The Bump

Aaaahhh, the bump. Also known as the pompadour, the Snooki, and I'm sure a slew of other things I can't think of at the moment.

Those who "bump it" dare to walk the fine line between pulling it off, and looking like a complete asshole. I go to school with plenty of girls who should, for all intents and purposes, be relieved of their teasing combs. Personally, every once in awhile I'll pull off a little bump, but I prefer the "my hair just has that extra body" look.

Here are some photos, judge for yourself! Here's a hint: 2 of them I really like, 2 of them I reeeeally don't.

September to try

It's time again to plan another at home hair treatment. This month: avacado hair mask!

I'm planning on laying off the mayonaise for awhile, and I wanted to try something other than oil, and this seemed like a good solution! The recipe calls for egg yolk again, but after the mayo mask last night I think I may skip the egg part altogether.

The website also has recipes for a face mask and an exfoliating scrub.

Hello Ginger!

Usually when I get a thought about my hair into my head, I make damn sure (trust me, I've learned the hard way) to leave the thought in my head only, for at LEAST 4 weeks, before acting on it. Last time I acted on impulse I had to cut my feather out of my hair, and lucky for me that one inch stub of hair is so well hidden that even I can't find it.

Red is my favorite hair color. It's also the most difficult to maintain, as it fades so fast. There are so many shades of red, that to go red can take on an endless amount of looks.

I tend to favor the more natural reds, not the bright orangey or other reds, where it's obvious the color is not found in nature. I'm not going to take the plunge for a few more months, to give my current color some time to fade and let my hair soften up a bit more, but hopefully by Christmas I'll be seein' red!

STOP. Mayo time.

For WEEKS I have been planning this mayo/oil leave in treatment, and tonight I FINALLY got to do it! The recipe I used seemed a bit much, so I deviated a bit.

1/4 cup of mayonaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 egg yolks

Place the mayo in the microwave for about 15 seconds to heat it up. Mix all together, and slap on your head. That's it!

Now for the fun part. THIS. STUFF. SMELLS. PUTRIDLY. DISGUSTING. Seriously. I almost wanted to throw up in my mouth as I was putting it on. I started at the end of my hair and then worked my way up to the scalp. It didn't go on very easily and as soon as it was on my hair I was getting my fingers stuck in it, it was tough, and just pretty unpleasant.

I got it all on there, massaged it into my scalp, and left it on for about 30 minutes. During this 30 minutes I kept getting nosefulls of rotten egg smell, and my dog also tried to lick my hair. Gross.

I rinsed off in the shower for about 10 minutes, but my hair still felt a little... off. It says on the recipe to NOT wash your hair afterwards, but I shampooed with Diva Low Poo, just to get rid of the smell. My hair felt MUCH softer after I shampooed it. I blow dried it partially, and then the rest air dry. After it was dry, the smell was still pretty awful, I'm not going to lie. I tried to counteract it by using a little extra of my heat protectant (Garnier; review this week!) and that seemed to do the trick. I straightened as usual.

The end result? I'm shocked to say... PRETTY AWESOME! My hair is super shiny, soft to the touch, and bouncing around like crazy. On the down side, I still smell egg. Will I do this again? Most likely, but I promise never to do it around Mom or Boyfriend, and perhaps next time I'll leave out the egg and use a little extra olive oil instead.

WEN

I've been hearing about this stuff for a few years now. It's a haircare line designed by Chaz Dean, and the whole idea of it is that it replaces all the stuff (full of harsh chemicals) that you've got with a basic 5 step program.

It's sold online and on television, and honestly, is a bit pricey for me to be buying on a whim, so I never have. I'm a bit hesitant because what if it doesn't work?

Last week I had a friend give me some of the conditioning creme, to try it out and see if I liked it. I do. I put it in after I shower, and my hair has been coming out pretty soft, bouncy, and shiny. However, it doesn't do anything special that a $5 bottle of leave in from Target won't do, so I'm not sure if I'll spring for the entire line. The website has some pretty great before and after shots, so I'm going to continue to use what I've got and see where I am in a few weeks with it...

Good hair

I'm happy to report that I've had two phenomenal hair days in a row! My hair has taken a bit of a beating lately, and after another color job and a cut, whatever I was doing with it just wasn't working, and my styling of it lacked sorely. So I went back to basics.

I wash and shampoo, put a serum in it, blow dry my bang only, and then let the rest air dry. After that I curl it into ringlets, sleep on it, and wake up in the morning to some majorly nice waves.

SCORE!

Eat, Pray, Hair?

