Hair

I May Be Too Vain for This, But I’m Gonna Do It Anyway

November 19th, 2018 by Karen 34 Comments

You guys, I think I’m ready. I think it’s finally time. I’ve been going back and forth for what feels like forever (but in reality has been about a year and a half, ha ha!) about whether to let my grays grow out, and you know…after this this last round of dying my hair and absolutely hating every second of it, I think I’m going to make the jump. I’m gonna grow out my grays.

We’ll see if I feel the same way in about two months when all of the baby hairs along my hairline are white and there’s that jarring line of demarcation where you can see the the last round of color, but I figure, if I can grow out my eyebrows, I can do anything!

And you know, it’s hair. If I’m not feeling it after I grow it out, I can always dye it back. Plus, it’s been a really, really long time since I rocked my natural hair color — more than 10 years. Shoot, maybe even 15? So it’ll be a nice change to see what my hair actually looks like in its natural state.

Knowing that I don’t plan to dye it again already feels like such a relief. What pushed me over the edge was a comment from Kristy (hey, girl!), who said…

“I’ve gone down the demi-permanent rabbit hole trying to cover grays myself, and I’ve found it to be unsustainable. It doesn’t cover the grays for long – the roots tend to fade, and the lengths just get darker and darker. I have dark hair too, and I found myself coloring almost monthly until it was just too much to take and my hair was the color of shoe polish. I don’t color anymore and I now have silver streaks, free of charge! I mean, people are paying to get gray hair! It’s a statement look for me now and I’ll never color again. I would strongly encourage anyone who is sick of covering gray to go for it. Yes, it sucks for a few months, but no one really cares (just you) and you will come out happier, stronger and more beautiful in the end!”

This got me thinking about seeing my dad’s retired friends hanging out in the neighbor’s garage. There’s always a few guys in the group with hair that just looks a little too dark, and there’s something about it that doesn’t look quite right. If I keep using the demi-permanent hair color I’ve been using, I fear that that’s where I’m headed, and I don’t wanna end up there. That’s my main motivator.

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Introducing Cake Beauty! (And Body Products That Smell Like Dessert)

November 8th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

Is there a sourdough-scented soap? A breadstick body butter? A rye loaf hand cream? To the best of my knowledge, most beauty products that smell like baked goods are of the sweet variety — cake, cookies, frosting.

YUM!

I like sweet scents as much as the next Nutella lover, but there’s a fine line between juuuuuust sweet enough and gag-inducing.

Remember Jessica Simpson’s Dessert beauty line of edible products that was at Sephora about a billion years ago? It had lipglosses and body glitters and lotions you could eat? Even though I am THAT PERSON who shamelessly orders two desserts at dinner, every time I caught a whiff of one of the products I wanted to toss my cookies. They were too sweet for me, but lots of people loved them. (Side note: Apparently there weren’t enough people who loved them, though, because they were hit with a few lawsuits and subsequently went out of business.)

Everyone has a different opinion when it comes to fragrances. One woman’s cloying is another woman’s perfection. Like, right now I’m into a kinda up-and-coming Canadian cruelty-free brand called Cake. They make dessert-scented body and hair products, and they’re coming soon to the U.S. in Rite Aid stores.

cake beauty — A few of my favorites from Cake Beauty, coming this month to Rite Aid.

I’ve been metaphorically devouring (because the products aren’t actually edible) the shampoo, conditioner (why do I love that it’s called a “creme rinse”?), body cream and the hand cream, and every time I sniff my hands or my hair I go YUM! — but I’m sure there’s someone out there who would totally barf instead. LOL!

Unsurprisingly, I like products that smell like things I’ll eat, so anything with caramel, vanilla and honey, but usually only if the products also have some bitter notes for balance, like coffee, dark chocolate or lemon…

Yes, I know I’m weird, ha ha.

Anything too artificially sugary, like strong buttercream, meringue or cotton candy, turns my stomach.

While we’re on the topic, how do feel about body products with a “milk” scent? Are you in the “love it” or “hate it” camp? I’m in the middle. I can take it in small doses, but my friend Cindy CANNOT stand anything that remotely smells like milk because she dated this dude once whose skin smelled like sour milk, and it ruined milk for her. But she’s all about green tea scents!

