a friend the other day, who is a blonde wanting to go dark. As I started to explain what I wanted to do to her hair, I realized she had no idea what I was talking about when it comes to color levels. I thought I would be practical and post a color chart here for easier understanding for "civilians".

Some color charts end at a level 10, and so go up to 12. At school we don't go any higher than a 10, but I'm guessing it just depends on the type of color you're using.

Styling out

I'm learning as I go through school that my favorite part of a service is the style out, after the color, the cut, and what have you... the part where I pull out my trusty blow dryer and flat iron and make the magic happen.

I absolutely love seeing how the cut falls, and how the colors melt together, and I get to see the final product of what I've done to a client. I admit half the time when I'm rinsing color off a client in the bowl I'm thinking to myself "Holy shit I hope this turns out how I want it to", but I'm finding more and more confidence in that yes, it will. And so far it has!

This photo is of a fellow student who I just washed and styled out Saturday at school. We used Lanza Bodifying Liquid, which I have to say, kicks some serious ass. Rub about a nickel sized amount in your palms and distribute evenly, and when you blow dry you just see the volume all over, it's gorgeous stuff! After I used the blow dryer on her I also flat ironed her, and the results are below...