I've been watching Eat, Pray, Love lately. A lot. It's one of my favorite books, and the movie, well, I love it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get made fun of for this, but I'd watch it every day if I could. It sort of takes me out of my boring daily routine and I get to travel around with world with Julia Roberts. And, her hair.

I'd like to take a minute and discuss her hair in this movie. Seriously. First of all, it's gorgeous. Long, perfectly tousled waves down her back. If you ever watch the movie, it's almost like her hair is taking a journey too. Maybe I'm just weird and notice stupid shit like this... bear with me.

In the beginning of the movie, when she's married, "happy", and this big shot author, her hair is sleek, stick straight, and very well done. As the film progresses, the hair gets looser, wavier, and freer. I know this is intentionally done, to showcase her journey, and blah blah blah.

My only snag with the movie is this: she's in India, in this god awful humidity and heat, sweating like a pig in her ashram, her hair? ITS PERFECT! Only in the movies.

Sephora

Setting me loose at Sephora is like letting a sex addict run wild in a whore house. No joke.

There's nothing I love more than saying to myself "Jasmin, you need new eye shadow", and planning a trip there. You know, just for the ONE eye shadow. So of course I walk in and I'm suddenly in a cracked out haze, not knowing which way to turn and losing my sense of smell from all the shit being sprayed in the air. It's not possible for me to keep my hands to myself in this store. I want to touch everything, because well, it's all so shiny!

Sadly, I refuse to spend $45 on a bottle of face wash. Even sadder, I once had a friend give me a small bottle of it, and I really really liked it...

On the bright note, their Sephora brand makeup is extremely affordable, and even better yet, completely amazing. I spent $12 on my first eye shadow there a year ago, and haven't even made a dent in it yet. The powders and nice, go on smooth, and don't smear or fade as the day goes on. If you ever happen to see a girl in the Sephora aisle with 8 different shadows in her hands, swiping them on with the cheapie applicators (and then accidentaly squirting makeup remover in her eye) that's me. So many colors to chose from, yet so little time!

Speaking of, I do believe it's time for a new eye shadow. But just the one...

Beer Rinse

My home remedy for the month of August was to try the beer rinse. Well, I did.

First I'm a little confused, because after consulting multiple sites, I wasn't sure if I should pour the beer on BEFORE or AFTER I shampooed. I went with before, even though the sites I consulted had different directions.

I'm also pretty sure I didn't use the "odorless" beer they suggested. I made do with what I had, which was some foreign sort of banana beer. I'm not kidding when I tell you it for sure reeked of bananas. The entire shower stank like a fruit bar. Also, I may have for sure got a good amount of beer in my eye as I was pouring it on my head, and let me tell you, banana beer or not, that shit BURNS!

So, I poured on my banana beer, massaged it it, and then showered as usual. All in all, I hate to say it, but I'm not too impressed. A beer rinse seems like something my hair could do without, and sort of felt like I was taking an extra pain in the ass step I could skipped. Will I be doing this again in the future? Likely not.

UPDATE: I may have to eat some crow here. 24 hours later, and my hair is like BUTTAH. I haven't felt it this soft in a few months, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat my words here and say that the beer rinse was, in fact, pretty awesome for my hair, and may have to be done on a semi regular basis...

Tidbits

I've been in hair school long enough that I've noticed a few things. Things they don't tell you when you sign up, and things you don't pick up on until you're a few months in. I'd like to share some of these with you. Why? Because I think they're funny, and if you're actually reading this blog, you must think I'm sort of funny too, so here we go.

1. HAIR - Yea, I know, hair school, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is that you will find hair, after you leave school, on your body... ALL THE TIME. I cannot tell you how many times now I have pulled hair out of my shoes, tracked hair in the house from the bottom of my shoes, had hair in my shirt, in my CLEAVAGE, and in the pockets of my apron. Was any of this hair mine? Nope. I rest assured knowing I washed all that hair, so that it's at least clean when I find it.

2. COLOR - So, when you color someone's hair, you're obviously going to wear gloves. Also, when rinsing dark color from someone's hair, it's advised to wear gloves. It only took me not doing that once to learn my lesson. Still, it never fails, even when wearing gloves, I somehow end up with color all over me. Don't ask me why. Sometimes I have it all over my arms, and last week I found a spot of color on my toe!

3. THEFT - Hey, guess what?! People are going to steal your shit left and right! My 99 cent water bottle?! Someone sure wanted that bad enough to take it. My comb? Gone. People's shears, brushes, blow dryers, irons... it all goes missing on a daily basis. Don't these people have all the same shit I do?!