Yeah, you know someone’s a good friend when you know their fragrance loves and hates and why, ha ha!

Your friendly neighborhood neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sephora VIB Sale Recommendations: IGK Bad & Bougie Amla Oil Deep Repair Shampoo and Deep Repair Conditioner

November 2nd, 2018 by Karen 13 Comments

More with the ideas! —-> If you haven’t heard, there’s a Sephora VIB sale in November, so I’m highlighting some of my favorite makeup that you can find at Sephora this week.

I’m hell-and-gone addicted to this deep-repair shampoo and conditioner (they’re $25 each) from IGK Bad & Bougie.

The first day I took my hair out into the world after using Bad & Bougie…which, I’m sorry. Every time I see that name I feel like I’m talking about a poodle that needs to be walked.

Anyway! I ran into my HIIT instructor while running errands, and she said the nicest thing you can say to someone obsessed with maintaining a shiny mane. “Wow! Your hair looks like a really expensive drag queen’s wig!”

At that point, guuuurl, I knew it was true love.

Botany moment! — a plant oil called “amla” powers this power couple. It’s normally made by soaking dried amla fruit (otherwise known as Indian gooseberry) in oils, and it’s commonly used as an Ayurvedic hair treatment.

From sephora.com:

Types of hair it’s good for

Straight

Wavy

Curly

Coiled

Tightly coiled

What it is
A deeply nourishing shampoo and conditioner to nourish, strengthen and protect — immediately and over time.

Key benefits

Repairs even the most damaged hair

Improves hair health and look

Lightweight/non-greasy conditioning

If you want to know more…
Bad & Bougie Amla Oil Deep Repair Shampoo makes hair stronger immediately and overtime, instantly hydrates, softens, and enhances shine. It’s formulated with amla oil for nourishment and shine, coconut oil for hydration, and conditioning and a patented vegetable protein complex that works from within the hair shaft to build stronger and healthier hair. The lightweight formula deeply repairs even the most dry, damaged, color- or chemical-treated hair—without leaving hair greasy or weighed down.

What it is formulated WITHOUT

Parabens

Sulfates

Phthalates

What else you need to know

This product is cruelty-free, color safe with UV protection, and formulated without mineral oil, petroleum and gluten.

Here’s the thing: If you’re already a fan of shampoos and conditioners where a plant oil is the star ingredient, and you’re looking for a set that tames and flattens hair that’s rambunctious and naturally kinda big and wild (which is a common thing with these types of hair products), you won’t get that effect from Bad & Bougie. This shampoo and conditioner will *not* weigh your mane down in any form or fashion.

This combo is all about the bounce-bounce-bounce, and even though it’s hella hydrating, your hair retains big-@ss volume. MASSIVE volume. I love it, obviously, since I subscribe to a “bigger the hair, the closer I can get to achieving magical unicorn status” philosophy.

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How Many Bad Haircuts Have You Had?

November 1st, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

Shoot, how much time do you have, because we could be here all day.

ALL DAY.

Honestly, I can’t even make an accurate estimate, but it’s upwards of 12, maybe as high as 20, and I know that sounds like a lot, but I’ve lived through MANY haircuts gone wrong.

Let’s see… Off the top my head, there was that one in first grade when my grandma, who was attending cosmetology school at the local community college at the time, convinced my mom that it was in the family’s best interest to give me a bowl cut and a tight poodle perm.

It did not end well. Shortly after the perm grew out, The Ralph Macchio cut happened.

SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS MY MOM THINKING LETTING ALL THESE PEOPLE DO CRAZY THINGS TO MY HAIR!?

There were also numerous bad haircuts in middle school, one involving a Princess Diana haircut that went very wrong… I’m gonna leave your imagination to that one.

In high school a series of terrible layered bangs, but that was my own damn fault. I often cut my own hair bear bangs and had no idea what I was doing.

