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!