4. TERRITORY - I am not a confrontational female. I am not used to being around as many women as I have been for the last 11 months. Frankly, they all scare the shit out of me. They are territorial about their stations, their food, and their clients. Half of them aren't afraid to pull out fists, but I am, so I hide and read books a lot...

5. CLIENTS - Dear client, I just spent 45 minutes rubbing your disgusting feet, and you didn't tip me. I hope you shut your car door on your toe and rip it off.... Seriously?! I thought serving was bad for tippers, this is WAY worse!!!

6. LICE - I'm just praying I never get a client who has them!

Good weekend everyone!

Organix

I picked up this moroccan argan oil by Organix this week. The jar (which isn't very big) runs about $8 at CVS, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Honestly, unless I'm THAT dumb (which I don't think I am) the directions don't quite clearly state if you're supposed to use this on wet or dry hair. On that note, I've been using it in the shower in place of conditioner. The smell alone gives this an A+. I leave it in for about 5 minutes, and notice a nice moisturized softness when I rinse it out. You know how with some conditioners it feels like you're actually rinsing the softness out of your hair? This one doesn't do that, and it has felt noticeably softer the few times I've used it.

Grade: A

Inspiration

And this month's curly girl inspiration is... Minnie Driver! Sadly, I wish she'd wear her hair curly more often, but I did find some photos of her with her hair unstraightened. Lovely! I wish my own hair would do this...

Blast from the past

While doing my hair this today I realized I was having a flashback to the summer of 08'. Living in Korea at the time, I colored my hair black because I thought it would make me less noticeable in my Korean city. Sadly, it didn't quite work out that way.

Incidentally, 3 summers later, I have the exact same hairdo, again! In between the two photos my hair has been red, blonde, in a pixie cut, past my shoulders, and then the phase in between which we don't mention (the frump phase)

And now we're back to the classics!

July of 2008

August 2011 (on a side note, I'm not sure why my smile is so creepy, then again, focus on the hair people!)

Product fail

I buy and review a lot of products. Most of them I like, some of them I love, but none so far have gone so badly wrong that I actually return an opened bottle of hair product... until yesterday.

I'm not even posting a photo of what it was, because there's no need, but let me assure you, FAIL. It was an olive oil moisturizing lotion that promised a "smooth and shiny" finish. What it did to my hair was make it oily, greasy, and a little flat.

I felt like someone had poured the leftover oil from the frying pan onto my head all day, and the best part of my night was the shower part where I shampooed (twice) to get it all out.

Lesson learned.

I love Dayton

I saw something yesterday afternoon, and I feel that I sort of have to record this, if for nothing else than the memory that I actually saw it.

I saw a man walking down the sidewalk with a mohawk. This mohawk extended all the way into a ponytail that was hanging down his back. Yep.

Now, if you're thinking "hey, maybe he was rocking it" let me assure you, this was not the kind of hairdo that is intentionally meant to be hip. He was "rocking" his party do with a pair of acid washed shorts, a tshirt with the arms cut off so that the world could witness all of his manboob glory, and tube socks with tennis shoes.

Only in Dayton.

Wedding hair

I got to do a maid of honor's hair this Saturday. Standard updo, the 2nd one I've done for an actual client. I was pretty excited, and she left happy!

Fun with masks

I'm not sure why, but I love facial masks. Partly because they make my skin feel good, but also because I find it funny to walk around with them on. And no, I'm not afraid to post an idiotic photo of myself while wearing one.

After not using them for awhile, I grabbed one at CVS tonight. It's a clay detoxifying mask made by Freeman, and promises to unclog your pores and reducing skin damage inflicted by the enviornment. It contains goji, acai, pomegranate, and mango, among others, which is probably why I'd like to eat it.

Currently, it's sitting on my face. Compared to other masks I've used, I quite like this one. It comes in a squirt tube, and goes on super smoothly, rather than fishing the clay out of jars, which I've done in the past. It smells so good I'm thinking about making a smoothie out of it, and feels cool and refreshing on my face.

Addict

Hi, my name is Jasmin... and I'm a heataholic.

I seriously think I have an addiction to heat tools. I'm sitting here right now thinking to myself "the iron is right under the sink, it'll take 20 minutes and then I won't have to worry about it". My flat iron is taunting me from under the sink to go and get it. My foot is twitching at the thought of going to get it, at 1 in the morning, and do my hair.

After doing really well with letting it go natural, I relapsed and started straightening it again. I'm blaming it on life. It's incredibly hard to go to school with hair that's not straight, and have people tell me it looks like a "hot mess". Last time I was at a hair event, I didn't see a single person with curly hair. It's implied to me at school that my hair looks "unprofessional" and "messy" when it's not straightened. I'm not really sure how I feel about this, but I'm pretty sure it's highly offended. Why should I have to ravage and damage my hair for the benefit of others?

