All my life, I’ve never really been overly fussed about styling my hair. I used to love dyeing it crazy bright colours, but if I had the option to either stay in bed for an extra half hour, or get up early to style my hair, I’m obviously going to chose the extra sleep. I think my problem is is that I’d start doing whatever to my hair, get half way through and decide that I couldn’t be bothered anymore, brush it all out and get on with whatever I was doing that day.
When I had my longer hair, it wasn’t unusual to see it thrown up in a messy bun. To be honest, it was even rarer to see it brushed. However, since having the mop chopped, I decided that enough was enough, and after 22 years of not really caring, I should start to care a little more. Realistically, as much as I’d love to spend a dedicated part of my day to do my hair, I needed to do a quick, basic routine which isn’t going to bore me to tears, and luckily I think I’ve found a perfect routine for styling my shorter hair.
Personally, I don’t think there is a thing as ‘too much volume’, hence why most of the things I do in my routine is to volumise my hair.
Pre-Washing Treatment
Even though a pre-washing treatment seems a bit time consuming to some, it’s one of the best things I do for my hair.
I’ve used the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Deep-Conditioning Treatment in the past, but never really found it did much, so I was never convinced to pay the hefty price for it again. It wasn’t until I decided my hair needed a little bit of loving that I remembered I had been sent a few tubes of it in beauty boxes and decided to give it another go.
Before shampooing, pop on the treatment onto wet hair and leave for a minimum of 20 minutes to let it do it’s thing. I know some people wet their hair and apply before getting in the bath or shower, but since I take ridiculously long baths anyway, I apply it as soon as I get in the tub and read some of my book whilst I wait the 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes are up, rinse out and shampoo and condition like normal. Nothing too complicated.
What the treatment does is it adds shine and bounce, and also helps to strengthen the hair, leading to less breakages and split ends. It does pretty much everything you could want from a hair treatment.
I tend to only use it once a week since it is expensive, but I feel like it’s one of those products that need to be used regularly to get all the benefits.
Washing
The products I use and how I wash my hair stays the same, no matter if I’ve used the Elasticizer before hand or not.
I get super bad scalp psoriasis, to the point where I look as if I have horrendous dandruff constantly. It tends to get worse as the weather changes from hot to cold and vice versa, and since were changing into winter, I’m practically a human snow machine.
Not only is the dandruff an issue though. My scalp often bleeds and scabs which again, I’d rather do without.
To tackle the psoriasis, I use a prescribed shampoo from Neutrogena called T-Gel (you can also buy it from drugstores). After trying countless creams and ointments, T-Gel is the only thing I’ve found that does significantly help.
The downside to the shampoo is that it isn’t the most nicely fragranced shampoo and I find it also really dries my hair out, so using a conditioner over the top is a must for me.
Neutrogena suggests washing your hair with it twice, however I like to put on a decent amount, rub it in, and then let it sit for a few minutes. I find if I double wash, it’s near impossible to fully wash out the second time and makes my hair feel like straw.
After rinsing it all out, I then use Umberto Giannini Glam Care Volume Conditioner. Before I discovered Glam Care, I’d pretty much use any conditioner I could find in the bathroom, simply because I never found one I fell in love with. Not only does it soften my hair, but it smells incredible and also gives me the most insane amount of volume. After my first wash with it, I knew it was going to become a new permanent product in my routine, and I’ve even got my mum hooked on the stuff!
Styling
I wish I could master the art of giving myself the most perfect blow dry, but after many failed attempts, I just stick to towel drying my hair slightly, then tipping my head upside down and focus on blow drying my roots. I found it’s the easiest way to get volumised hair without too much hassle, or having to deal with the dreaded arm ache. I’ll also pop on a serum like the Liz Earle Botanical Shine Nourishing Hair Oil onto towel dried hair. I get super frizzy hair, so anything that tames the mane gets a big thumbs up from me.
After my hair’s dried, I’ll either leave it how it is if I’m not doing anything that day, or I’ll add a volume spray and a bit of hair spray. For volume sprays, I switch between the Design.ME Hair Puff.ME Light and the Batiste Big it Up XXL Volume Spray. Both leave my hair feeling really full and bouncy without much hassle, but be warned that they do leave a weird ‘full-of-product’ feel to your hair that only goes away once your hair is washed again.
In-between washes, the frizz starts to return. Normally I’d just throw it up in a messy bun, but since having my hair cut, I find the back of my hair falls out of the hair band. Now, I’ll either straighten it if I want to wear it down, or if I do want to wear it up, I’ll tie it up and then clip all the loose bits up with bobby pins. I find myself typically straightening more than I tie it up, simply because straightening surprisingly takes less time.
Sleeping
Before doing my nightly skincare, I always get my hair out of my face by tying it up. Not only does it stop my hair from getting in the way, but it also reduces the amount of hair breakages that happen in my sleep. A messy bun is good enough for me, but sleeping in plaits is considered one of the best ways to prevent hair damage whilst sleeping.
Something new I’ve also started to do is sleep with a satin pillowcase from MakeupBox LDN. I’d seen them all over social media, but never really believed the hype of them and thought they’d be more for decorative purposes.
The satin pillowcase isn’t specifically for hair, but also benefits your skin as well. For your hair, it it helps to eliminate hair loss and reduces breakage, snagging and matting, whilst also keeping frizziness at bay, making your hair look sleek and silky. For skin, it helps to prevent night time wrinkles and also helps to retain moisture in your skin since it’s non-absorbing material. For a lazy girl like myself, using a product that works overnight whilst I sleep is always welcomed.
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