The second half of this post is all about my current favourite hair care, styling and dye products. So again, from left to right:
John Frieda Sheer Blonde, Blonde Hydration Leave-In Conditioner - Unlike some leave-in conditioners, this one doesn't leave any kind of grease behind in your hair. So I obviously took advantage of this fact when I first bought it (which is when my hair was the most damaged) and just attacked my hair with it all the time. It helps to keep your hair feeling strong when it's drying and just gives a bit of extra protection on top of your regular conditioner.
Umberto Giannini Mend My Hair Rehab Salon Smooth Damage Repair Protein Spray (is there enough words there?) - Regardless of all the excess words, this stuff is so great for saving your hair. Again, like the John Frieda spray, it doesn't leave any grease behind, so I of course was drowning my hair in the stuff when it was really, really damaged and it made so much difference. It doesn't really do much for shine but it does so much for strength, which is great when your hair is basically falling apart! Also, the added heated protection is perfect for people who are trying to look after their hair but can't face not using heat.
Toni & Guy Classic Medium Hold Hair Spray - I really don't use hairspray that often any more (I left that behind in my embarrassing excessive back-combing phase) but I've always used Toni & Guy hairspray just because I can rely on it to do the job. Despite being medium hold, this hair spray holds really, really well without leaving your hair crunchy or greasy and gross. And it also brushes out really easily which is always nice in a hairspray!
Phil Smith Argan Oil Hair Transforming Cream - Granted, I only have the travel size version of this, but because you only have to use a pea-size amount each time, it's lasting me quite a while! You just apply it through the mid-lengths and ends when your hair's wet and then "blow dry as usual" or just leave it to dry like I do. I like this because even though it's only a little extra something, it's nice to get as much protection in my hair as possible (without it going greasy of course). This is also great for if my hair starts to feel a bit dry, I just add a tiny bit to the lengths and ends again and it gives it an instant boost without making it greasy.
VO5 Plump It Up Weightless Mousse - It took me a while to find a hair mousse that didn't leave my hair greasy or crunchy or both, but this one does neither! It gives your hair a nice and natural looking lift and a very dramatic lift when dried with a barrel brush (win-win). I like to just add a small amount to my roots to keep it looking natural but still having some added body and volume.
VO5 Cherish My Colour Full Bodied Spray - I mainly only use this spray after I've re-dyed my hair so that it keeps for longer and also stays nice and vibrant for longer. This spray is so handy to use if you have pastel colours in your hair (like I currently do) as they are an absolute pain for fading quickly which means more colour top ups which means more damage for your hair (not great). So this stuff is great for keeping hair colour touch-ups few and far between.
Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Perfector Oil - Ooh this stuff is lovely, but I might be biased because I love anything with a coconut scent. This can be used for so many things, as it says on the bottle: Before washing, before styling, after styling, between washes or any time. My favourite time to use this oil is before I wash my hair; I like to apply a generous amount and massage it into my scalp for a couple of minutes (either to do the "inversion method" or just to give my scalp a treat) and then run some more through the lengths and ends and leave it for about 30 minutes before washing my hair. It fills my hair with moisture which helps to keep it from drying out when I shampoo, feeling soft and also smelling gorgeous.
Toni & Guy Classic Medium Hold Hair Spray - I really don't use hairspray that often any more (I left that behind in my embarrassing excessive back-combing phase) but I've always used Toni & Guy hairspray just because I can rely on it to do the job. Despite being medium hold, this hair spray holds really, really well without leaving your hair crunchy or greasy and gross. And it also brushes out really easily which is always nice in a hairspray!
Phil Smith Argan Oil Hair Transforming Cream - Granted, I only have the travel size version of this, but because you only have to use a pea-size amount each time, it's lasting me quite a while! You just apply it through the mid-lengths and ends when your hair's wet and then "blow dry as usual" or just leave it to dry like I do. I like this because even though it's only a little extra something, it's nice to get as much protection in my hair as possible (without it going greasy of course). This is also great for if my hair starts to feel a bit dry, I just add a tiny bit to the lengths and ends again and it gives it an instant boost without making it greasy.
VO5 Plump It Up Weightless Mousse - It took me a while to find a hair mousse that didn't leave my hair greasy or crunchy or both, but this one does neither! It gives your hair a nice and natural looking lift and a very dramatic lift when dried with a barrel brush (win-win). I like to just add a small amount to my roots to keep it looking natural but still having some added body and volume.
VO5 Cherish My Colour Full Bodied Spray - I mainly only use this spray after I've re-dyed my hair so that it keeps for longer and also stays nice and vibrant for longer. This spray is so handy to use if you have pastel colours in your hair (like I currently do) as they are an absolute pain for fading quickly which means more colour top ups which means more damage for your hair (not great). So this stuff is great for keeping hair colour touch-ups few and far between.
Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Perfector Oil - Ooh this stuff is lovely, but I might be biased because I love anything with a coconut scent. This can be used for so many things, as it says on the bottle: Before washing, before styling, after styling, between washes or any time. My favourite time to use this oil is before I wash my hair; I like to apply a generous amount and massage it into my scalp for a couple of minutes (either to do the "inversion method" or just to give my scalp a treat) and then run some more through the lengths and ends and leave it for about 30 minutes before washing my hair. It fills my hair with moisture which helps to keep it from drying out when I shampoo, feeling soft and also smelling gorgeous.
(I took the picture of the dyes in the bowls from my instagram so please excuse the poop quality!) I didn't include the Boots Pro Vitamin Classic Care Conditioner in the first post because I rarely actually use it on it's own as a conditioner and just use it to dilute my hair dyes instead. It's cheap, it's white (which you need to dilute) and it keeps your hair feeling soft despite dyeing it - perfect! So the three dyes in the bowls are what I'm using currently (my hair's mainly pastel pink with hints of lilac and pastel blue) and all three of them are mixed in with the pro vitamin conditioner.
The Live Colour XXL Ultra Brights in 93/Shocking Pink is one of my all time favourite hair dyes. I've had pink hair on and off for a year now and I love this one so much because it's still so vibrant even once you've diluted it. Also, because it's so dark on it's own you only need to add a small amount to your conditioner, meaning that it lasts for ages. If you're thinking about dyeing your hair pink I would definintely recommend this one because, even though a lot more pastel pink dyes are being released recently, this one gives you the option of having more variety of shades of pink in your hair rather than just the same colour (unless that's what you want then go for it!) but I personally like having the option of doing my hair as dark or as light as I choose so I can change it up every time I refresh my hair.
Bleach London Super Cool Colours in Washed Up Mermaid and Violet Skies - I'd never used Bleach London before using these dyes but had wanted to for a while after seeing lots of people rave about them. Now that I've tried these there's so much more of their collection that I want to try, in particular their hair mask and salt spray (which is called Swamp Spritz which I just think is fab). The dyes are a lot more pigmented than I thought they would be, especially Violet Skies, which looks quite pale in the bottle. The main thing that I love about Violet Skies is that it stays nice even when it fades - pinks tend to fade with an orangey tint to them and blues tend to fade to a weird green but the violet has stayed violet even when it has really faded. I had all of my hair lilac at some point last year and that was one of my favourite things about it - it's pretty low maintenance compared to pink. So yes, I'll definitely be buying more of these when I run out!
What are your favourite hair products?
(This is not an advertisement for any of the above products or companies nor am I being paid or sponsored for this post.)