For several years in college I got a slight respite because my hair was long, and I didn’t have the extra cash to do stuff to it, but when I started working full-time in my 20s, gurrrrrl — that’s when sh*t really hit the fan. I had just enough money in my pocket to go to salons where ladies got their hair “DONE”, but the done I was doing rarely worked out. My hair is naturally wavy, and back then it seemed like hardly anyone knew what to do with it, like that one time when the person who cut my hair into what was supposed to be a J.Lo-inspired shag used a razor… I ended up with a mullet, and not a pseudo mullet, but a full-on ’80s mullet with a rat tail!

I wore my hair up for months after that! (I also developed a severe fear of razor cuts that didn’t go away until I met my friend/hair whisperer Alis.)

There was also the person who cut my hair the day before she was scheduled to leave on a three-month trip to Thailand… I guess her mind was on packing for vacation, because she completely changed the direction my hair parted.

Oh, and all of the lopsided hair cuts… SO MANY OF THEM! ’tis the curse of wavy hair with a varied curl pattern.

When you answer this question, I hope you get to say “never,” or “only once or twice,” because growing out a bad haircut seems to take roughly forever.

Anyway, let me know! And let me know what you did last night! Did you score lots of candy? ?? Connor kept grabbing handfuls of Swedish Fish, even though I kept aggressively whispering “Get the Snickers for mommy!!!”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Best/Worst Hair Styling Tools?

October 24th, 2018 by Karen 19 Comments

ghd soft curl — This thing is practically an extension of my arm —> the ghd Soft Curl.

So, I try to let my hair air dry as much as possible. I usually wash it at night before bed and go to sleep with it a little damp, but then it’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates when I wake up… I never know what I’m gonna get, ha ha ha!

I usually need help wrangling it into a semi-respectable state with some styling tools, like these that I love:

The T3 hair dryer. I still have my first-gen one from a billion years ago (OMG, here’s the review from 2007. Have a laugh at my brows.), and it’s still going strong. It’s unbelievably lightweight, and I’m constantly surprised by how quickly it dries hair. I use it every day to help straighten my bangs so they fall the way I like.
The ghd Curve Soft Curl Curling Iron. This iron is CRAZY expensive ($245!), but hear me out. It LEGIT heats up ? in less than a minute, but it never gets so hot that I burn my hair (which happened when I was into the T3 curling irons for a spell). The curls last all day, too.
A round boar’s hair brush. I can’t remember where or when I bought the one I have. It’s so old that the label’s worn off… It may have been around 1999? Whatever the case, it smooths out my bangs and wayward pieces better than anything.

As for hair styling tools I don’t love…I’ve haven’t had much success with inexpensive curling irons and hair dryers. The very affordable ones I’ve gotten from drugstores or Target never got hot enough to actually do anything to my hair. I used to have a hairdryer by Revlon that literally did nothing when it came to actual, ya know, hair drying.

Oh, and you know those hairdryers that are attached to the wall in some hotel rooms? Really, so dumb. What’s the point? They just end up blowing the water around and not really drying my hair at all.

Also, again about the T3 curling iron… Was. Not. My. Favorite. A few years ago, I accidentally fried a big chunk of hair with it, and it’s been buried at the bottom of a drawer ever since.

How about you? What are the hair styling tools you love/loathe the most? Which hairdryers, curlers, flat irons, brushes? And what do you like, or don’t like, about them?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

With Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray Wax, Luminous Locks Are a Few Sprays Away

October 19th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

OK, so, the thing about Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray Wax is that it’s so good that you will never want to part with it, but it’s also $42 for a dainty 4.2-oz. bottle.

But…but…but…GLOSSY LOCKS. I don’t think my hair has ever looked this shiny in my entire life, and that’s no small feat because my ends have this really annoying habit of drying out on me, especially when I’m in a blow-drying phase, like I usually go through in fall and winter.

The not-so-great thing?

As previously mentioned, it’s $42 for a 4.2-oz. bottle.

Ouch.

Thankfully, you only have to use a little. I do a quick jooj on dry hair after it’s styled, then psssst, psssst, psssst on my side-swept bangs, the pieces that frame my face, on my ends, and on the uppermost layer of my hair. Then I gently work it through with my fingers for enough shine to make all the mirrors in Versailles jealous. 🙂

I used to think that Oribe Texturizing Spray was the end-all, be-all of products for perfectly tousled hair, but then I met this.

By the way, it isn’t just a shine spray.

