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!