I have been spending a lot of time the past few days on blogs and websites devoted to curly hair. Reading articles about getting the curl back, caring for curls, and moisturizing techniques. I'm going to give the mayo treatment a whirl this weekend (update on Monday!) and swing by the salon store for a moisture mask.

Are there meetings for heat tool addicts? I feel like I should start a chapter in Cincinnati!

Readers

Being the hugely informed and savvy blogger that I am (insert sarcastic snort here) I've just realized what the "stats" button on blogger does. I've been able to see the numbers of people reading the blog.

When I started the blog I waited about a month to even give out the blog address to people I knew, so there'd be at least a little bit of meat to what I was writing. Turns out I've had hits all over North America, Europe, and even one person in Malaysia!

Since I don't know anyone in Malysia, here's my question to all of you out there... Who in the world is reading this? I'm super excited that people are actually looking and reading, and it motivates me to write more informative and better posts.

Feel free to leave a comment and leave feedback. Suggestions on products to try, remedies to do, and everything and anything are always welcome, and thanks to everyone who is reading!

Hair envy

I just saw this picture online, and it gave me hair envy. Who the hell WOULDN'T want hair like this?! I'd contemplate selling part of my soul (just a small one) for hair like this. To make myself feel better, I bet when she brushes her teeth if her hair is down she gets toothpaste all over it. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Favorite haircut

I've been out on the floor for awhile now, and I think it's safe to say I'm pretty much in love with doing hair. I love doing something creative and working with my hands, and to bring what the client sees to life. So far it's been extremely rewarding for me, and I'm thankful every day that I found something I enjoy so much.

That said, out of all the haircuts I've done so far, this has to be my favorite. It's a classmate of mine, and she had a regular bob when she sat down in my chair. This is the end result. I had done a few of these cuts before, but this one turned out beautifully. I'm still learning different techniques and ways to refine the cut, and was glad to put some of the things to practice. This was the end result! Thanks Beth!

Wax on wax off

I think I realized last night that I might be a closet sadist. Ok fine, I realized it before last night. I may have realized it when I did my first wax a few months back. Here's the bottom line: I LOVE waxing people.

That said, we don't do any intimate waxing, but eyebrows, legs, and arms, I am ALL for it! There's something extremely therapeutic for me to sit someone down in a dimly lit room, speak to them in a calm and soothing manner, apply hot wax to their skin, and then rip it off with a triumphant "HA!"

So I don't really shout HA when I rip the strip off, but seriously, what better way than to work out some angst than ripping hair off someone and getting paid for it? I know it's probably horrible, but I love it. I now officially feel like a creeper!

Matrix Color Seal

I'm going to try and write this blog without actually having seen the product, because I was head down in a shampoo bowl when we used it, so here goes.

After coloring my hair last night, we used Matrix Color Seal. We used it in place of a shampoo, the whole idea being to lock in the color and seal the cuticle. I've never used the stuff before, but I have to say, my hair feels like BUTTAH!

I could tell as soon as I was rinsed and in the chair that it was noticeable softer, had shine to it, and just felt absolutely great. So, anyone putting any kind of color on their hair might want to give this stuff a shot, I'm very impressed so far!

Grade = A

Purge Time

I think it's time for the great product purge of 2011! After looking through my bathroom and "the drawer", I realized I'm not using about 90% of the stuff I'm stashing. For those not in the know, "the drawer" consists of a dresser drawer full of the stuff that doesn't fit in my bathroom. It started off with extra razors and soap that I didn't yet need. It's now filled to the brim with everything from spare batteries to a few bathing suits, hair ties, bobby pins, a bajillion bottles of nail polish, jewelry, sample hair products, perfume, etc. You get the point?

There's no way I'm using most of the stuff I've got, I'd be washing my hair for about 3 days straight with all the spare products I've accumulated! Many of them are products I bought to try and review, and then I found something better, so I just don't use the old ones anymore. Many of the nail polish looked good in my mind, but not so much on my nails. I buy jewelry thinking "I'm going to totally rock these 3 inch long feathers". Then I realize I'm not really a feather wearing kind of girl, and should stick to sterling silver studs.

I guess what I'm admitting here is that yes, I am a product whore. But hey, I'm a woman! The plan is to box it all up, take it to school, and let everyone go nuts. Then to clean out the space, and be thankful I don't share it with a man, who might have drowned in eye shadows and conditioner at this point.