“Create weightless, buildable texture with control and lasting hold. This ultra-fine wax mist adds style, separation and sheen to short cuts and long lengths.”

— oribe.com

For the most part, Flash Form does what Oribe Texturizing Spray does, too — weightlessly separates and defines hair for schemxy texture while it boosts volume and gently holds curls and waves in place, but it also smooths frizz, (which Texturizing Spray doesn’t really do).

Oh, and there’s the shine, of course! Texturizing Spray has a matte finish, which is fine for roots, but maaaan! Gimme shiny, piece-y ends any day of the week.

Benefits:

Fortifying Polymer Blend creates texture and light hold while strengthening hair.

Wheat Starch adds buildable, brushable texture and separation.

Soy Protein provides strength and elasticity to hair.

Plant-Derived Amino Acids help the hair retain moisture while adding light shine.

Glycerin and Panthenol hydrate and condition to protect against breakage.

Amber Extract delivers antioxidant, conditioning and hair-strengthening properties.

Oribe Signature Complex (Watermelon, Lychee and Edelweiss Flower Extracts) defends hair from oxidative stress, photoaging and the deterioration of natural keratin all while protecting from the drying, damaging and color-depleting effects of the elements.

I want to warn you and say “DON’T DO IT” because it’s so expensive, but I also want to say “DO IT DO IT DO IT” because it’s awesome-sauce.

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Was Hair Dye Ever a Forbidden Thing for You?

September 13th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

Back during my blonde ambition phase, ha ha!

It was in my family when I was growing up, but it wasn’t directly addressed out loud like makeup was. Lipstick, eyeliner and blush were definite hard “NOs,” but it was kinda implied that hair dye was too.

Not that I really wanted to dye my hair when I was a kid. The curiosity kicked in later when I was in college, and that’s when I started experimenting with box dyes and at-home highlighting kits… Mind you, I wasn’t good at any of it, and I’m 100% sure my hair color looked terrible because I’d always leave the color in too long, or the hair color in the back would be applied hella patchy.

Girl, I was a mess!

I see kids in elementary school and middle school now with vibrant hair colors like blue, purple or pink and think, “Wow, your mom must be a cool mom!” — ’cause that wouldn’t have flown in our conservative house.

My brother was actually the one who was more curious about it than I was! He’s always been a rock ‘n’ roller, and when he was in sixth grade he managed to scrape together enough to buy some Jolene cream bleach. (Ya know, the one used for upper lip hair? I used it and rocked an orange mustache pretty hard back in the day, LOL!) He used it on his head for some terrible DIY orange streaks. Funny thing is, my parents didn’t notice for months. I’m talking at least half the school year. I was in college at the time, and when they finally figured it out, my brother left a cryptic four-word message on our shared landline voicemail (!) — “The jig is up.”

I immediately knew he was talking about the hair dye.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What Are Your Biggest Personal Hair Pet Peeves?

August 16th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

Thank goodness for hats on crazy hair days!

Even though my mane is currently under moderate control, and even though I’m relatively happy with my ‘do right now, I’m going to work under the assumption that there will still be days when it goes crazy…because cray hair days are inevitable. And even though I’m relatively content with my coif today, I still have my personal hair pet peeves.

In no particular order…

I have a widow’s peak, and I have NO control over baby hairs in it. Absolutely none! They do what they want, whenever they want to, and I can only get them to submit to my will if I use a round brush, a hairdryer, elbow grease and A LOT of styling products.

It’s work, and even when I go through the effort to tame them, those baby hairs still end up sticking up every which way.
So, I have wavy hair, and the curl pattern is tighter on my right side than it is on my left… On more than one occasion when new people have cut my hair, I’ve ended up with a lopsided ‘do that looked like I was trying to do a cool Salt ‘N’ Pepa style from the ’80s but failed miserably.

Sigh!
The bangs on the left side of my head always poof up and never lie quite right on their own, so I always have to use a heat styler to get them to fall the way I want them to.

‘Tis annoying.
Dandruff…

It’s annoying, and it ain’t cute, but I get it on occasion. (It’s the worst when the seasons are changing and my scalp goes nuts.)

How about you? Do you have any personal hair pet peeves?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen