A quicker way to make hair grow?

I am always on some mission or another. The first was to sort my skin out which I finally seem to have done (blog post soon to follow), and now my next mission is to try speed up the growth of my hair as I am so sick of having short hair. Typing this now I feel rather stupid as I know that there is nothing that will make my hair grow ridiculously quickly, but I have heard that certain things can help it a little bit, and even if I can make it grow a little bit more quickly, I am willing to try it. The other reason for me trying out these products is because I have noticed that my hair has become a lot thinner recently. I have always had fine hair but a lot of hair, so it always appeared thick. But since being on oratane for my skin, I have noticed my hair getting thinner. I believe oratane is the reason for this as it is one of the (less-common) side effects listed. I did not have this problem the last time I was on oratane, but then again, I have been experiencing symptoms this time around that I did not experience the last time. There are other possible reasons for my hair thinning so it might not be oratane. Who knows!

Anyway, so I'm hoping these products can help in some way or another. I did some research and apparently biotin (vitamin H) and coconut oil are both associated with helping hair growth, and biotin also apparently helps with thinning hair and it also is good for your nails. The only downside is that a number of reviewers said that taking biotin supplements made their skin break out. Luckily for me I am on oratane, so hopefully I shouldn't have a problem with that.

So I am taking 2 Prosana capsules a day, which are high in biotin. I am also using Palmer's coconut oil on my hair from time to time. I massage it into my scalp and hair in the evening and wash it out in the morning. The only downside I have found with this so far is that I found it quite difficult to wash all of the oil out. So in future I will use it only on my scalp and not only the entire length of my hair.

So I will let you know if I notice any differences in the length/thickness/strength of my hair, and also if there is any change in my nail growth/strength.

Love M xxx

P.S. Sorry for the bad quality pics. I took them with the camera on my phone.

Update: Redken hair care products

A few weeks ago I mentioned in a blog post (find it here) that I had bought a few new Redken hair products and I thought it was time to let you know my thoughts on these products.

I have definitely fallen in love with all of these products, especially the Extreme Anti-Snap treatment. That stuff is truly amazing!  Since using the All Soft shampoo and conditioner and the anti-snap treatment, I have definitely noticed a change in my hair – it is softer, less bird’s nest, less frizzy and just so much more lovely. I actually started noticing a change very soon after starting to use these products.

Redken are more expensive than regular shop-bought hair products, but I can see why and I am willing to pay those prices for the results that I am getting. I go through conditioner really quickly, but the shampoo seems to go quite far and I definitely won’t have to repurchase the treatment anytime soon because a little goes a long way, which makes it even more worth the price.

So I am loving my recent purchases but am always keen to try out other products so let me know your holy grail of shampoos, conditioners etc.

Love M xx

Mini beauty haul

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all having a fab weekend. I just wanted to do a quick post on a mini-haul I did on Thursday. 

My hair has been looking a bit dry and sad recently so I thought I would treat it to some proper salon products, so I picked up Redken All Soft shampoo and conditioner, as well as Redken Extreme Anti-Snap treatment. Whilst I have used Redken before and love the products, I have never used these specific products before, but Laura and Pammy’s blog posts made me decide to give these a try. After one use I am already seeing a difference, but I will do a full follow up blog post on all of these products at a later stage.

I also bought my tried and tested, and all time favourite treatment, Lee Stafford ‘For Hair That Never Grows Past a Certain Length’.  This product is amazing and you can see my previous blog post on it here.

I also bought Clarins Blue Orchid face oil. I use this when my skin is dry and it is a wonder product.

Lastly I bought NYX Felt Tip Liner in dark brown for eyes. I use their black pen eyeliner and have wanted to get a brown one to use for daytime.

 Hope you all have a great week :)

Lv M xx

John Frieda Go Blonder Lightening Spray

I have started to use the John Frieda Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray on my darker blonde regrowth. I used to use a lightening spray (not sure which brand) a long time ago and it worked miracles, so I am hoping this does the same. I don’t mind my regrowth, but if this spray can lighten it and stretch out the time before I have to head back to the hairdresser for a touch-up, then it will definitely be worth it.

I found a review on it on a blog that I follow by the lovely Harriet , and so thought I would give it a try. I will my document my results and let you know my thoughts.

*Update*

The picture below was taken after three uses (results are apparently visible after 3-5 uses). I do not have a before picture but I will post some more photos after a few more uses. I could already see a difference when taking this photo. I have now used the spray a fourth time and am really amazed. I can definitely see a change, even when my hair is wet. I will probably use the spray one or two more times and then will leave it for a while. I do not want to over-process my hair and I am quite happy with the colour thus far. It really has lightened it quite a bit. It means I can delay a visit to my hairdresser a bit longer, which is exactly what I was hoping for.


Would I recommend this product: Definitely! :)


Lv M xx

Review: Lee Stafford Hair Products

I wanted to do a review on the Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment because I absolutely love this stuff!

I am not sure about it making my hair grow (I wasn’t measuring my hair growth or keeping track) but it has definitely helped the condition of my hair. If you read my “hair story” blog post you will know that my hair was in pretty bad condition after going from brunette to blonde. This product has definitely improved the condition of my hair. It is just so amazing and I would definitely recommend it to anyone needing to fix the condition of their hair. The only con is that it is rather expensive and I tend to use a lot, so it doesn't last very long. I followed the instructions on the tub, which says that you should use the treatment between your shampoo and conditioner. Usually I would have used the treatment instead of my conditioner, but using the conditioner afterwards made my hair even softer. And just BTW, I found out about this product from a blog I follow. The blogger is Harriet and I suggest you check it out here. J

VERDICT: I would recommend this product and I will be repurchasing it.