Chocolicious

I'm pretty sure it's midnight on a Monday, and what am I doing? That's right, blogging. Now the semi creepy look on my face is due to the face that 1) it's late 2) I have no contacts in and can't find my glasses, and 3) bright light.

I got my hair fixed tonight, and am pleased to announce that it looks AMAZING, and I love it. It took a hot minute for me to get used to, but I am loving the new color. We also took a few inches off, so now I'm rocking a bob.

Hello Chocolate!

Mayo hair

Lately I'm on a "do it yourself" kick when it comes to hair treatments. The coconut oil is still working great, but I'd like to take it up a notch. I wrote a few weeks ago about a beer rinse, which I'm still wanting to try.

After 3 months of pool, sun, and general wear and tear, my hair could use some heavy duty love. So I'm going to give it some!

Most of you know mayo is supposed to do wonders for your hair. I found a recipe today that throws in some egg and olive oil, which sounds like a hair utopia to me, so I'm going to give it a try this weekend.

I'm a little hesitant as to what this is going to smell like, but if it makes my hair softer I'm all game. Also this can apparently be used as a face mask, so I might give that a whirl too, and post a picture just for laughs.

Feather FAIL

The feather in my hair is no more... entirely my fault.

As I was coloring my hair on Thursday I wrapped the feather in foil. Apparently I was a little over enthusiastic in my foil wrapping, because after we colored it (and took major pains to AVOID the foiled piece in the process) I was unwrapping the foil, and ripped the feather out of my hair!

Sadly the only part that came out was the feather. I still had the clamped bead and the feather stem attached about an inch down from my scalp on a piece of hair. So I did what any impulsive and impatient woman would do. I CUT IT OUT!

There's now an inch long strand of hair somewhere on the left side of my hair. Luckily, my hair is thick enough to where I hopefully never have to see this piece.

All in all I think I'm over the whole feather trend. Yes, they are easy to put it, but combing around it, and then accidentally yanking on it all the time, is not pleasant, and I found it to be a pain in my ass. I'm glad I'm back to combing my hair without worrying about yanking out a chunk of hair. If I ever want to do it again I think I'll go with a feather attached to a bobby pin, that way I can take it out when I'm done with it.

Feather lifetime on my head = 2 weeks... FAIL

The Dark Side

I have indeed gone over to the dark side. Last week I went from blonde to chocolate brown. Ok not really. The outcome I WANTED was a chocolate brown. The outcome I got was a reddish brown that was darker at the ends than at the roots. There's also a leftover blond streak in my bangs that looks like I left it there on purpose. I assure you here, I didn't.

I get a little upset when my hair doesn't turn out the way I want. Mostly because I don't want it to fall out, but also because I don't like it looking like shit crap. The color turnout wasn't the fault of doing it wrong, my hair simply took the color and ran with it. The result is a reddish brownish (and blonde streak) not found in nature.

I'm still getting used to it. Walking by a mirror I think "who is that?!" before realizing that it's me. My boyfriend thinks he's got a shiny new girlfriend as well! I'm going back to get some dark brown color today, to hopefully cover the red and the heinous blonde piece. The goal is to get an actual chocolate.

The whole idea for going dark was that the brown will eventually fade to the color of my roots, and then I won't have to color it as much. Also, the bleach I had been putting in my hair has been ravaging it, and I want to move away from that.

Pictures posted soon!

NUDIE

I wanted to write this post about a week ago. I thought to myself "who the hell wants to read about nail polish?!" and then "what sort of vapid crap am I writing about?" I then realized that I write a hair blog, and included in this is a whole slew of beauty products. The bottom line is if I find it, it works, and I love it, I'm sharing it.

That said, I have found the perfect nude nail polish. As a woman, I have been on a search for this that has lasted many moons (or years, whichever). I have an entire drawer full of nude nail polishes that just don't cut it. They are either TOO bare, and it looks like I'm not wearing anything, or they cake on my nails and I look like I dipped my fingertips in cake frosting and forgot to lick it off.

I'm glad to report that my search has ended! At school last week I was giving a pedicure to a woman who oozed money out of her pores. Point aside, she had the nicest feet (I'm sure money helped there) I had ever seen in my life, and after telling her this, fawning over her perfectly nude colored toes, I had to ask her where she got her pedicure. For the record, you don't get pedicures THAT amazing by consistently frequenting a hair school, it's not possible. Turns out it's OPI polish, with the cute name Bubblebath. So what did I do? I hauled my ass down the street and paid $4.25 for my very own little piece of perfection.

The outcome? While all my pores ooze is sweat and the desperation to finish school, my feet are also now perfectly pedicured in the perfect shade of nude. SCORE!