Whilst I am on the topic of Lee Stafford products, I would like to recommend another two products of his. Since I was so impressed with the hair growth treatment, I decided to give his other products a try. 

The first is his Shine Head Spray Shine (on the left in my picture). I spray this on my hair at the very end of my styling session, so basically I spray this on just as I’m about to walk out the door. It makes my hair so soft and silky. After blow-drying and/or flat-ironing I find my hair can look a little dry and frazzled. This helps to tame the frizziness and just make my hair feel and look good.

VERDICT: I would recommend this product and I will be repurchasing it.

The other product is Lee Stafford’s Flat Iron Protection Shine Mist, which is part of the Poker Straight range (on the right in my picture). This product is basically a heat protectant, so I spray it on my damp towel-dried hair before blow-drying, and again on my dry hair before I flat-iron it.  I love the consistency of this spray. I don’t like using cream/mousse heat protectants because I feel like they just weigh my hair down and I get a build-up of product, and I also find my hair tends to get greasy more easily with those type of products. Not with this product! The spray is so light and doesn’t weigh my hair down. Also, I really feel like it’s doing its job. My hair seems to be in better condition since I’ve started using this product.

VERDICT: I would recommend this product and I will be repurchasing it.

So right now I am in love with the Lee Stafford range of hair care products. I can’t wait to try out some more of his products. The next product I’m keen to try out is his “I Hate My Hair the Day its Washed” Solution Spray. I haven’t been able to find it in South Africa yet, but hopefully we will get it here soon.

I bought all my Lee Stafford products from Clicks (South Africa) and I know that you can get them from Boots in the UK.

If you’ve tried any of his other products please let me know. I’m keen to hear what you thought. 

Lv M

xoxo

My hair story

So, when I was younger, about 6 or 7 years ago, I decided that my beautiful blonde hair was getting a bit dark at the roots. It wasn't really that bad but I was young and stupid then. So my mom and I attempted to use a blonde highlighting kit on my hair. Alas, the result was not what I had hoped for. I ended up with canary yellow roots: 

I was extremely upset so I went to the hairdresser to get it fixed. When I emerged a few hours later, I no longer looked like a canary, but rather a zebra:

I was of course even less impressed than before. Not that I had anything against brunettes, I just did not want any brunette in my hair. I loved my blonde hair! The next day I went to a different hairdresser to fix this, and she did a fantastic job:

Sadly though, that was the start of my relationship with bleach and highlighting. My roots always grew out darker than before, so every 6 or so weeks I would need to get them touched up. For years after that I just did that. I was so particular about my hair and what shade of blonde it had to be. Btw, I kept all the above photos so that whenever I felt like doing something stupid to my hair again, I could look at these photos and hopefully be put off.

Fast forward a few years to the end of 2010. I for some reason had being thinking about going over to the dark side. I'm not sure where this idea came from especially because I was such a blonde fanatic. Without telling my family (as I knew they would have dissuaded me), I went brunette (professionally of course):

 

It was quite a big change and it took me a while to get used to it, but I liked it. I knew what a mission it would be to get back to blonde so I vowed to keep it at least a year. It faded and sometimes it looked nice, other times it was a bit too red for my liking. My hair felt in such better condition and many people said I suited the brunette more. The one thing that did bug me about it was the regrowth: because I had dark blonde growing out, it looked grey in comparison to the dark. I really did not like that. And I found it started looking like this very soon after colouring (my hair grows rather fast). So I was colouring my hair more often than I used to highlight my hair. Grey-looking regrowth is just not my thing.

About 10 months down the line I was done with the brunette. I (ms. blonde fanatic) missed my blonde hair too much. I started feeling like the brunette didn't actually suit me, and I never really quite felt like myself as a brunette. Now comes the fun part: getting back to blonde! Had I known just what a lengthy and painful experience this would be, I am not too sure I would have done the whole thing in the first place. Actually, I probably would have, otherwise I would have always wondered what it would be like to be a brunette. Anyways, thinking that all the bleach it would take to make me blonde again would immensely damage my hair, I cut my hair:

Stupid, stupid decision. Whilst it looked nice with the healthy brunette hair, as soon as I started going back to blonde, the short damaged look was just not working for me. I tried not to do too much styling as my hair was pretty damaged, but a bob with my semi-wavy hair requires styling. And of course I did not go straight back to the blonde I wanted, that took about 5 months. I was rather red/ginger in the beginning:

After some highlighting:

After some more highlighting a few months into it:

This last one was my worst. At least in the beginning it was a decent shade of red. In the above photo it was just plain ginger. I have nothing against gingers, I just don't think that shade suits me and it was not really what I was going for. 

About 5 months down the line I finally got to a shade that I was comfortable with:

The above photo was taken towards the end of October 2011, and I had my hair highlighted that day. I have not done it since, and it actually looks rather nice :) The darker blonde regrowth is blending so nicely into the blonde. I am however going in 2 days to get some highlights and some lowlights (just so that it looks more natural) so that I my hair can look good for my graduation which is coming up this weekend.

My hair is still quite dry but definitely nothing compared to its condition when I did my first session of bleach bathing and highlighting. That condition was horrendous. I have found some wonder products that have helped repair my hair and I will do a blog post on those soon.

So I am finally happy with the colour, now I just want some length again Lol. Waiting for hair to grow is so frustrating! If you are thinking of going from blonde to brunette, maybe have a chat with me first ;)

And that is the life story of my hair! What are your hair stories/nightmares?

Lv M

xxx